ISI Web of Science search of the trend in published reports of climate-related forest mortality in the scientific literature, for the years 1985–2009. Plotted bars show the percent of references using the topic words “forest AND mortality AND drought”, relative to all “forest” references. Line represents the linear regression model fitted to the data (R2 […]
Nairobi, December 30 (allafrica.com) – Severe drought, exacerbated by poverty and conflict, hit at least four countries in 2011 – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia – displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Thousands in Somalia and Ethiopia began the year by making the dangerous journey to Yemen. Others from these two countries headed for South […]
Video by David Blair22 December 2011 The United Nations says that 250,000 Somalis are suffering from famine in three regions including Mogadishu, a fact that Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, who leads Somalia’s officially recognised government, has denied. “I don’t believe there’s a famine in Mogadishu. Absolutely no,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “You know the aid […]
By CORNELIA DEAN26 December 2011 The intense, deep blue skies of the American Southwest, skies that have drawn painters and photographers for a century or more, are a product of the region’s extremely dry air. Yet here’s another interesting fact: Though we think of the Southwest as dry — and it is dry — its […]
By Stephen Leahy27 December 2011 UXBRIDGE, Canada (Tierramérica) – The water supplied by the glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, vital to a huge region of northwest Peru, is decreasing 20 years sooner than expected, according to a new study. Water flows from the region’s melting glaciers have already peaked and are in decline, Michel Baraer, […]
New Delhi, December 20 (UPI) – India’s rising population and economic growth are straining the country’s supply of water, a report from India’s Infrastructure Development Finance Co. warns. Of India’s 20 major river basins, 14 are considered water-stressed, the report from IDFC, an independent group, report said. Nearly 25 percent of the country’s population live […]
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ and GARANCE BURKE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS8 November 2011 CADIZ, California – Off historic Route 66 in the heart of the California desert, the barren landscape of dry scrub and rock abruptly gives way to an oasis of tall green trees heavy with lemons and grape vines awaiting next month’s harvest. Some think […]
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY13 December 2011 PORT LAVACA, Texas – In better days, the loading dock in this East Texas harbor city would be a bustle of activity: fishermen unloading sacks filled with fresh oysters, dealers paying by the sack for the bivalves, 18-wheelers hauling them to Florida, Virginia and other destinations. On an […]
Projected annual changes in dryness assessed from change in annual maximum number of consecutive dry days (CDD, days with precipitation <1 mm). Increased dryness is indicated with yellow to red colors; decreased dryness with green to blue. Projected changes are expressed in units of standard deviation of the interannual variability in the three 20-year periods […]
By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk 1 December 2011 We are right on the equator, and Speke, Moebius, Elena, Savoia, and Moore, the five great glaciers of the the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, glint in the bright Ugandan sun. Usually lost in the mists that cloak these peaks up to 5,100 metres high, […]
