Breakdown of total fossil fuel support in PIDG, 2002-2018, by sub-sector ($USD). Data: Source: Private Infrastructure Development Group Annual Report 2018. Graphic: Global Witness

Obscure investment fund uses UK aid money to finance fossil fuel projects – “A farcical situation where the Government, on one hand, spends aid money to mitigate climate change, and on the other hand finances fossil fuels all over the world”

6 February 2020 (Global Witness) – We are at the beginning of a year of climate spin by the British Government. This year, the UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. While the Government claims to be a ‘climate leader’, we reveal how a little-known investment group funded by the […]

Desert Locust swarm in Kenya. Photo: FAO

Rare cyclones spawn massive locust swarms in East Africa

By Dharna Noor 3 February 2020 (Gizmodo) – East Africa is currently plagued with locust swarms of biblical proportions, but these swarms aren’t the act of an angry god. According to UN scientists, they may be a result of the human-caused climate crisis. Hundreds of millions of these spooky creatures are flying across East Africa. […]

Total world fertility rates and median age by region, 1955-2030. Data: UN population projections. Graphic: Alan Smith / Financial Times

Europe’s demographic time-bomb – While global population is ageing, continent presents extreme example of this trend

By Valentina Romei 13 January 2020 LONDON (Financial Times) – With its low birth rate and fast-ageing population, Europe is facing a demographic crisis, one that economists fear could hit growth and public finances.  While the global population overall is getting older, Europe is an extreme example of this trend, particularly in the continent’s south and […]

Worldwide natural catastrophe loss events in 2019. Tropical cyclones, extreme storms, and floods caused overall losses of $150 billion. Video: Munich RE

Tropical cyclones causing billions in losses dominated the natural catastrophe picture of 2019 – “Cyclones are becoming more frequently associated with extreme precipitation”

8 January 2020 (Munich RE) – 820 natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$ 150bn, which is broadly in line with the inflation-adjusted average of the past 30 years. A smaller portion of losses was insured compared with 2018: about US$ 52bn. This was due, among other things, to the high share of flood losses, which are […]

WFP Global Hotspots 2020: Countries most at risk of sliding further into crisis. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has identified 15 critical and complex emergencies at risk of descending further into crisis without a rapid response and greater investment. While WFP continues to provide extensive assistance to high-profile emergencies such as Yemen and Syria, Global Hotspots 2020 highlights the fastest deteriorating emergencies requiring the world’s urgent attention. Graphic: WFP

World Food Programme forecasts global hunger hotspots as a new decade dawns

ROME, 1 January 2020 (WFP) – Escalating hunger needs in sub-Saharan Africa dominate a World Food Programme (WFP) analysis of global hunger hotspots in the first half of 2020 with millions of people requiring life-saving food assistance in Zimbabwe, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central Sahel region in the coming months. […]

This before-and-after image shows satellite images of Lake Kariba, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, in December 2018 and December 2019. The lake has dropped to critically low levels. Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

Drought threatens millions in Southern Africa – “This year’s drought is unprecedented, causing food shortages on a scale we have never seen here before”

By Michael Carlowicz 17 December 2019 (NASA) – Southern Africa is suffering through its worst drought in several decades and perhaps a century. Diminished and late rainfall, combined with long-term increases in temperatures, have jeopardized the food security and energy supplies of millions of people in the region, most acutely in Zambia and Zimbabwe. According […]

Extreme weather events across the world caused more than $100 billion worth of damage in 2019. The most financially costly disasters were wildfires in California, which caused $25 billion in damage, followed by Typhoon Hagibis in Japan ($15 billion) and floods in the American mid-west ($12.5 billion) and China ($12 billion). The events with the greatest loss of life were floods in Northern India which killed 1,900 and Cyclone Idai which killed 1,300. Data: Christian Aid. Graphic: The Guardian

15 climate disasters of 2019 that cost more than $1 billion – “It is no wonder youth around the world are taking to the streets to demand that we write a different story towards a better future”

27 December 2019 (Christian Aid) – Extreme weather, driven by climate change, hit every populated continent in 2019, killing, injuring and displacing millions and causing billions of dollars of economic damage, according to a new report by Christian Aid. […] Counting the Cost 2019: a year of climate breakdown identifies 15 of the most destructive droughts, […]

Number of journalists imprisoned per country on 1 December 2019. Data: Committee to Protect Journalists. China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt the world’s worst jailers of journalists. Graphic: A. Bhandari / Reuters

China imprisoned more journalists than any other country in 2019

By Gerry Doyle 10 December 2019 (Reuters) – China imprisoned at least 48 journalists in 2019, more than any other country, displacing Turkey as the most oppressive place for the profession, a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists report said on Wednesday. At least 250 journalists were imprisoned worldwide this year, according to the […]

Trend in October rainfall at Victoria Falls 1064 m elevation, 1976-2016. Graphic: Kaitano Dube

Drought, heat, and Victoria Falls: The spectre of hot drought

By Bob Henson 11 December 2019 (Weather Underground) – The massive curtain of water in southern Africa between Zambia and Zimbabwe known as Victoria Falls is the world’s biggest waterfall sequence when you take into account both width and height. Often ranked as one of the seven wonders of the natural world, the falls are a prime […]

Aerial view of the Kasulo neighborhood of Kolwezi, DRC. In the first picture, taken May 2016, there are just residential houses. By May 2019, Congo DongFang International Mining (a subsidiary of chinese company Huayou Cobalt) have built a mining site, with a walled perimeter and processing buildings (in blue). The pink tarps cover tunnels used for mining. Photo: CNES / Airbus DS / Earthrise / The Guardian

Apple and Google named in U.S. lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths

By Annie Kelly 16 December 2019 (The Guardian) – A landmark legal case has been launched against the world’s largest tech companies by Congolese families who say their children were killed or maimed while mining for cobalt used to power smartphones, laptops and electric cars, the Guardian can reveal. Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla […]

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