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OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Two environmental groups said on Monday they were trying to take the Norwegian state to the Supreme Court for granting oil licenses in the Arctic. Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth) say oil drilling licenses granted to companies in 2016 should be cancelled because they violate Norway’s constitution, which includes a right to a healthy environment. They say emissions from oil activities and fossil fuels jeopardize the objectives of […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Nearly 90 percent of the 200 cities beset by the world’s highest levels of deadly micro-pollution are in China and India, with most of the rest in Pakistan and Indonesia, researchers reported Tuesday. Taking population into account, Bangladesh emerged as the country with the worst so-called PM2.5 pollution, followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and India, according to the 2019 World Air Quality Report, jointly released by IQAir Group […]
By Ben PERRY Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Having backed Britain’s proposed high-speed railway HS2, Boris Johnson is under pressure to keep his pledge to scrap plans for a third runway at London Heathrow airport as climate fears intensify. Prime Minister Johnson, who wants big infrastructure projects to help drive Britain’s post-Brexit economy, said earlier this month that the country would shortly begin full construction work on HS2, dismissing soaring costs. The project, while […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Nearly 900,000 pangolins are believed to have been trafficked across Southeast Asia in the past two decades, a wildlife watchdog said Thursday, highlighting the challenge in tackling the illicit trade. As the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal, the creatures are targeted for their body parts which are highly valued in traditional medicine in countries including China and Vietnam, and their meat is seen as a delicacy. Also known as the […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia set up a national inquiry Thursday into its month-long bushfire crisis that affected three in four Australians and prompted widespread criticism of the government for its sluggish response to the blazes. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the vast scale of the fires — which killed more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes — required a new response from the bushfire-prone nation. The Royal Commission inquiry will be […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Three in four Australians — almost 18 million people — were affected by the country’s deadly bushfire crisis, according to a survey released Tuesday that also pointed to plummeting support for the government and for coal projects. The Australian National University study showed the vast human scale of the five-month crisis, which killed more than 30 people and destroyed thousands of homes. “Nearly every Australian has been touched by these fires […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — His company is often criticized for its environmental record, but Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world’s richest man, said Monday that he was committing $10 billion to a new fund to tackle climate change. In a post to his 1.4 million followers on Instagram, the e-commerce tycoon said the Bezos Earth Fund would “fund scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve […]
by Catherine Lai and Sam REEVES SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — From an emissions-reducing model jet that looks like something from a sci-fi movie to electric aircraft and sustainable fuel, the aviation industry is ramping up efforts to go green as consumer pressure grows. In an era when teen climate activist Greta Thunberg opts to travel on an eco-friendly boat and “flight-shaming” is all the rage in her native Sweden, air travel’s reputation has never looked […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — The global cost of air pollution caused by fossil fuels is $8 billion a day, or roughly 3.3 percent of the entire world’s economic output, an environmental research group said on Wednesday. The report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Greenpeace Southeast Asia is the first to assess the global cost of air pollution specifically from burning oil, gas and coal. “We […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Heavy rain has given hope to Australia’s drought-stricken regions, but scientists warned Tuesday sustained falls were needed to end a years-long dry spell. Stormy weather has brought days of chaos and destruction in the country’s east, with one man missing after his car was swept off a road in Sydney’s north and hundreds more rescued from floodwaters. In the small town of Stanthorpe, Queensland, Tracy Dobie said the rain had been […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change has contributed to a sharp drop in bumblebee populations across North America and Europe in recent decades, scientists said Friday. Compared to the period 1900-1974, bumblebee numbers across dozens of distinct species dropped, on average, 46 percent during the first 15 years of the 21st century in Canada and the United States. In Europe, the corresponding decline of the pollinators was 17 percent, they reported in […]
KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) — A locust infestation sweeping the Horn of Africa reached Uganda on Sunday, a government minister said as the prime minister convened an emergency meeting to address the pest invasion. “The locusts entered Uganda today” from Kenya, said Moses Kizige, the minister in charge of the northeastern Karamoja border region where the insects were spotted. The locusts have devastated food supplies in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, with the Food and Agriculture Organization […]
