By Kathleen Maclay 31 July 2017 (Berkeley News) – Climate change has already caused more than 59,000 suicides in India over the last 30 years, according to estimates in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that suggests failing harvests that push farmers into poverty are likely the […]
By Desmond Ng and Tamal Mukherjee 25 July 2017 INDIA (Channel New Asia) – Much of the once bountiful and lush-green rice fields was reduced to a dry, yellow-brown landscape, after successive years of scanty rainfall and severe drought. For farmer Mr Vijayakumar, 52, the rice crop was his family’s sole source of income. Hit […]
By Jeffery Gettleman 29 July 2017 LAIKIPIA, Kenya (The New York Times) – The two elders, wearing weather-beaten cowboy hats with the strings cinched under their chins, stood at the edge of an empty farm, covering their mouths in disbelief. Their homes — neat wooden cabins — had been smashed open. All their cattle had […]
By Cathy Watson 24 July 2017 (The Guardian) – For the team managing Nairobi’s water, the stakes have never been so high. Water-rationing has been going on in Kenya’s capital since 1 January 2017, and supplies might run dry by September. The last two rainy seasons were dismal; more rain is not expected until October […]
14 July 2017 (United Nations) – The third consecutive failed rainy season in East Africa has seriously eroded families’ resilience, and urgent and effective livelihood support is required, the United Nations agricultural agency has warned. According to an alert released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), poor rains have worsened hunger and left […]
By Sam Jones 8 July 2017 Malpartida de Plasencia, Extremadura (The Guardian) – […] This is not a good year in Extremadura or elsewhere on the Iberian peninsula. Once again, drought has struck, devastating cereal crops, threatening the olive and grape harvest and leaving livestock short of food and water. “This is an awful year […]
By Maryse Zeidler 8 July 2017 (CBC News) – The province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency, as wildfires burn out of control throughout most of the Interior. “The extended weather forecast is calling for continued hot, dry weather, with risks of thunderstorms in many parts of the province,” the province said […]
By Stephanie Leutert 21 June 2017 (Lawfare) – Last Thursday and Friday, the United States and Mexico co-hosted top officials from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and other countries for the “Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America.” As the name suggests, the gathering aimed to spur a wide-ranging conversation for improving the region’s economic […]
By Maria Elena Spagnolo 23 June 2017 (La Stampa) – Many areas of Italy are facing drought due to a shortage of rainfall and high temperatures. The government has declared a state of emergency in the areas around the cities of Parma and Piacenza, in the Emilia-Romagna region. The measure has been taken “as a […]
17 June 2017 (United Nations) – With hundreds of millions of people around the globe directly affected by desertification – the degradation of land ecosystems due to unsustainable farming or mining practices, or climate change – United Nations agencies have called for better management of land so that it can provide a place where individuals […]
