U.N. delegates on Thursday withdrew a motion calling for more research into technologies that aim to fight climate change by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space, amid concerns about health and environmental risks. Some who opposed the draft resolution at the U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA) were also worried that the use of solar radiation modification (SRM)...
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Climate change: alarming Africa-wide report predicts 30% drop in crop revenue, 50 million without water
African countries will suffer significant economic loss after 2050 if global warming is not limited to below 2°C, a new study by the Center for Global Development has found. Environment and energy economist Philip Kofi Adom is the author of the report. He synchronised many years of research by climate change scientists and researchers and found that...
Heathrow, Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle: European airports rank amongst the world’s most polluting
New research takes stock of the impact of passenger flights and, for the first time, air freight at 1,300 airports around the world. New research has revealed the climate and air quality impacts of the world’s worst polluting airports. The 2024 Airport Tracker, produced by think tank ODI in partnership with Transport & Environment, measures...
Activists criticise civil society ‘restrictions’ at WTO meeting in UAE
Civil society organisations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in the United Arab Emirates this week have criticized restrictions on their participation, including alleging that some of their members had been briefly detained at the talks. Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS), a network of civil society groups, said on Wednesday it had...
Alaska Tribes accuse Canada of human rights violations, request international hearing on mining
At the mouth of the Unuk River near Ketchikan, there is a very old petroglyph. According to Lee Wagner of Metlakatla, the rising sun painted onto a rock above the river is thousands of years old and it’s a family crest. “And you will also see remnants of more of them along the river as...
Climate change shrinking fish
Global warming increased competition for food in the 2010s, leading to decreased fish weight in important fishing area. Fish weight in the western North Pacific Ocean dipped in the 2010s due to warmer water limiting food supplies, according to a new study at the University of Tokyo. Researchers analyzed the individual weight and overall biomass...
700 dead from Zambia cholera outbreak as cases surge
Zambia has seen a surge in cholera cases since January 2024 with fatalities reaching 700, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. The country has recorded nearly 20,000 infections since the outbreak started in October 2023. While at the beginning of the outbreak cases were restricted to Lusaka and Ndola , the two...
How the UAE kept the Sudan war raging
A network of munition supply lines, backing the Rapid Support Forces against the Sudanese army, can be traced to the Gulf via Libya, Chad, Uganda and elsewhere. At midday on 6 August last year, a plane carrying unknown cargo could be seen on the runway at Hamrat al-Sheikh, an airstrip in Sudan’s North Kordofan state. A handful...
US targets dozens of entities from China, UAE and Turkey for helping Russia
The Biden administration said on Friday it has imposed new trade restrictions on 93 entities from Russia, China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, India and South Korea for supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. The action, one day before the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, essentially bans U.S. shipments to the targeted...
How Big Oil is Using Toxic Chemicals as a Lifeline – and How We Can Stop It
Petrochemicals are an environmental and public health disaster. What you need to know. As we move towards zero-emissions and 100% clean energy, the oil and gas industry is launching a last-ditch effort to protect its profit, betting big on petrochemicals: toxic chemicals made from oil and gas that are used to make plastics, industrial chemicals, and...