Patna — A sizzling heat wave has claimed more than 300 lives in India this month, and officials have forbidden daytime cooking in some areas to prevent fires that have killed nearly 80 others.
Category: climate
Ireland edges closer to forming new government with deal on water charges
A deal between two rival parties to suspend controversial water charges nudged Ireland closer to the formation of a minority government on Wednesday after more than two months of tortuous negotiations. Fine Gael, the largest party to emerge from the…
Breaking free from fossil fuels
by Payal Parekh BERN – There has never been a better time to break free from fossil fuels. Record-breaking global temperatures, plummeting fossil-fuel prices, historic investments in renewable energy, and global pressure to honor climate pledges are all coming together…
Rare ice data collected by early ‘Citizen Scientists’ confirms warming
In 1442, 50 years before Columbus “sailed the ocean blue,” Shinto priests in Japan began keeping records of the annual freeze dates of a nearby lake. Along a Finnish river, starting in 1693, local merchants recorded the date the ice…
Enhance less water consuming Aus rice cultivation: experts
Rangpur Correspondent Experts at a regional workshop have stressed on enchaining farming of less irrigation water consuming Aus, drought- and other stress tolerant rice to gradually reduce Boro cultivation and lessen pressure on underground water. They also put emphasis on…
Heatwave affects normal life badly in Rajshahi
Rajshahi Correspondent April 24, 2016 (BSS)- People in Rajshahi region are experiencing a hot spell amid a drought-like situation with an average 40 degrees Celsius temperature for the last couples of days and absence of rainfall for a long time.…
175 states sign landmark Paris deal on climate change
UN (AP/UNB) – Leaders from at least 175 countries were signing the Paris Agreement on climate change Friday as the landmark deal took a key step forward, potentially entering into force years ahead of schedule. U.S. Secretary of State John…
Highlights of the climate pact to be signed in New York
Leaders and envoys from more than 160 countries will sign on Friday the climate-change pact the world adopted in principle in Paris last December. These are the key points in the Paris Agreement: The goal – The purpose is to…
Over 160 countries confirm to sign Paris deal Friday: UN
Dhaka, Apr 19 (UNB) – More than 160 countries have so far confirmed that they will sign the Paris Agreement on climate change on April 22, the first day that the agreement will be open for signature. “Next Friday will…
Climate change may boost spread of Zika, other viruses
As Europe and the United States brace for the likely arrival of the Zika virus from Latin America this summer, experts warn global warming may accelerate the spread of mosquito-borne disease. Rising temperatures are a threat in more ways than…
Heat disrupts people’s life, livelihood in Rajshahi
Rajshahi Correspondent Normal livelihood of the region, particularly of the vast barind tract, is being affected badly due to the ongoing sultry weather that is being experienced by the people in the current month. An uneasy situation is prevailing everywhere.…
Heatwave shuts more than 250 Malaysian schools
More than 250 Malaysian schools were closed on Monday due to a heatwave brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon which is severely affecting food production and causing chronic water shortages in many countries. Authorities ordered schools in the…
Hot spell across Bangladesh continues
Dhaka – A hot spell has been sweeping across the country, including capital Dhaka, over the last couple of days following the storms and rains caused by a nor’wester. The situation is worse in rural areas, particularly in the northern…
Mild hot spell over parts of Bangladesh to remain 3 more days
The mild hot spell scorching Rajshahi and Khulna divisions may continue for three more days, the Met Office has forecast. Weathermen said on Friday rainstorm may take place in Mymensingh, Khulna and some places in Sylhet in this period. The…
Papua New Guinea 1st to have climate plan under Paris deal
By Eliza Northrop Washington DC – On March 29, Papua New Guinea became the first country to formally submit the final version of its national climate action plan (called a “Nationally Determined Contribution,” or NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The…
Climate change could cost global economy US$24 trillion
Jessica Cheam A new report by the London School of Economics and Political Science is the first comprehensive study to use an economic model to put a number on the “climate value at risk”. A new report published on Monday…
Satellites key to monitoring harmful emissions: space agencies
Satellite technology plays a crucial role in measuring greenhouse gas emissions globally, the heads of several space agencies agreed Sunday as they vowed to work together to develop a coordinated monitoring system. The pledge comes after a landmark climate accord…
Parched fields force Thailand to look beyond rice
Thailand has long served as one of the globe’s main rice bowls, but chronic water shortages are pushing the country to move away from a grain that dominates its fields and has defined a way of life for generations. Laddawan…
Water reservoir can mitigate drought condition in Barind area
More water reservoirs in the drought-prone Barind area could be effective means of lessening its gradually mounting pressure on groundwater table coupled with mitigating its water-stress condition. Researchers and scientists concerned revealed this while talking to BSS,they said water reservoir…
Palau declares state of emergency over drought
Palau became the latest Pacific island nation to declare a state of emergency Wednesday, as the region struggles with an extreme drought that forecasters warn will not ease for months. President Tommy Remengesau said rainfall in the capital Koror over…
Northwesterly ‘Kalbaishakhi’ squalls, hailstorm forecast
Dhaka – River ports in several districts across the country have been asked to hoist ‘riverine warning signal no. 2’ amid forecast of temporary west or north-westerly squalls.
We’re changing climate at an unprecedented’ rate
By Elaisha Stokes Hardly a week goes by anymore without some scientific agency reporting that Earth has surpassed some sort of alarming threshold: biggest monthly temperature anomaly, lowest amount of sea ice in the Arctic, highest wind speeds of any…
Has air pollution made Kathmandu unliveable?
With smog five times worse than the levels which prompted Paris to ban cars, the capital of the supposedly pristine mountain nation of Nepal is choking. Hospital doctor Andrew Lodge reports jay’s 63-year-old frame strains with each breath. He is…
Sea levels rising faster than in previous 2,700 years
Scientists have modeled a history of the planet’s sea levels spanning back 3,000 years, and concluded that the rate of increase last century “was extremely likely faster than during any of the 27 previous centuries.”
26 States fight Obama’s carbon emissions plan to curb global warming
The plan would establish the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants. A group of U.S. states led by coal producer West Virginia and oil producer Texas on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a…
The right incentives for a low-crrbon future
Thomas Fricke Berlin – The climate agreement that world leaders reached in Paris last month has been widely celebrated for establishing the ambitious target of limiting the increase in global temperature to well below 2º Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But…
Delhi plan leapfrog to Euro VI emissions standards in 2020 welcomed
New Delhi – The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has welcomed the landmark decision of the Union government to skip Euro V emissions standards and leapfrog to Euro VI standards in 2020. With this, India will take the first…
Huge fight in Paris to ensure ‘contributions’ are not mitigation-centric
Penang (T Ajit) — A proposal by the Like-Minded Developing countries (LMDC), aimed at ensuring that nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement are comprehensive and not mitigation-centric, was a hard fought battle that eventually succeeded in being reflected…
El Nino weather ‘could be as bad as 1998’, says Nasa
The US space agency Nasa has warned that the effects of the current El Nino weather phenomenon could be as bad as those of 1998, the strongest on record. That El Nino played havoc with world weather systems and was…
Texas tornadoes: ‘Eleven killed’ in Dallas suburbs
Dhaka – Eleven people are reported to have been killed in Texas after new tornadoes, raising the death toll to 26 in a week of storms in several US states. Local media said five people in cars were probably blown…