agriculture – Page 7 – Desdemona Despair

Aerial view of cars immersed in floodwaters on 11 January 2023 in Planada, California. The Central Valley town of Planada was devastated by widespread flooding after a severe atmospheric river event moved through the area earlier in the week. The San Francisco Bay Area and much of California continued to be drenched by powerful atmospheric river events that brought high winds and flooding rains. The storms toppled trees, flooded roads, and cut power to tens of thousands. Storms lined up over the Pacific Ocean and brought more rain and wind through the end of the week. Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

February 28, 2023

“A town of Hispanics left in the dark”: Rural California town of Planada flooded, now forgotten – “We are traumatized and scared. What is the county going to do to take care of its rural communities?”

By Jessica Garrison 14 February 2023 PLANADA, California (Los Angeles Times) – Once the levee broke, the water rose so quickly that in the few minutes it took Erica Lopez Bedolla to decide to evacuate and gather her children and a few necessities, it had surged from her ankles to her knees. What followed that […]

Map showing significant economic loss events in 2022. Direct economic losses resulting from natural disasters in 2022 are estimated at $313 billion. This is close to the 21st century average, after adjusting actual incurred damage to today’s dollars using the U.S. Consumer Price Index. Though 2022 was far from record-breaking in terms of overall losses, it saw many impactful and costly events across the globe. Visualizing the geographic distribution of 2022 events allows for distinguishing certain patterns, including higher frequency of medium-sized Severe Convective Storm (SCS) events in the U.S. and Europe, and the prevalence of flooding events in Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania. The map primarily shows the economic impact, which to some extent correlates with concentration of wealth — this is not a result of a reporting bias. What this map does not highlight is the humanitarian crises and displaced communities, as many events with significant human impacts do not necessarily translate into a high financial toll in terms of direct damage. Note that significant price inflation throughout the year already resulted in notable increases of per-event losses. Graphic: Aon

January 25, 2023

Aon: Global insured losses from natural disasters exceeded $130 billion In 2022, driven by second-costliest event on record – More than 19,000 heat-related deaths in Europe

CHICAGO, 25 January 2023 (PRNewswire) – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, today published its 2023 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, which identifies global natural disaster and climate trends to help make better decisions to manage volatility and enhance global resilience. The report reveals that natural disasters caused a $313 billion global economic loss […]

Aerial view of a flooded home that is partially underwater in Gilroy, California, on 9 January 2023. Photo: Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images

January 22, 2023

California storms leave billions of dollars in damage to businesses, homes, and infrastructure – Few homeowners have flood insurance – Total costs associated with storms estimated at $31 billion to $34 billion

By Jim Carlton 21 January 2023 ANTIOCH, California (The Wall Street Journal) – Paradise Skate Roller Rink was preparing to host a New Year’s Eve bash when floodwaters poured in from a nearby creek, destroying the wooden floor and leaving the decades-old business in this San Francisco Bay Area suburb out of commission for months. […]

Regional glacier mass change and contributions to sea level rise from 2015 to 2100. Discs show global and regional projections of glacier mass remaining by 2100 relative to 2015 for global mean temperature change scenarios. Discs are scaled based on each region’s contribution to global mean sea level rise from 2015 to 2100 for the +2°C scenario by 2100 relative to preindustrial levels, and nested rings are colored by temperature change scenarios showing normalized mass remaining in 2100. Regional sea level rise contributions >1 mm SLE for the +2°C scenario are printed in the center of each disc. The horizontal bars below each disc show time series of area-averaged annual mass balance from 2015 to 2100 for +1.5°C (top bar) and +3°C (bottom bar) scenarios. The colorbar is saturated at −2.5 m w.e., but minimum annual values reach −4.2 m w.e. in Scandinavia. Graphic: Rounce, et al., 2022 / Science

January 7, 2023

Half of glaciers will be gone by 2100 even under Paris 1.5C accord, study finds

By Phoebe Weston 5 January 2023 (The Guardian) – Half the planet’s glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if humanity sticks to goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, according to research that finds the scale and impacts of glacial loss are greater than previously thought. At least half of that loss will happen […]

FAO Food Price Index in real terms, 1961-2022. In 2022, the U.N. organization’s Food Price Index hit the highest level since its records began in 1961, according to FAO data. Data: UN FAO. Graphic: James P. Galasyn

January 6, 2023

Global food prices in 2022 hit record high amid drought, war

ROME, 6 January 2023 (AP) – Global prices for food commodities like grain and vegetable oils were the highest on record last year even after falling for nine months in a row, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said, as Russia’s war in Ukraine, drought and other factors drove up inflation and worsened hunger worldwide. The FAO […]

Children from a Maasai community look at the remains of an elephant that died in the drought on community land near the outskirts of Amboseli National Park on 18 December 2022 in Amboseli, Kenya. Photo: Ed Ram / Getty Images Europe / AFP

December 31, 2022

Latest Horn of Africa climate outlook looks dry – “I have tried my best to save the plants using fertiliser and spraying pesticides, but they are now dying due to lack of rain”

By Jeff Otieno 28 December 2022 (The Africa Report) – The latest climate forecast showing that the greater horn of Africa will experience its fifth consecutive failed rainy season could not have come at a worse time for its drought-stricken residents who are now forced to brace for another bout of extreme hunger. 50-year-old Jeremiah […]

Maasai children stand beside a zebra that local residents say died due to drought, as they graze their cattle at Ilangeruani village, near Lake Magadi, in Kenya, on 9 November 2022. Photo: Brian Inganga / AP Photo

December 31, 2022

In 2022, AP photographers captured pain of a changing planet

By Peter Prengaman 16 December 2022 (AP) – In 2022, Associated Press photographers captured signs of a planet in distress as climate change reshaped many lives. That distress was seen in the scarred landscapes in places where the rains failed to come. It was felt in walloping storms, land-engulfing floods, suffocating heat and wildfires no […]

S. Saksan, 5, who has been diagnosed with leukemia, takes a nap in a corridor of a cancer care transit home near Apeksha Hospital, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 16 August 2022. “Due to the current crisis in Sri Lanka, we are facing severe problems in transport and food,” said his mother Sathiyaraj Silaksana, “I have no option but to pay for my son's needs. My husband is a construction worker. In order to pay for all these expenses, we pawned our jewelry.” Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon / REUTERS

December 31, 2022

Sri Lanka cancer patients struggle amid economic chaos

COLOMBO, 22 December 2022 (Reuters) – Priyantha Kumarasinghe starts his day in the small Sri Lankan town of Maharagama with a breakfast of two biscuits and a small glass of tea, followed by a round of cancer medicines. The 32-year-old vegetable farmer was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and started receiving treatment earlier this […]

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 […]

A boat sails in front of a wave caused by the advance of sea water on the river during the dry season in the Bailique Archipelago, district of Macapa, state of Amapa, northern Brazil, Monday, 12 September 2022. During a full moon, the sea invades the river with such strength that, in some places, it turns into a single giant wave of up to 4 meters (13 feet), a phenomenon known as pororoca. Photo: Eraldo Peres / AP Photo

December 23, 2022

Climate migration: Açai growers flee salty Amazon water – “The village is approaching its end”

By Fabiano Maisonnave and Eraldo Peres 10 November 2022 MACAPA, Brazil (AP) – Where the mother of all rivers meets the Atlantic Ocean in coastal Brazil, it’s not a single channel, instead it braids around 230 kilometers (142 miles) of islands including the Bailique Archipelago. A native of the mouth of the Amazon, Elielson Elinho, […]