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
تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
