Ecosystems strain to keep pace with rapidly changing climate

  By Steve Gorman, Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:14pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Earth’s various ecosystems, with all their plants and animals, will need to shift about a quarter-mile per year on average to keep pace with global climate change, scientists said in a study released on Wednesday. How well particular species can survive […]

Poor rains worsen east Africa famine

By Anisa Kadri A lack of rainfall has contributed to the ongoing food crisis in East Africa, Oxfam said on Thursday. It was hoped that rains expected in November would provide relief for those struck by famine in this region. However, areas including Ogaden in Ethiopia and Turkana in Kenya received below five per cent […]

Graph of the Day: Rainfall Deficits in East Africa, November 2009

Due to the current El Niño event, above‐average rainfall was forecast for the areas of East Africa that receive October to December rains. These rains were expected to contribute to a reduction in the high to extreme levels of food insecurity that have affected many parts of the region following several consecutive failed rainy seasons. […]

Koalas to starve as the world warms

AAP — Koalas are highly vulnerable to climate change and face starvation, a leading conservation group has warned. The koala – an Australian icon known the world over – has made it on to a global list of 10 well-known species threatened by climate change, along with the fish that inspired the cartoon character, Nemo. […]

Slide Show: Top ten species endangered by climate change

December 14, 2009–Like polar bears, ringed seals (above, a newborn rests in the snows of Nunavut, Canada) depend on summer sea ice in the Arctic for their survival. No one knows what will happen to the seals and other species if polar summer ice completely disappears due to global warming–which may occur in the Arctic […]

Sea level rise may exceed worst expectations

Seas were nearly 10 metres higher than now in previous interglacial period. By Richard A. Lovett With climate talks stalling in Copenhagen, a study suggests that one problem, sea level rise, may be even more urgent than previously thought. Robert Kopp, a palaeoclimatologist at Princeton University in New Jersey, and his colleagues examined sea level […]

Rising waters threaten Louisiana

The southern coast of Louisiana in the United States is among the fastest disappearing areas in the world. Rising waters have led to the state losing a land mass equivalent to 30 football fields every day. And as the communities disappear, more and more people are leaving the region. Nick Clark reports from Louisiana. Rising […]

Coral climate crisis puts 250 million at risk: U.N.

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, AsiaCOPENHAGENSat Dec 12, 2009 3:48pm EST COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – More than 250 million people risk losing their livelihoods because of dying tropical coral reefs in what a senior U.N. environmental economist said on Saturday was part of a double climate crisis facing the world. “We forget that there are […]

Rising seas threaten 20 million in Bangladesh

Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, DHAKAFri Dec 11, 2009 8:49am EST DHAKA (Reuters) – Rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, will displace about 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh, a study by a state-run think-tank said on Friday. “The sea level will rise at least by three meters (yards) submerging some […]

Video: Hundreds of camels culled in Australia outback town

A major cull of camels is taking place in Australia after residents from a remote outback town complained the animals were destroying their community. The media had been barred from filming the cull but early reports suggested hundreds had been killed only a few hours into the slaughter. Nick Bryant reports from Sydney. Camels culled […]

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