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by Hector Velasco JARDIN, Colombia (AFP) — Like the more than 3,000 species of butterflies in Colombia, agronomist Juan Guillermo Jaramillo underwent his own metamorphosis several years ago, as his passion for photographing nature took an unexpected twist. The 65-year-old, who used to run an animal feed business, originally took photographs of birds, but he is now a key figure in the world of Colombian butterflies. Jaramillo is the co-author of an inventory that led […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrLaT1wyLaE Climate change and increasingly extreme weather events, have caused a surge in natural disasters over the past 50 years disproportionately impacting poorer countries, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) said on Wednesday. According to the agencies’ Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes, from 1970 to 2019, these natural hazards accounted for 50 per cent of all disasters, 45 per cent […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse Weather-related disasters have skyrocketed over the past half-century, causing far more damage even as better warning systems have meant fewer deaths, the UN said Wednesday. A report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) examined mortality and economic losses from weather, climate and water extremes between 1970 and 2019. It found that such disasters have increased fivefold during that period, driven largely by a warming planet, and warned […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s main elephant orphanage recorded a rare twin birth Tuesday as a 25-year-old named Surangi delivered healthy male calves. They are the first elephant twins born in captivity in Sri Lanka since 1941, according to elephant expert Jayantha Jayewardene. “Both the calves and the mother are doing fine,” Renuka Bandaranaike, head of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, told AFP. “The babies are relatively small, but they are healthy.” She said […]
by Ben Simon JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — As scientific warnings of dire climate change-induced drought grow, many in Israel and Jordan cast worried eyes at the river running between them and the critical but limited resources they share. This month the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed unequivocally that the climate is changing faster than previously feared, heaping pressure on finite water supplies even as demands grow greater than ever before. But experts say […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — From endangered freshwater dolphins drowned by discarded fishing nets to elephants scavenging through rubbish, migratory species are among the most vulnerable to plastic pollution, a UN report on the Asia-Pacific region said Tuesday, calling for greater action to cut waste. Plastic particles have infiltrated even the most remote and seemingly-pristine regions of the planet, with tiny fragments discovered inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean and […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Scientific experts sent to the Galapagos Islands to count a critically endangered lizard species estimate there to be just 211 pink iguanas left, local authorities said Friday. Around 30 scientists and Galapagos park rangers took part in the expedition this month on Wolf Volcano, in the north of Isabela Island — the largest on the archipelago. “In the census, 53 iguanas were located and (temporarily) captured, 94 percent of which live […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Up to 95 percent of Earth’s ocean surface will have changed by the end of the century unless humanity reins in its carbon emissions, according to research published Thursday. Ocean surface climates, defined by surface water temperature, acidity and the concentration of the mineral aragonite — which many marine animals use to form bones and shell — support the vast majority of sea life. The world’s seas have […]
CHIQUITOS, Bolivia (AFP) — Wildfires, mostly started intentionally, have scorched almost 600,000 hectares of land in eastern Bolivia already this year, authorities said. On Monday night there were 20 active fires in Santa Cruz state affecting seven protected areas. The government said 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) had burned in just two days. Most of the fires are in the forests of Chiquitania, a region that lies between the Amazon to the north, the plains of […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Rain fell at the highest point on Greenland’s ice sheet — possibly for the first time — in an event Danish scientists on Monday said was most likely driven by climate change. The rain was observed for several hours on August 14 at a measuring post more than 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) up on the sheet, the US Snow and Ice Data Center reported. For rain to fall, temperatures must be […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change made the deadly floods that devastated parts of Germany and Belgium last month up to nine times more likely, according to an international study published Tuesday. At least 190 people lost their lives in severe floods that pummelled western Germany in mid-July, and at least 38 people perished after extreme rainfall in Belgium’s southern Wallonia region. Using the growing speciality of attribution science, climate experts are […]
NEW YORK, Aug 22, 2021 (AFP) – New York City shut down on Saturday its star-studded concert meant to mark its “homecoming” in the wake of the pandemic’s worst devastation, over the threat of severe weather as Hurricane Henri churned closer. Barry Manilow, who was on a line-up that included Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Paul Simon, was cut off mid-song by a booming voice urging concert goers to proceed swiftly but calmly to the […]
