Mountain melt shutters classic Alpine routes

Geneva, July 31 (AFP/APP): Little snow cover and glaciers melting at an alarming rate amid Europe’s sweltering heatwaves have put some of the most classic Alpine hiking routes off-limits. Usually at the height of summer, tourists flock to the Alps and seek out well-trodden paths […]

Climate Change – suffering huge losses but minimum gains

ISLAMABAD, Jul 24 (APP): Sandwiched between India and China, the two emerging economies of the world, Pakistan is among top ten countries prone to climate change, losing over a billion rupees per day but with minimum gains from the Green Climate Fund facility. Since climate […]

Italy’s famous Po Valley rice paddies decimated by drought

Zeme, Italy, July 23 (AFP/APP): The roar of Dario Vicini’s motorcycle cuts through the silence as he drives across his rice paddy to survey the destruction wrought by Italy’s worst drought in 70 years. His fields are nothing but desolation, with rice stems slowly dying […]

Neglected forests at mercy of wildfires in Spain, Portugal

Madrid, July 23 (AFP/APP): With climate change making devastating wildfires more likely, experts warn Spain and Portugal need to better manage their forests to stop vast swathes of land from being torched every year. Close to 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) of forest in Spain have […]

Storks give up migrating to live on landfill in Spain

Pinto, Spain, July 22 (AFP/APP): At a sprawling landfill near Madrid, hundreds of white storks dodge garbage trucks as they look for scraps of food among the mountains of multicoloured garbage bags. The long-legged birds have traditionally flown from across Europe to African pastures for […]

Wildfire rages near Athens as Britain faces aftermath of hottest day

LONDON, UK – July 20 (ONLINE) A wildfire fuelled by gale-force winds raged in mountains near Athens on Wednesday, forcing hundreds including hospital patients to evacuate, as Britain counted the cost of its hottest ever day. Wildfires have ravaged Europe this month, breaking out in […]

Biden vows climate action as heat waves slam US, Europe

Somerset, United States, July 20 (AFP/APP):US President Joe Biden unveiled a series of executive measures Wednesday to combat climate change and pledged more to follow, seeking to advance his environmental agenda stalled by unsupportive lawmakers and a conservative Supreme Court. Summer heat waves have highlighted […]

Britain, France face hottest day as Europe fires rage

London, July 18 (AFP/APP):Britain and France were in the grip of a fierce heatwave on Monday facing record temperatures as southwest Europe wilted under a scorching sun and ferocious wildfires devoured more forests. Forecasters in Britain warned of havoc in a country unprepared for the […]

Iraq’s date palms: rescuing a national icon

Karbala, Iraq, July 17 (AFP/APP): Thousands of young date palms, Iraq’s national symbol, form lines that extend from the edge of the desert near the central city of Karbala and into the horizon. Iraq’s prized trees are central to a push aimed to preserve a […]