Without action on climate crisis, far greater numbers will also experience floods, wildfires and droughts, according to report
Eight times as many children around the world will be exposed to extreme heatwaves in the 2050s, and three times as many will face river floods compared with the 2000s if current trends continue, according to the UN.
Nearly twice as many children are also expected to face wildfires, with many more living through droughts and tropical cyclones, according to the annual state of the world’s children report.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/19/2024 - 19:01
11/19/2024 - 14:46
Endangered whale measuring 47ft washes up in Anchorage as scientists seek explanation for animal’s death
An endangered fin whale that washed up near a coastal trail in Alaska’s largest city has attracted curious onlookers while biologists seek answers as to what caused the animal’s death.
The carcass found over the weekend near Anchorage was 47ft (14.3 meters) long – comparable to the width of a college basketball court – and is believed to be that of a female. Barbara Mahoney, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist examining the whale, told the Anchorage Daily News the whale was probaby one to three years old.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 13:47
Years long fight by local tribes has paid off after four dams, which had blocked passage for fish for decades, came down
A giant female Chinook salmon flips on her side in the shallow water and wriggles wildly, using her tail to carve out a nest in the riverbed as her body glistens in the sunlight. In another moment, males butt into each other as they jockey for a good position to fertilize eggs.
These are scenes local tribes have dreamed of seeing for decades as they fought to bring down four hydroelectric dams blocking passage for struggling salmon along more than 400 miles (644km) of the Klamath River and its tributaries along the Oregon-California border.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 13:29
A new study measuring access to nature for eight major global cities found most still have inadequate canopy cover, despite access to an abundance of trees.
11/19/2024 - 12:02
Delegates from poorer nations say classifications that date back to 1992 are obsolete and two countries ‘should be contributing’
China and India should no longer be treated as developing countries in the same way as some of the poorest African nations are, according to a growing number of delegates from poorer country at the Cop29 UN climate talks.
China should take on some additional responsibility for providing financial help to the poorest and most vulnerable, several delegates told the Guardian. India should not be eligible for receiving financial help as it has no trouble attracting investment, some said.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 10:00
Exclusive: Leaders warn cost savings will lead to mass redundancies and that spaces could become ‘paper parks’
England’s national parks face a 12% real-terms cut to their budget which would lead to mass redundancies of wardens and the closure of visitor centres and other facilities, park leaders have warned.
The chief executives told the Guardian that soon the spaces would become “paper parks” designated by a “brown sign on the motorway” and they will have to “turn the lights off, close the doors and put up closed signs” if the cuts go ahead.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 09:04
Chris Bowen also pledges A$50m to a fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has declared the landmark Paris agreement “is working” as it had brought the world back from “the brink of catastrophic 4C warming”, but argued countries must set the most ambitious emissions targets possible for 2035 to limit worsening global heating.
Giving Australia’s national statement on the conference floor at the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, he also pledged A$50m (US$32.5m) towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown. The funding was welcomed by climate campaigners, who said it was “the right thing to do”.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 07:00
An update on our progress from the Guardian’s head of sustainability
The Guardian environment pledge 2024
Support urgent, independent climate journalism today
Five years ago the Guardian made a pledge that we would “play a part, both in our journalism and in our own organisation, to address the climate emergency” with our first annual environment pledge. That commitment reflected our long history of environment reporting and our view that individual companies had to take greater responsibility for their impact on the natural world. We wanted to demonstrate to readers that we were taking the action that our journalism showed was so necessary, and to be transparent about our progress. Today we publish the 2024 pledge.
Since then we have worked hard to measure and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, to understand our impact on nature and to share our results openly with readers. In our latest sustainability report, published last month, we show that our emissions have fallen by 43% since 2020, putting us well on track to achieve our goal of a 67% cut by 2030.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 04:47
Jeremy Clarkson tells Westminster protest that government should admit plans weren’t ‘thought out and are a mistake’
In an interview with the BBC, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, defended imposing inheritance tax on some farms when Labour said in opposition that it was not planning to do that. Asked why the government changed its mind, he replied:
After we won the election, we discovered that the Conservatives have left a £22bn black hole in the public finances. And if we want to fix our National Health Service, rebuild all schools, provide the affordable housing that rural communities and across the country rely on, then we’ve had to ask those with the broader shoulders to pay a little bit more.
I’m sure we all feel betrayed because of the state that the Conservatives left the economy in. A £22bn pound black hole isn’t a small problem. It’s massive, and fixing that is necessary if we want to stabilise the economy and rebuild our public services.
Continue reading...
11/19/2024 - 03:47
Prime minister says government is taking balanced approach amid protest in Westminster over proposed inheritance tax changes
Farmers protest in Whitehall – live updates
What are the tax changes affecting UK farmers?
Keir Starmer has denied that he is mounting a class war by targeting wealthy landowners and private schools, after the head of the National Farmers’ Union accused the government of an extraordinary “betrayal” over inheritance tax changes.
In an escalating war of words between food producers and ministers, the NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, called the government’s budget measures a “stab in the back”, after the sector had been previously told that taxes such as agricultural property relief (APR) would not be changed. He was addressing hundreds of farmers who had travelled to London to lobby their local MPs.
Continue reading...
