Vietnam floods (Picture credit: AP) HANOI: The death toll from a week of flooding and record rains in central Vietnam rose to 40 on Tuesday, authorities said, as another powerful storm threatened the battered region.Vietnam’s central belt has been deluged by torrential rain turning streets into canals, bursting riverbanks and inundating some of the country’s…
Global leaders are set to gather in New Delhi on November 3-4 for the 17th GRIHA Summit, themed ‘Innovate to Act for a Climate Resilient World’, to drive scalable climate solutions for India’s built environment.Organised by the GRIHA Council, the summit will feature over 50 eminent speakers across four plenary and four technical sessions, along…
Satellite image of Hurricane Melissa (Image credits: AP) WASHINGTON: Hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, was made four times more likely because of human-caused climate change, a rapid analysis said Wednesday.Warming caused mainly by burning fossil fuels increased both the likelihood and intensity of the devastating Category…
NEW DELHI: A new UN report, released on Wednesday, warned that the developing countries will need at least $310-365 billion per year by 2035 for taking various adaptation measures to protect lives, livelihood, and economies from the impact of climate change, but the current financing lags far behind at around $26 billion (2023 values) —…
NEW DELHI: A new UN report assessing countries’ latest climate action pledges on Tuesday said the current commitments of these nations would collectively reduce global carbon emissions by 11% by 2030 and about 17% by 2035 from the 2019 levels. Though this would be the first-ever climate action-linked decline, the extent of the fall would…
It’s the darkest time of the year. You’re out walking, the sun has already gone down. Suddenly, out of the shadows, a black cat darts across your path. If you’re superstitious, you might draw back uneasily, after all, black cats are seen by many as a sign of impending bad luck, especially if the cat…
Wildfire in Veiga das Meas (Image credits: AP) From heart attacks and heat exhaustion to mental health problems and the spreading of tropical diseases, the climate crisis is threatening more and more people worldwide, according to a report published Tuesday. The 128 leading scientists behind the Lancet Countdown Report warn that the consequences of rising…
SYDNEY: High above Sydney’s beaches, drones seek one of the world’s deadliest predators, scanning for the flick of a tail, the swish of a fin or a shadow slipping through the swell.Australia’s oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human.Undeterred, Australians flock to the…
PARIS: The UN estimated Tuesday that nations’ carbon-cutting pledges imply a far-from-sufficient 10-percent emissions cut by 2035, cautioning that it was unable to provide a robust global overview after most countries failed to submit their plans on time.With just days to go before tense COP30 climate talks in Brazil, UN Climate Change provided an emissions…
What to know about uncontacted Indigenous peoples and efforts to protect them (Image credits: AP) BOGOTA: From the depths of Brazil’s Amazon to Indonesia’s rainforests, some of the world’s most isolated peoples are being squeezed by roads, miners and drug traffickers, a crisis unfolding far from public view or effective state protection. A new report…
Brazil’s government greenlights oil drilling near mouth of Amazon River ahead of UN climate summit. (Photo credit: AP) SAO PAULO: Brazilian authorities said Friday they have made progress in solving the housing shortage for attendees of the upcoming UN climate conference, while also defending a recent decision to allow exploratory drilling in the Amazon. Both…
LAGOS: Nnimmo Bassey, a prominent figure in the decades-long environmental struggles in Africa’s largest oil-producing country, will next month attend yet another UN climate summit, this time in Brazil.“Unfortunately!” smiles the Nigerian 67-year-old, who harbours little hope for the outcomes of this “ritual” in which states participate “while knowing that nothing serious will come of…
China’s rare golden monkeys debut at European zoos (Photo credit: AP) BEIJING: With their distinctive shaggy orange manes, pale blue faces and dense fur covering their hands and feet, it’s hard to mistake China’s endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys for any other animal.These rare and charismatic monkeys, unique to the frigid mountains of central China, have…
A young boy walks amongst red crabs during their annual migration (Image credits: AP) The annual red crab migration has begun on Christmas Island, with as many as 100 million crabs emerging from the forest and moving toward the ocean.The mass movement started after the first seasonal rains arrived last weekend, sending the crabs on…
Representative Image (Image credits: AP) What’s colorless, odorless, is the main component of natural gas and traps massive amounts of heat in the atmosphere?The answer is methane or CH4. Over a 20-year timescale, methane traps around 84 times as much heat as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is released by burning fossil fuels and is probably…
Image used for representative purposes only. (Photo credit: AP) What’s colorless, odorless, is the main component of natural gas and traps massive amounts of heat in the atmosphere?The answer is methane or CH4. Over a 20-year timescale, methane traps around 84 times as much heat as carbon dioxide (CO2), which is released by burning fossil…
Rescuers evacuate a resident as floods rise due to Typhoon Bualoi (Image credits: AP) MANILA: Another tropical storm barreled across Philippine islands Friday, causing at least four deaths and new evacuations of tens of thousands of people from landslide, and flood-prone villages long battered by typhoons. Bualoi, which has weakened since making landfall overnight, was…
Cheetah ‘Mukhi’ (Image credit: Kuno National Park) NEW DELHI: India’s cheetah reintroduction programme will notch a historic first on Monday when Mukhi, a female cub born at Kuno National Park, becomes the country’s first India-born cheetah to reach adulthood- a crucial milestone in creating a self-sustaining population.“Mukhi, a female cub born to Namibian cheetah Jwala…
UNITED NATIONS: China has for the first time made specific emission cut pledges, though its goal of reducing planet-warming greenhouse gases just seven to 10 percent by 2035 is seen as far too modest.But Beijing has often under-promised and over-delivered, analysts say, and its pledge offers a path towards more ambitious efforts to tackle climate…
HAYWARDS HEATH: Deep underground beneath the Sussex countryside in southern England, millions of seeds are kept frozen in a vault built to withstand fire, flooding, and any other disaster. The Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew holds more than 2.5 billion wild plant seeds from around 40,000 species. The seeds are stored…
