Sustainable Switch: Climate Focus-The aftermath of floods, typhoons and wildfires
By Sharon Kimathi
Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
sharon.kimathi@thomsonreuters.com
Hello,
Today's newsletter counts the human and environmental toll in the aftermath of various natural disasters – such as floods, typhoons, wildfires, and droughts – and how they affect the ecosystems and families left in their wake.
Four months after devastating flooding wrecked their house in southern Brazil, Milton do Nascimento, and his family still have no permanent home and are sleeping rough under a highway bridge.
Nascimento, his wife Gabriela and stepdaughter live just 300 meters (984 ft) from their house which was destroyed in the unprecedented flooding that hit the city of Porto Alegre and surrounding areas in May, killing more than 180 people and driving half a million more from their homes.
"After going through what we went through in the flood, this is nothing. Now we're in luxury. I have everything I need," Gabriela said.
Elsewhere, scientists in a report from World Weather Attribution said that the devastating typhoon that tore through the Philippines, Taiwan and China last month, destroying infrastructure and leaving more than 100 people dead, was made significantly worse by human-induced climate change.
Climate researchers said warmer seas were providing extra "fuel"for tropical storms in Asia, making them more dangerous, as another typhoon made landfall in Japan.
In Canada, a study published in the journal Nature found that the wildfires that swept Canadian woodlands last year released more greenhouse gases than some of the largest emitting countries.
Typical emissions from Canadian forest fires over the last decade have ranged from 29 to 121 megatonnes. But climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is leading to drier and hotter conditions, driving extreme wildfires. The 2023 fires burned 15 million hectares (37 million acres) across Canada, or about 4% of its forests.
The carbon released in last year's wildfires exceeded those of seven of the 10 largest national emitters in 2022, including Germany, Japan and Russia the study found.
Scroll down to today’s Climate Lens for the aftermath of Bolivia’s wildfires on local farmers and produce.
* Climate Buzz
1. Thousands evacuated as India, Pakistan brace for rare August cyclone
Coastal towns and cities in India and Pakistan braced for a rare August cyclone on Friday, as heavy rains and winds forced authorities to close schools and evacuate thousands.
India's weather office said a deep depression had formed over land and was likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Friday evening, moving north-westwards over the Arabian Sea in the next two days.
2. Typhoon Shanshan drenches Japan, prompting landslide and flood alerts
Typhoon Shanshan soaked large swathes of Japan with torrential rain on Friday, prompting warnings for flooding and landslides hundreds of miles from the storm's center, halting travel services and shutting production at major factories.
At least four people have been killed and 99 injured in storm-related incidents in recent days, according to the disaster management agency.
3. Sudan's rains spread wartime suffering across the country
Floodwaters from heavy rains that started surging in earlier this month have brought devastation across Sudan, a country already shattered by 500 days of fierce fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Now, the natural disaster has spread destruction further than the conflict.
4. Top South Korea court says climate law doesn't protect basic rights
South Korea's top court said the climate change law did not protect basic human rights and lacked targets to shield future generations, in a landmark ruling after activists blamed the government for failing to effectively tackle climate change.
5. Dead fish blanket Greek tourist port after flooding
Greek authorities have started collecting hundreds of thousands of dead fish that poured into a tourist port in the central city of Volos this week after being displaced from their usual freshwater habitats during flooding last year.
* What to Watch
Japan is hoping new heat-resistant varieties of its staple food can help stave off future supply shocks after the nation grappled with a rice shortage following extreme weather that ravaged last year's crop. Click here for the full video.
* Climate Commentary
It’s not just been sunbathers enjoying the weather as Reuters global energy transition columnistGavin Maguire explores how solar power has overtaken wind generation globally over the past three months.
U.S. miners and battery recyclers are rushing to close government loans worth billions of dollars before January out of concern that former President Donald Trump would, if reelected, block funding, writes Reuters senior mining correspondentErnest Scheyder.
María Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition, highlights some climate wins in the corporate sphere for the Ethical Corp Magazine.
* Climate Lens
Yellow-suited firefighters have been trying to counter the blazes in Bolivia and evacuate villages as fires have torn through the landscape.
Around 3 million hectares have burned as of August and the total figure for 2024 is expected to rise sharply, with the season lasting until December.
"We live from agriculture and now nothing grows, everything is dry," said Maria Suarez Moconho, an Indigenous community chief who leads the group of volunteers, adding that conditions were having a devastating impact on water and food supplies. "The fire burns everything."
* Number of the Week
$100 million
The amount that the United Nations has released to support 10 underfunded humanitarian crises in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.
More than a third of this funding will go to aid operations in Yemen ($20 million) and Ethiopia ($15 million), where people are grappling with hunger, displacement, diseases and climate disasters, a spokesperson said during a regular briefing.
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Bolivia: scorched earth https://reut.rs/4fWgswB
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