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by Francois Becker and Antoine Bouthier Agence France-Presse MONTCLAR, France (AFP) – Last Christmas, for the first time in its existence, a ski resort in the French Alpine town of Montclar could count neither on Mother Nature nor its artificial snow machines to produce enough of the white stuff to cover its pistes. Instead, it had to use a helicopter, at great cost, to bring snow from the high peaks of the Alps to lower, warmer […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Global energy-related CO2 emissions “flattened” in 2019 following two years of increases owing to greater use of renewables and an accelerating shift from coal to gas, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Electricity generation produced around 33 billion tonnes of CO2 last year, defying forecasts that emissions from power would continue their upward trend. The IEA said that emissions from coal — the most polluting fossil […]
By Jitendra JOSHI Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Away from the toxic atmosphere at climate summit talks, in boardrooms, banks and trading houses, a transformation in green finance is under way. Its backers hope it could profitably help save the planet. Regardless of the politics of climate change, there is real money to be made today in the exploding market for bonds and other instruments invested in environmentally sustainable projects. But in the final […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change has contributed to a sharp drop in bumblebee populations across North America and Europe in recent decades, scientists said Friday. Compared to the period 1900-1974, bumblebee numbers across dozens of distinct species dropped, on average, 46 percent during the first 15 years of the 21st century in Canada and the United States. In Europe, the corresponding decline of the pollinators was 17 percent, they reported in […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs called on the international community Monday to help East African countries affected by locust swarms, expressing his deep concern over the situation. “There are 13 million people in the affected countries who are severely food insecure now,” said Mark Lowcock during a UN press conference. “Ten million of those people are in the places affected by locusts.” Lowcock, who said he had recently […]
KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) — A locust infestation sweeping the Horn of Africa reached Uganda on Sunday, a government minister said as the prime minister convened an emergency meeting to address the pest invasion. “The locusts entered Uganda today” from Kenya, said Moses Kizige, the minister in charge of the northeastern Karamoja border region where the insects were spotted. The locusts have devastated food supplies in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, with the Food and Agriculture Organization […]
by Abdulkarim AL-MARANI with Dana MOUKHALLATI in Dubai Agence France Presse Sanaa, Yemen (AFP) — Yemen’s war makes life a daily struggle for millions of civilians, but creatures in the country’s neglected zoos, including lions, leopards and baboons also face an uncertain future. At the country’s main zoo in Sanaa, the capital seized in 2014 by the Iran-backed Huthi militias who control much of the north, a man unloaded one of a dozen dead donkeys […]
by Jorge SVARTZMAN RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has unveiled a sweeping plan for the Amazon rainforest that would open indigenous lands to mining — a “dream” for the far-right leader, but a “nightmare” for environmentalists and tribal leaders. Bolsonaro proposed a new bill Wednesday that would allow mining, farming, and hydroelectric power projects on formerly protected land in the world’s largest rainforest, saying: “I hope this dream… comes true.” […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse Paris, France (AFP) — Overlapping environmental crises could tip the planet into “global systemic collapse,” more than 200 top scientists warned Wednesday. Climate change, extreme weather events from hurricanes to heatwaves, the decline of life-sustaining ecosystems, food security and dwindling stores of fresh water — each poses a monumental challenge to humanity in the 21st century. Out of 30 global-scale risks, these five topped the list both in terms of likelihood […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British police arrested nine Greenpeace campaigners on Wednesday who blockaded BP’s London headquarters with solar panels and oil barrels to mark the new boss’s first day at the energy giant. The Metropolitan Police said the arrests were made outside the firm’s building in St James’ Square, central London, as part of a “proportionate policing plan”. They were detained for aggravated trespass, highway obstruction and conspiracy to commit a public nuisance. Around […]
By Michel COMTE Agence France-Presse Ottawa, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s federal court on Tuesday denied a bid by indigenous tribes to block a long-delayed expansion of an oil pipeline, dismissing their claim that they had not been adequately consulted on the project. The decision is a win for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government in 2016 approved the project connecting the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast for crude shipment to new overseas markets. […]
By Alice RITCHIE Agence France-Presse London, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for urgent action to deal with global warming, after his ex-climate envoy warned his own plans for UN talks later this year were “miles off track”. In a speech ahead of the COP 26 talks in Glasgow in November, Johnson said the evidence of climate change was “overwhelming”. At an event with naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough, he called […]
