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California goes nuts for water
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on March 28th, 2014
Climate News Network: Almonds are good for you. That's the message California's enterprising nut growers have been giving to the world -- and they have been remarkably successful in their marketing efforts.
Under an unprecedented range of restrictions, no water from state projects is being supplied to farmers.
The world appetite for almonds is growing by the day -- and nut farmers in the western United States have been cashing in. According to the Almond Board of California the state now produces more than 80 percent...
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India’s diesel fumes impacting glacier melt in Himalayas
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on March 12th, 2014
Climate News Network: Being a traffic policeman in Kolkata is a life-threatening business. Not only are you at risk of being run over on the traffic-clogged roads and streets of this chaotic city of 14 million -- you're also more than likely to suffer from serious health problems due to some of the worst air pollution not just in India, but in the world.
According to a 2012 report by the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment on air quality in Kolkata, seven out of every 10 people in the city suffer from...
Drought Intensifies in Western U.S
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on February 3rd, 2014
Climate News Network: In recent days California has announced its most severe water restrictions ever as drought continues to hit the state. Scientists say the region’s rainfall has been declining over the years and the consequences are serious.
January is the month when Californians put on their rain jackets--but not this year.
It’s the month which is usually wettest in the western U.S., when rivers and reservoirs are replenished: this year there was virtually no rain through January in much of the region, following...
Climate Change Threatens East Africa’s Food Security
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on January 11th, 2014
Climate News Network: The report, East African Agriculture and Climate Change, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), looks at threats to food supplies in 11 countries in East and Central Africa -- Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Agriculture dominates the economies of countries in East Africa: if plans aren't made to adapt to climate change the region's rapidly expanding population...
Worsening Water Scarcity to Affect 2 Billion Globally
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on September 21st, 2013
Climate News Network: Water scarcity is a fact of life in many parts of the world, particularly in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. A new study says the situation could get a lot worse, with climate change resulting in less rain and more evaporation in many areas.
Warming will expose 668 million people worldwide to new or aggravated water scarcity -- that's in addition to the 1.3 billion people already at present living in water-scarce regions. Credit: Nourishing the Planet
The study, led by researchers at the...
Caucasus farmers a picture of climate change
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on June 23rd, 2013
Climate News Network: IT HAPPENED AS Tigran Gasparian and his family were having lunch. A massive black cloud turned day to night in minutes. Then the hail hammered on the roof.
"It was deafening", says Tigran. "I've never seen anything like it. The winds swirled around -- like a tornado. It went on for 45 minutes. At the end the hail was falling in big pieces like bits of broken glass. We knew all our crops had been destroyed."
Farmers here have heard talk of climate change: many say the summers -- when temperatures...
Rising Temperatures in Europe Leave Ducks Grounded
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on May 19th, 2013
Climate News Network: Most birds are acutely sensitive to changes in temperature. Scientists now say that changes in climate and warmer temperatures in parts of Europe have resulted in the migration patterns of certain birds being radically altered.
A study looking at the migration patterns of three species of duck -- the goldeneye, goosander and tufted duck -- has found there has been a sharp decrease in the number of birds migrating south.
Birds like this female goosander are migrating much less than before due...
Glaciers in the Himalayas Are Retreating—But Why?
Posted by Climate News Network: Kieran Cooke on March 2nd, 2013
Climate News Network: One of the Climate News Network's editors, Kieran Cooke, was among a group of journalists recently investigating the impact of climate change in Nepal and the Himalayas. In the last of his reports from the region he describes the difficulties of establishing why so many of Nepal's glaciers appear to be shrinking.
Mohan Bdr. Chand is at the sharp end of glacier research. A climate researcher at Kathmandu University, Chand is carrying out vital field work, looking at high mountain glaciers as indicators...