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 …
Researchers developed an affordable way to monitor rivers and stream flow, 24/7, using open source products. Communities around the world are familiar with the devastation brought on by floods and droughts. Scientists are concerned that, in light of global climate change, these events will only become more frequent and intense. …
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Effect of Drought on Power Generation, 28/07/2016. The power generation during 2015-16 has been affected due to non-availability of water in drought affected regions of the country. In case of generation from Thermal Power Station, Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MAHAGENCO) has informed …
Race against time in drought-ravaged Southern Africa to ensure 23 million people receive farming support. At least $109 million is urgently required for the provision of seeds and other agricultural inputs and services. With only a few weeks before land preparation begins for the next main cropping season, some 23 …
Mafios Ganyari tills a dry, patch of land, coaxing a few thin cassava tubers from the soil. This year's harvest has been poor. Mafios has barely enough to feed his family. Farmers across Zimbabwe have lost cattle and crops and fear more pain as the year progresses. "Three or four …
Southern African countries have launched an emergency appeal for $2.8bn (£2.1bn) to help feed nearly 40 million people hit by one of the worst regional droughts in 35 years. According to the South African Development Community, which comprises 15 countries, 23 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance and a further …
Although the Amazon Jungle may appear to be perpetually green, a University of Illinois researcher believes there are actually seasonal differences of photosynthesis, with more occurring during the dry season and less during the wet season. Understanding how a rainforest that occupies 2.7 million square miles of South America functions …
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Losses Due to Drought, 26/07/2016. State-wise details of Administrative Districts Chronically affected by Drought Conditions, as per Manual for Drought Management 2009, are indicated at Annexure-I. Memoranda received from States and details of funds approved from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in the wake …
Multi-ethnic nations are vulnerable to armed conflicts after weather disasters such as heatwaves and droughts in a trend that could worsen with global warming, scientists said on Monday. The outbreak of 23 percent of armed conflicts in ethnically diverse countries, a group that includes Afghanistan and Somalia, since 1980 coincided …
A deadly California wildfire that has destroyed more than a dozen homes drove thousands more residents from their dwellings on Monday as flames raged for a fourth day through drought-parched canyons and foothills north of Los Angeles. About 300 miles (480 km) to the north, another fire ravaged a hilly …
PHILADELPHIA – The heat wave gripping parts of the country including Philadelphia, where tens of thousands are descending upon the city for the Democratic National Convention this week, is not going away anytime soon and will hit a peak Monday with temperatures in the city feeling like 108 degrees. Excessive …
ENAIBOSHO, Kenya, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a cold afternoon, three women are gathering dry grass and feeding it into a hand-operated baling machine. In no time, a bale of hay emerges and is hefted onto a waiting pile partially covered with plastic sheeting. The three Maasai women …
Each week, Lucia Thedzi and her five children go one or two days without eating. Some weeks, the family survives on nuts the size of golf balls but with meager flesh inside. Living in a small village on the hot, flat plains of Chikwawa in southern Malawi, they have little …
A global agreement on cutting the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - potent greenhouse gases used in aerosols, refrigerants and air conditioning - seems within grasp, delegates said on Sunday after ten days of talks on climate change in Vienna. A final deal is expected to be reached at a meeting …
Apart from guiding national efforts to mitigate and adapt to impact of climate change, Maikut said “Such a law should also spell out punitive measures to be used against Ugandans engaged in activities that fuel climate variability.” Chebet Maikut, the head of the Climate Change Department in the Ministry of …
More than 1,600 firefighters battled on Monday to contain a fast-spreading wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the drought-parched canyons north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing at least one person and closing a highway. Authorities said the Sand Fire had grown to more than 33,000 acres …
The fast negative progress of global warming cannot be saved by all tress, as there are those 'unhealthy' ones that contribute damages too. Not all trees can save the planet. This is the new study published in the journal Ecology Letters stating that not all trees can help counter the …
ALBANIA, Colombia – A “water train” travels regularly along the railway between La Mina and Puerto Bolivar, bringing the precious liquid to dozens of towns to help alleviate the drought besetting the residents of Colombia’s Caribbean zone of Alta Guajira. An initiative of mining company Cerrejon, which operates the largest …
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that more than 60 million people, two thirds of them in east and southern Africa, are facing food shortages because of droughts linked to El Niño.
The earth is on track for its hottest year on record and warming at a faster rate than expected, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday. Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea …
This handbook covers some of the most commonly used drought indicators/indices that are being applied across drought-prone regions, with the goal of advancing monitoring, early warning and information delivery systems in support of risk-based drought management policies and preparedness plans. It is intended for use by general drought practitioners (for …
