Tag: climate

UN issues hunger alert for Haiti, Sahel and Sudan

ROME, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – Haiti, the Sahel and Sudan now rank among the UN’s highest alert areas for food insecurity, requiring “urgent” action from the international community, food agencies warned Monday. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen remain at the highest alert level. And now Haiti, the Sahel — Burkina Faso and Mali — and the Sudan join them, […]

Shanghai swelters through hottest May day in 100 years

SHANGHAI, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – Shanghai recorded its hottest May day in more than 100 years on Monday, the city’s meteorological service announced, shattering the previous high by a full degree. Scientists say global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with many countries experiencing deadly heatwaves and temperatures hitting records across Southeast and South Asia in recent weeks. “At 13:09, the temperature at Xujiahui station hit 36.1 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking a 100-year-old […]

Dangerous slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation sooner than expected

PARIS, May 26, 2023 (AFP) – Climate change-driven shifts in the circulation of waters to the deepest reaches of the ocean around Antarctica, which could reverberate across the planet and intensify global warming, are happening decades “ahead of schedule”, according to new research. Scientists have said that an acceleration of melting Antarctic ice and rising temperatures, driven by the emission of planet-warming gases, is expected to have a significant effect on the global network of […]

Solar investment outshines oil: IEA

By Catherine Hours and Richard Lein Agence France-Presse PARIS, France, May 25, 2023 (AFP) — Investment in solar power is expected to overtake oil for the first time this year as clean energy spending outpaces that for fossil fuels, the IEA said in a report Thursday. While that is a welcome development, the International Energy Agency warned that investment in fossil fuels is rising when it should be falling fast to achieve net zero emissions […]

US states reach agreement to save dwindling Colorado River

  By Huw GRIFFITH Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Western US states said Monday they have reached an agreement to cut the amount of water they take from the dwindling Colorado River, which is threatened by a quarter of a century of drought and worsening climate conditions. The plan comes after years of bitter wrangling, with states refusing to give ground even as the water course has reached crisis point, threatening drinking […]

Asia heatwaves made 30 times more likely by climate change: study

NEW DELHI, May 17, 2023 (AFP) – Climate change made record-breaking deadly heatwaves in Bangladesh, India, Laos and Thailand last month at least 30 times more likely, according to a study published Wednesday. Parts of India saw temperatures above 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in mid-April, with at least 11 deaths near Mumbai attributed to heat stroke on a single day. In Bangladesh, Dhaka suffered its hottest day in almost 60 years. The city of […]

Next five years set to be hottest period ever: UN

GENEVA, May 17, 2023 (AFP) – It is near-certain that 2023-2027 will be the warmest five-year period ever recorded, the United Nations warned Wednesday as greenhouse gases and El Nino combine to send temperatures soaring. There is a two-thirds chance that at least one of the next five years will see global temperatures exceed the more ambitious target set out in the Paris accords on limiting climate change, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said. […]

Water woes shake up Spain’s election campaign

By Valentin BONTEMPS Agence France-Presse DOÑANA NATIONAL PARK, Spain, May 17, 2023 (AFP) – Concern over the future of Spain’s Donana natural park, which is threatened by overfarming, has made water management a key issue ahead of local elections at the end of May. Spain’s water resources are becoming exhausted while its irrigation needs keep rising, “an unsustainable situation”, said Felipe Fuentelsaz of WWF Spain. The Donana National Park in the southern Andalusia region, home […]

New study quantifies link between climate crisis, wildfires

  By Issam AHMED Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, May 16, 2023 (AFP) – In a first, US climate scientists have quantified the extent to which greenhouse gasses from the world’s top fossil fuel companies have contributed to wildfires. Their analysis, published Tuesday in Environmental Research Letters, found that carbon dioxide and methane emissions from the so-called “Big 88” firms were responsible for more than a third of the area scorched by forest blazes in western North […]

Category 5 Cyclone Mocha hits Myanmar, Bangladesh

KYAUKTAW, Myanmar, May 14, 2023 (AFP) – Cyclone Mocha crashed through Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday, sparing sprawling refugee camps but bringing a storm surge to swathes of western Myanmar where communications were largely cut off. Mocha made landfall between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Myanmar’s Sittwe packing winds of up to 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour, in the biggest storm to hit the Bay of Bengal in over a decade. By late […]

Temperature in Singapore soars to 40-year high: officials

SINGAPORE, May 14, 2023 (AFP) – Singapore reported its highest temperature in 40 years on Saturday, officials said, as a blistering heatwave burns through large parts of South and Southeast Asia. Saturday’s temperature of 37 degrees Celsius was the highest this year, and matches the record for a daily peak recorded in April 1983, the National Environment Agency said on Facebook. “The current warm and dry conditions are expected to continue tomorrow,” the agency said […]

Vietnam warns heatwaves to strain power supply

HANOI, May 10, 2023 (AFP) – Vietnam’s state electricity company warned on Wednesday that the national power system would come under strain this summer due to anticipated heatwaves, days after the country recorded its highest ever temperature. Temperatures surpassed 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in central Vietnam over the weekend, according to national forecasters, breaking a previous high set in 2019. State utility EVN said in a statement that demand for electricity in the […]