agriculture – Page 11 – Desdemona Despair

Projected changes in surface temperatures in the Alps, 2021-2050. The Alpine region experiences a higher temperature rise than peri-Alpine areas or at least that the temperature changes start earlier. Large parts of Bavaria, Lombardy and other regions depend on ecosystem services provided by the Alps. Decreasing quantities of water and a reduced reliability of supply will become major issues in the coming decades. This affects not only the drinking water supply but also agriculture, energy production, and industrial cooling demand. Graphic: FAU

October 29, 2022

Water woes loom in the Alps amid climate change – “Reduced quantities of water and limited reliability of water supply will be a major issue in the coming decades”

By Jamey Keaten 27 October 2022 BRIG, Switzerland (AP) – A battle is brewing around Europe’s rooftop over the planet’s most precious resource. The crystal-clear waters issuing from the Alps could become increasingly contested as the effects of climate change and glacier melt become more apparent. Italy wants them for crop irrigation in the spring […]

Map showing Biodiversity Intactness Index for the year 2020 at 0.25° resolution. The global average is 77 percent. Data: Natural History Museum, 2022. Graphic: WWF / ZSL

October 27, 2022

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 reveals devastating 69 percent average drop in wildlife populations since 1970 – “We have cut away the very foundation of life and the situation continues to worsen”

TORONTO, 12 October 2022 (WWF-Canada) – Monitored wildlife populations — mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish — have seen a devastating 69 per cent drop on average since 1970 according to WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022. The report highlights the stark outlook of the state of nature and urgently warns governments, businesses and the public to take […]

A satellite image shows a flooded road in Brewarrina, Australia, 15 October 2022. Photo: Maxar Technologies / REUTERS

October 24, 2022

Australia flood crisis enters third week as heavy rains lash east – Sydney records wettest year since 1858 – “The damage is horrific and extensive”

By Lewis Jackson and Renju Jose; editing by Kenneth Maxwell 24 October 2022 SYDNEY (Reuters) – Already-flooded towns across Australia’s east were on high alert on Monday after a weekend of heavy rains, with authorities warning a wild weather system could persist until later this week and trigger renewed riverbank bursts. Thousands of homes and […]

Smoke rises from a forest fire in the Transamazonica highway region, in the municipality of Labrea, Amazonas state, Brazil, 17 September 2022. Despite the smoke clogging the air of entire Amazon cities, state elections have largely ignored environmental issues. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is seeking a second four-year term against leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who ruled Brazil between 2003 and 2010. Photo: Edmar Barros / AP Photo

October 24, 2022

Worst Brazil forest fires in a decade, yet election silence – “Your administration is the one that has set biomes, forests, and my Pantanal wetlands on fire. Your administration favored miners and loggers and protected them. You, in this regard, were the worst president in Brazil’s history.”

By Fabiano Maisonnave 1 October 2022 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – September has come and gone, marking another painful milestone for the world’s largest rainforest. It’s the worst month for fire in the Amazon in over a decade. Satellite sensors detected over 42,000 fires in 30 days according to Brazil’s national space institute. It is […]

Water levels are low at San Luis Reservoir, which stores irrigation water for San Joaquin Valley farms, in Gustine, California, 14 September 2022. As climate change brings hotter temperatures and more severe droughts, cities and states around the world are facing water shortages as lakes and rivers dry up. Photo: AP Photo / Terry Chea

October 24, 2022

California wells run dry as drought depletes groundwater – “Most residents have had their wells for many years and all of a sudden the water stops flowing”

By Terry Chea 4 October 2022 FAIRMEAD, California (AP) – As California’s drought deepens, Elaine Moore’s family is running out of an increasingly precious resource: water. The Central Valley almond growers had two wells go dry this summer. Two of her adult children are now getting water from a new well the family drilled after […]

Aerial view of flooding in South Sudan following fourth year of historic rainfall, 18 October 2022. Photo: UNHCR

October 23, 2022

Devastation in South Sudan following fourth consecutive year of historic floods – Two-thirds of country experiencing flooding – More than 900,000 people directly impacted

21 October 2022 (UNHCR) – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urging international support for humanitarian efforts in South Sudan in the face of record-breaking rains and floods for a fourth consecutive year, and the threat of worse to come as the climate crisis accelerates. Two-thirds of the country is currently experiencing flooding. Over 900,000 […]

Aerial view of people arriving at a displacement camp in southern Somalia in late September 2022. Photo: Jerome Delay / AP Photo

October 23, 2022

Prolonged drought brings famine, death, and fear to Somalia – “We’d grieve, stop for a while, pray. We’d bury them beside the road.”

By Cara Anna 5 October 2022 DOLLOW, Somalia (AP) – A man in a donkey cart comes wheeling through the dust, carrying two small, silent boys. The sky is overcast. It could rain. It won’t. It hasn’t for a very long time. Mohamed Ahmed Diriye is 60 years old, and he’s completing the grimmest journey […]

A view of a fallow field and a dry irrigation canal in Palo Verde, California, U.S., 19 September 2022. Photo: Aude Guerrucci / REUTERS

October 23, 2022

California drought withers tomatoes, pushing grocery prices higher – “There’s just not enough water to grow everything that we normally grow”

By Nathan Frandino, Christopher Walljasper, and Aude Guerrucci 10 October 2022 FIREBAUGH, California (Reuters) – A lack of rain and snow in central California and restricted water supplies from the Colorado River in the southernmost part of the state have withered summer crops like tomatoes and onions and threatened leafy greens grown in the winter. […]

People walk on a street affected by the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Penuelas, Puerto Rico, 19 September 2022. Ricardo Arduengo / REUTERS

October 22, 2022

Five years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico’s power grid is still costly and unreliable – Puerto Rico struggles to recover after Hurricane Fiona razed crops

By Fred Imbert 22 October 2022 (CNBC) – When Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico in September, Felipe Pérez was ready. Pérez, the owner of local sandwich shop chain El Meson, equipped his stand-alone locations with power generators and water tanks in the event of a prolonged outage like the one after Hurricane Maria, the devastating […]

People walk through floodwaters after heavy rainfall in Hadeja, Nigeria, 19 September 2022. Officials in Nigeria say the death toll from this year's flooding has now risen to 603. Authorities have called the floods the country's worst in more than a decade, blaming the disaster on unusually heavy rainfall and the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighboring Cameroon. Photo: AP Photo

October 21, 2022

Millions of people at risk in Nigeria after worst floods in a decade – More than 1.3 million displaced – Cholera outbreak sickens 6,000 – 100,000 hectares of farmland underwater – Rains to continue through November – “This is a catastrophe indeed. All of these wrong things are happening at the same time.”

21 October 2022 (UN News) – More than 2.8 million people have been impacted by Nigeria’s worst floods in a decade, with 1.3 million displaced and hundreds of lives lost, said the UN chief on Friday, expressing his sadness at the devastation. Infrastructure and farmland have also been damaged, said the statement issued on behalf […]