global warming - The African Mirror

Dec

2020

Snowboard pioneer wants more people on the slopes to fight climate change

UMBERTO BACCHI FAMED for his daring descents down the untracked slopes of hard-to-reach peaks from Norway to Alaska, snowboarding pioneer Jeremy Jones enjoys being alone in nature. Yet the 45-year-old would be happy to see a few more people crowding the mountains he loves - because they are under threat, he said, and he is on a mission to get more people to care. "If you look at (past) environmentalists, none of them were like 'Man, I was hanging in my apartment in New York City, just scrolling through social media, and decided I wanted to become an environmentalist'," Jones…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Extreme heat is a threat to lives in Africa, but it’s not being monitored

ENVIRONMENT

EXTREME heat is a serious hazard to people’s health. It affects the cardiovascular system and is particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions. LUKE HARRINGTON, Postdoctoral researcher in Climate Extremes, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford FRIEDERIKE OTTO, Associate Director, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Recent research has found that since the 1950s, extreme heat has become more frequent and severe, and lasted longer, in nearly all regions of the world. The biggest increases have been seen in the Middle East, South America and parts of Africa. Because societies in different parts of the world…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Family farmers struggle to keep up with fast-warming world

ENVIRONMENT

THIN LEI WIN YOUNG African farmers Mavis Gofa and Andrew Goodman had a vastly different upbringing - Gofa grew up on a one-hectare (2.5-acre) farm and could not afford to finish high school, while Goodman's family cultivated 275 hectares and educated him in Britain. But they share the same big dream. Both want a better life for the families who run the world's half a billion small farms, many of whom remain steeped in poverty despite producing about 80% of food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations. It is a tough ask as climate change…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Fund to cut emissions in developing world cities launched

AFRICITIES

A new multilateral finance fund that aims to cut carbon emissions and improve conditions in developing-world cities, has been launched. Implemented by the World Bank and the European Union's lending arm, the European Investment Bank, the City Climate Finance Gap Fund aims to unlock at least 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion) for low-carbon and climate-resilient projects. Cities already account for 70% of global CO2 emissions, but with 2.5 billion more people expected to move to them by 2050, and Africa alone expected to see a 700% increase in urban land cover by 2030, limiting the climate impact will be vital.…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Will COVID-19 change our relationship with meat?

HEALTH

THIN LEI WIN IN a vast, illuminated greenhouse set among Iceland's otherworldly lava fields, the genetically modified shoots of an ancient cereal crop may hold the key to the food of the future. Using abundant geothermal waters for heating and volcanic ash instead of soil, biotech company ORF Genetics is growing barley here to produce growth factors - one of the most important, and costly, ingredients in laboratory-grown meat. Sales of plant-based meats have soared during the pandemic as customers shift diets due to growing unease about factory farming, working conditions in meat-packing plants and suspicion over a possible link between…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Adrar’s problems exposed as Sahara Desert heats up

ENVIRONMENT

MAHER MEZAHI and ZAHRA RAHMOUNI THE Sahara desert is synonymous with Algeria. It covers more than 80% of its national territory and is responsible for producing most of its wealth through agriculture, natural gas and crude oil. Those populations living in the deepest corners of the desert and most in need of help paradoxically remain the most marginalised. Nowhere is that truer than in the province of Adrar, where it is not uncommon for temperatures to exceed 50°C during the infernal summer months. Local meteorologists have even drawn what they call the “triangle of fire” between the provincial cities of…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate fund for poor nations vows to drive green COVID recovery

COVID-19

MEGAN ROWLING THE Green Climate Fund has promised developing nations it will ramp up efforts to help them tackle climate challenges as they strive to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, approving $879 million in backing for 15 new projects around the world. At a four-day virtual board meeting ending late Friday, the fund added Afghanistan and Sudan to a list of more than 100 countries receiving a total of $6.2 billion to reduce planet-heating emissions and enhance climate resilience. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up under U.N. climate talks in 2010 to help developing nations tackle global warming,…