Asia – Page 2 – Desdemona Despair

State of press freedom worldwide 2013-2023. Changes in 180 countries and territories evaluated by RSF since 2013. In 2023, the situation was “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism was “bad” in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten. Graphic: RSF

May 9, 2023

2023 World Press Freedom Index – Journalism threatened by fake content industry – The environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries, satisfactory in only three out of ten

3 May 2023 (RSF) – According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In […]

Map of air pollution in Thailand on 30 April 2023. Graphic: PlumeLabs

April 30, 2023

Thailand air pollution leads millions to seek medical help – “Today is so smoggy. I cough so much.”

Bangkok, 20 April 2023 (AFP) – About 2.4 million people in Thailand have sought hospital treatment for medical problems linked to air pollution since the start of the year, health officials said, as toxic smog chokes parts of the country. Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai were among the most polluted cities in […]

The European model shows temperatures across Southeast Asia rising well above normal on Monday, 17 April 2023. Numerous heat records were broken across Southeast Asia, China and other parts of the continent in mid-April, with Thailand in particular experiencing unusually extreme conditions. Weather historian Maximiliano Herrera described it as the “worst April heat wave in Asian history.” Graphic: WeatherBell.com

April 18, 2023

Historic Asia heat breaks hundreds of records, with extremes in Thailand and China – Thailand recorded its all-time hottest temperature – “Worst April heat wave in Asian history”

By Dan Stillman 17 April 2023 (The Washington Post) – Numerous heat records have been broken across Southeast Asia, China and other parts of the continent in recent days as the region remains in the grip of a dangerously scorching heat wave, with Thailand in particular experiencing unusually extreme conditions. Weather historian Maximiliano Herrera is describing […]

Map showing global climate risk as an Aggregated Damage Ratio, projected to the year 2050. Graphic: XDI

February 28, 2023

Florida’s projected sea level rise by 2100 is bad news for sunshine state – Outside of China, Florida is the most at-risk state/province in the world for economic damage caused by climate change

By Pandora Dewan 24 February 2023 (Newsweek) – By 2100, Florida could see sea levels rise by up to 6 feet, with over 900,000 properties at risk of being underwater. “By 2050, Florida sea levels, like much of the US, are headed for a 1-foot rise on average (above 2020 levels),” William Sweet, an Oceanographer for the […]

EIU Democracy Index 2022, global map by regime type. The average global index score stagnated in 2022. Despite expectations of a rebound after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, the score was almost unchanged, at 5.29 (on a 0-10 scale), compared with 5.28 in 2021. The positive effect of the restoration of individual freedoms was cancelled out by negative developments globally. The scores of more than half of the countries measured by the index either stagnated or declined. Western Europe was a positive outlier, being the only region whose score returned to pre-pandemic levels. Graphic: EIU

February 3, 2023

EIU Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine – “Overall the story is one of stagnation. This is a dismal result given that in 2022 the world started to move on from the pandemic-related suppression of individual liberties that persisted through 2020 and 2021”

1 February 2023 (EIU) – The Democracy Index, which began in 2006, provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. This covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states (microstates are excluded). The Democracy Index is based on five […]

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 […]

Rows of crosses sit at the mass grave site at the Holy Cross Memorial Garden for victims of super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, central Philippines on Sunday, 23 October 2022. About 40 percent of the population of Tacloban was relocated to safer areas after super Typhoon Haiyan wiped out most of the villages, killing thousands when it hit central Philippines in 2013. Photo: Aaron Favila / AP Photo

November 19, 2022

Climate migration: Filipino families flee amid typhoons – “The warming of the ocean fuels more powerful tropical storms, and rising sea levels increase the impacts”

By Michael Casey, Joeal Calupitan, and Aaron Favila 17 November 2022 TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) – After Typhoon Haiyan’s towering waves flattened scores of Philippines villages, Jeremy Garing spent days helping with recovery from the historic storm that left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and inflicted billions of dollars in damage. “I keep helping […]

Global human population, 1700-2022. On 15 November 2022, the world’s population was estimated to reach 8 billion people, having grown by 1 billion since 2010. This is a remarkable milestone given that the human population numbered under 1 billion for millennia until around 1800, and that it took more than 100 years to grow from 1 to 2 billion. By comparison, the increase of the world’s population over the last century has been quite rapid. Despite a gradual slowing in the pace of growth, the global population is projected to surpass 9 billion around 2037 and 10 billion around 2058. Graphic: UN DESA

November 19, 2022

Global human population hits 8 billion – “We are already overstretching what we have: the housing, roads, the hospitals, schools. Everything is overstretched.”

By Dan Ikpoyi and Chinedu Asadu 15 November 2022 LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – The world’s population will likely hit an estimated 8 billion people on Tuesday, according to a United Nations projection, with much of the growth coming from developing nations in Africa. Among them is Nigeria, where resources are already stretched to the limit. More than […]

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescuers evacuate residents from their flooded homes due to a tropical storm, locally named Paeng, in Maguindanao province, Philippines, 28 October 2022. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard / AP News

October 28, 2022

At least 42 dead in floods, landslides in south Philippines – “In one area in Upi only the attic of a school can be seen above the floodwater”

COTABATO, Philippines, 28 October 2022 (AP) – Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains swamped a southern Philippine province, killing at least 42 people, leaving 16 others missing and trapping some residents on their roofs, officials said Friday. Most of the victims were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit […]

A child in a refugee camp carries water in Somalia, 2022. Somalia faces widespread famine after four failed rainy seasons, with a fifth season underway that likely will fail too, along with the sixth early in 2023. Photo: Fazel / UNICEF

October 26, 2022

UNICEF: Heatwaves to impact almost every child on earth by 2050 – “The climate crisis is a child rights crisis, and it is already taking a devastating toll on children’s lives and futures”

25 October 2022 (UN News) – Heatwaves have become an unavoidable health hazard for many nations, but new data indicates that they are set to affect virtually every child on earth by 2050, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Tuesday. Today, at least half a billion youngsters are already exposed to a high number of heatwaves, placing them on […]