Tag: impact
Increasing ocean temperatures present ‘existential threat’ with knock-on effects for ecosystems and commercial fisheries, researchers say.Continue readingDecline of more than 500 species of marine life on Australian reefs ‘the tip of the iceberg’, study finds
A new report released by the Somalian government suggests that far more children died in the country last year due to the ongoing drought than previously realised. Half of the deaths…Continue readingDrought caused 43,000 ‘excess deaths’ in Somalia last year, half of them young children
The new study showed a significant increase in emissions from boreal fires over the past two decades. Things were particularly dramatic in 2021, when they comprised a record 23% of global…Continue readingExtreme wildfires are turning the world’s largest forest ecosystem from carbon sink into net-emitter
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said: “Since the source of energy is green, the products that will be produced later in the Industrial Park Area are also green products, products with…Continue readingIndonesia breaks ground on $2.6bn Mentarang Induk hydropower project
Natural History Museum scientists say plasticosis, which scars digestive tract, likely to affect other types of bird too.Continue readingNew disease caused by plastics discovered in seabirds
Oil companies plan to pump crude oil from Lake Albert, Uganda to the coast of neighbouring Tanzania, with the goal of producing 1.4bn barrels over the next two decades. But the…Continue readingCounting the cost of Uganda’s east Africa oil pipeline – in pictures
The University of Melbourne study estimated that 11,105 people die prematurely from transport emissions, many more than past figures.Continue readingCar pollution kills more Australians than crashes, new research finds
Far more tiny particles now come from tyres than are emitted from exhausts.Continue readingHealth impact of tyre particles causing ‘increasing concern’, say scientists
Scientists studying the Permian-Triassic mass extinction find ecosystems can suddenly tip over.Continue readingEcosystem collapse ‘inevitable’ unless wildlife losses reversed
Analysis says hundreds of animals are contaminated with dangerous compounds linked to cancer and other health problems.Continue readingAlarming toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in animals’ blood – study
Parts of Earth’s ice sheets that could lift global oceans by meters will likely crumble with another half degree Celsius of warming, and are fragile in ways not previously understood, according…Continue readingClimate, ice sheets & sea level: the news is not good
António Guterres calls for urgent action as climate-driven rise brings ‘torrent of trouble’ to almost a billion people.Continue readingRising seas threaten ‘mass exodus on a biblical scale’, UN chief warns
Oxford University-led study detects 26 types of PFAS compounds in ice around Svalbard, threatening downstream ecosystems.Continue readingAlarming levels of PFAS in Norwegian Arctic ice pose new risk to wildlife
Australian scientists say the animals unlikely to be able to change nesting behaviour enough to mitigate temperature rises.Continue readingSea turtles under threat from warming seas and hotter beaches, research suggests
Dead whales and tough economics bedevil Biden’s massive wind energy push.Continue readingDead whales and tough economics bedevil Biden’s massive wind energy push
A sharp spike in Greenland temperatures since 1995 showed the giant northern island 2.7˚F (1.5˚C) hotter than its 20th-century average, the warmest in more than 1,000 years, according to new ice…Continue readingNew ice core analysis shows sharp Greenland warming spike
The people of the Hawizeh marshes of southern Iraq have an ancient history living in the world’s most unique and biodiverse wetlands. The region has been reduced to near-desert as a…Continue reading‘It used to be like heaven’: the Iraq wetlands decimated by the climate crisis – in pictures
Environment ministers’ decisions spanning 15 years made no difference to amount of habitat destroyed, researchers say.Continue readingSystem to protect Australia’s threatened species from development ‘more or less worthless’, study finds
Using the new measurements of land elevation, Vernimmen and co-author Aljosja Hooijer found coastal areas lie much lower than older radar data had suggested. Analyses of the new lidar-based elevation model…Continue readingWorst impacts of sea level rise will hit earlier than expected, says modeling study
The most recent decade surveyed in a study, the years 2001 to 2011, was the warmest in the past 1,000 years, and the region is now 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than…Continue readingGlobal warming reaches central Greenland
Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating.Continue readingRevealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows
In 1900, approximately 80% of the elements humans used came from biomass (wood, plants, food, etc.). That figure had fallen to 32% by 2005, and is expected to stand at approximately…Continue readingHumans plunder the periodic table while turning blind eye to the risks of doing so, say researchers
Study also says eating one serving of fish with PFAS could be equivalent to drinking contaminated water every day for a month.Continue readingFreshwater fish more contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ than in oceans
Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays living on world’s coral reefs at risk, with 14 of 134 species reviewed critically endangered. “These sharks and rays have evolved over 450m years and…Continue reading‘Extinction crisis’ of sharks and rays to have devastating effect on other species, study finds
It’s lost 73% of its water and is unable to sustain some wildlife – and could soon negatively affect human health.Continue reading‘Last nail in the coffin’: Utah’s Great Salt Lake on verge of collapse
Researchers found that unlogged forested areas are generally carbon neutral, but that moderately and heavily logged tropical forest areas are a carbon source. They estimate an average carbon source of 1.75…Continue readingForests recovering from logging act as a source of carbon
Without global heating, such warm temperatures would be expected only once every five centuries, Met Office says.Continue readingUK’s record hot 2022 made 160 times more likely by climate crisis
Half of the world’s glaciers – frozen reservoirs supplying three-quarters of the global water supply – could “disappear” by the end of the century under 1.5˚C of warming, a study concludes.…Continue readingHalf of world’s glaciers to ‘disappear’ with 1.5˚C of global warming
A minimal [sea level] rise of another 2 feet (0.6 metres) is projected from now through 2100, though the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses an intermediate rise of 4.65 feet (1.4…Continue readingClimate change is coming for the Jersey Shore, retiring coastal expert warns
Researchers say there has been a dramatic drop in particular in the number of female bears and cubs in Hudson Bay.Continue readingCanada polar bears declining at alarming rate, study finds
Scientists say loss may be as significant as ‘insectaggedon’ in terms of impact on soil, birds and ecosystems.Continue readingEarthworms may have declined by a third in UK, study reveals
Scientists behind car number plate study say ‘potentially catastrophic’ decline must be reversed.Continue readingFlying insect numbers plunge 64% since 2004, UK survey finds
Conservation groups warn not enough is being done to protect ecosystems as state government data shows more than 400,000ha of land was cleared in 2019-20.Continue readingCalls for tougher regulations as Queensland, Australia records highest rate of land clearing in country
Vast tracts of countryside transformed into barren wasteland, decimated crops and animal herds and children dying of starvation. The grim reality confronting drought-stricken east Africa is a frightening portent of what…Continue readingHorror of a hotter world on stark display in parched East Africa
The Arctic is getting wetter and rainier Arctic precipitation is on the rise across all seasons, and these seasons are shifting. As sea ice rapidly declines, more open water is exposed,…Continue readingArctic Report Card
It was when the US Bureau of Indian Affairs built schools in Alaska, as part of an effort to assimilate Indigenous peoples into white culture, that the community was forced to…Continue readingAlaska Native community relocates as climate crisis ravages homes
Devastating floods this [northern hemisphere] summer and fall [autumn] displaced 1.5 million Nigerians and killed 612. In all of West Africa, more than 800 people died. Researchers have determined that human-caused…Continue readingClimate change made deadly floods in West Africa 80 times more likely
Scientists attempting to replicate a 1964 survey of freshwater bivalves in a stretch of the Thames near Reading found striking results, as native mussel populations had crashed by almost 95%. One…Continue readingNative mussel numbers down almost 95% since 1960s
Illegal and unsustainable fishing, fossil fuel exploration, the climate crisis and disease are pushing marine species to the brink of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)…Continue readingMarine life hit by ‘perfect storm’ as red list reveals species close to extinction
“At the moment,” writes Warren Hern, “we are the most misnamed species on the planet: Homo sapiens sapiens—’wise, wise man.’ Not.” Hern, 84, physician and adjunct professor of anthropology at the…Continue readingHumanity devouring itself and the planet
More and more scientists are now admitting publicly that they are scared by the recent climate extremes, such as the floods in Pakistan and west Africa, the droughts and heatwaves in…Continue readingWhy scientists are using the word scary over the climate crisis
At the bottom of a crater in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 20,000 people work at a cobalt mine, in shifts of 5,000 at a time.Continue readingDR Congo’s faltering fight against illegal cobalt mines
The stresses of warming temperatures and forest losses are driving dozens of species of monkeys and lemurs that normally shelter and feed high in the tree canopy to spend more time…Continue readingAnthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions driving monkeys and lemurs from trees to the ground
Severe to exceptional drought conditions remain common in the West, which has been battling its driest period in the past 1,200 years. But the drought is now far more widespread, with…Continue readingNearly 82% of the U.S. is facing troubling drought conditions
“We are getting hotter, drier summers and wetter winters and that is making trees more susceptible to disease. Climate change is already having some really significant effects”, said Rob Stoneman, director…Continue readingDisease ravages UK’s fragile woodlands
More than 90% of the heat caused by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels is taken up by the ocean. 15 scientists carried out a review which…Continue readingOcean heat found to be accelerating and fuelling extreme weather
Human-driven climate change made the droughts that gripped large swaths of Europe, China and North America this year at least 20 times more likely, an international group of scientists has concluded.…Continue reading2022 droughts ‘virtually impossible without climate change’, study finds
Despite decades of social and environmental campaigns aimed at protecting the Amazon, the threats now are greater than they have ever been, thanks to the relentless expansion of activities such as…Continue readingLast stand in the Amazon
As Hurricane Ian barreled toward Florida this week, it did what six other storms did over the past six years as they approached the United States: It intensified, quickly. Since 2017,…Continue readingHow climate change is rapidly fueling super hurricanes
Nearly half of the planet’s bird species are in decline, according to a definitive report that paints the grimmest picture yet of the destruction of avian life. The State of the…Continue readingHalf of world’s bird species in decline as destruction of avian life intensifies
It was the river that is said to have watered the biblical Garden of Eden and helped give birth to civilisation itself. The Tigris’s course through Iraq begins in the mountains…Continue readingCradle of civilisation dying
Sprawling coastal cities in South and Southeast Asia are sinking faster than elsewhere in the world, leaving tens of millions of people more vulnerable to rising sea levels. Vietnam’s most-populous urban…Continue readingAsian coastal cities sinking fast
Colombia lost more than 174,000 hectares of woodland in 2021 — an area 30 times the size of Manhattan — with illegal clearances fuelling the surge. It was the country’s worst…Continue readingColombia’s battle against Amazon deforestation: ‘The jungle is disappearing’
This summer, heat waves struck Europe, North Africa, the U.S. and Asia with temperatures reaching over 40°C in places—breaking many long-standing records. Images from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission show the scale…Continue readingImage: UK heat wave
At least 10 people died and 4 were missing after an extraordinary thunderstorm sparked major flooding in central Italy. Prime Minister Mario Draghi confirmed the toll, while saying it could change,…Continue reading‘Like a waterfall’: deadly Italian storms spark climate debate
A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Horn of Africa, which is in the grip of its worst drought in at least four decades. More than 20 million people in Somalia,…Continue readingWhy East Africa’s Facing Its Worst Famine in Decades
The waters of the EU are in a “dismal” state, with only a third of fish populations studied in the north-east Atlantic considered to be in good condition, according to more…Continue readingEU slammed over failure to protect marine life from ‘destructive’ fishing
Caption for figure above: Grid-cell specific rankings of 22-yr negative soil moisture anomalies (drought rank) in 2000–2021 compared to the driest 22-yr period in each previous drought event back to year…Continue readingMegadrought in the American south-west: a climate disaster unseen in 1,200 years
Higher high tides, supercharged by rising sea levels, could flood all or parts of an estimated $34 billion worth of real estate along the nation’s coasts within just 30 years, a…Continue readingRising seas fueled by climate change to swamp $34 billion in US real estate in just 30 years
The latest assessment by risk company Verisk Maplecroft brings those two threats together to calculate that heat stress already poses an “extreme risk” to agriculture in 20 countries, including agricultural giant…Continue readingCountries growing 70% of world’s food face ‘extreme’ heat risk by 2045
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires has darkened skies over the Alaskan interior this summer with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season on record amid hot and dry…Continue reading‘Nothing left to burn’: Wildfires blaze through the Arctic
The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed…Continue readingWorld on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points
Amid blistering heat waves, brutal drought and widespread wildfires, Europe just notched its hottest summer in recorded history, new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows. It was the second…Continue readingEurope just had its hottest summer on record
The heat wave that’s been gripping California and other parts of the West for 10 days and counting is the most severe ever recorded in September, weather experts have said —…Continue readingNo September on record in the U.S. West has seen a heat wave like this