ADEN, March 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For thousands of years, a network of aqueducts and basins helped Yemen’s port city of Aden cope with both floods and drought. Today, plastic bags, drinks cans and makeshift shacks clog the ancient channels.
Continue readingclimate
Global warming of 3C could cost $1.6 trillion a year in lost labour
[Published here December 14, 2021]
Global warming of 3 degrees Celsius could cost as much as $1.6 trillion each year in lost labour productivity as even the coolest hours of the day start posing major health risks to workers in parts of the world, researchers said on Tuesday.
Those most threatened will be outdoor workers in already-hot countries where temperatures and humidity are rising fast, possibly threatening the economic lifeline of South Asian migrants seeking jobs in Gulf nations.
Continue readingCould a small Arab state hold the key to net zero emissions?
[Published here November 3, 2021]
As a key U.N. summit in Glasgow this week searches for ways to cut threats from global warming, one answer may lie in an unlikely place about 8,000 kilometres away: the tiny Gulf nation of Oman.
Continue readingGulf energy giants pledge net zero – but plan to stick with oil
[Published here October 28, 2021]
A surge of new net zero pledges from the Middle East’s oil producing nations has raised expectations ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow starting Sunday – but campaigners say the promises fall far short of what is needed.
Continue readingClimate science struggles with ‘blind spots’ in developing nations
[Published here August 20, 2021]
This month’s hard-hitting report from the U.N. climate science panel sounded the alarm on the surging impacts of global warming – but its authors and independent researchers said it did not provide enough insight on threats in poorer parts of the world.
Continue readingAs Iran faces ‘water bankruptcy’, drought exposes past problems, future threats
[Published here July 28, 2021]
BEIRUT, July 28 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Severe water shortages in Iran in recent weeks have prompted electricity outages and even sparked deadly protests, but analysts say the underlying causes go back decades – and will rattle the country for much longer than this summer’s drought.
Continue readingHaj pilgrims face growing heat stroke risks with global warming
[Published here July 20, 2021]
BEIRUT, July 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As thousands of devout Muslims flock to Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage this week, scientists warn the sacred rite is under threat due to deadly rising heat.
Continue readingIraq’s power cuts show privilege of staying cool in a heatwave
[Published here July 5, 2021]
No strangers to temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), Iraqis are adept at finding ways to stay cool in summer. But a spate of recent power cuts has exposed a deep divide between the heatwave haves and have-nots.
Continue readingYemen’s famed beekeepers feel the sting of climate change
[Published here June 21, 2021]
BEIRUT, June 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – After driving for days on the rough roads of southern Yemen, Radwan Hizam finally reached the idyllic spot where he hoped his bees could feed from flowering Sidr trees to produce their world-renowned honey. But he was too late.
Continue readingIn IS-held Raqa, parched civilians risk lives for water | AFP
[Published here July 8, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syria’s Raqa once thrived on the banks of the gushing Euphrates River, but dire shortages in the Islamic State group stronghold are forcing desperate civilians to risk their lives for water.
MAYA GEBEILY 