Tag: climate

Sea level projected to rise a foot on US coasts by 2050

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US coastline is expected to experience up to a foot (30 centimeters) of sea-level rise by the year 2050 because of climate change, making damaging floods far more common than today, a US government study said Tuesday. The Sea Level Rise Technical Report combined tide gauge and satellite observations with climate modeling from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to make projections for the next 100 years. […]

Climate-boosted drought in western US worst in 1,200 years

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – The megadrought that has parched southwestern United States and parts of Mexico over the last two decades is the worst to hit the region in at least 1,200 years, researchers said Monday. Human-caused global heating accounts for more than 40 percent of the dry spell’s intensity, they reported in the journal Nature Climate Change. “The turn-of-the-21st-century drought would not be on a megadrought trajectory without anthropogenic […]

US envoy Kerry presses Mexico on climate, energy

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – US climate envoy John Kerry called Wednesday for an “open and competitive” energy market in Mexico, where planned energy reforms have alarmed foreign investors and environmentalists alike. Washington has stepped up pressure on Mexico over President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s push to boost the state’s role in the energy industry — moves critics say favor fossil fuels over renewable energy. Meeting with Lopez Obrador and other top officials in the […]

Germany taps Greenpeace chief Morgan as first climate envoy

by Michelle FITZPATRICK Agence France-Presse FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday named former Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan as her special climate envoy, as part of a pledge to put the battle against global warming “at the top” of the diplomatic agenda. US-born Morgan, 55, co-leader of Greenpeace International since 2016, will be the first person to hold the newly created role in Europe’s top economy. The eye-catching appointment comes as […]

Climate hope as scientists in UK set fusion record

by Charles ONIANS Scientists in Britain announced Wednesday they had smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, hailing it as a “milestone” on the path towards cheap, clean power and a cooler planet. Nuclear fusion is the same process that the sun uses to generate heat. Proponents believe it could one day help address climate change by providing an abundant, safe and green source of energy. A team at the Joint European Torus (JET) […]

France summit seeks action on ocean protection

PARIS, France (AFP) – World leaders, scientists and major companies gather in France this week to boost efforts to protect the oceans, which cover 70 percent of the planet but receive far less attention than land ecosystems. The One Ocean Summit in the northwestern port city of Brest on February 9-11 seeks to raise the international community’s ambitions to protect sealife, cut plastic pollution and tackle the impact of climate change. The world’s five connected […]

‘Denial and delay’: Big Oil rebuked in US Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – US climate scientists accused four of the world’s largest oil companies Tuesday of lying about the harms linked to their industry and trying to delay the switch to cleaner fuel. American multinationals ExxonMobil and Chevron, as well as Britain’s BP and Shell, are being investigated by the US Congress for their role in spreading misinformation about climate change. Michael Mann, an academic, told the House oversight committee the companies […]

Mozambique to plant 100 million trees on battered coast

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – Mozambique, whose coastline has been ravaged by rising sea levels and tropical storms, announced plans on Tuesday to plant over 100 million trees to restore its battered mangroves. Large portions of mangroves along the country’s 2,500-kilometre-long (1,500-mile-long) coastline have been decimated by high seas and the harvesting of firewood for charcoal. The Ministry of Sea and Inland Waters said it plans to plant up to a 100 million trees over […]

Livelihoods lost as climate disaster woes mount in Kenya

by Raphael AMBASU, with Hillary ORINDE in Nairobi Agence France-Presse MARSABIT, Kenya (AFP) – Dabaso Galgalo is now used to the smell and grisly spectacle of rotting flesh festering in the scorching heat as Kenya reels from a spate of climate disasters. Surrounded by barren scrubland littered with withered carcasses of sheep and goats, the 56-year-old pastoralist is struggling to keep his beloved animals, and himself, alive. What was left of his herd after a months-long […]

Mountain glaciers hold less ice than thought, and that’s bad news

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Mountain glaciers shrinking due to climate change are less voluminous than previously understood, putting millions who depend on them for water supply at risk, researchers reported Monday. Glaciers in the Andes Mountains of South America, for example, were found to store 23 percent less fresh water compared to earlier estimates, they wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience. Bolivia’s largest city La Paz, with more than two […]

Ecuador capital flooding toll raised to 28

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) – The heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in two decades claimed 28 lives in the capital Quito this week and left 52 people injured, the city’s mayor said Sunday. The floods inundated homes, carried off cars and swept away volleyball players and spectators on a sports field. Rescuers are still searching for a missing 38-year-old woman who lived in the popular La Comuna neighborhood. Rain that drenched Quito for 17 straight hours […]

Cyclone Batsirai kills six, displaces tens of thousands in Madagascar

by Adele Dhayer Cyclone Batsirai killed at least six people and displaced nearly 48,000 when it struck Madagascar overnight, the national disaster management agency said on Sunday. Cyclone Batsirai weakened overnight but not before wreaking havoc in the poor Indian Ocean island nation which is still reeling from a deadly tropical storm earlier this year. The eastern district of Mananjary was lashed with heavy rains and wind before the cyclone made landfall, forcing local residents […]