Residents of the oasis of Alnif say they can’t remember a drought this bad: The land is dry. Some wells are empty. Palm groves that date back more than 100 years are barren. Home to centuries-old oases that have been a trademark of Morocco, this region about 170 miles southeast of Marrakesh is reeling from the effects of climate change, which has created an emergency for the kingdom’s agriculture. Nomadic herders guide their sheep in search for food to graze near Tinghir, Morocco, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy) Among those affected is Hammou Ben Ady, a nomad in the Tinghir region who leads his flock of sheep and goats in search of grazing grass. The drought forced him to rely on government handouts of fodder. November is usually a cold, wet month in Alnif, b...
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Chunks of ice float in milky blue waters. Clouds drift and hide imposing mountaintops. The closer you descend to the surface, the more the water roars — and the louder the “CRACK” of ice, as pieces fall from the arm of Europe’s largest glacier. The landscape is vast, elemental, seemingly far beyond human scale. The whole world, it seems, lies sprawled out before you. Against this outsized backdrop, the plane carrying the man who chases glaciers seems almost like a toy. Garrett Fisher, an American aviator and adventurer, looks out the window of his plane while on a mission to photograph glaciers in Norway, on July 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) “No one’s there,” the man marvels. “The air is virtually empty.” This is Garrett Fisher’s playground — and, you quickly realize, his...
Read MoreThe combination of global atmospheric warming and westerly winds shifting toward the poles will likely speed up the recession of mountain glaciers in both hemispheres, according to a UMaine study. Mountain glaciers freeze and gain mass when the climate cools, and melt and lose mass when the climate warms. The extent to which the fluctuations in mountain glaciers are reflective of local, regional and even hemispheric climate variations, however, is less clear, which has made it more difficult for scientists to use glacial data to interpret past climate dynamics and make predictions for the future. A team of researchers from the University of Maine conducted a National Science Foundation-funded study evaluating how atmospheric conditions are reflected in the mass fluctuations of m...
Read MoreNomad Tsering Angchuk vows to stay put in his remote village in India’s Ladakh region. His two sons and most of his fellow villagers have migrated to a nearby urban settlement but Angchuk is determined to herd his flock of fine cashmere-producing goats in the treeless Kharnak village, a hauntingly beautiful but unforgiving, cold mountainous desert. Dolma Angmo, wife of nomad Tsering Angchuk, attends her hardy Himalayan goats that produce cashmere in the remote Kharnak village in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) The 47-year-old herds 800 sheep and goats and a flock of 50 Himalayan yaks in Kharnak. In 2013, he migrated to Kharnakling, an urban settlement in the outskirts of a regional town called Leh but returned a year later,...
Read MoreNew travel awards to address climate change, protect nature and support communities
Riyadh-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center launches awards at WTTC Global Summit The Riyadh-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center (STGC) has launched its first global awards, the “Sustainable Travel Awards”, to recognize individuals and organizations that address climate change, protect nature and support communities. In total there will be 10 awards that will be awarded on an annual basis to recognize high impact solutions that are already implemented and able to demonstrate measurable positive impact. There will be three awards each in the categories of climate, nature and communities with one individual award granted to the person who is identified as a true champion of sustainable travel. The new awards were announced during the 22nd Annual WTTC Global Summi...
Read MoreStudy highlights wide-scale carbon mitigation strategies to maintain snowpack throughout Americas Snowcapped mountains not only look majestic – They’re vital to a delicate ecosystem that has existed for tens of thousands of years. Mountain water runoff and snowmelt flows down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans – and today, around a quarter of the world depends on these natural “water towers” to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support. But this valuable freshwater resource is in danger of disappearing. The planet is now around 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial levels, and mountain snowpacks are shrinking. Last year, a study co-led by Alan Rhoades and ...
Read MoreDecline in habitat to impact mangroves in east coast and west coast of India Certain mangrove species in Chilika and Sundarbans along the east coast and Dwarka and Porbandar along the west coast of India is likely to reduce and shift landward by 2070 due to decline in suitable habitats in response to precipitation and sea level changes, said a study based on a prediction model. The study can help identify highly suitable areas for conservation and management and develop conservation strategies for the future. Mangroves support numerous ecosystem services and help reduce coastal ecological risks, yet they are one of the severely endangered ecosystems declining rapidly due to climate change, sea level fluctuations, and human activities. A limited understanding of mangrove spatial ...
Read MoreOn Quebec’s Bonaventure Island, the ghosts of human habitation from years past and the birds that breed there now in extraordinary numbers tell the same story: of lives lived hard in a place of fairy-tale beauty. You see this from the tender ages on the family gravestones of islanders who scratched out a living from the late 1700s to when Bonaventure went entirely to the birds a half century ago. A northern gannet flies above the colony on Bonaventure Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Quebec, Canada's Gaspe Peninsula, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) You see it from the tenacious colony of 100,000-plus northern gannets as they plunge into the sea for prey, soar back to their nests and fight at the least provocation, sometimes to the death, for ...
Read MoreAmong the rambling herd painted onto the rocks of Namibia's Erongo mountains, some creatures are easy to spot - the long necks of giraffes, the spikes of antelopes' horns. Other animals have faded beyond recognition. Local guide Johannes Ikun Nani had only seen his ancestors' rock art in books, until a job took him to the country's central region, where the ancient rock paintings and engravings have become a growing tourist attraction over the years. Nani counts himself lucky to have witnessed his heritage firsthand - especially because archaeologists say climate change may be accelerating its disappearance. Johannes Ikun Nani stands in front of a boulder displaying ancient San rock at the Omandumba farm in the central region of Namibia, September 30, 2022. Thomson Reuters Founda...
Read MoreMajor glaciers, including Dolomites and Yosemite, to disappear by 2050 – U.N. report
Some of the world's most famous glaciers, including in the Dolomites in Italy, the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the United States and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are set to disappear by 2050 due to global warming, whatever the temperature rise scenario, according to a UNESCO report. FILE PHOTO: Visitors near Glacier Point wait for the sun to rise in Yosemite National Park, California, U.S. July 2, 2021. REUTERS/Tracy Barbutes The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO monitors some 18,600 glaciers across 50 of its World Heritage sites and said that glaciers in one third of World Heritage sites will disappear by 2050 regardless of the applied climate scenario. While the rest can be saved by keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) relative to...
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