Baras, Philippines (AFP) Feb 22, 2023 From her house in a Manila suburb, Rowena Jimenez can’t see the bare mountains around the built-up city. But she feels the impact of deforestation every time her living room floods. Slash-and-burn farming, illegal logging, open-pit mining and development fueled by population growth have stripped the once-densely forested Philippines of much of its trees. In Manila, where more than … Continue reading Wetter storms, deforestation: Manila faces worsening floods

Al-Hammam Crossing , Syria (AFP) Feb 19, 2023 The group Doctors Without Borders called Sunday for the “urgent scaling up” of earthquake aid to northwest Syria as it delivered a convoy laden with emergency assistance. Aid has been slow to reach Syria’s rebel-held areas since the February 6 quake killed a combined total of more than 44,000 people across Turkey and Syria. “An urgent increase … Continue reading Aid group issues urgent appeal for quake-hit Syria

Corvallis OR (SPX) Feb 14, 2023 Soil is the Earth’s second-biggest carbon storage locker after the ocean, and a research collaboration has shown that it’s moisture, not temperature or mineral content, that’s the key to how well the soil carbon warehouse works. The findings are important for understanding how the global carbon cycle might change as the climate grows more warm and dry, said Oregon … Continue reading Moisture the key to soils’ ability to sequester carbon

Gaborone, Botswana (AFP) Feb 20, 2023 Botswana revealed on Monday that it suffered a huge spike in rhino poaching during five years up to 2021, translating to about a third of its population of the endangered species. In all 138 rhinos were slaughtered between 2018 and last year, Tourism minister Philda Kereng told parliament. This compares to two rhinos poached in the preceding five years … Continue reading Botswana loses a third of rhino to poaching in five years

United Nations, United States (AFP) Feb 21, 2023 UN member states embraced “positive energy” Monday as they launched two weeks of negotiations aimed at finally reaching a treaty meant to protect and preserve vast areas of the world’s oceans. After more than 15 years of formal and informal talks, this is the third time in less than a year that negotiators have converged on New … Continue reading UN tries anew to finish treaty protecting the high seas

Madrid (AFP) Feb 20, 2023 Madrid’s regional government said Monday it would drop its controversial plans to fell more than 1,000 trees to extend a metro line in the Spanish capital. The announcement comes after demonstrators packed a park in Madrid on Saturday in a protest called by Spanish green group Ecologists in Action. Organisers said over 2,000 people joined the rally which came as … Continue reading Madrid drops tree-culling plan after protest

Hatay, Turkey (AFP) Feb 20, 2023 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said Turkey would build almost 200,000 new homes in the country’s southeast region, devastated by a massive earthquake two weeks ago. A 7.8-magnitude tremor on February 6 and its aftershocks have killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey and left millions without homes. Erdogan is keen to show his government will do everything … Continue reading Turkey to build nearly 200,000 homes in quake-hit region

Geneva (AFP) Feb 15, 2023 The World Health Organization will continue pushing until it finds an answer to how the Covid-19 pandemic started, the agency’s chief said Wednesday following a report suggesting it had abandoned the search. Solving the mystery of where the SARS CoV-2 virus came from and how it began spreading among humans is considered vital for averting future pandemics. Yet an article … Continue reading WHO chief to ‘push until we get the answer’ on Covid origins

Antakya, Turkey (AFP) Feb 19, 2023 “We don’t know when we’ll be able to come back,” said Bilal Jawir as he finished loading a van with his family’s things and prepared to leave the earthquake-hit Turkish city of Antakya. During last week’s tremor that rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, killing more than 44,000, Jawir, his wife and two daughters sheltered in a cluster of … Continue reading Turkey quake survivors rescue belongings for uncertain future

Napier, New Zealand (AFP) Feb 18, 2023 Water and electricity supplies slowly returned to cyclone-struck New Zealand cities Saturday, as the death toll from the disaster rose to nine. Almost a week after Cyclone Gabrielle brought scouring winds and torrential rains to the country’s North Island – causing landslides and widespread flooding – recovery efforts have begun in earnest. Roger Ball, acting director of the … Continue reading Power, water return to cyclone-hit New Zealand cities