agriculture

Fears for crops as drought hits northern Europe

BY AMBRE BERTOCCHI WITH AFP BUREAUS

  • The dry spell in northern Europe contrasts with southern Europe, including Spain and Portugal, where rainfall has been up to twice the usual amount for the time of year. abe-bur/ico/fec/js
  • Parts of northern Europe have seen their worst drought in decades in recent weeks, with farmers from Scotland to the Netherlands fearing the dry spell will dent harvests if it continues.
  • The dry spell in northern Europe contrasts with southern Europe, including Spain and Portugal, where rainfall has been up to twice the usual amount for the time of year. abe-bur/ico/fec/js
Parts of northern Europe have seen their worst drought in decades in recent weeks, with farmers from Scotland to the Netherlands fearing the dry spell will dent harvests if it continues.
Water shortages can stunt the growth of crops such as wheat, corn, rapeseed and barley, Nicolas Guilpart, a lecturer in agronomy at the Agro Paris Tech research institute, told AFP.
Countries including France, Belgium, Britain and Germany have seen much lower levels of rainfall than usual in some areas this spring, leaving the soil parched and dusty.
The unusually dry weather has already delayed the life cycle of crops that would normally have sprouted by now.
Luke Abblitt, a farmer in eastern England, said he was "praying for the rain" as Britain suffers its driest spring in well over a century.
The weather is going from "one extreme to the other," he told AFP.
"We're having a lot of rain in the wintertime, not so much rain in the spring or summer time," he said. "We need to adapt our cultivation methods, look at different varieties, different cropping possibly to combat these adverse weather conditions."
According to the Environment Agency, levels in Britain's reservoirs have fallen to "exceptionally low".
Some farmers have begun irrigating their crops earlier than usual, the National Farmers' Union said, calling for investments to improve water storage and collection systems.

High sun levels

In the Netherlands, it has not been this dry since records began in 1906, and Germany's environment minister warned in April of a high risk of forest fires and poor harvests due to a "worrying" lack of rain.
From February 1 to April 13, Germany saw 40 litres of rainfall per square metre, the its lowest level since records began in 1931, according to the German Weather Service (DWD).
And in early May, the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) warned that the previous three months had been exceptionally dry, with just 63 millimetres of rainfall.
Since 1874, there have only been seven times when less rain fell during the period from February to April, it said.
Denmark has also seen above-average temperatures for the time of year.
The country's drought index, which runs on a scale of one to 10, has been above nine since May 15, the first time this has happened so early in the year since the index was established in 2005.
The Federation of Swedish Farmers said it was "too early to say what the impact on farming will be this summer" but advised farmers to go over their water planning.

Irrigation

In France, groundwater levels remain satisfactory but plants need surface water to grow -- and that means rain.
Northern France has been on drought alert since Monday after seeing the same rainfall between February and early May as it would normally see in a month.
Strong northeast winds have also dried out the soil, with farmers increasingly turning to irrigation.
Between March and May, the village of Beuvry-la-Foret saw eight times less rain than during the same period last year.
Chicory farmer Sebastien De Coninck told AFP that until five years ago, "irrigation was not even considered in the north" -- but these days it can as much as double crop production.
Irrigation can help compensate for low rainfall, Guilpart said, but "you need the resources to do it".
Water for irrigation is primarily obtained from surface water such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs or from groundwater using wells and aquifers.
In France, air temperatures have also been warmer than usual, meaning plants need more water from the soil.
The dry spell in northern Europe contrasts with southern Europe, including Spain and Portugal, where rainfall has been up to twice the usual amount for the time of year.
abe-bur/ico/fec/js

environment

Blaze-hit Athens suburb trains to tackle new fire season

BY HéLèNE COLLIOPOULOU

  • "We've always had fires in Penteli, but in recent years the fires have been very intense due to climate change," she told AFP at her office. 
  • On a trail bordering the last green vestiges of Penteli, the mountain above Athens ravaged by fires last year, cyclists and runners enjoyed the closing days of spring before the summer heat.
  • "We've always had fires in Penteli, but in recent years the fires have been very intense due to climate change," she told AFP at her office. 
On a trail bordering the last green vestiges of Penteli, the mountain above Athens ravaged by fires last year, cyclists and runners enjoyed the closing days of spring before the summer heat.
Suddenly, a plume of smoke rose from the pine forest -- a flare held aloft by a firefighter.
Within moments, sirens broke the morning silence. A dozen firefighters in helmets and breathing apparatus climbed the hill carrying hoses and extinguishers.
"Another fire?" the elderly resident of one house asked with annoyance.
"A simulation exercise," replied a Sunday jogger, running past without breaking her rhythm.
The residents of the affluent suburb north of the Greek capital, named Penteli after the mountain, have grown accustomed to firefighter exercises since many homes in the area were lost to flames last August.
The latest simulation was run by a team led by Apollon Kounis, 48, a resident and municipal employee who says he has "dedicated" himself to protecting the Penteli forest since his youth.
Twelve men, supported by three vehicles, took part in the exercise, part of a team of 100 volunteers from the nearby town of Rodopoli.
"This is our last exercise of the season before we begin 24/7 shifts at our emergency station next month," Kounis told AFP.
"Since 2018, I haven't taken a summer vacation. Saving the forest is my life."

'Save what remains'

Greece suffers forest fires every summer, a threat exacerbated by rising temperatures and drought brought about by the climate crisis, experts say.
Nearly 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) in the Athens region burned last year in a fire that started in Varnavas, 35 kilometres (22 miles) northeast of the capital.
It was attributed to a short circuit on an electricity pole.
Fuelled by strong winds, the fire spread within hours across the eastern part of Penteli, destroying shops, homes and vehicles within 15 kilometres of central Athens.
"Last year's fire was the most catastrophic I've ever experienced," Kounis said.
The cisterns and fire hoses maintained by several Penteli residents were little help.
Penteli's Mayor Natassa Kosmopoulou hopes increased rainfall since January will give some protection this time after last summer's prolonged drought.
"We've always had fires in Penteli, but in recent years the fires have been very intense due to climate change," she told AFP at her office. 
Standing before a desk filled with papers and files, Kosmopoulou said she "battles daily with forestry services responsible for clearing ravines that are often ignition points".
The mayor argues that forest roads and firebreak zones "are insufficient". Access is difficult "to certain areas of Penteli where debris, tyres, anything you can imagine, has been dumped".
Kounis, the volunteer firefighter, believes "this summer won't be as catastrophic".
But "we must stay on alert to save what remains," he said.

Heartache

Rising to an altitude of 1,100 meters, and home to hospitals and clinics because of its pure air, Mount Penteli is now strewn with charred tree branches and trunks where bulldozers have yet to remove the debris.
On the mountain crest, the yellow of broom bushes and the red of poppies contrast with the scorched earth. 
Lower down in the residential area, Tryfonas Drakonakis strolled along a path at the edge of the charred forest where a butterflies fluttered about.
The silence, in the absence of birds, was filled by the hum of electric pylons.
"I try not to look around. I try to forget," said the septuagenarian, considering himself fortunate that his house escaped the flames last summer.
His neighbour Thomais Bertou was not so lucky -- her home was reduced to ashes along with about 40 others.
The 65-year-old now lives in a caravan in front of the ruins and spends her days tending to her small garden.
"There's nothing left. We had to start from scratch" she said. "What else can I do? I steel my heart and keep going."
hec/jph/rlp

floods

Record floods devastate eastern Australia

  • Although a string of flood warnings have been downgraded, some towns were still cut off on Friday afternoon, making it difficult to assess the damage.
  • Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help. 
  • Although a string of flood warnings have been downgraded, some towns were still cut off on Friday afternoon, making it difficult to assess the damage.
Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help. 
Four bodies have been pulled from vast tides of floodwater engulfing parts of northern New South Wales, a fertile region of rivers and valleys some 400 kilometres (250 miles) up the coast from Sydney. 
Salvage crews launched a major clean-up operation as waters receded Friday, surveying the damage from half a year's worth of rain dumped in just three days.
"Emotions were high as we were rescuing a lot of people who are distraught when we get to them," rescue worker Jason Harvey told AFP on Friday, describing "frantic" efforts over recent days. 
Kinne Ring, mayor of the flood-stricken farming town of Kempsey, said dozens of businesses had been swamped.
"Houses have been inundated," she told national broadcaster ABC. 
"There's water coming through the bottom of houses, it's really awful to see and the water is going to take a bit of time to recede." 
State Emergency Service boss Dallas Burnes said more than 2,000 workers had been deployed on rescue and recovery missions. 
"A real focus for us at the moment will be resupplying the isolated communities," he said, adding that 50,000 people were still stranded.
Burnes said rescue crews had plucked more than 600 people to safety since waters started rising earlier this week. 
People clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges before helicopters winched them away.
Although the floods were easing, Burnes said the stagnant lakes of muddy water still posed a threat -- including from snakes that may have slithered into homes in search of shelter. 
"Floodwaters have contaminants. There can be vermin, snakes. You need to assess those risks.
"Electricity can also pose a danger as well." 

'Horrific circumstances'

The storms have dumped more than six months' worth of rain over three days, the government weather bureau has said, smashing flood-height records in some areas. 
"These are horrific circumstances," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday as he travelled into the disaster zone. 
"The Australian Defence Force will be made available. There's going to be a big recovery effort required," he told local radio. 
"There's been massive damage to infrastructure and we're going to have to all really pitch in."
In Taree, local business owner Jeremy Thornton said the "gut-wrenching" flood was among the worst he had seen. 
"It is pretty tough, we've had a few moments but you have to suck it up and push on," he told AFP on Thursday. 
"We are reliving it every second -- hearing the rain, hearing the helicopters, hearing the siren." 
Locals spotted dead cows washing up on beaches after swollen rivers swept them from their pastures inland. 
Although a string of flood warnings have been downgraded, some towns were still cut off on Friday afternoon, making it difficult to assess the damage.
The government has declared a natural disaster, unlocking greater resources for affected areas.
- 'Compelling evidence' - 
From the arid outback to the tropical coast, swaths of Australia have recently been pummelled by wild weather. 
The oceans surrounding Australia have been "abnormally warm" in recent months, according to Australia's government weather bureau.
Warmer seas evaporate more moisture into the atmosphere, which can eventually lead to more intense rains.
Although difficult to link to specific disasters, climate change is already fuelling more extreme weather patterns, scientists warn.
Flood modelling expert Mahdi Sedighkia said this week's emergency offered "compelling evidence" of how climate change could affect regional weather patterns. 
sft/lec/tym

nature

In tune with nature: expert sounds out all of Ireland's bird species

BY PETER MURPHY

  • "After I collect it I'll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio," he said.
  • On a mission to record all of Ireland's bird species, many of which are dying out, Irishman Sean Ronayne calls his unique audio archive a tool to both raise alarm and bring hope.
  • "After I collect it I'll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio," he said.
On a mission to record all of Ireland's bird species, many of which are dying out, Irishman Sean Ronayne calls his unique audio archive a tool to both raise alarm and bring hope.
According to conservation bodies, some 63 percent of Ireland's birds are currently either red or amber-listed, meaning they are at severe or moderate extinction risk.
"Birds are in trouble in Ireland like they are across the world, the loss of wildlife -- sonically and physically -- is devastating to me," said the 37-year-old.
"But I focus on hope and beauty, which is essential," the ornithologist told AFP at his home near Cobh (pronounced "Cove") in County Cork.
More than four years into his recording project he has sampled 201 different Irish bird species, stocking over 12,000 audio clips from around the country, Ronayne told AFP. 
Just two remain to be documented: the great skua, and red-breasted merganser.
"If people realise just how spectacular wildlife is, there's no way they would let it disappear, attitudes would change," Ronayne said.
- Sound: 'an engaging tool' - 
Ireland may be famed for its green fields, but Ronayne paints a bleak picture -- "realistic" he says -- of a degraded landscape and a bird population decimated by vanishing habitats. 
Most of Ireland comprises intensively farmed fields bounded by trimmed hedgerows, drained and mined peatlands, overgrazed uplands, and minimal native woodland, he told AFP. 
Non-native conifer plantations -- approximately nine percent of Ireland's 11 percent forest cover -- are also a biodiversity villain, described by Ronayne as "a species-poor industrial cash-crop".
"I try to show people the beauty of what we're erasing and what we must stand up and fight for," said the wildlife expert. 
Last year he published an award-winning book, released two albums, and made an acclaimed documentary film. His talk tour is currently selling out venues around Ireland. 
"Wildlife sound is such a great engaging tool to connect people to nature itself and get them acquainted with everything that's on their doorstep," Ronayne told AFP.
"If you know your neighbour you're more likely to help them in times of need," he said. 
At the shows Ronayne, who was diagnosed with a form of autism as an adult, presents the story of his life and how nature is woven through it. 
He also plays audio of warbles, tweets, trills, screeches and chirps, and mystery sounds, inviting the audience to guess the origin.
Some clips show birds mimicking other animals like dogs, people and other bird species.
"Some species in my collection can mimic 30 to 40 other species in their song," he said.
Laughter is common at his talks, but also tears and grief as listeners learn of Ireland's endangered birdlife.

'Sonic diversity'

Ronayne regularly holds "dawn chorus" walks, bringing small groups into silent forests far from road noise to experience the birdlife waking up. 
A gradually building cacophony of sound, the dawn chorus is "a reflection of the health of a given environment", he told AFP in an old woodland near his home while waiting for sunrise.
"The more sonically diverse it is, the healthier the habitat is," he said.
After unpacking his audio recorder, parabolic microphone and tripod, he quickly identified the melodies of song thrushes, robins, blackbirds, goldcrests and others as they greeted the day.
"Chiffchaff! Did you hear that?! There's a grey wagtail!" he exclaimed, head twitching toward each sound in the lifting gloom.
Ronayne also hides recorders for weeks and even months in remote untouched places where birds congregate.
On Ballycotton beach near Cobh, migrating birds swirled overhead before settling on an adjacent lagoon.
Ronayne carefully placed a waterproof recorder -- able to run for up two weeks -- in grass by the shore.
"They have to fly right over here to there," he said pointing upwards at their route. 
"After I collect it I'll be able to monitor the birds, capture their calls, and tell environmental stories from the audio," he said.
Back home, he scrolled on a computer showing thousands of archived sonogram clips -- visual representations of sound -- of birdsong audio. 
Each entry included data on the behaviour, calls and protected status of each bird: many either red or amber.
"First we must realise how wonderful nature is, then how fragile it is, and how much we have kicked it down," Ronayne told AFP. 
"When we as a society fall back in love with nature, and respect it as we once did, beautiful things will happen." 
pmu/jkb/rmb/fec

Malaysia

Rare earth production outside China 'major milestone'

BY SARA HUSSEIN

  • China dominates all elements of the rare earths supply chain, accounting for more than 60 percent of mining production and 92 percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.
  • An Australian firm's production of a heavy rare earth, a first outside of China, is a "major milestone" in diversifying a critical supply chain dominated by Beijing, experts say.
  • China dominates all elements of the rare earths supply chain, accounting for more than 60 percent of mining production and 92 percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.
An Australian firm's production of a heavy rare earth, a first outside of China, is a "major milestone" in diversifying a critical supply chain dominated by Beijing, experts say.
But the announcement by Lynas Rare Earths also illustrates how much more needs to be done to broaden the supply of elements critical for electric vehicles and renewable technology.
What are rare earths?
Rare earth elements (REE) are 17 metals that are used in a wide variety of everyday and high-tech products, from light bulbs to guided missiles.
Among the most sought-after are neodymium and dysprosium, used to make super-strong magnets that power electric car batteries and ocean wind turbines.
Despite their name, rare earths are relatively abundant in the Earth's crust. Their moniker is a nod to how unusual it is to find them in a pure form.
Heavy rare earths, a subset of overall REE, have higher atomic weights, are generally less abundant and often more valuable. 
China dominates all elements of the rare earths supply chain, accounting for more than 60 percent of mining production and 92 percent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.
What did Lynas achieve?
Lynas said it produced dysprosium oxide at its Malaysia facility, making it the only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earths outside of China.
It hopes to refine a second heavy rare earth -- terbium -- at the same facility next month. It too can be used in permanent magnets, as well as some light bulbs.
It "is a major milestone," said Neha Mukherjee, senior analyst on raw materials at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
The announcement comes with China's REE supply caught up in its trade war with Washington.
It is unclear whether a 90-day truce means Chinese export controls on some rare earths will be lifted, and experts say a backlog in permit approvals will snarl trade regardless.
"Given this context, the Lynas development marks a real and timely shift, though it doesn't eliminate the need for broader, global diversification efforts," said Mukherjee.
How significant is it?
Lynas did not say how much dysprosium it refined, and rare earths expert Jon Hykawy warned the firm faces constraints.
"The ore mined by Lynas contains relatively little of the heavy rare earths, so their produced tonnages can't be that large," said Hykawy, president of Stormcrow Capital.
"Lynas can make terbium and dysprosium, but not enough, and more is needed."
The mines most suited for extracting dysprosium are in south China, but deposits are known in Africa, South America and elsewhere.
"Even with Lynas' production, China will still be in a position of dominance," added Gavin Wendt, founding director and senior resource analyst at MineLife.
"However, it is a start, and it is crucial that other possible projects in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Europe and Asia, also prove technically viable and can be approved, so that the supply balance can really begin to shift."
What are the challenges to diversifying?
China's domination of the sector is partly the result of long-standing industrial policy. Just a handful of facilities refining light rare earths operate elsewhere, including in Estonia.
It also reflects a tolerance for "in-situ mining", an extraction technique that is cheap but polluting, and difficult to replicate in countries with higher environmental standards.
For them, "production is more expensive, so they need prices to increase to make any seriously interesting profits," said Hykawy.
That is a major obstacle for now.
"Prices have not supported new project development for over a year," said Mukherjee.
"Most non-Chinese projects would struggle to break even at current price levels."
There are also technical challenges, as processing rare earths requires highly specialised and efficient techniques, and can produce difficult-to-manage waste.
What more capacity is near?
Lynas has commissioned more processing capacity at its Malaysia plant, designed to produce up to 1,500 tonnes of heavy rare earths. 
If that focused on dysprosium and terbium, it could capture a third of global production, said Mukherjee.
The firm is building a processing facility in Texas, though cost increases have cast doubt on the project, and Lynas wants the US government to pitch in more funds.
US firm MP Materials has also completed pilot testing for heavy rare earth separation and plans to boost production this year.
Canada's Aclara Resources is also developing a rare earths separation plant in the United States.
And Chinese export uncertainty could mean prices start to rise, boosting balance sheets and the capacity of small players to expand.
"The Lynas announcement shows progress is possible," said Mukherjee.
"It sends a strong signal that with the right mix of technical readiness, strategic demand, and geopolitical urgency, breakthroughs can happen."
sah/tc/hmn

environment

US Senate blocks California's electric vehicle mandate

  • "California got special permission from the Biden administration to ban gas-powered cars.
  • US senators on Thursday blocked California's landmark mandate phasing out gas-powered cars, dealing a blow to the state's move towards electric vehicles in a pointed rebuke of Democratic climate change policies.
  • "California got special permission from the Biden administration to ban gas-powered cars.
US senators on Thursday blocked California's landmark mandate phasing out gas-powered cars, dealing a blow to the state's move towards electric vehicles in a pointed rebuke of Democratic climate change policies.
The Republican-led Senate revoked a waiver instituted under then-president Joe Biden that allowed the state to set aside national pollution standards for cars and set its own more stringent regulations.
But the Senate's rubber stamp of a House-passed bill was immediately set for a challenge, with California's liberal government announcing it would sue President Donald Trump's administration.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the vote was a "big day for big oil, big day for GM and Toyota, big day for China. 
"Terrible day for your kids, terrible day for air quality, terrible day for innovation and entrepreneurship."
The state, especially its biggest city, Los Angeles, historically tolerated the nation's worst smog before decades of efforts to clean up.
Part of that push was a mandate ensuring that a third of new 2026 model cars sold in the state must be zero-emission, rising to two-thirds in 2030 and 100 percent in 2035. 
Republicans in Washington argue that this is costly, unworkable and anathema to consumer choice.
"California got special permission from the Biden administration to ban gas-powered cars. Because of their market share, this would impact the entire nation," said right-wing Utah Senator Mike Lee.
"But Gavin Newsom doesn't get to ruin 49 other states."
Republicans argue that the Congressional Review Act gives them the right to overturn California's carve-out on a simple majority vote.
But Democrats say Thursday's move was illegal, as nonpartisan watchdogs including the Government Accountability Office and the Senate Parliamentarian said the CRA could not be applied to waivers.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would sue over the Senate's move.
"The president and his administration are attempting to trample on our authority to maintain long-standing clean vehicle standards and keep our air breathable," he said.
"We're not going to let that happen... Our lawsuit will be about ensuring California can enforce its state laws."
The Senate has only overruled its parliamentarian a handful of times since the role was launched in the 1930s.
Trump harshly criticized electric vehicles (EVs) as he sought reelection, despite significant federal funding allocated to projects in Republican districts, where thousands of jobs are expected to be created.
He took aim at the sector as part of his flurry of executive orders on his first day in office in a bid to ensure what he called a "level" playing field for gasoline-powered motors.
But he has not been consistent in his opposition -- even taking time out of his schedule to promote his ally Elon Musk's prestige EV company Tesla at the White House.  
US EV sales reached 1.3 million units last year, up 7.3 percent from 2023, according to Cox Automotive's Kelley Blue Book, but automakers have recently scaled back investments, pointing to slowing demand growth. 
ft-hg/bfm

hurricane

US braces for intense hurricane season as climate agency is gutted

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • - Warming oceans - The forecast cites a confluence of factors: neutral conditions in the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern, warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, predictions of weak wind shear, and increased activity from the West African Monsoon -- the starting point for Atlantic hurricanes.
  • The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday predicted a more intense Atlantic hurricane season this year -- even as the Trump administration moves to gut the agency's workforce and slash its budget.
  • - Warming oceans - The forecast cites a confluence of factors: neutral conditions in the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern, warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, predictions of weak wind shear, and increased activity from the West African Monsoon -- the starting point for Atlantic hurricanes.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday predicted a more intense Atlantic hurricane season this year -- even as the Trump administration moves to gut the agency's workforce and slash its budget.
NOAA is forecasting a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season, with  between 13 to 19 named storms with winds of 39 mph (63 kph) or higher. 
Of those, six to 10 are expected to become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher, including three to five major hurricanes classed as categories three, four, or five, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.
There is also a 30 percent chance of a near-normal season and a 10 percent chance of a below-normal season, the agency said.
The administration is also seeking to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), calling for it to be shut down and its duties instead handed to individual states.
FEMA's acting head, Cameron Hamilton -- who was appointed by the Trump administration -- was fired earlier this month after saying that eliminating the agency was not "in the best interests of the American people."

Warming oceans

The forecast cites a confluence of factors: neutral conditions in the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern, warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, predictions of weak wind shear, and increased activity from the West African Monsoon -- the starting point for Atlantic hurricanes.
"As we witnessed last year with significant inland flooding from hurricanes Helene and Debby, the impacts of hurricanes can reach far beyond coastal communities," said Acting NOAA Administrator Laura Grimm in a statement.
"NOAA is critical for the delivery of early and accurate forecasts and warnings, and provides the scientific expertise needed to save lives and property."
But Rick Spinrad, the former NOAA administrator, told AFP he was deeply concerned about the agency's ability to respond following mass layoffs of meteorologists, technicians and other key personnel, spearheaded by Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency."
"I worry about the ability to fly the aircraft, run the models, answer the phones as these storms start bearing down on the country -- at the same time that the Weather Service is going to have to be dealing with tornadoes, wildfires, floods, extreme precipitation," said Spinrad.
Seawater temperatures have been rising for decades as a result of burning fossil fuels, Spinrad added. "So it's not a surprise, and undoubtedly, climate change has contributed to some of the ocean temperatures that are a major factor in this forecast."
President Donald Trump is seeking to cut NOAA's research operations budget by $1.3 billion next year. Project 2025 -- the conservative blueprint the administration is using to guide its second-term agenda -- has labeled the agency a key driver of "climate alarmism."
Last year, five storms that were big enough that they were assigned names caused economic losses exceeding a billion dollars, adjusted for inflation, according to NOAA.
The deadliest of these was Helene, responsible for 250 US deaths — the most since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Trump administration announced earlier this month it will stop updating its billion-dollar disaster database, which for 44 years illustrated the rising cost of climate destabilization.
ia/md

Brazil

Tariff wars will hamper climate efforts: COP30 CEO

BY JUAN JOSé RODRíGUEZ

  • COP30 will be held in November in the Amazonian city of Belem in Brazil, where Toni serves as national secretary for climate change.
  • Tariff wars will hinder trade in green technologies such as solar panels and electric vehicles, and hamper the fight against climate change, says Ana Toni, CEO of the UN's COP30 climate conference.
  • COP30 will be held in November in the Amazonian city of Belem in Brazil, where Toni serves as national secretary for climate change.
Tariff wars will hinder trade in green technologies such as solar panels and electric vehicles, and hamper the fight against climate change, says Ana Toni, CEO of the UN's COP30 climate conference.
COP30 will be held in November in the Amazonian city of Belem in Brazil, where Toni serves as national secretary for climate change.
She spoke to AFP at a pre-COP meeting of Latin American countries in Panama City. Here are excerpts from her interview, edited for length and clarity:
Q: Will the tariff standoff sparked by US President Donald Trump's imposition of higher import duties harm the fight against climate change? 
A: Trade is a very important economic instrument and we need to use trade to help countries to mitigate or to adapt as quickly as possible (to the effects of climate change).
Many of our electric buses (in Latin America) are coming from China or other continents, so that is the good, low-carbon (technology) that we needed to foster and to support.
Q: What does it mean for the world that Trump plans to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement?
A: The American people are not safer because their president has decided to leave the Paris agreement. Latin Americans are not safer because President Trump has done what he has done. We saw what happened in Los Angeles -- that fire that destroyed so many houses, we can see now what they are going through.
I think they (the US administration) will regret (it) but let us work with the American institutions and the people in the US that want to continue the action on climate change.
Climate change is a war... every day people are dying from overheating, from drought, from floods. 
The molecules of carbon do not have a passport. They don't understand our geopolitical differences. We cannot say this carbon came from Panama or Brazil or China.
If we don't do this together, in a multilateral setting... we are not going to be able to fight climate change.
Q: How can the region better adapt to the fallout from global warming? 
A: Latin America is not waiting for the Western countries, or developed countries, to come and help us. Our leaders know we are a very vulnerable region. 
So we have to do something -- both contributing to mitigation (curbing planet-warming emissions) and also working on adaptation (to effects that can no longer be avoided) because many countries are already suffering.
For all countries in Latin America we appreciate and know that only by taking a multilateral approach... we will be able to combat climate change.
Q: What are Latin American countries doing to curb carbon emissions?
A: Only five countries in Latin America now have communicated their new targets for 2035 -- the famous NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions or climate action plans under the Paris Agreement).
So we are hoping that all Latin American countries will come to COP30 with their national contributions, to say that: "Latin America is conscious about their problems but is also part of the solution."
It is in this region that we have an abundance of natural resources, forests, renewable energy, so we are part of the solution but we need to get that new economy going to benefit the people and benefit the planet.
Q: What does Latin America need to make this happen?
A: Latin America is already leading in many areas. For example, in Brazil we are fighting deforestation (of the Amazon) along with other countries. 
But it is true that we need support, especially financial, to see if we can go faster in terms of energy transition. The issue of funding will be a very important topic for us at COP30. 
jjr/fj/mlr/bfm

Antarctic

The surprising climate power of penguin poo

BY ISSAM AHMED AND CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • "We provide evidence that declining penguin populations could cause a positive climate-warming feedback in the summertime Antarctic atmosphere," the authors write -- though Boyer emphasized that this remains a hypothesis, not a confirmed outcome.
  • Antarctica's icy wilderness is warming rapidly under the weight of human-driven climate change, yet a new study points to an unlikely ally in the fight to keep the continent cool: penguin poo.
  • "We provide evidence that declining penguin populations could cause a positive climate-warming feedback in the summertime Antarctic atmosphere," the authors write -- though Boyer emphasized that this remains a hypothesis, not a confirmed outcome.
Antarctica's icy wilderness is warming rapidly under the weight of human-driven climate change, yet a new study points to an unlikely ally in the fight to keep the continent cool: penguin poo.
Published Thursday in Communications Earth & Environment, the research shows that ammonia wafting off penguin guano seeds extra cloud cover above coastal Antarctica, likely blocking sunlight and nudging temperatures down.
Lead author Matthew Boyer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Helsinki, told AFP that lab studies had long shown gaseous ammonia can help form clouds.
But "to actually quantify this process and to see its influence in Antarctica hasn't been done," he said.
Antarctica is an ideal natural laboratory. With virtually no human pollution and scant vegetation -- both alternative sources of cloud-forming gases -- penguin colonies dominate as ammonia emitters.
The birds' future, however, is under threat. 
Shrinking sea ice disrupts their nesting, feeding and predator-avoidance routines -- making it all the more urgent to understand their broader ecological role.
Along with other seabirds such as Imperial Shags, penguins expel large amounts of ammonia through droppings, an acrid cocktail of feces and urine released via their multi-purpose cloacas. 
When that ammonia mixes with sulfur-bearing gases from phytoplankton -- the microscopic algae that bloom in the surrounding ocean -- it boosts the formation of tiny aerosol particles that grow into clouds.
To capture the effect in the real world, Boyer and teammates set up instruments at Argentina's Marambio Base on Seymour Island, off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Over three summer months -- when penguin colonies are bustling and phytoplankton photosynthesis peaks -- they monitored wind direction, ammonia levels and newly minted aerosols.
When the breeze blew from a 60,000-strong Adelie penguin colony eight kilometers (five miles) away, atmospheric ammonia spiked to 13.5  parts per billion -- about a thousand times the background level. 
For over a month after the birds had departed on their annual migration, concentrations stayed roughly 100 times higher, with the guano-soaked ground acting as a slow-release fertilizer.
Particle counters told the same story: cloud-seeding aerosols surged whenever air masses arrived from the colony, at times thick enough to generate a dense fog. 
Chemical fingerprints in the particles pointed back to penguin-derived ammonia.

Penguin-plankton partnership

Boyer calls it a "synergistic process" between penguins and phytoplankton that supercharges aerosol production in the region. 
"We provide evidence that declining penguin populations could cause a positive climate-warming feedback in the summertime Antarctic atmosphere," the authors write -- though Boyer emphasized that this remains a hypothesis, not a confirmed outcome.
Globally, clouds have a net cooling effect by reflecting solar radiation back into space. Based on Arctic modeling of seabird emissions, the team believes a similar mechanism is likely at play in Antarctica.
But the impact also depends on what's beneath the clouds. 
Ice sheets and glaciers also reflect much of the Sun's energy, so extra cloud cover over these bright surfaces could trap infrared heat instead -- meaning the overall effect hinges on where the clouds form and drift.
Still, the findings highlight the profound interconnections between life and the atmosphere -- from the Great Oxygenation Event driven by photosynthesizing microbes billions of years ago to penguins influencing cloud cover today.
"This is just another example of this deep connection between the ecosystem and atmospheric processes, and why we should care about biodiversity and conservation," Boyer said.
ia/nl/jgc

floods

Massive floods strand over 50,000 in eastern Australia

  • Authorities said more than 50,000 people were cut off, with some rivers still to reach peak levels late on Thursday.
  • Record floods stranded more than 50,000 people in eastern Australia on Thursday, killing three as a muddy tide swept through towns and swollen rivers cut off roads.
  • Authorities said more than 50,000 people were cut off, with some rivers still to reach peak levels late on Thursday.
Record floods stranded more than 50,000 people in eastern Australia on Thursday, killing three as a muddy tide swept through towns and swollen rivers cut off roads.
Police have pulled three bodies from rising floodwaters on the Mid North Coast, a river-braided region of rugged hills and fertile valleys about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Sydney.
Authorities launched a major search-and-rescue mission as people clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges to escape fast-moving flash floods.
The storms have dumped more than half a year's worth of rain over just three days, the government weather bureau said, smashing flood-height records in some areas.
"We are seeing levels in local tributaries, creeks and rivers that we haven't seen since 1920," New South Wales (NSW) state premier Chris Minns told reporters.
"Many people will have never seen this level of inundation or flooding in their communities."
The town of Kempsey, a farming hub on the banks of the Macleay River, had been cut off with little warning, Mayor Kinne Ring told AFP.
"You often think of rain on a tin roof as relaxing, but at the moment it is deafening and horrible," Ring said.
"The downpours are torrential and every time it rains, you wonder what is going to happen next." 
Ring said more than 20,000 people were isolated in her local government area alone.
About 140 kilometres (85 miles) south in the town of Taree, business owner Jeremy Thornton said the "gut-wrenching" flood was among the worst he had seen.
"It is pretty tough, we've had a few moments but you have to suck it up and push on," he told AFP.
"We are reliving it every second -- hearing the rain, hearing the helicopters, hearing the siren."
Authorities said more than 50,000 people were cut off, with some rivers still to reach peak levels late on Thursday.
An elderly couple climbed on to the roof of their car to escape a fast-rising flash flood before a rescue helicopter winched them to safety, NSW police in Taree said in a statement.
Others sought sanctuary on a raised highway bridge before they were spotted and rescued by a navy Seahawk chopper.
Locals spotted dead cows washing up on beaches after swollen rivers swept them from their pastures inland.
The government has declared the emergency a natural disaster, unlocking greater resources for affected areas.
Police said they were still searching for one person reported missing.

'Abnormally warm'

Flood modelling expert Mahdi Sedighkia said the unfolding disaster provided "compelling evidence" showing how climate change could affect regional rainfall patterns.
"These events demonstrate that our understanding of flood probability -- based on past hydrological studies -- is no longer adequate in the face of present-day climate realities," said the Australian National University's Sedighkia.
Swaths of Australia from the arid outback to the tropical coast have been pummelled by wild weather in recent months.
The oceans surrounding Australia have been "abnormally warm" in recent months, according to the weather bureau.
Warmer seas evaporate more moisture into the atmosphere, which can eventually lead to more intense rains.
Although difficult to link to specific disasters, scientists warn that climate change is already fuelling more extreme weather patterns.
"I don't think there is a question that climate change is having a significant impact on weather events right across the world," Australian Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain told reporters.
"In Australia, we're not immune to that. We're seeing more devastating events like this happen more frequently."
About 2,500 emergency workers have been deployed to the region, alongside rescue boats, a fleet of helicopters and hundreds of search drones. 
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Steve Bernasconi said some towns had recorded more than half a metre (1.6 feet) of rain in the space of three days.
But he said rain was expected to slowly taper off from late Thursday night as the weather system moved south.
sft/pbt

aid

Somalia climate shocks and aid cuts create perfect storm

BY MUSTAFA HAJI ABDINUR WITH ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN IN NAIROBI

  • "If it rains again, we will have the same situation."
  • After his home in the Somali capital was battered by torrential rains, Mohamed Abdukadir Teesto worries about his future at a time when local and foreign aid is vanishing.
  • "If it rains again, we will have the same situation."
After his home in the Somali capital was battered by torrential rains, Mohamed Abdukadir Teesto worries about his future at a time when local and foreign aid is vanishing.
The Horn of Africa nation is among the most vulnerable to climate change, according to the United Nations, and in the last five years has experienced both the worst drought in 40 years and once-in-a-century flooding.
The more severe weather compounds the insecurity many Somalis face after decades of violent insurgency and political instability. 
"We have cleaned our house using our bare hands," Teesto, 43, told AFP, saying neither international agencies nor the government had offered any assistance.
"Some families who had their houses destroyed are still displaced and cannot come back," he said. "If it rains again, we will have the same situation."
Teesto is among around 24,000 people in the Banadir region, which includes Mogadishu, impacted by flooding this month that killed at least 17.
Humanitarian work in Somalia was already under-funded before the halt of aid programmes under the US Agency for International Development (USAID), made by President Donald Trump upon his return to the White House. 
The UN says its humanitarian needs for the year -- estimated at $1.4 billion -- are only 12 percent funded so far.
"This can get very, very bad, very quickly," said Sara Cuevas Gallardo, spokesperson for the World Food Programme, which handles roughly 90 percent of food security assistance in Somalia.
"We don't know if we have the capacity," she said.
This month, CARE International said Somalia had 1.8 million severely malnourished children under five, with 479,000 at risk of dying without urgent help.
Cuevas Gallardo said Somalia could see a return to the situation in 2020-2023 when it was on the brink of famine.
The difference being that now "we don't have the funds to actually act when we have to," she said.

'Breaking point'

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has repeatedly warned about the link between climate change and conflict.
Recent attacks are stoking fears of a resurgence by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab, adding to the displacement and vulnerability caused by weather problems. 
Globally, the main driver of hunger is conflict, Cuevas Gallardo said.
"If it's mixed with the uncertainty of climate shocks in Somalia, then it just equals more food needs, more hunger, more people on the move, and us being unable to respond to that uncertainty as well."
The WFP is not alone in its warnings. 
British charity Save the Children said last week that funding shortfalls would force it to shut more than a quarter of the health and nutrition facilities it runs in Somalia in the coming weeks.
They include every single one in the central city of Baidoa.
It shared the story of Fatima and her one-year-old son, who fled their village after successive droughts damaged crops and killed their livestock.
"If we were not able to get medicines and nutrition support here, we would have no other option but to see our children dying in front of us," Save the Children quoted the 25-year-old as saying.
The charity said that the current period always sees an uptick in malnourishment but this year it expects an 11-percent increase in malnutrition, leaving remaining facilities "stretched to breaking point".
At a clinic in Baidoa, doctor Mustafa Mohammed said they have already seen a surge in patients and that closure would be grave.
"There is nowhere else for these children to go."
str-rbu/er/kjm

lion

India's lion population rises by a third

  • "They together have helped in conservation of the species."
  • India's Asiatic lion population has increased by over a third to 891, according to a five-yearly census released on Wednesday, boosting efforts to conserve the vulnerable species.
  • "They together have helped in conservation of the species."
India's Asiatic lion population has increased by over a third to 891, according to a five-yearly census released on Wednesday, boosting efforts to conserve the vulnerable species.
The Asiatic lion -- which historically once roamed from the Middle East to India -- is now reduced to an isolated population in a wildlife sanctuary in India's western state of Gujarat.
"The Asiatic lion population, which was 304 in 1995, has increased steadily over the past three decades," Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel told reporters. "In 2020 it was 674, which has now increased to 891."
The majestic big cats are slightly smaller than their African cousins, and have a fold of skin along their bellies.
Hunting and human encroachment caused the population to plunge to just 20 by 1913, and the lions are now found only in Gujarat's sprawling Gir wildlife sanctuary, where they roam dry deciduous forests and open grasslands.
Following years of concerted government efforts, the lion population is steadily rising.
The latest counting exercise, spread over four days, covered over 35,000 square kilometres (13,513 square miles) across 11 districts in the state.
Priyavrat Gadhvi, a former member of the state wildlife board, said the increase indicated a successful conservation programme.
"Another important factor here is the political will and support of the local people living near the forest areas," Gadhvi said. "They together have helped in conservation of the species."
But while numbers are rising, the conservation organisation WWF warns that the Asiatic lion faces a "threat of genetic inbreeding arising from a single population in one place".
Lions are a source of pride for India, particularly in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, where man and beast coexist.
A cattle-rearing tribe lives among the animals in the sanctuary, and it is not uncommon to see a pride of lions crossing a highway in the region as motorists wait and watch. 
Lions are also a major tourist attraction, along with leopards, panthers and other big cats found in the sanctuary.
Around 550,000 people visit the wildlife park each year, riding in open-top jeeps as they try to spot the predators prowling.
Since the Asiatic lion currently exists as a single subpopulation, it is vulnerable to extinction from events such as an epidemic or a large forest fire.
str-abh/pjm/dhw

floods

Flood victims stranded on roofs as downpours lash eastern Australia

  • More heavy rain is expected in the coming 48 hours -- with some locations to receive 200 millimetres (7.87 inches) -- before conditions begin to ease, authorities said Wednesday.
  • Fast-moving floodwaters rose Wednesday in eastern Australia, inundating homes and leaving residents stranded on their roofs overnight, as authorities warned more rain was expected in coming days.
  • More heavy rain is expected in the coming 48 hours -- with some locations to receive 200 millimetres (7.87 inches) -- before conditions begin to ease, authorities said Wednesday.
Fast-moving floodwaters rose Wednesday in eastern Australia, inundating homes and leaving residents stranded on their roofs overnight, as authorities warned more rain was expected in coming days.
Storms have already dumped more than four months' of rain in just two days in parts of New South Wales, engulfing homes, businesses and roads in muddy waters, authorities said.
"We have a situation where the rain has been falling quite heavily and hard and it has not been moving away. Part of that is because the ground is saturated and the rivers are swollen," the state's emergency minister Jihad Dib told reporters.
Taree, about 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of Sydney, is a key area of concern for emergency services after 415 millimetres (16.34 inches) of rain lashed the town since Monday -- more than four times the mean monthly rainfall for May.
Authorities said that water levels of a river in Taree surged past a previous record in 1929, reaching 6.3 metres (20.6 feet) on Wednesday.
The rising floodwaters left locals stuck on roofs overnight, with rescuers unable to reach them due to the bad weather. 
Taree resident Holly Pillotto, who was among those stranded on an upper level of her home, said she was desperate for assistance as floodwaters continued to rise. 
"Our neighbours on the back verandah here are also stranded," she told Australia's Channel Nine. "It's a really dangerous spot to be." 
Dib said that emergency services were "throwing everything we have into" reaching those affected.
State Emergency Service Chief Superintendent Dallas Byrnes said the situation was "incredibly dynamic and escalating", with more than 150 flood rescues conducted overnight.
"We've got a lot of people getting rescued from rooftops and from upper levels of houses," Byrnes told the national broadcaster ABC.
However, he warned that "conditions are quite treacherous and it may be that those aviation assets are unable to fly throughout the day".
The agency said that about 16,000 people, or 7,400 dwellings, would remain isolated until at least Thursday.
More heavy rain is expected in the coming 48 hours -- with some locations to receive 200 millimetres (7.87 inches) -- before conditions begin to ease, authorities said Wednesday.
Scientists have warned that heatwaves and other extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense as global temperatures rise because of climate change.
lec/cms

elephant

Jumbo task: 400 pills a day for elephants with TB in Pakistan

BY SAMEER MANDHRO

  • An autopsy showed she had contracted tuberculosis, which is endemic in Pakistan.
  • A team of doctors and vets in Pakistan has developed a novel treatment for a pair of elephants suffering from tuberculosis that involves feeding them at least 400 pills a day.
  • An autopsy showed she had contracted tuberculosis, which is endemic in Pakistan.
A team of doctors and vets in Pakistan has developed a novel treatment for a pair of elephants suffering from tuberculosis that involves feeding them at least 400 pills a day.
The jumbo effort by staff at the Karachi Safari Park involves administering the tablets -- the same as those used to treat TB in humans -- hidden inside food ranging from apples and bananas, to Pakistani sweets
The amount of medication is adjusted to account for the weight of the 4,000-kilogram (8,800-pound) elephants.
But it has taken Madhubala and Malika several weeks to settle into the treatment after spitting out the first few doses they tasted of the bitter medicine, and crankily charging their keepers 
"Giving treatment for TB to elephants is always challenging. Each day we use different methods," said Buddhika Bandara, a veterinary surgeon from Sri Lanka who flew in to oversee the treatment.
"The animals showed some stress in the beginning, but gradually they adapted to the procedure," said Bandara, who has helped more than a dozen elephants recover from the illness in Sri Lanka.
Mahout Ali Baloch wakes early daily to stew rice and lentils, mixed with plenty of sugar cane molasses, and rolls the concoction into dozens of balls pierced with the tablets.
"I know the pills are bitter," the 22-year-old said, watching the elephants splashing under a hose to keep cool.

From humans to elephants

Four African elephants -- captured very young in the wild in Tanzania -- arrived in Karachi in 2009.
Noor Jehan died in 2023 at the age of 17, and another, Sonia, followed at the end of 2024. An autopsy showed she had contracted tuberculosis, which is endemic in Pakistan.
Tests carried out on Madhubala and Malika also came back positive, and the city council -- which owns the safari park -- assembled a team to care for the pachyderms.
Bandara said it is not uncommon for elephants to contract the contagious illness from humans, but that Sonia -- and now Madhubala and Malika -- had shown no symptoms.
"It was surprising for me that elephants have TB," said Naseem Salahuddin, head of the Infectious Disease Department at the Indus Hospital and Health Network, who was enrolled to monitor staff.
"This is an interesting case for me and my students -- everyone wants to know about the procedure and its progress," she told AFP.
The team of four mahouts wear face masks and scrubs when feeding the elephants to avoid contracting a disease that infects more than 500,000 humans a year.
Karachi Safari Park has long been criticised for the mistreatment of captive animals -- including an elephant evacuated after a campaign by American singer Cher -- but is hopeful its last two elephants will overcome the illness with a year-long treatment plan.
sam/ecl/pbt/fox

electricity

High-flying young electricians wire UK energy switch

BY OLIVIER DEVOS

  • "We're taking on more apprentices than we ever have.
  • Perched 45 metres (148 feet) high, young apprentice electricians replace a connection atop a pylon.
  • "We're taking on more apprentices than we ever have.
Perched 45 metres (148 feet) high, young apprentice electricians replace a connection atop a pylon. In the UK, National Grid recruitment is at full power as its electricity network adapts for renewables.
As new production sites multiply, particularly for wind and solar power, the privately-run company that owns the high-voltage pylons and cables in England and Wales said it is implementing "the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in generations".
"It's quite fun and exciting really," Becky Hodgson, an overhead lines trainee, enthused at the prospect of "connecting" the UK's future energy needs.
At the National Grid training centre in Eakring, a village in central England, 25-year-old Hodgson unwinds rope from a winch at the foot of a large pylon.
To the sound of an engine and pulleys, a suspended walkway rises towards her classmates. 
Hailing from near Newcastle in northeast England, a region famous for its coal mining heritage, Hodgson is delighted to be part of the nation's new energy chapter.
"It's ticking all the boxes for me," said the apprentice whose grandfather mined coal, which up until recently was used to fire British power stations.
"From a young age I've always been really into climbing, and adventurous pursuits," Hodgson, sporting a fluorescent orange vest and blue hard hat, told AFP.
- 'Massive challenge' - 
With the UK one of the most advanced countries in Europe in terms of renewable energy, National Grid plans to invest £35 billion ($47 billion) by 2031 to transform its electricity network.
The installation of new pylons, often favoured over underground or submarine cables owing to their lower cost, is causing friction among local residents across the country.
Faced with growing demand for electricity and the need to source energy where it is produced, "we need more wires", insisted Zac Richardson, chief engineer at National Grid.
The company has seen the number of training days surge 75 percent over three years, driven largely by growth in staff.
"Will we be able to train enough? It's a massive challenge," said Richardson.
"There's advanced investment going in, not just here, but with our key contractors as well, to ensure that the workforce is ready."
National Grid estimates that 55,000 new hires will be needed in the coming years, across various trades, both within its own ranks and among its partners and subcontractors.

Explosion

A siren suddenly sounds in a substation, close to large machines bristling with lightning arresters. 
Then an explosion -- signalling a test of a pyrotechnic circuit breaker, a device that can quickly cut a high-voltage circuit.
"You have to cover your ears automatically... when you work in a substation," laughed Lara Eken, a graduate substation engineer.
The 23-year-old said she has come to learn about the workings of "a really in-depth technical system", whose number is multiplying with the expansion of the network.
Cables extending from the large pylon are lost in the distance -- but they lead nowhere. For safety reasons, the training facilities are disconnected from the network. 
A power line apprenticeship lasts three years. 
"Everything crunches around the safety aspect first, so it's baby steps," training instructor Tom Norris, easily identifiable by his red helmet, told AFP.
"You get them just climbing the tower first" before tackling more complicated tasks like hoisting equipment, he added.
Norris said finding recruits is not a problem.
"We're taking on more apprentices than we ever have. We've always got lots of interest on the recruitment day so we're picking from lots and lots of good candidates."
ode-bcp/ajb/srg/rmb/rsc

climate

Severe drought strains wildlife and tourism in Florida's Everglades

BY GERARD MARTINEZ

  • His NGO works to protect the wetland, where for centuries water would accumulate north of the Everglades during the rainy season, from mid-May to October, and flow south, mitigating the severity of dry season droughts.
  • At Everglades National Park in Florida, severe drought dries up not only the habitat that wildlife depends on, but the tourism industry in the largest wetland in the United States.
  • His NGO works to protect the wetland, where for centuries water would accumulate north of the Everglades during the rainy season, from mid-May to October, and flow south, mitigating the severity of dry season droughts.
At Everglades National Park in Florida, severe drought dries up not only the habitat that wildlife depends on, but the tourism industry in the largest wetland in the United States.
Tour operator Marshall Jones, who owns seven airboats in the southern region where his family settled five generations ago, says his operation is quite literally grounded.
One boat now rests in the dry bed of a canal.
"A lot of the species of wildlife rely on water to survive. Right now, there's very little to no water within the Everglades, except for man-made waterways," said the 46-year-old owner of Mack's Fish Camp on the Miami River.
Lack of rainfall in the Everglades has a dramatic impact on the local ecosystem, which is home to more than 2,000 animal and plant species. 
Drought can stunt fish species like black bass and catfish, or force alligators, turtles and snakes to migrate in search of wetter habitats, exposing them to the risk of dying from heat, Jones said.
Droughts are frequent toward the end of the dry season, which stretches from October to mid-May -- but in recent months there has been less precipitation than normal, said Robert Molleda, head of the US National Weather Service in Miami.
Which means conditions now are more extreme.

'Bluebird day'

It is not only the local wildlife that has been affected. 
Jones has not been able to take clients out on airboat rides for 32 days during his usual peak-tourism period, costing his business about $50,000.
"This is going to be a very tough year for us financially," he said, adding he hasn't seen such a drought since 2009.
According to Steve Davis, chief scientist at the Everglades Foundation, the current weather situation is further exacerbated by man-made harm in the region. 
His NGO works to protect the wetland, where for centuries water would accumulate north of the Everglades during the rainy season, from mid-May to October, and flow south, mitigating the severity of dry season droughts.
But over the last century, authorities diverted the natural course of the water to allow urban and agricultural growth in southern Florida, altering the wetland.
"When we drained and compartmentalized the Everglades that made the ecosystem more vulnerable to drought," David said.
To remedy past mistakes the state of Florida began a vast restoration project several years ago, aided by federal funding.
The project's objective is to restore water supply from the north through a system of canals, dams, spillways and water pumps. 
"Having places to store water and be able to draw from that when we need it ... helps to build resilience for the entire ecosystem," Davis said.
But that relief has not come yet for Jones, who is eager for the rainy season to float his boats once more.
"We just need rain. Nature will provide it very soon. Today is our first official day of rainy season," he said.
"And it's a bluebird day, not a single cloud in the sky. But it's coming, rain is coming."
gma/bdx/sla/st

environment

Villagers vow to fight new Panama Canal reservoir 'to the end'

BY JUAN JOSE RODRIGUEZ

  • Last week, hundreds of flag-waving villagers in motorized canoes navigated the Indio River to protest the planned dam, which would force thousands of families to relocate.
  • Magdalena Martinez has lived next to the Indio River all her life, but a planned dam aimed at shielding the Panama Canal from drought now threatens to swallow her home.
  • Last week, hundreds of flag-waving villagers in motorized canoes navigated the Indio River to protest the planned dam, which would force thousands of families to relocate.
Magdalena Martinez has lived next to the Indio River all her life, but a planned dam aimed at shielding the Panama Canal from drought now threatens to swallow her home.
The 49-year-old is one of hundreds of residents opposed to a new artificial lake that would feed the vital interoceanic waterway at the center of diplomatic tensions with the United States.
"I feel sick about this threat we're facing," said Martinez, who shares her wooden house with a metal roof with her husband and five of her 13 children in Boca de Uracillo.
"We don't know where we're going to go," she told AFP.
Martinez's entire family was born in the small village surrounded by lush mountains, whose residents earn a living growing crops including cassava and corn and raising animals.
The community says it is determined to prevent its homes being sacrificed to help the world's multi-billion dollar global shipping industry.
"We have to fight to the end," said 44-year-old resident Yturbide Sanchez.
Last week, hundreds of flag-waving villagers in motorized canoes navigated the Indio River to protest the planned dam, which would force thousands of families to relocate.
"We don't want them to take away the river water -- we need it," 48-year-old farmer Ariel Troya told AFP.
"If the project goes ahead, it will take away our entire future," Troya added.

'The future'

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP), the autonomous public entity that operates the waterway, decided to build the reservoir to cope with severe droughts like the one seen in 2023, which forced a drastic reduction in ship traffic.
The century-old shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans relies on once-abundant rainwater stored in two artificial lakes that also supply drinking water.
Used mainly by customers from the United States, China and Japan, the canal has a system of locks to raise and lower ships and releases millions of liters of fresh water for each vessel that passes.
The planned new reservoir covering around 4,600 hectares (11,400 acres) would supply water through a nine-kilometer (5.6-mile) tunnel to one of the existing lakes.
The project "meets a need identified a long time ago: it's the water of the future," Karina Vergara, an environmental and social manager at the ACP, told AFP.
Work is expected to begin in 2027 and be completed by 2032, with an investment of approximately $1.6 billion. 
Of that, $400 million is earmarked to compensate and relocate around 2,500 people from several villages.
"We have a firm commitment to dialogue and reaching agreements" with those affected, Vergara said.
If the reservoir isn't built, "we'll regret it in 15 years," she said.

'Give our lives'

Civil society groups warn that in total around 12,000 people could be affected by the project -- which has the backing of President Jose Raul Mulino -- since it would affect the entire Indio River basin.
The 80-kilometer-long Panama Canal handles six percent of global maritime trade and is the engine of the Panamanian economy.
It is also at the center of a diplomatic row due to US President Donald Trump's repeated threats to "take back" the waterway -- which was handed over to Panama in 1999 -- from alleged Chinese control.
In the village of Limon, about 15 minutes from Boca de Uracillo by motorized canoe, residents also refuse to abandon their homes.
"We're not going to leave. They'll have to remove us by force," said Maricel Sanchez, a 25-year-old university student.
Villagers are relying on their lands to see them through retirement, farmer Olegario Cedeno said in the house where he lives with his wife and three children, surrounded by chickens, hens and parrots.
"We will give our lives in this fight."
jjr/fj/dr/sla

climate

Trump admin ends halt on New York offshore wind project

  • A Department of Interior spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the wind project halt had been lifted.
  • President Donald Trump's administration has reversed its halt on a giant offshore wind project in New York led by Norwegian company Equinor, US officials confirmed Tuesday.
  • A Department of Interior spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the wind project halt had been lifted.
President Donald Trump's administration has reversed its halt on a giant offshore wind project in New York led by Norwegian company Equinor, US officials confirmed Tuesday.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Equinor had announced the policy shift in statements Monday night, saying construction on the massive Empire Wind project would be able to resume following a month-long stoppage.
An Equinor spokesman told AFP last week that the company might abandon the project if a solution were not found soon.
Trump, who has repeatedly expressed opposition to wind energy -- claiming turbines are unsightly and dangerous -- signed a series of executive orders targeting the sector shortly after returning to the White House in January.
Those included a temporary freeze on federal permitting and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced in mid-April that his department was ordering construction halted "immediately" on the Empire Wind project, saying predecessors in the administration of former president Joe Biden had not performed "sufficient analysis."
In a social media post Monday night, Burgum did not mention Empire Wind but praised Hochul for "her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity."
Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former oil industry executive, have emphasized the need to streamline pipeline permitting, calling the issue a major impediment to natural gas development.
"Energy Dominance is the foundation of America's economic and national security," Burgum said on X.
"Americans who live in New York and New England would see significant economic benefits and lower utility costs from increased access to reliable, affordable, clean American natural gas."
A Department of Interior spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the wind project halt had been lifted.
Hochul thanked Trump in her statement, calling the project "critical" in terms of jobs and clean power.
"New York's economic future is going to be powered by abundant, clean energy that helps our homes and businesses thrive," Hochul said. 
"We appreciate the fact that construction can now resume on Empire Wind, a project which underscores our commitment to deliver energy while supporting local economies and creating jobs," Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said separately.
Valued by Equinor at $2.5 billion, the Empire Wind 1 project includes 54 turbines designed to deliver 810 megawatts of energy into Brooklyn, powering 500,000 homes.
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transport

Three dead as thunderstorms hit southeastern France

  • Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, described "scenes of war", "roads torn up" and "bridges torn down."
  • At least three people died, including a couple in their eighties, when thunderstorms hit southeast France on Tuesday, leaving behind what one official described as "scenes of war".
  • Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, described "scenes of war", "roads torn up" and "bridges torn down."
At least three people died, including a couple in their eighties, when thunderstorms hit southeast France on Tuesday, leaving behind what one official described as "scenes of war".
According to local authorities, the elderly couple died in the seaside town of Le Lavandou and one other person in the town of Vidauban.
The couple's vehicle was swept away by floodwaters.
The woman's body remained trapped inside the wreckage, Toulon public prosecutor Samuel Finielz told AFP.
An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of death, he said, adding that "the situation was quite difficult on the ground".
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, described "scenes of war", "roads torn up" and "bridges torn down."
"It was a really violent, vicious, incomprehensible phenomenon," Bernardi told BFM television. 
"There is nothing left, no electricity, no drinking water, no sewage treatment plant," he added.
In Vidauban, a local official pulled a driver from her vehicle but the passenger could not be saved.
"A driver and her passenger drove onto a country road that was completely submerged" and the car fell into a ditch, the mayor, Claude Pianetti, said on Facebook. 
Hailstorms and heavy rain also hit southwestern France a day earlier, flooding homes, damaging railway tracks and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of passengers aboard a high-speed TGV train in the middle of the night.
The TGV, on its way from Toulouse to Paris late Monday, was on a track that became dislodged when the ground subsided because of the torrential rains.
The train had to stop on the tracks overnight near the town of Tonneins, and the more than 500 passengers were evacuated by bus.
According to the prefecture, the rescue operation involved dozens including firefighters, police and volunteers.
"We narrowly avoided a disaster, the tracks were exposed and the TGV was suspended," the mayor of Tonneins, Dante Rinaudo, told AFP.
Describing "avalanches of water" in the town that flooded cellars and houses, he said the storms should be recognised by the government as a natural disaster.
Another train travelling between Toulouse and Paris was also stranded overnight in Agen, and passengers were taken to Toulouse by bus on Tuesday morning. 
A spokesperson for the state rail operator SNCF said traffic would be suspended for "at least several days" between Agen and Marmande in southwestern France, affecting TGV services between Bordeaux and Toulouse. 
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climate

Heatwave forces early school closures in Pakistan's largest province

  • An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise "5 to 7C above normal".
  • Rising temperatures in Pakistan's most populous province have forced the provincial government to close all private and public schools for summer vacations early, officials said on Tuesday.
  • An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise "5 to 7C above normal".
Rising temperatures in Pakistan's most populous province have forced the provincial government to close all private and public schools for summer vacations early, officials said on Tuesday.
Punjab province's education minister Rana Sikander Hayat said summer vacations will now start from May 28 instead of June 1.
Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30 am "due to a constant heatwave", a notification issued by the education department said.
Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures after a particularly dry winter.
Temperatures soared to near-record highs for the month of April, reaching as high as 46.5 degrees Celsius (115.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Punjab.
An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise "5 to 7C above normal".
An Education Department representative told AFP the early closures were announced because of the weather.
"We had to move up the summer vacation schedule because of these heatwaves," the representative said.
Schools in the province that serve tens of millions of children also closed for a week in May last year because of excessive heat, and for several weeks in November because of high levels of toxic smog that blanketed several cities.
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