global warming - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Dubai faces massive clean up after deluge swamps glitzy desert city

DUBAI, a city in the desert proud of its modern gloss, faced the towering task of clearing its water-clogged roads and drying out flooded homes two days after a record storm saw a year's rainfall in a day. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday's deluge. The rains were the heaviest experienced by the United Arab Emirates in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage. Flooding trapped residents in traffic,…

Apr

2024

By YAW AGYEMAN BOAFO

Why is Ghana so hot this year? An expert explains

ENVIRONMENT

GHANA’s meteorological agency and the state’s health service have issued warnings about a period of very high temperatures expected in the first half of 2024 around the country. Ghana’s experience is part of a global phenomenon: record temperatures were recorded in 2023. Yaw Agyeman Boafo, the programmes coordinator and a senior research fellow at the University of Ghana’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, answers some key questions. What is unusual about the weather in Ghana? Since the 1960s, Ghana has been getting warmer, with temperatures going up by about 1°C – a little over 0.2°C every ten years.…

Mar

2024

By PHILIP KOFI ADOM

Climate change: alarming Africa-wide report predicts 30% drop in crop revenue, 50 million without water

NEWS

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 West and East Africa will fare worst. We asked him about his findings. PHILIP KOFI ADOM, Associate Professor, School of Economics and Finance, University of the Witwatersrand You found climate change will reduce Africa’s crop earnings by 30%. How will this affect people?…

May

2023

By WILL DUNHAM

South African fossils reveal ancient beast’s epic journey to oblivion

NEWS

IT was a dire moment for life on Earth. Runaway global warming triggered by calamitous volcanism in Siberia inflicted the worst mass extinction on record - dooming perhaps 90% of species - roughly 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period. Unlike the asteroid 66 million years ago that ravaged the dinosaurs, this extinction event unfolded over a protracted time span, with species perishing one by one as conditions worsened. Scientists said fossils unearthed in South Africa provide a peek into this drama, telling the tale of an apex predator that over multiple generations migrated halfway around…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s cold weather has arrived – some tips on how to stay warm and safe

HEALTH

RESEARCH shows that the world is undoubtedly warming. And, as the global average temperature keeps rising, heat waves are increasing in their frequency, duration and intensity for most of the world’s regions. Authors ADRIAAN VAN DER WALT, Senior Lecturer of Physical Geography and GIS, University of the Free State JENNIFER FITCHETT, Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of the Witwatersrand SARAH ROFFE, Researcher, Agricultural Research Council But that doesn’t mean cold weather will disappear entirely. While annual extreme cold events are becoming less frequent and less intense, as you’d expect in a warming world, researchers suggest the climate systems that…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Show us the money: Developing world at COP27 seeks financing details

NEWS

SIMON JESSOP, KATE ABNETT and VIRGINIA FURNESS FINANCE took centre stage at the COP27 climate talks, with U.N. experts publishing a list of projects worth $120 billion that investors could back to help poorer countries cut emissions and adapt to the impacts of global warming. A $3 billion water transfer project between Lesotho and Botswana and a $10 million plan to improve the public water system in Mauritius were among dozens of projects listed, including 19 in Africa. "We can now show that a meaningful pipeline of investible opportunities does exist across the economies that need finance most," Mahmoud Mohieldin, one…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Armed conflict and climate change: how these two threats play out in Africa

ENVIRONMENT

THE world is falling miserably short of reducing carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, a 2015 treaty to keep global warming well below 2? The results of this failure are a greater increase in the prevalence and severity of extreme weather events, more rapid sea-level rises and an elevated risk of triggering irreversible climate tipping points, like the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet or the loss of the Amazon rainforest. The speed and magnitude of these changes have immediate consequences for ecosystem health and biodiversity. Further, sustained climate change threatens fundamental dimensions of human well-being. Author…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

COP27: Hosts launch plan to help poorest adapt to climate change

WORLD

GLORIA DICKIE, SIMON JESSOP and VALERIE VOLCOVICI The hosts of the COP27 climate talks launched a global plan to help the world's poorest communities withstand the impacts of global warming. Unveiling the Sharm-El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, named after the Egyptian resort where the talks are being held, the plan sets out 30 goals to hit by the end of the decade to enhance the lives of 4 billion people. The hope is that by setting targets across themes including food and agriculture, water and nature, and coastlines and oceans, the public and private sectors will work with common goals and accelerate adaptation…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

COP27 kicks off with deal to discuss climate compensation

WORLD

GLORIA DICKIE and KATE ABNETT DELEGATES from nearly 200 countries kicked off the U.N. climate summit in Egypt with an agreement to discuss compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming, placing the controversial topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago. The agreement set a constructive tone for the COP27 summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where governments hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst impacts of planetary warming even as a slew of crises - from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

COP27 must work out how to cut carbon and still develop African economies

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AVERTING a climate disaster without compromising economic growth and development is a key issue for African countries. Energy production and use is the single biggest contributor to global warming, accounting for roughly two-thirds of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, electricity use and access are strongly correlated with economic development. Many African countries are lagging behind in electricity generation and access. According to the Energy Progress Report, in 2020 the 20 countries with the lowest rates of access to electricity were all in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, just 7% of the population in South Sudan and 11% of the population in…