Environment

Himalayan glaciers melting 65 percent faster than previous decade: study

KATHMANDU, June 20, 2023 (AFP) – Himalayan glaciers providing critical water to nearly two billion people are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warned Tuesday. The glaciers disappeared 65 percent faster from 2011 to 2020 compared with the previous decade, according to a report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). “As it gets warmer, ice will melt, that was expected, but […]

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Cyclone leaves 11 dead, 20 missing in southern Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 18, 2023 (AFP) – At least 11 people were killed and 20 were missing after a cyclone tore through southern Brazil, local authorities said Saturday. “According to the state branch of Protection and Civil Defense, 11 people died from the effects of the cyclone,” the government of Rio Grande do Sul state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay, said in a statement. “Eighteen people are still missing in Caraa and two in […]

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Forest fire risks mount in drought-hit Nordic nations

LYNGE, Denmark, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – “I need water”, pleads farmer Lars Jonsson, casting a desperate eye over a parched field in eastern Denmark where the only shade is that cast by wind turbines. Across the northern hemisphere, the start of summer has been marked by extreme weather conditions, from megafires in Canada to drought in Spain. Even Northern Europe, typically known for its mild climate, has experienced an unseasonally dry spring and early […]

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Record UK drinking water demand sparks water use restrictions

LONDON, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – Millions of people across parts of southern Britain will be banned from using garden hoses as a hot spell sparks record demand for drinking water, authorities said on Friday. A temporary ban for people living in the southern Kent and Sussex areas will come into force on June 26 as forecasters predict the summer will see little rainfall. South East Water said demand in June had broken records despite […]

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Beijing roasts in record mid-June temperatures

BEIJING, June 16, 2023 (AFP) – Temperatures in Beijing hit a record for mid-June of 39.4 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) on Friday, China’s meteorological authority said, warning the public to stay indoors. “At around 2:30 pm on June 16, the temperature at Beijing’s Nanjiao observatory hit 39.4 degrees Celsius, breaking the record high for mid-June,” the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) wrote in a social media post. The CMA said the coming days would see temperatures […]

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Not phasing out fossil fuels is ‘death sentence’: Greta Thunberg

BONN, June 13, 2023 (AFP) – Failure to end use of fossil fuels will be a “death sentence” to millions worldwide, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg warned on Tuesday, urging politicians to take more ambitious action. “It will be impossible for us to stick to the 1.5-degree limit without a rapid, equitable, fossil fuel phase-out,” Thunberg told a press conference. She was referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement, at which world leaders pledged to cut greenhouse […]

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Extreme weather killed 195,000 in Europe since 1980

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Extreme weather conditions in Europe have killed almost 195,000 people and caused economic losses of more than 560 billion euros since 1980, the European Environment Agency said Wednesday. “Nearly 195,000 fatalities have been caused by floods, storms, heat- and coldwaves, forest fires and landslides” between 1980 and 2021, the EAA said in its report. Of the 560 billion euros ($605 billion) in losses, only 170 billion, or 30 percent, were insured, […]

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Smoke from Canadian wildfires detected in Norway

OSLO, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Smoke from Canadian wildfires has been detected thousands of kilometres away in Norway this week, the Scandinavian country’s Climate and Environmental Research Institute NILU said on Friday. “Very weak” concentrations of smoke particles have been detected since Monday, in particular at the Birkenes observatory in southern Norway, researcher Nikolaos Evangeliou told AFP. Measurements have varied depending on the fires’ intensity, wind direction and precipitation. “We don’t see serious peaks […]

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El Nino arrives, raising extreme weather fears

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2023 (AFP) – An expected El Nino climate phenomenon has arrived, raising fears of extreme weather and temperature records, scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. Marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator, the weather pattern last occurred in 2018-19, and takes place every 2-7 years on average. “Depending on its strength, El Nino can cause a range of […]

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World warming at record 0.2C per decade, scientists warn

PARIS, June 8, 2023 (AFP) – Record-high greenhouse gas emissions and diminishing air pollution have caused an unparalleled acceleration in global warming, 50 top scientists warned Thursday in a sweeping climate science update. From 2013 to 2022, “human-induced warming has been increasing at an unprecedented rate of over 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade,” they reported in a peer-reviewed study aimed at policymakers. Average annual emissions over the same period hit an all-time high of 54 […]

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In Costa Rica, climate change threatens ‘cloud forest’

By Alberto PEÑA Agence France-Presse MONTEVERDE, Costa Rica, June 7, 2023 (AFP) – The “cloud forest” of Monteverde, in the center of Costa Rica, will soon no longer be worthy of the name: climate change threatens this unique ecosystem, and its fauna and flora face an unclear future under a brilliant blue sky. In the forest, what a visitor should hear is the constant drip of moisture falling from the trees. Instead, it is the […]

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California’s honey bees await the famous sunshine

By Huw GRIFFITH PASADENA, United States, June 6, 2023 (AFP) – California’s very wet winter gifted the state a spectacular superbloom — an explosion of flowers that delighted hikers and should have been great news for bees. But beekeepers say lingering low temperatures and gray skies in the Golden State are keeping the insects indoors — and if it doesn’t get sunny soon, the bumper honey harvest they were hoping for might not materialize. “The […]

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