Europe – Page 10 – Desdemona Despair

Map showing the Rainfall Accumulation Anomaly in the Horn of Africa during the 2010-2011, 2016-2017, and 2020-2022 droughts. Communities in the Horn of Africa are in the midst of a likely fifth consecutive failed rainy season — with the October-December 2022 rains beginning poorly and forecasts indicating they are likely to underperform — and may face a sixth failed season in March-May 2023. The October-December 2020, March-May 2021, October-December 2021 and March-May 2022 seasons were all marred by below-average rainfall, leaving large swathes of Somalia, southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, and northern and eastern Kenya facing the most prolonged drought in recent history, while the March-May 2022 rainy season was the driest on record in the last 70 years. The 2020-2022 drought has now surpassed the horrific droughts in 2010-2011 and 2016-2017 in both duration and severity and will continue to deepen in the months ahead, with catastrophic consequences. Data: USGS FEWS NE (Africa CHIRPS Anomaly 3-Monthly, MAM and OND). Graphic: OCHA

December 23, 2022

UNICEF: More than twenty million children suffering in Horn of Africa as drought intensifies – Two million people displaced internally, 9.5 million livestock dead – “We fled hunger, but hunger followed us here”

NAIROBI, 22 December 2022 (UNICEF) –The number of children suffering dire drought conditions across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia has more than doubled in five months, according to UNICEF. Around 20.2 million children are now facing the threat of severe hunger, thirst and disease, compared to 10 million in July, as climate change, conflict, global inflation, and grain […]

Median real (CPIH-adjusted) hourly employee pay (2022 prices) by cohort in the UK, 1975-2020. Generational pay progress has stalled for those born after 1980. Graphic: Resolution Foundation

December 23, 2022

Intergenerational audit for the UK in 2022 – “Decades of low pay growth, higher housing costs, and high and rising intergenerational wealth inequality means the young entered this crisis with low levels of financial resilience”

14 November 2022 (Resolution Foundation) – Our fourth Intergenerational Audit – part of the ESRC-funded Connecting Generations partnership – provides an analysis of economic living standards across generations in Britain. In so doing, it analyses the latest data across four domains: In each of these domains, we assess how different people of different ages and birth […]

Proportion of climate survey respondents in Norway who expressed they were concerned or unconcerned about climate change, 2017-2021. Respondents ranked how concerned they were about climate change on a scale from 1 to 4. Since 2017, nearly 3000 young people aged 17 to 20 participated in the survey. Graphic: Haugseth, et al., 2022 / Sociology

December 21, 2022

Greta Thunberg effect evident among Norwegian youth – Thunberg says she’s ready to hand over megaphone – “We should also listen to reports and experiences from people who are most affected by the climate crisis”

By Ingebjørg Hestvik 9 December 2022 (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) – Since 2017, nearly 3000 young people aged 17 to 20 have shared in their own words what they consider important in Norwegian society, and whom they regard as good role models. The survey showed a clear shift in Norwegian youth in autumn […]

Photo portrait of economist Nouriel Roubini. Photo: Charlie Bibby / Financial Times

December 20, 2022

Financial Times interview with economist Nouriel Roubini, aka “Dr. Doom” – “I think that really the world is on a slow-motion train wreck”

By Henry Mance 18 December 2022 (Financial Times) – Nouriel Roubini is gloomy, and it’s not just that he arrived in London on a red-eye flight and couldn’t get a table at Nobu. It’s not even conventional economic worries. It’s everything: a confluence of problems, old and new. “I think that really the world is […]

Satellite view of the Chibayish marshes in Iraq before and after drying from extended drought. Photo: Planet Labs

December 20, 2022

Politics, climate conspire as Tigris and Euphrates dwindle – “Life has ended here”

By Samya Kullab 18 November 2022 DAWWAYAH, Iraq and ILISU DAM, Turkey (AP) – Next year, the water will come. The pipes have been laid to Ata Yigit’s sprawling farm in Turkey’s southeast connecting it to a dam on the Euphrates River. A dream, soon to become a reality, he says. He’s already grown a […]

Map showing nations where journalists were killed or imprisoned during 2022. The IFJ released the latest figures ahead of International Human Rights Day, recording 67 killings of journalists and media staff in the line of duty in 2022 compared to 47 last year - a reversal of the decline recorded in recent years. Graphic: IFJ

December 20, 2022

67 journalists killed so far in 2022 – “The surge in the killings of journalists and other media workers is a grave cause of concern and yet another wake up call for governments across the globe to take action in the defence of journalism, one of the key pillars of democracy”

9 December 2022 (IFJ) – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today renewed its call on the international community for concrete action to protect the safety and freedoms of journalists as it recorded a spike in the numbers of journalists killed or imprisoned during 2022. The vote on the IFJ Convention on the Safety and […]

Sea surface temperature anomalies in the Mediterranean Sea on 19 June 2022. Graphic: European Union / Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

December 17, 2022

Europe’s 2022 heatwave may have caused more than 20,000 “excess” deaths – “I consider this the most impactful heatwave since 2003”

By Juliette Portala 24 November 2022 (Reuters) – Summer heatwaves in France, Germany, Spain, and Britain led to more than 20,000 “excess” deaths, a report compiling official figures said on Thursday. Temperatures hit nearly 40 degrees Celsius or above from Paris to London in 2022 and climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found […]

Hoof prints left by Camargue bulls mark a section of pasture encrusted with salt on the Raynaud ranch in Camargue, southern France, 23 September 2022. As soil salt levels rise due to drought and reduced river flow from the Rhone River, the land traditionally used by bull breeders like the Raynaud family is becoming more and more difficult to maintain as a suitable pace to raise animals. Photo: Daniel Cole / AP Photo

December 10, 2022

In southern France, drought, rising seas threaten traditions – “The sea level rises on our coast and takes more and more of our land”

By Daniel Cole 30 October 2022 SAINTES-MARIE DE LA MER, France (AP) – In a makeshift arena in the French coastal village Aigues-Mortes, young men in dazzling collared shirts come face-to-face with a raging bull. Surrounded by the city’s medieval walls, the men dodge and duck the animal’s charges while spectators let out collective gasps. […]

Police monitor a protest opposing COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, in Montreal, on Wednesday, 7 December 2022. Photo: Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press

December 10, 2022

Monbiot: The US is a rogue state leading the world toward ecological collapse – “It’s a cliff edge”

By George Monbiot 9 December 2022 (The Guardian) – There are two extraordinary facts about the convention on biological diversity, whose members are meeting in Montreal now to discuss the global ecological crisis. The first is that, of the world’s 198 states, 196 are party to it. The second is the identity of those that aren’t. Take a […]

60-year-old Abdullahi Hassan watches over four of his grandchildren in a shelter where he and his family of eight lives and sleep in November 2022. The shelter is located in a camp for the displaced on the outskirts of Luuq, Somalia. They had been at the camp for two weeks, having left home when rain didn't come and all their livestock was wiped out. Photo: Lily Martin / CBC

December 5, 2022

From Ukraine to Yemen, UN seeks record $51.5 billion for “shockingly high” aid needs – “The humanitarian response system is being tested to its limits”

By Emma Farge 1 December 2022 GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations and partners on Thursday appealed for a record $51.5 billion in aid money for 2023, with tens of millions of additional people expected to need assistance, testing the humanitarian response system “to its limits”. The appeal represents a 25% increase on 2022 and […]