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by Qassim Khidir Agence France-Presse ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — Delband Rawanduzi spoke softly to her oak seedlings, as if willing them to grow fast and repopulate forests in Iraqi Kurdistan depleted by war, illegal logging and fires. Over the next five years, the 26-year-old aims to plant one million oaks — resilient trees that can endure both the cold of northern Iraq and the dry spells of one of the world’s hottest countries. Her plan […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Toyota will pay $180 million to settle charges it failed to comply with rules mandating that auto companies report problems with vehicle emissions to authorities, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday. “Toyota pays the price for its misconduct with a $180 million civil penalty and agreement to injunctive relief to ensure that its violations will not be repeated,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark said in a […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change may contribute more to greater child malnutrition and poor diet than traditional causes such as poverty and poor sanitation, according to research published on Thursday. Although childhood malnutrition has decreased globally over the past several decades, undernourishment has increased since 2015, in part due to warming temperatures and extreme weather. The United Nations says 144 million children under five were affected by stunting in […]
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 43 million hectares of forest — an area bigger than Germany — have been lost in a little over a decade in just a handful of deforestation hotspots, conservation organisation WWF said Wednesday. Swathes of forest continue to be flattened each year — mainly due to industrial-scale agriculture — as biodiversity-rich areas are cleared to create space for livestock and crops. Analysis by WWF […]
by Natalia Cano Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico’s ban on single-use plastic in its capital, one of the world’s most populous metropolises, has delighted environmentalists but dismayed some businesses struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Home to around nine million people, Mexico City generates about 13,000 tons of solid waste every day. The new rules, which are being phased in, ban the use of disposable plastic items such as cutlery, plates, […]
by Kelly Macnamara Agence France-Presse Households in Europe and North America are flooding the oceans with plastic pollution simply by washing their clothes, scientists said Tuesday after research found the majority of microplastics in Arctic seawater were polyester fibres. Plastic particles have infiltrated even the most remote and seemingly-pristine regions of the planet. These tiny fragments have been discovered inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean — the Mariana Trench — peppering Arctic […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Available freshwater is on track to decline sharply across two-thirds of Earth’s land surface toward the end of the century mostly due to climate change, with the number of people exposed to extreme drought doubling, researchers have reported. Even under a scenario of moderate decline in greenhouse gas emissions, land area scorched by extreme to exceptional drought conditions increases from three to seven percent, […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The first Philippine eagle bred in captivity in an effort to save one of the world’s most endangered birds has died from infections, conservationists said Friday. The raptor named “Pag-asa” or “Hope” was hatched in 1992 at a sanctuary run by the Philippine Eagle Foundation on the outskirts of the southern city of Davao. Pag-asa would have turned 29 next week. The Philippines’ national bird, known for its elongated nape feathers […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, announced Sunday the launch of an eco-city “with zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions” at its futuristic NEOM mega development. The $500 billion NEOM project, set to be built from scratch along the kingdom’s picturesque Red Sea coast, is billed as a development evocative of a sci-fi blockbuster. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans for a city, dubbed “THE LINE”, in […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump’s administration auctioned off 11 oil leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, in a last-ditch move to expand drilling in the areas coveted by some petroleum producers before he leaves office. Major oil companies however sat out bidding for tracts in the environmentally sensitive area, and nine of the leases went to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state agency, while […]
BANYUWANGI, Indonesia (AFP) — Newly hatched, dozens of baby turtles flipped and flopped their way down a beach towards the crashing waves of the Indian Ocean, under the watchful gaze of conservationists at an Indonesian national park. Small enough to fit into the palm of a hand, some ended up on their backs, wriggling their tiny flippers helplessly as they tried to get back on track. But the conservationists did not interfere, as they wanted […]
KAMPUNG SEMENTEH, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysian villagers were evacuated in an excavator while others swam through deep waters Wednesday as the number forced from their homes by floods rose to more than 28,000 with at least four dead. Flooding hits the country’s east coast during the rainy season annually and regularly results in mass evacuations, but people in some areas say this year’s are the worst in decades. The worst-hit state is Pahang, where over […]
