Indonesia – Page 5 – Desdemona Despair

A fitness instructor accidentally caught part of Myanmar's military coup unfolding on camera in the country's capital, Naypyitaw. Aerobics teacher Khing Hnin Wai posted the footage to Facebook on Monday morning (1 February 2021), in the background, a convoy of armoured cars can be seen streaming by, suggesting all is not as it seems. At the time, the Myanmar army was in the process of detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders from her party National League for Democracy. Video: Khing Hnin Wai / BBC News

March 7, 2021

Militaries are getting better at overthrowing elected governments – “Coups over the last decade or so have a far higher success rate than in previous periods”

By Joshua Kurlantzick 25 February 2021 (The Washington Post) – Early this month, Myanmar’s armed forces took control of the country. Moving overnight, they detained most leading politicians and many civil-society activists, barricaded roads, cut off Internet access, arrested people in the darkness, and made an announcement of the coup on state television. In the […]

The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020 - a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia, University of Exeter and the Global Carbon Project. It means that in 2020 fossil CO2 emissions are predicted to be approximately 34 GtCO2, seven per cent lower than in 2019. Emissions from transport account for the largest share of the global decrease. Those from surface transport, such as car journeys, fell by approximately half at the peak of the COVID lockdowns. Total CO2 emissions from human activities - from fossil CO2 and land-use change - are set to be around 39 GtCO2 in 2020. Video: UEA

December 12, 2020

COVID lockdown causes record drop in carbon dioxide emissions for 2020

11 December 2020 (UEA) – The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020 – a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Exeter, and the Global Carbon Project. The fall is considerably larger than previous significant decreases […]

View of air pollution in Moscow, Russia on 6 August 2010 and 20 April 2020. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova / Niklas Halle'n / AFP / Getty Images

April 26, 2020

Before-and-after photos show dramatic decline in air pollution around the world during coronavirus lockdown

By Sophie Lewis 22 April 2020 (CBS News) – As humans continue to stay indoors under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Earth is slowly healing. Wild animals have taken to roaming the streets, clear waters have returned to the Venice canals and the world is literally shaking less. With billions of people quarantined and businesses closed, travel has all but […]

Coastal erosion encroaches on a house in Happisburgh, Norfolk, UK. Photo: Philip Bird, LRPS CPAGB / Shutterstock

March 21, 2020

15 towns being slowly swallowed by the sea – Coastal communities fighting a losing battle with the ocean

4 March 2020 (Love Property) – Positioned on the frontline of climate change, the world’s most vulnerable shoreline communities face an uncertain future. Plagued by ever-worsening coastal erosion and rising sea levels, their existence hangs precariously in the balance. As the tide continues to draw in, take a look at 15 towns being gradually reclaimed […]

Indonesians wade through flood water on a street in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, 25 February 2020. Overnight rains caused rivers to burst their banks in greater Jakarta sending muddy water into residential and commercial areas, inundating thousands of homes and paralyzing parts of the city's transport networks, officials said. Photo: Tatan Syuflana / AP Photo

March 4, 2020

Thousands caught in floods in Indonesia’s sinking capital – More rain expected for the next two weeks – Disaster agency head resigns

By Niniek Karmini 25 February 2020 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Floods that have crippled much of Indonesia’s capital worsened Tuesday, inundating thousands of homes and buildings, including the presidential palace, and paralyzing transport networks, officials and witnesses said. Overnight rains caused more rivers to burst their banks in greater Jakarta starting Sunday, sending muddy water […]

A boy plays on a phone after the flood in Bekasi, Indonesia, on 3 January 2020. Photo: Sijori Images / Barcroft Media / Getty Images

January 14, 2020

Flooding in Jakarta is the worst for over a decade, more rainfall expected – “It was like the end of the world”

9 January 2020 (The Economist) – “It was like the end of the world,” says Nurhayati, dabbing her eyes with the hem of her hijab. On December 31st swollen clouds emptied over Indonesia’s capital, dumping 377 millimetres of rain in one day. That is the most since records began in 1886, according to the state […]

GHG emissions in GtCO2e materials production by material and by the first use of materials. In 2015, the production of materials caused GHG emissions of approximately 11.5 GtCO2e, up from 5 GtCO2e in 1995. The largest contribution stems from bulk materials production, such as iron and steel, cement, lime and plaster, other minerals mostly used as construction products, as well as plastics and rubber. Two thirds of the materials are used to make capital goods, with buildings and vehicles among the most important. While the production of materials consumed in industrialized countries remained within the range of 2–3 GtCO2e, in the 1995–2015 period, those of developing and emerging economies have largely been behind the growth. In this context, it is important to keep in mind the discussion about the point of production and points of consumption. Graphic: UNEP

November 26, 2019

World must cut carbon emissions by 7.6 percent every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target – “It is very disturbing that in spite of the many warnings, global emissions have continued to increase and do not seem to be likely to peak anytime soon”

GENEVA, 26 November 2019 (UNEP) – On the eve of a year in which nations are due to strengthen their Paris climate pledges, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report warns that unless global greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to […]

Permanent inundation surfaces predicted by CoastalDEM and SRTM given the median K17/RCP 8.5/2100 sea-level projection. Locations include (a) the Pearl River Delta, China; (b) Bangladesh; (c) Jakarta, Indonesia; and (d) Bangkok, Thailand. Low-lying areas isolated from the ocean are removed from the inundation surface using connected components analysis. Current water bodies are derived from the SRTM Water Body Dataset. Gray areas represent dry land. Axis labels denote latitude and longitude. Graphic: Kulp and Strauss, 2019 / Nature Communications

November 5, 2019

Flooded Future: New elevation maps triple estimates of global risk from sea-level rise and coastal flooding – “By 2100, land now home to 200 million people could sit permanently below the high tide line”

29 October 2019 (Climate Central) – Sea level rise is one of the best known of climate change’s many dangers. As humanity pollutes the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, the planet warms. And as it does so, ice sheets and glaciers melt and warming sea water expands, increasing the volume of the world’s oceans. The consequences […]

Conservationists from Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation hold a baby orangutan rescued along with its mother during a rescue and release operation for orangutans trapped in a swath of jungle destroyed by forest fires in Sungai Mangkutub, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo: Quartz

September 18, 2019

Global demand for palm oil drives fires in Indonesia – “Palm oil plantations make a wasteland out of paradise”

By Zoë Schlanger 18 September 2019 (Quartz) – The smoke wafting from fires in the tropical forests of Indonesia—forming plumes big enough to blot out the sky in Malaysia and Singapore—is a reminder of a global supply chain run amok. Whereas the devastating fires burning in the Amazon rainforest were set largely for cattle ranches that feed the […]

Satellite view of smoke from forest fires in Indonesia, from 3 September 2019 to 12 September 2019. Photo: NASA Worldview

September 13, 2019

Thousands pray for rain in Indonesia as forests go up in smoke – “We’re doing everything we can, now we pray to Allah for the rain”

By Gayatri Suroyo and Jessica Damiana 11 September 2019 JAKARTA (Reuters) – Thousands of Indonesians prayed for rain in haze-hit towns on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo on Wednesday, as forest fires raged at the height of the dry season, the state Antara news agency reported. Fires have burnt through parts of Sumatra and […]