Total marginal effect of Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) on conflict for the 2010–2012 period. Graphic: Abel, et al., 2019 / Global Environmental Change

New study establishes link between climate change, conflict, and migration – “In a context of poor governance and a medium level of democracy, severe climate conditions can create conflict over scarce resources”

23 January 2019 (UEA) – Research involving a University of East Anglia (UEA) academic has established a link between climate change, conflict, and migration for the first time. In recent decades climatic conditions have been blamed for creating political unrest, civil war, and subsequently, waves of migration, but scientific evidence for this is limited. One […]

The retreat of global democracy stopped in 2018 – Or has it just paused?

8 January 2019 (The Economist) – Democracy stopped declining in 2018, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. The index rates 167 countries by 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. It is stricter than […]

Extreme rainfall events are connected across the world

By Hayley Dunning 30 January 2019 (Imperial College London) – Extreme rainfall – defined as the top five percent of rainy days – often forms a pattern at the local level, for example tracking across Europe. But new research, published today in Nature, reveals that there are also larger-scale global patterns to extreme rainfall events.These […]

Japan’s squid industry in crisis amid record low catches

By Danielle Demetriou 21 January 2019 TOKYO (The Telegraph) – Grilled, raw, stewed, dried, fermented, fried: squid has long been consumed with abundance in Japan, appearing in countless everyday dishes. Now, however, Japan’s long-running love affair with squid is in danger, with growing reports that catches this season have hit a record low, causing prices […]

Electric cars will not stop rising oil demand, says energy agency chief

By Natalie Sauer22 January 2019 (Climate Home News) – Electric car use may be growing exponentially, but they are doing little to curb rising carbon emissions and oil demand, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. “To say that electric cars are the end of oil is definitely misleading,” economist Fatih […]

2018 was the fourth-costliest year since 1980 in terms of insured losses – Camp Fire in California caused highest overall wildfire loss on record

By Petra Löw8 January 2019 (Munich Re) – When compared with the record losses of the previous year from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the indications at the start of 2018 were that it would be a more moderate year. However, the second half of the year saw an accumulation of billion-dollar losses from floods, […]

New global study reveals rising soil temperatures in permafrost regions around the world – “The permafrost isn’t simply warming on a local and regional scale, but worldwide and at virtually the same pace as climate warming”

16 January 2019 (AWI) – Global warming is leaving more and more apparent scars in the world’s permafrost regions. As the new global comparative study conducted by the international permafrost network GTN-P shows, in all regions with permafrost soils the temperature of the frozen ground at a depth of more than 10 metres rose by […]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wants state auditors “kidnapped, tortured”

8 January 2019 (Al Jazeera News) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has advocated the kidnapping and torture of government auditors for hampering the work of his administration. In a speech before local officials gathered in the capital, Manila, Duterte cursed at the independent constitutional body, which is responsible for examining the accounts and spending by […]

One dead in Tropical Storm Pabuk, most powerful storm to hit Thailand in 30 years and first tropical cyclone on record so early in the year

By Clyde Hughes4 January 2019 (UPI) – One person died Friday as Thailand was hit by Tropical Storm Pabuk, the most powerful storm to hit the country in three decades. The storm made landfall in Nakhon Si Thammarat, about 380 miles south of Bangkok on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula — with sustained […]

Thousands stranded on Thai islands as rare tropical storm hits – “It’s quite scary being here because we don’t know what’s going to happen and there is no way to leave”

By Helen Regan, Kocha Olarn, and Laura Smith-Spark4 January 2019 Krabi, Thailand (CNN) – Thousands of people were left stranded on Thailand’s southern gulf coast as Tropical Storm Pabuk made landfall on Friday. Authorities had moved to suspend all flights and ferry services ahead of the storm, which officially made landfall in the Pak Panang […]

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