The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
World leaders who oppose a global agreement to tackle climate change are making a similar mistake to the one made by politicians who tried to appease Adolf Hitler before World War Two, a British government minister said on Thursday. Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Huhne said governments must redouble …
Climate scientists have turned to the United States and Australian navies to deploy robotic measuring devices in the Indian Ocean where pirates have made the area too dangerous for researchers. About a quarter of the Indian Ocean is now off limits to climate scientists trying to complete a global network …
The United Nations said Monday that it had started airlifting food aid to rebel-held parts of drought-hit Somalia and that Islamist insurgents had abided by a pledge to allow relief workers free access. The United Nations has described the drought as an emergency, and said some 10 million people were …
The 5,800 acres he farms near Lubbock, Texas, are half irrigated and half at the mercy of the clouds. And the past nine months have been the driest in Texas on record. The Lone Star state is at the epicentre of a once-in-a-generation drought stretching from Arizona to Florida. The …
Five million people are at risk of cholera in drought-hit Ethiopia, where acute watery diarrhea has broken out in crowded, unsanitary conditions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. Cholera, an acute intestinal infection, causes watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is …
The United Nations said on Tuesday it was struggling to keep up with an exodus of hungry Somali refugees and many emaciated children were dying of malnutrition along the way or after arriving in neighboring countries. More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa now need assistance to …
Four-year-old Hussein Musa sits propped against his mother in a thatch-roofed hut, in a section cordoned off under a scorching sun to mark those with the worst symptoms. "They say he is severely malnourished. He is also suffering from fever and diarrhea," said Mako Wabari, his 35-year-old mother. "We are …
The lives of half a million children in the Horn of Africa are at risk, international aid agencies said on Friday, as the worst drought in decades forces thousands of people to flee their homes each day. High food prices and the driest years since the early 1950s have pushed …
Water restrictions are spreading across France after rain last month proved insufficient to replenish rivers and water tables hit by a spring drought, the environment ministry said on Friday. Curbs on water use have now been introduced in 70 out of 96 administrative departments in mainland France, the most to …
People living in the Nuwara Eliya are perturbed that the area is undergoing climatic changes demonstrated by a prolonged drought and a delay in the south-west monsoonal rains experienced this year. These monsoonal rains accompanied by strong winds that usually make their presence felt in June and July make life …
Climate change and catastrophic events have contributed to rice shortages in several regions due to decreased water availability and soil salinization. Although not adapted to salt or drought stress, two commercial rice varieties achieved tolerance to these stresses by colonizing them with Class 2 fungal endophytes isolated from plants growing …
The first decade of the 21st century was the hottest since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Global warming is real and, if present trends continue, its possible effects worry publics and governments around the world. Could it foster armed conflict for resources such as food and water? Will Western …
Understanding the underlying dynamics of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) extremes such as severe droughts is key to improving seasonal prediction of the ISM rainfall. A large number of ISM droughts over the past century occurred unrelated to external forcing like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In this study, we …
Kenya's state-run National Safety Authority is set to approve importation of genetically modified maize into the country for the first time to mitigate a looming shortage, its head said on Wednesday. The Kenyan government last week forecast a shortfall in the supply of maize, a staple in east Africa's biggest …
