Environment

India leads world in pollution linked deaths: study

India leads the world in pollution-linked deaths followed by China and Nigeria, according to a report published Wednesday that estimated the global impact of contaminants in the air, water and workplace. The report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) found pollution to be the largest environmental cause of premature death on the planet, causing 15 percent of all deaths — some 8.3 million people. Among the ten countries with the most pollution […]

Australia beats hottest day record by full degree

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia set a record for its hottest day ever for a second straight day, with an average national maximum temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 Fahrenheit), a full degree higher than the previous mark, officials said Thursday. The Bureau of Meteorology said the new nationally averaged maximum was reached Wednesday, topping the 40.9 degrees hit Tuesday, which beat the previous record of 40.3 C in January 2013. As the heatwave […]

Toxic Sydney bushfire haze a ‘public health emergency’

  by Holly ROBERTSON Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s biggest city is facing a “public health emergency” over the bushfire smoke that has choked Sydney for weeks, leading doctors warned Monday after hospitals reported a dramatic spike in casualty department visits. Hundreds of climate change-fuelled bushfires have been raging across Australia for months, with efforts to contain a “mega-blaze” burning north of Sydney destroying an estimated 20 homes overnight and fires near […]

UN chief calls climate summit a ‘lost opportunity’

by Marlowe HOOD / Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse Madrid, Spain (AFP) — A major climate summit wrapped up in Madrid Sunday with a compromise deal that left little to show, prompting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to lament a “lost opportunity” to act. Almost a fortnight of COP25 talks just squeezed out hard-earned compromises from countries over a global warming battle plan that fell well short of what science says is needed to tackle the […]

The upside-down world of UN climate diplomacy

  by Marlowe Hood  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Given the stakes — the survival of civilization, no less — it didn’t seem unreasonable to expect 196 nations gathered in Madrid to forge a global warming action plan to declare, in clear and simple language, that they would do a bit more, do a little better. COP25’s final declaration, for example, could have called on countries to foreshadow — preferably before the end of next year […]

Tropical Indonesia’s tiny glaciers to melt away in a decade: study

by Dessy Sagita and Peter Brieger Agence France-Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries. As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises. Thousands of kilometres […]

Greenland ice loss faster than expected

by Bryan McManus Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The melting of Greenland’s massive ice sheet is happening much faster than expected and could put millions more people at risk by the end of the century, scientists warned Tuesday. Up to three kilometres thick (two miles) in some places, Greenland has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, enough on its own to add 10.6 millimetres (1.06 centimetres, 0.4 inches) to sea levels, according […]

Climate concerns put Austria glacier project on thin ice

SANKT LEONHARD IM PITZTAL, Austria (AFP) — In his office nestled in Austria’s snow-capped Pitztal valley, Eberhard Schultes is among those pushing to expand the region’s skiing sector — but environmentalists alarmed about the region’s vanishing glaciers are pushing back. Schultes is the managing director of the Pitztaler Gletscherbahnen mountain lift company, which is trying to win approval for a new ski area to connect the Pitztaler glacier to the neighbouring Oetztal formation. Even though […]

Last 10 years hottest decade in history, UN says as emissions rise again

  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — This decade is set to be the hottest in history, the United Nations said Tuesday in an annual assessment outlining the ways in which climate change is outpacing humanity’s ability to adapt to it. The World Meterological Organization said global temperatures so far this year were 1.1 degrees Celsius (two degrees Farenheit) above the pre-industrial average between 1850-1900. That puts 2019 on course to be in the top three warmest […]

Tens of thousands rally in Europe, Asia before UN climate summit

  by Isabelle LE PAGE with Andrew BEATTY in Sydney Agence France Presse Tens of thousands of protesters, primarily in Europe and Asia, hit the streets on Friday to make a fresh call for action against global warming, hoping to raise pressure on world leaders days before a UN climate summit. Carrying signs that read “One planet, one fight” and “The sea is rising, so must we”, thousands flocked to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate for the […]

Revised data shows deforestation in Brazil Amazon at decade high

BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Thursday released revised statistics showing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest surpassed 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles) in the year to July 2019, the highest in more than a decade. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said last week that satellite data showed 9,762 square kilometers were cleared of trees in the 12-month period, an increase of 29.5 percent. This week’s revised statistics released by the INPE show […]

The eagles have landed: Singapore shows off rare Philippine raptors

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore showed off two critically-endangered eagles Wednesday that were loaned from the Philippines as part of a breeding program to reverse the dwindling numbers of the feathered giants. Destruction of tropical rainforest and relentless hunting have decimated the population of the Philippine Eagle — one of the world’s biggest and most powerful birds whose wingspan can reach 2 meters (7 feet) — with only around 800 believed left in the wild, […]