Eight years ago, world leaders pledged to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, we could break that threshold – at least temporarily – by 2027.
This week on Landscape News, find out why our climate fate rests upon a single resource: water. Plus, plastic pollution prospects, the perils of air conditioning, and why it pays to sue polluters.
LANDSCAPE NEWS
Did you know that we have better maps of Mars than of the oceans on our own planet? Here are our top 10 fun facts about the ocean.
Almost three-quarters of all natural disasters involve water. How can we build a healthier relationship with our most precious resource?
Pinched by drought, floods and rising sea levels, Benin is facing the climate crisis head on. Here’s how its people are responding.
Carbon credits can be a huge boon for local communities – but only if they get to keep a share of the benefits.
PEOPLE
Will the next pandemic come from bats? Humans are encroaching on bat habitats in 113 countries. Here are four regions where the next outbreak is likely to happen.
On 26 February, Indigenous Ecuadorian activist Eduardo Mendúa posted on social media demanding an end to oil drilling on his people’s lands. Later that day, he was assassinated.
What does the climate crisis have to do with women’s reproductive health? In Bangladesh, the rising seas are turning rivers salty to the peril of local fisherwomen.
As summers get hotter, up to 1 billion new air conditioners could be installed by 2030 – which threatens to make the planet hotter still.
PLANET
More than half of the world’s large lakes are drying up, and it’s entirely our fault for using too much water and causing the climate crisis.
Plastic pollution is everywhere. We could reduce it by 80 percent in as little as 20 years, or – if we do nothing – it could triple by 2060.
Leopards rarely attack humans, but in one small district of India, they’ve killed seven people in the past three months – and no one seems to know why.
Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, scientists think they’ve found an answer to deforestation: recruiting local communities to steward the land.
CLIMATE
El Niño is far costlier than previously thought, causing trillions of dollars a year in damage – and it’s set to return later this year.
Extreme weather has claimed 2 million lives in the past 50 years. Luckily, even as disasters get ever more frequent and severe, the human death toll has fallen rapidly.
It’s been 70 years since climate change first made global headlines. Here’s what it looks like this week:
- Cyclone Mocha has killed at least 145 people in Myanmar, with more than 800,000 people in need of emergency aid.
- Up to 20,000 people have been displaced by floods in Italy, with at least 14 dead.
- Floods have displaced over 200,000 people in Somalia, leaving at least 22 dead.
- Vietnam and Laos have set new record temperatures, a phenomenon made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis.
BUSINESS
The world’s biggest fossil fuel companies owe USD 209 billion in annual reparations to communities affected by the climate crisis, one study suggests.
And major polluters usually take a hit to their share prices when faced with climate lawsuits, according to another study.
In the Netherlands, a new pilot scheme aims to protect seabirds by powering down offshore wind turbines during migration season.
But here are three reasons to be skeptical of techno-fixes:
- Recycling could be a major source of microplastic pollution.
- Solar farms are encroaching on wildlife, Indigenous sites and rural communities in California.
- Rich countries are exporting unsafe, polluting used cars to West Africa.
POLICY
Last year, Australia elected a new government on a climate action platform. Now, that government has approved its first new coal mine.
Brazil’s environmental regulator has rejected a new oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River. The country also saw a 68-percent drop in Amazon deforestation last month.
China’s carbon emissions are set to break new records this year, but they could soon peak thanks to a massive clean energy push.
France has banned some short-haul domestic flights, though activists say the measure doesn’t go far enough.
And Ukraine is already making plans to build back greener – even before its war is over. Here’s how it can succeed.
