In Brazil, extreme weather stokes climate worries

By Stuart Grudgings ILHA GRANDE, Brazil (Reuters) – No one could say they hadn’t seen it coming. The sand dunes had been advancing for decades before, two years ago, they finally swallowed the houses of Raimundo do Nascimento and 12 other families in Ilha Grande, an island in the Parnaiba river delta in northeastern Brazil. […]

Glaciers go, leaving drought, conflict and tension in Andes

In a dry land where almost everyone has their eye on their uphill neighbor’s water, the Andes are already seeing conflicts erupt as global warming changes water patterns. By Barbara FraserFor The Daily Climate ICA, Peru — Two decades ago, the strip of sand between the Pacific Ocean and the Andean foothills was empty except […]

Drought worsens in Australia

New figures show the Big Dry is getting worse across New South Wales – with 60 per cent of the state being classified as in drought. This includes the western district, which takes in Broken Hill and Wilcannia, while Wanaaring in the Darling district is classified as being in marginal drought. Primary Industries Minister Ian […]

Australia’s Murray River too acidic to use

By Verity Edwards and Pia Akerman | May 18, 2009 FIRST it was salt, now it is acid preventing farmers at Currency Creek and along the Finniss River from using Murray River water. While it may have been a blessing at the time, heavy rains last month have mobilised acid in exposed soil beds in […]

Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century Dust Bowl

By SCOTT STREATER, SPECIAL TO E&E, Greenwire Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer. Snowpacks from the San Juan Mountains to the Front Range have […]

Brazil drought staunches famed Iguazu falls

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (AFP) May 7, 2009 – An acute drought in Brazil has hit the famed horseshoe-shaped Igauzu falls which straddle two countries, cutting back the tumbling waters to reveal the rocky sides. Only a third of the usual volume of water is now flowing over the top of the stunning falls, which […]

Record-low inflows to Murray-Darling Basin

The basin authority has launched a new website to be updated weekly with details of storage levels across parts of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. It currently shows the dire position of Australia’s major water resources as a result of the ongoing drought. According to the latest figures storage levels across the basin are […]

African lark soon to be extinct

By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News The Sidamo lark could soon be the first bird on mainland Africa to die out since modern records began, a survey shows. A survey has found that just a few hundred of the larks survive in Ethiopia. Unless action is taken to save it, the bird will disappear. While […]

Drought reduces Iraq’s marshes to desert

HOR AL-HAMMAR, Iraq – A severe drought is threatening Iraq’s southern marshes — the traditional site of the biblical Garden of Eden — just as the region was recovering from Saddam Hussein’s draining of its lakes and swamps to punish a political rebellion. Marshes that were coming back to life a few years ago with […]

Drought lowers Lake Mead to 1965 level

Decline of another 30 feet will trigger federal shortage declaration By HENRY BREAN Another below-average year on the Colorado River will soon shrink Lake Mead to a level not seen since President Lyndon Johnson unveiled his "Great Society" and the Beatles bared their "Rubber Soul." By next month, the surface of the lake is expected […]

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