Prevalence of undernourishment (left axis) Number of undernourished (right axis), 2005-2023. After rising sharply from 2019 to 2021, the proportion of the world population facing hunger persisted at virtually the same level for three consecutive years, with the latest estimates indicating a global PoU of 9.1 percent in 2023. In terms of population, between about 713 and 757 million people (8.9 and 9.4 percent of the global population, respectively) were estimated to be undernourished in 2023. Considering the mid-range estimate (733 million), about 152 million more people may have faced hunger in 2023 compared to 2019. Graphic: FAO

Hunger numbers stubbornly high for three consecutive years as global crises deepen: UN report – The world has been set back 15 years, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those in 2008-2009 – 1 in 11 people worldwide faced hunger in 2023, 1 in 5 in Africa

30 September 2024 (World Bank) – Domestic food price inflation remains high in many low- and middle-income countries. Inflation higher than 5 percent is experienced in 77.3 percent of low-income countries (18.2 percentage points higher since the last Update on June 27, 2024), 54.3 percent of lower-middle-income countries (8.7 percentage points lower), 44% of upper-middle-income […]

Glaciologist at ETH Zurich and Head of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) Matthias Huss check his equipment on the Rhone glacier amid climate change in Obergoms, Switzerland, 27 August 2024. Photo: Denis Balibouse / REUTERS

Swiss glacier melt exceeds average in 2024 after hot summer – “This will be a disaster for Swiss glaciers”

By Denis Balibouse and Cecile Mantovani 1 October 2024 ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss glaciers melted at an above-average rate in 2024 as a blistering hot summer thawed through abundant snowfall, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Tuesday. Earlier this year, glaciologists had celebrated heavy winter and spring snow dumps in the Alps, hoping this would signal […]

Aerial view of the flooded city center in Glucholazy, southern Poland, 16 September 2024. Photo: AFP / Getty Images

Entire Polish city of 44,000 asked to evacuate as Storm Boris floods wreak havoc – Death toll from floods in Europe rises to at least 16 – “If you were here, you would cry instantly because people are desperate”

By Stuti Mishra 17 September 2024 (The Independent) – Thousands of residents in a Polish city have been ordered to evacuate as floods triggered by Storm Boris continue to wreak havoc across central Europe. The mayor of Nysa, Kordian Kolbiarz, issued the evacuation order on Monday, urging all 44,000 residents to seek higher ground due […]

A man gets in his car in Dione to flee looming flames as huge wildfires bear down on the Greek capital of Athens on 12 August 2024. Photo: Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

Wildfires engulf Greek mountain as they approach capital – People flee 80-foot flames near Athens as they spread “like lightning” – “It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded”

PENTELI, Greece, 12 August 2024 (AFP) – Thick grey smoke engulfed Mount Pentelicus that dominates Athens on Monday as the Greek capital battled the infernal fallout from what promises to be its hottest summer on record. A 30-kilometre (20-mile) long line of fires, some with flames more than 25 metres (80 feet) high, was moving […]

Production of selected salts in Mt/year for (a) the world and (b) the United States. Graphic: Graphic: Kaushal, et al., 2023 / Nature Reviews Earth and Environment

Humans are disrupting natural “salt cycle” on a global scale

31 October 2023 (University of Maryland) – The influx of salt in streams and rivers is an ‘existential threat,’ according to a research team led by a UMD geologist. The planet’s demand for salt comes at a cost to the environment and human health, according to a new scientific review led by University of Maryland Geology Professor Sujay Kaushal. Published […]

June global surface air temperature anomalies, 1979-2024. This graph shows global-mean surface air temperature anomalies relative to 1991-2020 for each June from 1979 to 2024. June 2024 marked the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures, and the 12th in a row above 1.5°C with respect to pre-industrial. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Copernicus Climate Change Service / ECMWF

June 2024 sizzled to 13th straight monthly heat record – “It’s not that records are being broken monthly but they are being shattered by very substantial margins over the past 13 months”

By Seth Borenstein 7 July 2024 (AP) – Earth’s more than year-long streak of record-shattering hot months kept on simmering through June, according to the European climate service Copernicus. There’s hope that the planet will soon see an end to the record-setting part of the heat streak, but not the climate chaos that has come […]

A polar bear cools down in ice that was brought to its enclosure on a hot and sunny day at the Prague zoo, Czech Republic, Wednesday, 10 July 2024. Photo: Petr David Josek / AP Photo

Sizzling heat wave in parts of southern and central Europe prompts alerts – “It’s hell outside”

By Jovana Gec 11 July 2024 BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Weather alerts, forest fires, melting pavement in cities: A sizzling heat wave has sent temperatures in parts of central and southern Europe soaring toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some places. From Italy to Romania, authorities warned people to be cautious, drive carefully if […]

Summary age-specific annual percent change (i.e., local drift) and birth cohort rate ratios of colorectal cancer incidence rates in the United States. A) Local drift: summary age-specific annual percent change for colon and rectal cancer. B) Incidence rate ratios by birth cohort for colon and rectal cancer (referent cohort = 1949). Shaded bands indicate 95 percent confidence interval. Graphic: Siegel, et al., 2017 / Journal of the National Cancer Institute

Cancer is striking more young people, and doctors are alarmed and baffled – “We have to find out why. Otherwise, the progress we have made in the last 50 years may stall or reverse.”

By Brianna Abbott 11 January 2024 (The Wall Street Journal) – Meilin Keen was studying for the bar exam and preparing to move to New York City last June when she started throwing up blood. Keen, 27 years old, learned days later that she has gastric cancer. She postponed the bar exam. Brain fog from […]

Map showing surface air temperature in Africa, Europe, Southwest Asia, and India on 25 June 2024. Heat waves rolled through parts of Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia, leaving vulnerable populations at risk. Data: GEOS data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Graphic: Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

In the grip of global heat – Early Summer 2024 heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere have been fierce

By Adam Voiland 28 June 2024 (NASA) – It’s only the beginning of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere, but Earth is already roasting. Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently reported that May 2024, the hottest May in NASA’s global surface temperature analysis, marked a full year of record-high monthly temperatures. Likewise, NOAA recently reported that January through […]

Global number of extreme wildfires, 2003-2023. The analysis of satellite data showed the number of extreme fires had risen by more than 10 times in the past 20 years in temperate conifer forests, such as in the western U.S. and Mediterranean. Data: Cunningham, et al., Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2024. The most extreme wildfires are in the top 0.1 percent of fires by radiative power, identified from 21 years of satellite data. Graphic: The Guardian

Climate crisis driving exponential rise in most extreme wildfires – Frequency of extreme events doubled from 2003 to 2023 – “This is the effect of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, so action is urgent”

By Damian Carrington 24 June 2024 (The Guardian) – The climate crisis is driving an exponential rise in the most extreme wildfires in key regions around the world, research has revealed. The wildfires can cause catastrophic loss of human life, property and wildlife and cause billions of dollars of damage. Scientists say this is climate […]

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