Edinburgh UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2022 Urgent protection is needed to prevent carbon gas emissions from decomposing peat swamps in lowland Peruvian Amazonia (LPA) – which are bigger than previously thought. Scientists discovered small but growing areas of deforestation across the LPA, including an 11-fold increase in CO2 emissions linked to mining, between 2000 and 2016. The research, led by the Universities of Edinburghhttp://dlvr.it/SNg6bY Continue reading Huge Amazon swamp carbon stores under threat

Providence RI (SPX) Apr 15, 2022 A new global analysis of the last 19 million years of seafloor spreading rates found they have been slowing down. Geologists want to know why the seafloor is getting sluggish. New oceanic crust forms continuously along rifts thousands of miles long on the seafloor, driven by plate tectonics. As subduction pulls old crust down, rifts open up like fissures … Continue reading Seafloor spreading has been slowing down

Abuyog, Philippines (AFP) April 13, 2022 Fearing heavy rain dumped by tropical storm Megi would trigger flooding, residents of a Philippine fishing village hiked to higher ground and pitched tents. They never imagined the mountain they were on would collapse. Fisherman Fernando Rosquetes instructed his family to trek up the mountain behind their village, Pilar, which is by the sea in central Leyte province. “I … Continue reading ‘Safer’ higher ground becomes fatal site in Philippine landslide

Durban, South Africa (AFP) April 13, 2022 The South African city of Durban city began the mammoth task of recovering from rains that have so far left 59 dead Wednesday, with hillsides washed away, homes collapsed, and dozens still missing. The heaviest rains in over 60 years forced sub-Saharan Africa’s most important port to halt operations, as a main access road suffered heavy damage. Shipping … Continue reading Durban cleans up after record floods hit South Africa

Durban, South Africa (AFP) April 13, 2022 Disoriented and in disbelief but alive, a crowd of people who watched their homes wash away amid devastating floods in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban queued to register for temporary shelter Wednesday. “Everything is gone,” repeated Sinethemba Duka, 31, over and over, sporting a grey floppy hat and a salmon coloured golf shirt – having salvaged only … Continue reading ‘Everything is gone’: S.Africa’s flood victims search for shelter

Niamey (AFP) April 13, 2022 Seven Niger police officers and four soldiers were killed on Tuesday in two separate attacks near the country’s borders with Burkina Faso and Libya, the government said Wednesday. Niger’s interior ministry said “unidentified armed bandits” attacked the Petelkole police station near Burkina Faso in western Niger and a military base in Djado in the country’s desert-covered far north. Sevenhttp://dlvr.it/SNYndS Continue reading Seven police officers, 4 soldiers die in Niger attacks

Abuja (AFP) April 13, 2022 More than 4,800 Nigerians have fled from their homes following attacks on five villages in central Plateau state, a government official said Wednesday. Heavily armed criminals known locally as bandits who are increasingly active across central and northwestern states were suspected of being behind the attacks. Two local community leaders and the commander of a local vigilante force toldhttp://dlvr.it/SNYnWZ Continue reading 4,800 people displaced after attacks in central Nigeria

Gatumba, Burundi (AFP) April 13, 2022 In her 40 years living by the water’s edge, Amissa Irakoze never much feared Lake Tanganyika. Floods were frequent, even lapping at her front door, but eventually they always receded. She could never have foreseen what happened in April 2020. Returning from working in the fields, Irakoze found her home in northwest Burundi was under the water and her … Continue reading ‘Tanganyika is vomiting’: Burundians flee as lake rises

Paris (AFP) April 12, 2022 Climate change supercharged storms during the unprecedented North Atlantic hurricane season in 2020 by increasing the amount of extreme rainfall by up to 10 percent, according to new research published Tuesday. At least 400 people were killed in the series of violent storms two years ago in Central America, the United States and the Caribbean, with torrential rain, ferocious winds … Continue reading Climate change magnified extreme rain in hurricane season: study

Paris (ESA) Apr 13, 2022 After decades of drought, water levels in Lake Powell, the second-largest humanmade reservoir in the United States, have shrunk to its lowest level since it was created more than 50 years ago, threatening millions of people who rely on its water supply. Satellite images allow us to take a closer look at the dwindling water levels of the lake amidst … Continue reading Dwindling water levels of Lake Powell seen from space