In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance By Peter Beaumont in Elwak Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family’s smallest children. They have walked out of […]
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska’s northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change. Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some […]
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, Associated Press TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories — Caught between rising seas and land melting beneath their mukluk-shod feet, the villagers of Tuktoyaktuk are doing what anyone would do on this windy Arctic coastline. They’re building windmills. That’s wind-power turbines, to be exact — a token first try at “getting rid of this […]
By David Shukman, BBC News, Bangladesh Up to 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh are at risk from rising sea levels in the coming decades, according to new research. Scientists predict that salty water could reach far inland, making it hard to cultivate staple foods like rice. The research comes as the government appeals for […]
As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, Kenya By John Vidal We met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their […]
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For residents of the scenic foothill communities above Los Angeles, chance encounters with deer, coyote and other wildlife are commonplace. The occasional bear or mountain lion will even wander into a backyard. They’re about to become more visible. As the threat to humans from the 10-day-old Station Fire […]
Electricity supply to Nasiriyah drops by 50% as Euphrates river dries up By Martin Chulov in Nasiriyah, Iraq A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq’s civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without […]
By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer NAIROBI, Kenya – Crops have shriveled, hundreds of cattle are dead and the World Food Program said Tuesday that 3.8 million Kenyans need emergency food aid because of a prolonged drought, which is even causing electrical blackouts in the capital because there’s not enough water for hydroelectric plants. With […]
Nanyuki, Kenya (AFP) Aug 19, 2009 – In Kenya a bruising and recurring drought is driving huge numbers of subsistence farmers away from rural areas, where they are increasingly reliant on hand-outs, into congested slums. “People are opting to relocate. I know families that are demolishing their houses, selling iron sheets and timber and getting […]
Damascus, Syria, 7 August 2009 (UPI) – The drought that has kept Syria dry for three years has cost more than 800,000 people their livelihoods, Red Cross and Red Crescent officials said. The International Federal of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week said about $300,000 had been set aside for immediate assistance for […]
