As climate change intensifies, it is imperative for policymakers to address the escalating loss and damage it inflicts on vulnerable communities in developing countries. In India's Maharashtra state, these impacts are forcing rural families into life-altering decisions and migrations to work in sugarcane fields, where exploitative practices by contractors, including …
Madrid - A wildfire that threatened a nature reserve in southern Spain designated as a World Heritage site has been brought under control, officials say after evacuating over 2 000 people, including tourists. The blaze near Huelva in the Andalusia region has affected a vast area but not yet the …
All Western Cape municipalities have been given instructions on how to implement water restrictions. Members of the provincial legislature were taken aback last week when the head of disaster management in the province‚ Colin Deiner‚ said some municipalities imposed no restrictions, despite the drought. Deiner said on Tuesday that the …
MELBOURNE: In a breakthrough, scientists, including one of Indian origin, have developed plants that have a better chance of surviving droughts by enhancing the natural ability of their leaves to preserve water. The new method has helped some plants survive 50 per cent longer in drought conditions, and could eventually …
Cape Town - The City of Cape Town is preparing for the imminent implementation of intensified water restrictions, water and waste services mayoral committee member Xanthea Limberg said on Monday. The envisaged Level 4b restrictions would adjust the water usage target down from 600 million litres per day to 500 …
For pastoralists like Jilo Datecha, the persistent drought afflicting southern Ethiopia’s Borena zone has made the prospects for earning a living grim. The semi-arid landscape of bushes and acacia trees, with no running rivers for hundreds of kilometres, makes for a precarious life for the pastoralist and semi-pastoralist communities who …
With data collected from 750 farming households using survey questionnaire and 25 Focus Group Discussions (FGD), this report documents farmers’ perception of climate change and adaptation strategies in the Brong Ahafo and Upper West regions of Ghana. Results showed that DTM varieties are a viable strategy for adaptation to climate …
This study proposes the new hydrological drought index, Korean Surface Water Supply Index (KSWSI), which overcomes some of the limitations in the calculation of previous SWSI applied in Korea and conducts the probabilistic drought forecasts using KSWSI. In this study, all hydrometeorological variables in the Geum River basin were investigated …
Cape Town - The Western Cape cabinet has allocated R75m to deal with the consequences of the Knysna fires, damages caused by the recent storm, and drought relief. According to the Office of the Premier, the decision was made following a meeting in Knysna on Wednesday. The allocation was made …
International donors are warning that the number of Ethiopians surviving on food assistance could double to 16m next month as some aid agencies criticise the government for downplaying the severity of the crisis. The UN has said that food for 7.8m people already receiving help will run out next month …
A new satellite forecast tool could more than double the warning time for desert locust invasions, allowing vulnerable nations to prepare better against the crop-eating grasshoppers, the United Nations and European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday. Desert locusts, found mainly in the Sahara, across the Arabian Peninsula and in …
At 9am, Eliud Sankare is still at home in Isinya village, south of Nairobi, instead of out herding the 40 cattle his son has already led to pasture. He heads to the cowshed to join his wife and two daughters, raking manure into big mounds. Using dry twigs as brooms, …
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's tourist capital Cape Town remains gripped by critical water shortages despite being lashed by torrential rains last week in the region's worst storm in 30 years, officials said on Tuesday. More than eight people were killed and thousands forced from their homes after gale …
W hen a big earthquake, flash flood or other sudden disaster hits, aid agencies spring into action with emergency responses and public appeals for donations. With droughts, it's different. If the rains don't come, it can take months for the effects to be felt by poor rural families. Hunger kicks …
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)- The Malawi Government made the wrong risk in purchasing the US$5 million Insurance from African Risk Capacity (ARC) to cover for the 2015/2016 el-Nino impact, with revelation that the insurance proceeds were too late and too little to avert the situation, The Maravi Post has learnt. This has prompted …
The United Nations migration agency appealed for 60 million USD to aid an estimated 16 million people suffering from the worst drought in decades in East and Horn of Africa, UN News reported. “In the coming months, we are likely to see_many more needing humanitarian aid_and being displaced, due to …
Ethiopia will run out of emergency food aid for 7.8 million people affected by drought at the end of this month, the UN has warned. Aid groups and the government are calling for help, but fear donor fatigue with other crises worldwide. Famine has been declared in South Sudan, and …
According to new FAO figures, agriculture in developing countries accounted for 23 percent of all damages and losses caused by medium and large-scale disasters between 2006 and 2016. In the case of drought, agriculture received up to 80 percent of the damages over the same period, a clear example of …
MUREHWA, Zimbabwe, June 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Preparing his three-hectare plot of land for planting each year used to take Musafare Chiweshe – or the labourers he hired – two weeks. Now it takes just hours. Better yet, the land is producing a crop even as southern Africa's droughts …
Up to 10,000 people in the South African coastal resort of Knysna have been evacuated as wildfires fanned by strong winds ripped through the town, razing homes and other properties, officials said on Thursday. Eight people have been killed, three of them in the Knysna area, as the worst storm …
Government is finalising the second and final crop and livestock assessment report for the 2016/ 17 farming season, as early indications point to food self-sufficiency. The report would be tabled before Cabinet once completed. The country expects over two million tonnes of maize.The high yields in most crops have been …
