Rural farm fires and Diwali fireworks likely to trigger pollution emergencies in northern India during late autumn and early winter, despite the rollout of new pollution control measures in the capital city territory. DELHI, India – As India braces for the winter smog season, Delhi has announced a pollution mitigation plan for the expected peak […] Continue reading ->
World leaders on Thursday approved the first United Nations declaration on sea level rise, affirming that nations losing land to the ocean will keep their statehood and maritime rights, as a new UN report warned that up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050. Championed by small island states, the declaration affirms a […] Continue reading ->
Climate change and deforestation have intensified wildfires in the Amazon. Volunteer brigades have become an essential part of integrated fire management. The loud crackles of burning twigs are the first to hit. Then, the scorched smell. Soon afterwards, columns of white and yellow smoke emerge, so thick they look solid. On the ground, flames as […] Continue reading ->
With Thursday’s 24 September deadline looming, international scientific societies and civil society leaders are pushing Spain to sponsor a last-minute nomination of Dr María Neira as candidate in the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General election. Neira is WHO’s former Director for Environment, Climate Change and Health, and her nomination has been endorsed by Nobel Peace […] Continue reading ->
Countries around the world face higher risks of extreme weather events like floods, droughts and extreme heat as the ongoing El Niño intensifies and extends, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) now assessing it will become the strongest in history. In its latest update, WMO assessed with 100% certainty that El Niño — the result […] Continue reading ->
The world has failed to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) declared on Wednesday. In a sprawling 141-page report, UNEP found there is no realistic pathway to prevent warming from exceeding the threshold. “The most stringent emission reduction pathways that were available around the […] Continue reading ->
The lung capacity of thousands of children stunted by traffic fumes on London’s streets recovered fully in the five years after the city imposed limits on its most polluting vehicles, a landmark study has found. The research, published Tuesday in The Lancet Public Health, tracked more than 3,400 children in London and Luton, a commuter […] Continue reading ->
When 175 countries unanimously voted in Nairobi in March 2022 to negotiate a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, the move was hailed as the most significant step in global environmental negotiations since the Paris climate accord. Now, a year to the day after two weeks of talks and a 24-hour final negotiating marathon […] Continue reading ->
As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading ->
Nine miles south of the picturesque French city of Bordeaux, firefighters are at war with a phenomenon straight out of an apocalyptic epic. Scientists call them pyrocumulonimbus, or PyroCbs. NASA calls them the “fire-breathing dragon of clouds”. The port capital of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, normally bustling with tourists at peak season, is instead drowned in smog, so […] Continue reading ->