Environment

The environment: another victim of Russia’s invasion

By Victoria LUKOVENKO with Lea DAUPLE in Warsaw Ravaged forests, flooded towns and dead dolphins: after nearly two years of war in Ukraine, experts say environmental damage is becoming an “enormous” tragedy that will affect generations to come. The invasion of Ukraine has been particularly devastating for nature, said Doug Weir, head of research at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, a British non-governmental organisation. Unlike conflicts limited to particular areas, the front line in Ukraine […]

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Magnitude 5.1 quake hits sea south of Istanbul

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck just south of Istanbul on Monday, rattling parts of Turkey’s largest city but causing no immediate injuries or damage. The earthquake’s epicentre was in the Marmara Sea’s Gemlik Bay, which lies about 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Istanbul, near the city of Bursa, according to the AFAD emergencies service. AFP reporters felt walls shake on both the Asian and European sides of Istanbul, with television images showing people walking […]

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11 hikers dead after Indonesia volcano erupts, survivors found

By Irwanda Saputra PADANG, Indonesia, Dec 4, 2023 (AFP) – At least 11 hikers were found dead and three others were rescued by search teams that worked through the night to find people missing after the eruption of a volcano in western Indonesia, officials said Monday. Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra, with a peak of 2,891 (9,484 feet) metres erupted on Sunday, spewing an ash tower 3,000 metres into the sky that rained […]

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World Bank to operate ‘loss and damage’ climate fund

DUBAI, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – The World Bank will “operate” an ambitious new climate change fund, but donors and recipients will likely control how the money is actually spent, the head of the development lender said Friday. More than $400 million has been pledged initially to the new “loss and damage” fund for countries impacted by climate change since it was approved by nations attending the UN’s COP 28 climate summit in Dubai on […]

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Tripling renewable energy by 2030 ‘ambitious but doable’

By Catherine HOURS PARIS, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Host United Arab Emirates wants nearly 200 nations attending the COP28 climate summit starting Thursday to commit to tripling installed renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030, a goal experts say is “ambitious but achievable”. If the UN forum sets that target in stone, it could become a key marker of COP28’s success, especially if coupled with a pledge to drawn down fossil fuel use. – Why […]

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Climate crises drove 27 mn children into hunger in 2022: charity

NAIROBI, Nov 28, 2023 (AFP) – Extreme weather events in countries vulnerable to climate change drove more than 27 million children into hunger last year, Save the Children said on Tuesday. The figure represented a sharp 135 percent increase over 2021, the UK-based charity said in an analysis ahead of the COP28 climate summit opening in Dubai on Thursday. It said children made up nearly half the 57 million people pushed into crisis levels of […]

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Half of Peru’s Andes glacier ice has melted: government

The Peruvian Andes’ mountaintop ice, which represents most of the world’s tropical glaciers, has lost more than half of its area due to climate change, the Ministry of Environment said Thursday. To wit, the glaciers have receded by 1,348 square kilometers (520 square miles) since 1962, according to the latest measurements, the National Institute of Glacier and Ecosystem Research reported. Mount Pastoruri, which at some 5,250 meters (17,200 feet) in the northern Ancash region is […]

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Madagascar heatwave rooted in human-caused climate change: study

A prolonged heatwave that hit Madagascar in October would not have occurred without human-caused climate change, a scientific study said on Thursday. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said the heatwave in the Indian Ocean island, which affected millions of people, “would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change”. The study by 13 researchers looked at three variables to investigate the heatwave: the island’s average temperatures over October and the seven-day minimum […]

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Ay Karumba: ‘Smelly’ rats plague Australian fishing towns

Plagues of “bold as hell” rats have overrun tropical fishing towns in northern Australia, where residents are clearing piles of “smelly” dead rodents off the beach every morning. The native long-haired rats have been steadily marching towards the coast after a bumper wet season in inland Australia, spreading hundreds of kilometres in their hunt for new crops to nibble on. Now they have reached the gulf towns of Karumba and Normanton in the state of […]

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Iguana invasion: Thailand rounds up rogue reptiles

Thailand has captured more than 150 rogue iguanas that were rampaging through the countryside, raiding farms and damaging the local environment, officials said. The lizards are not native to the kingdom, hailing originally from Central and South America, but are increasingly popular as pets in Thailand. Environmental concerns have been raised over the activities of the herbivorous lacertilians, which are thought to be pets that have either escaped or been deliberately released into the wild. […]

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Iceland may spray water on lava to save town

Icelandic authorities on Wednesday said they were considering pumping water onto any lava that spews out if a volcanic eruption threatens the evacuated town of Grindavik. Authorities would use the water to cool and divert the flow of lava to protect the fishing port of 4,000 people on Iceland’s southern Reykjanes peninsula. Residents were ordered out on November 11 after magma shifting under the Earth’s crust caused hundreds of earthquakes — a warning of a […]

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Toyota ad rapped as ‘irresponsible’ to the environment

LONDON, Nov 22, 2023 (AFP) – Britain’s advertising watchdog on Wednesday said it had banned an advert for a Toyota 4×4 vehicle because it promoted “irresponsible behaviour” towards the environment. The paid-for post on Facebook and poster ad for the Japanese firm’s Hilux sports utility vehicle showed a line of SUVs driving off road in a cloud of dust before joining a tarmacked road. A complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that […]

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