MOGADISHU, March 21: The record drought sweeping the Horn of Africa may lead to 135 deaths a day in Somalia between January and June this year, the health ministry, WHO and UNICEF said in a study released Monday.
MOGADISHU, March 21: The record drought sweeping the Horn of Africa may lead to 135 deaths a day in Somalia between January and June this year, the health ministry, WHO and UNICEF said in a study released Monday.
Since 1988 June 23rd, climate change has become a global issue. Climate change has made our earth very hot. Nowadays, some countries don’t even have winter. Climate change is not a joke. Approximately over 250,000 people die every year because of climate change.
Besides, climate change has worsened 12 diseases. Namely, Bird u, Babesiosis, Cholera, Ebola, Parasites, Lyme Disease, Plague, Red tides, Rift Valley Fever, Sleeping Sickness, Tuberculosis and Yellow fever.
Likewise, climate change is the main reason for global warming. Global warming has caused drought, more deserts, changes in precipitation, worse storms and less growing land.
Many health organizations, weather organizations and scientists are joining hands to prevent climate change.
Deforestation and wildfires have made climate change even more severe. Japan, the Philippines and Germany are the most affected countries by climate change.
Note: Minimize the use of non-renewable sources of energy by replacing them with their alternatives (renewable sources of energy). Don’t pollute the environment, make the world a better place. Don’t stay passive and just wait. Whether it is big or small, your action matters!
(Joochan, 10, is student at Kanjirowa National Secondary School.)
PARIS, June 20: Europe is facing a heatwave this week following an unusually early and intense heatwave coming from North Africa, with governments of many European countries issuing warnings to the public and instructions on how to "survive" it.
In France, monthly heat records were recorded in several cities, according to the Meteo Channel.
According to news daily Le Figaro, an absolute record for the Southwestern seaside city of Biarritz was recorded at 42.4 degrees Celsius, with an average of 35 degrees Celsius in other regions in France.
A total of 14 French departments were on heatwave red alert on Friday by the Meteo Channel, which then reduced the number to 11 for Saturday.
About three-quarters of the French population are affected by the orange and red heatwave alert.
On Saturday evening, the situation remains extreme, unprecedented, with exceptionally high temperatures never before observed so early in the season, Le Figaro reported.
The French government has also set up a "heat" line to help people in need in case of emergency.
Across the English Channel, Britain's Met Office on Friday issued a level-three warning, the second highest, for the heatwave in London, southeast and east England, as the temperature rose to 33 degrees Celsius, the highest since summer 2020.
The British Health Security Agency has issued a level-three heat-health alert across London, the southeast and east England, which requires social and healthcare services to target specific actions at high-risk groups.
Stephen Dixon, a Met Office spokesperson, told the media that temperatures in the early 30s were "not unprecedented but it is unusual to see temperatures this high this early in the year."
"What we've been noticing for the last few years is that even when we get these brief spells of heat, these bursts of heat from the South making our way ... they do tend to be really intense," meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker told the BBC Newscast podcast this week.
"We're going to be pushing the mid-30s, that is something that you are starting to see more frequently, so an indication of that climate perhaps shifting," he said.
The heatwave has also swept across Italy this week, sparking emergencies in at least four cities and putting half of the agricultural production in the north at drought risk.
An orange heat emergency, the second highest emergency level, was declared Friday in the northern cities of Brescia and Turin, as well as Florence and Perugia in central Italy. The most vulnerable, the elderly, children, the chronically ill, and pregnant women are advised to stay indoors during the hottest hours of the day.
Temperatures in some parts of the north topped 40 degrees Celsius on Friday.
The agricultural association Agricotori Italiani said as much as half of the agricultural production in northern Italy was now at risk due to drought conditions.
It said the precipitation volume in these areas so far this year was only half of last year's volume, and the caused damage is estimated at 1 billion euros (1.1 billion U.S. dollars).
According to Alberto Cirio, governor of the Piedmont region where Turin is located, the Po River, Italy's longest waterway crucial to agricultural irritation, is 72 percent below its normal water level.
He said some parts of the region had not reported any rain for more than 110 days, a situation that was exacerbated by a lack of snowfall in the winter months.
In Spain, temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius that have put 11 of Spain's 17 autonomous communities on orange alert for high temperatures, continue to fuel a series of wildfires that have destroyed around 13,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in several parts of northern Spain over the past three days.
Rescue services have reported fires in the communities of Catalonia, Navarra, Aragon and Castile-Leon, where a fire in the Meseta Iberica in Sierra de la Culebra hills in the province of Zamora has devastated 9,000 hectares.
The fire has also led to the evacuation of 650 people from their homes in several small towns, after being started by a lightning strike on Wednesday night.
Three further fires in Catalonia have so far destroyed 2,000 hectares, although the Catalan fire brigade warns that high temperatures and strong winds mean these fires have the potential to spread a lot more.
Over 1,200 hectares of woodland have also been burned close to the city of Zaragoza in Aragon, after strong overnight winds helped to double the size of the fire, which began on Thursday.
These fires are taking place in the context of the worst June heatwave in over 20 years, which has lasted for a week and is expected to continue until at least Sunday.
One of the hottest Junes on record followed the driest May since records began and Spanish state TV network, RTVE reported on Wednesday that 19,000 hectares of land had already been destroyed by wildfires in 2022. This is twice the damage caused in the same period in 2021, and the damage has increased considerably in the past 48 hours.
Meanwhile, reservoirs in Spain are at an average of 48 percent capacity, which is 10 percent down on 2021 and 20 percent lower than the average for the last 10 years.
Asked about the cause of the heatwave, Clare Nullis, from the World Meteorological Organization, said although it was only mid-June, temperatures were more typical of those witnessed in Europe in July or August.
"In some parts of Spain and France, temperatures were more than 10 degrees Celsius higher than the average for this time of year. This was combined with drought in many parts of Europe," she said.
According to Nullis, because of climate change, heatwaves were starting earlier and were becoming more frequent and more severe because of record concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
"What we were witnessing today was a foretaste of the future," she warned.
The number wintering along California’s central coast is bouncing back after the population, whose presence is often a good indicator of ecosystem health, reached an all-time low last year. Experts pin their decline on climate change, habitat destruction and lack of food due to drought.
GENEVA, Oct. 6: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), warned on Tuesday that climate change increases the global risk of water-related hazards like floods and droughts, and the number of people affected by water scarcity is also expected to soar.
In its new report entitled "The State of Climate Services 2021: Water," the WMO says that 3.6 billion people globally had inadequate access to water at least one month per year in 2018, and by 2050 this number is expected to exceed five billion. "The situation is worsening by the fact that only 0.5 percent of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater," the report says.
The WMO's data show that water-related hazards have increased in frequency over the past 20 years. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134 percent compared with the two previous decades, while during the same period the number and duration of droughts also increased by 29 percent.
Most drought-related deaths occurred in Africa, indicating a need for stronger end-to-end warning systems for drought in that region. Most of the flood-related deaths and economic losses were recorded in Asia, while Africa was hit the most by drought-related deaths. "Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes, leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, with a major impact on food security and human health and well-being," says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
Last year saw a continuation of extreme water-related events, which displaced millions of people and killed hundreds across Asia, while in Africa more than two billion people still live in water-stressed countries and suffer lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation, according to the WMO chief.
Underlining the important role of water resources management in reducing water-related disasters, the WMO recommends that countries, especially small island developing states and least developed countries, increase investment in integrated water resources management and in drought and flood early warning systems.
The WMO also urges countries to fill the capacity gap in collecting data for basic hydrological variables, which underpin climate services and early warning systems, and national level stakeholders to co-develop and operationalize climate services with information users to better support adaptation in the water sector.
"We request the world to continue their humanitarian aid to Afghans. The people of Afghanistan still need assistance and cooperation from the world," said Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the new Taliban government.
KABUL, September 15: Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting foreign minister of the new Taliban government, on Tuesday urged the international community to continue providing assistance to the Afghan people.
"We request the world to continue their humanitarian aid to Afghans. The people of Afghanistan still need assistance and cooperation from the world," Muttaqi told reporters.
"We appeal from all countries, which were involved in assisting Afghans in fields of education, health, refugees, and the struggle against the drought, to continue their support in the mentioned fields," he said.
They should not combine the "humanitarian issues with the political issues," he said.
He also urged all foreign aid workers who left Afghanistan before the Taliban's takeover of the capital Kabul on Aug. 15 or in recent weeks to return to the country.
"There is no war and clashes in Afghanistan. All Afghans and foreigners holding legal documents who left Afghanistan, can return without any fears. They can restart their operations in every field and provide services. Security and safety will be ensured for all aid workers," he said.
Aug 9: Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released on Monday.
Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Scientists are also observing changes across the whole of Earth’s climate system; in the atmosphere, in the oceans, ice floes, and on land.
Many of these changes are unprecedented, and some of the shifts are in motion now, while some - such as continued sea level rise – are already ‘irreversible’ for centuries to millennia, ahead, the report warns.
But there is still time to limit climate change, IPCC experts say. Strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, could quickly make air quality better, and in 20 to 30 years global temperatures could stabilize.
'Code red for humanity'
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Working Group's report was nothing less than "a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable".
He noted that the internationally-agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels of global heating was "perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold, is by urgently stepping up our efforts, and pursuing the most ambitious path.
"We must act decisively now, to keep 1.5 alive."
The UN chief, in a detailed reaction to the report, said that solutions were clear. "Inclusive and green economies, prosperity, cleaner air and better health are possible for all, if we respond to this crisis with solidarity and courage", he said.
He added that ahead of the crucial COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November, all nations - especially the advanced G20 economies - needed to join the net zero emissions coalition, and reinforce their promises on slowing down and reversing global heating, "with credible, concrete, and enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)" that lay out detailed steps.
Human handiwork
The report, prepared by 234 scientists from 66 countries, highlights that human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2,000 years.
In 2019, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were higher than at any time in at least 2 million years, and concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide were higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years.
Global surface temperature has increased faster since 1970 than in any other 50-year period over at least the last 2,000 years. For example, temperatures during the most recent decade (2011–2020) exceed those of the most recent multi-century warm period, around 6,500 years ago, the report indicates.
Meanwhile, global mean sea level has risen faster since 1900, than over any preceding century in at least the last 3,000 years.
The document shows that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for approximately 1.1°C of warming between 1850-1900, and finds that averaged over the next 20 years, global temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5°C of heating.
Time is running out
The IPCC scientists warn global warming of 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century. Unless rapid and deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades, achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement “will be beyond reach”.
The assessment is based on improved data on historical warming, as well as progress in scientific understanding of the response of the climate system to human-caused emissions.
“It has been clear for decades that the Earth’s climate is changing, and the role of human influence on the climate system is undisputed,” said IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair, Valérie Masson-Delmotte. “Yet the new report also reflects major advances in the science of attribution – understanding the role of climate change in intensifying specific weather and climate events”.
Extreme changes
The experts reveal that human activities affect all major climate system components, with some responding over decades and others over centuries.
Scientists also point out that evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and their attribution to human influence, has strengthened.
They add that many changes in the climate system become larger in direct relation to increasing global warming.
This includes increases in the frequency and intensity of heat extremes, marine heatwaves, and heavy precipitation; agricultural and ecological droughts in some regions; the proportion of intense tropical cyclones; as well as reductions in Arctic sea ice, snow cover and permafrost.
The report makes clear that while natural drivers will modulate human-caused changes, especially at regional levels and in the near term, they will have little effect on long-term global warming.
A century of change, everywhere
The IPCC experts project that in the coming decades climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons.
At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes are more likely to reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health.
But it won’t be just about temperature. For example, climate change is intensifying the natural production of water – the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions.
It is also affecting rainfall patterns. In high latitudes, precipitation is likely to increase, while it is projected to decrease over large parts of the subtropics. Changes to monsoon rain patterns are expected, which will vary by region, the report warns.
Moreover, coastal areas will see continued sea level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion.
Extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.
The report also indicates that further warming will amplify permafrost thawing, and the loss of seasonal snow cover, melting of glaciers and ice sheets, and loss of summer Arctic sea ice.
Changes to the ocean, including warming, more frequent marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and reduced oxygen levels, affect both ocean ecosystems and the people that rely on them, and they will continue throughout at least the rest of this century.
Magnified in cities
Experts warn that for cities, some aspects of climate change may be magnified, including heat, flooding from heavy precipitation events and sea level rise in coastal cities.
Furthermore, IPCC scientists caution that low-likelihood outcomes, such as ice sheet collapse or abrupt ocean circulation changes, cannot be ruled out.
Limiting climate change
“Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions. Limiting other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, especially methane, could have benefits both for health and the climate,” highlights IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair Panmao Zhai.
The report explains that from a physical science perspective, limiting human-induced global warming to a specific level requires limiting cumulative carbon dioxide emissions, reaching at least net zero CO2 emissions, along with strong reductions in other greenhouse gas emissions.
“Strong, rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions would also limit the warming effect resulting from declining aerosol pollution”, IPCC scientists underscore.
MARTADI, June 27: Muktikot village of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-1 in Bajura has suffered food shortage. The prolonged drought and COVID-19 crisis led to the emergence of food crisis in the village.
Local Bal Bahadur BK said the village is home to around 400 Dalit families and they are struggling to meet their daily food requirements.
They are out of work due to COVID-19 crisis. “We have neither job nor food,” he said. India is the labour destination for a majority of youths in the village. But with the outbreak of second wave of the pandemic, they returned homes and are staying idle. The local production is sufficient to the requirement just for a month. They rely on market for almost throughout the year, according to locals.
Muktikot is gripped by the food crisis and malnutrition is the common health issue among children here, according to Swamikartik Rural Municipality information officer Kuber Shahi. Children, pregnant and aged people are the most affected. Malnutrition is one of the reasons for the child mortality rate in the village.
The village has not got any support from the federal and province governments yet. The Poor House Hold Identity Board’s-2072 report states that 75 percent households in Swamikartik fall below the poverty line. Out of 2,185 households, 1,038 are living with absolute poverty, the report shows.
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