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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – A sharp increase in forest fires stoked record losses in global forest cover equivalent to the area of New Zealand in 2016, a Global Forest Watch report said Monday. The alarming pace of destruction — 51 percent higher than the prior year with a loss of 73.4 million acres (29.7 million hectares), according to data from the University of Maryland — was partially due to climate change that has increased […]
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Nicaragua signed the Paris climate agreement Monday, leaving the United States and Syria as the only two holdouts on the global climate pact. The government of President Daniel Ortega said the global 2015 pact represented “the only international instrument that offers the conditions to face global warming and its effects,” according to a statement read out by Vice President Rosario Murillo. Monday’s announcement leaves the United States and Syria as the only countries holding […]
PETERHEAD, Scotland (Reuters) — Norway’s Statoil expects floating wind power costs to fall to 40-60 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) by 2030, the company said on Wednesday (October 18) after launching the first floating wind farm off Scotland. The 2-billion-crown ($251.34 million) Hywind pilot project will generate power at a cost of nearly 190 pounds ($250.12) per megawatt-hour (MWh), four times the current UK market price. The 30-megawatt-(MW)-capacity project has been granted support under Britain’s Renewable […]
by Maria Antonova Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Lake Baikal is undergoing its gravest crisis in recent history, experts say, as the government bans the catching of a signature fish that has lived in the world’s deepest lake for centuries but is now under threat. Holding one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water, Baikal in Russia’s Siberia is a natural wonder of “exceptional value to evolutionary science” meriting its listing as a World Heritage […]
RIO PACAYA, Peru (Reuters) — Thousands of endangered Taricaya turtles have been released in Peru’s Amazon region as part of efforts to conserve the majestic species on the verge of extinction. On Tuesday (October 17), staff from Peru’s National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP) released some 5,000 baby turtles as part of an ongoing program. The taricaya eggs were collected from the beaches and incubated until they hatched. The Taricaya were […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Planting more trees, farming more sustainably and conserving wetlands could significantly slash the amount of carbon emissions that humanity spews into the atmosphere through fossil fuel use, researchers said Monday. Better land use could reduce carbon dioxide 37 percent, enough to hold global warming below two degrees Celsius by 2030, as called for by the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to a report in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Mass starvation has wiped out thousands of penguin chicks in Antarctica, with unusually thick sea ice forcing their parents to forage further for food in what conservationists Friday called a “catastrophic breeding failure”. French scientists, supported by WWF, have been studying a colony of 18,000 pairs of Adelie penguins in East Antarctica since 2010 and discovered only two chicks survived the most recent breeding season in early 2017. They attributed […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — An epic 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) solar car race across the desert heart of Australia designed to showcase new technology that could one day help develop commercial vehicles got underway Sunday. The World Solar Challenge, first run in 1987 and last held in 2015, began in a high-tech, futuristic flurry from Darwin’s State Square. Dutch team Nuon is aiming to defend its title but Belgium’s Punch Powertrain led the 41 cars — powered […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) – The welfare of stray cats and dogs roaming Iraq’s capital Baghdad is far from a priority for most residents after years of bloodshed and insecurity. Homeless animals typically face cruelty or even extermination on the streets of the city, but now some pet lovers are looking to use social media to change attitudes and find loving owners for the four-legged friends. Agricultural college student Assan Attallah, 22, has just helped get […]
by Céline CORNU Agence France Presse ROME, Italy (AFP) — As balconies bristle with tree branches and sunshine dapples the leaves of thousands of plants, two apartment buildings in the heart of Milan have almost disappeared under lush forest. The brainchild of Milanese architect Stefano Boeri, the Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) uses more than 20,000 trees and plants to adorn the high-rise buildings from top to bottom – a project now being exported all over […]
LAAMU ATOLL & MALE, Maldives (Reuters) — Game of Thrones star and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador Nikolaj Coster-Waldau visited the Maldives earlier this week to highlight climate change issues. Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, one of the main characters in the popular television show ‘Game of Thrones’, visited climate change mitigation initiatives in Laamu Atoll and Male and had a first-hand glimpse of the negative impact of climate change on the island nation […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Sydney and Melbourne could regularly face 50-degree Celsius (122F) days within 25 years even if Australia meets its Paris global warming targets, a new study warned Wednesday. Other areas across the country should also prepare for extreme heat, said the research led by the Australian National University (ANU) and supported by the Center of Excellence for Climate System Science, an international consortium. The study assessed the potential magnitude of future extreme […]
