Connect with us

World

African migratory birds threatened by hot, dry weather

Published

on

African migratory birds threatened by hot, dry weather

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s migratory birds are threatened by altering climate patterns within the heart and east of the continent which have depleted pure water techniques and brought about a devastating drought.

Hotter and drier circumstances because of local weather change make it tough for touring species who’re dropping their water sources and breeding grounds, with many now endangered or compelled to change their migration patterns solely by settling in cooler northern areas.

Roughly 10% of Africa’s greater than 2,000 chicken species, together with dozens of migratory birds, are threatened, with 28 species — such because the Madagascar fish eagle, the Taita falcon and hooded vultures — classed as “critically endangered.” Over one-third of them are particularly weak to local weather change and excessive climate, an evaluation by environmental group BirdLife Worldwide mentioned.

“Birds are being affected by local weather change similar to another species,” BirdLife coverage coordinator Ken Mwathe mentioned. “Migratory birds are affected greater than different teams of birds as a result of they need to carry on shifting,” which makes it extra probably {that a} website they depend on throughout their journey has degraded ultimately.

The African-Eurasian flyway, the flight hall for birds that journey south by way of the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert for the winter, harbors over 2,600 websites for migrating birds. An estimated 87% of African websites are in danger from local weather change, a larger proportion than in Europe or Asia, a research by the United Nations setting company and conservation group Wetlands Worldwide discovered.

Advertisement

Africa is extra weak to local weather change as a result of it’s much less in a position to adapt, mentioned Evans Mukolwe, a retired meteorologist and science director on the World Meteorological Group.

“Poverty, biodiversity degradation, excessive climate occasions, lack of capital and entry to new applied sciences” make it harder for the continent to guard habitats for wild species, Mukolwe mentioned.

Hotter temperatures because of human-caused local weather change and fewer rainfall shrink key wetland areas and water sources, which birds depend on throughout migratory journeys.

“Lake Chad is an instance,” Mwathe mentioned. “Earlier than birds cross the Sahara, they cease by Lake Chad, after which transfer to the Northern or Southern hemisphere. However Lake Chad has been shrinking over time,” which compromises its potential to help birds, he mentioned.

Parched birds means more durable journeys, which has an impression on their potential to breed, mentioned Paul Matiku, govt director of Nature Kenya.

Advertisement

Flamingoes, for instance, which usually breed in Lake Natron in Tanzania are unlikely to have the ability to “if the migration journey is just too tough,” Matiku mentioned.

He added that “not having water in these wetlands means breeding won’t happen” since flamingoes want water to create mud nests that preserve their eggs away from the extreme warmth of dry floor.

Non-migratory birds are additionally scuffling with the altering local weather. African fish eagles, discovered all through sub-Saharan Africa, are actually compelled to journey additional seeking meals. The variety of South African Cape Rockjumpers and Protea canaries is severely declining.

Chook species dwelling within the hottest and driest areas, like within the Kalahari Desert that spans Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, are approaching their “physiological limits,” the newest evaluation by the U.N.’s knowledgeable local weather panel mentioned. It added that birds are much less capable of finding meals and are dropping physique mass, inflicting large-scale deaths for these dwelling in excessive warmth.

“Forest habitats get hotter with local weather change and … dryland habitats get drier and savannah birds lack meals as a result of grass by no means seeds, flowers by no means fruit, and bugs by no means emerge as they do when it rains,” Matiku mentioned.

Advertisement

Different threats, such because the unlawful wildlife commerce, agriculture, the expansion of city areas and air pollution are additionally stunting chicken populations like African fish eagles and vultures, he mentioned.

Higher land administration tasks that assist restore degraded wetlands and forests and defend areas from infrastructure, poaching or logging will assist protect probably the most weak species, the U.N. environmental company mentioned.

Birds and different species would profit from concerted efforts to enhance water entry and meals safety, particularly as sea degree rise and excessive climate occasions are set to proceed, mentioned Amos Makarau, the Africa regional director of the U.N. climate company.

Scientists say that curbing emissions of planet-warming gasses, particularly in high-emitting nations, might additionally restrict future weather-related catastrophes.

___

Advertisement

Observe AP’s local weather and setting protection at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

___

Related Press local weather and environmental protection receives help from a number of personal foundations. See extra about AP’s local weather initiative right here. The AP is solely chargeable for all content material.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

World

Spain searches for bodies after unprecedented flooding claims at least 158 lives

Published

on

Spain searches for bodies after unprecedented flooding claims at least 158 lives

Join Fox News for access to this content

You have reached your maximum number of articles. Log in or create an account FREE of charge to continue reading.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Having trouble? Click here.

Crews searched for bodies in stranded cars and sodden buildings Thursday as residents salvaged what they could from their ruined homes following monstrous flash floods in Spain that claimed at least 158 lives, with 155 deaths confirmed in the eastern Valencia region alone.

More horrors emerged Thursday from the debris and ubiquitous layers of mud left by the walls of water that produced Spain’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory. The damage recalled the aftermath of a tsunami, with survivors left to pick up the pieces as they mourn their loved ones.

Advertisement

AT LEAST 63 DEAD IN DEVASTATING FLASH FLOODS ACROSS EASTERN SPAIN, OFFICIALS SAY

Cars were piled on one another like fallen dominoes, uprooted trees, downed power lines and household items all mired in mud that covered streets in dozens of communities in Valencia, a region south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.

An unknown number of people are still missing and more victims could be found.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente said early Thursday before the death toll spiked from 95 on Wednesday night.

Rushing water turned narrow streets into death traps and spawned rivers that tore through homes and businesses, sweeping away cars, people and everything else in its path. The floods demolished bridges and left roads unrecognizable.

Advertisement

Luís Sánchez, a welder, said he saved several people who were trapped in their cars on the flooded V-31 highway south of Valencia city. The road rapidly became a floating graveyard strewn with hundreds of vehicles.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out, but nothing,” Sánchez said. “The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Regional authorities said late Wednesday that rescuers in helicopters saved some 70 people stranded on rooftops and in cars, but ground crews were far from done.

Vehicles are seen piled up after being swept away by floods in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024.  (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

“Our priority is to find the victims and the missing so we can help end the suffering of their families,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said after meeting with officials and emergency services in Valencia on Thursday, the first of three official days of mourning.

Advertisement

An ‘extraordinary’ deluge

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory. Scientists link it to climate change, which is also behind increasingly high temperatures and droughts in Spain and the heating up of the Mediterranean Sea.

Human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of a storm like this week’s deluge in Valencia, according to a rapid but partial analysis Thursday by World Weather Attribution, comprising dozens of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather.

Spain has been suffering from an almost two-year drought, meaning that when the deluge happened late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the ground was so hard that it could not absorb the rain, leading to flash floods.

The violent weather event surprised regional government officials. Spain’s national weather service said it rained more in eight hours in the Valencian town of Chiva than it had in the preceding 20 months, calling the deluge “extraordinary.”

Advertisement

In Paiporta, a community of 25,000 next to Valencia city where mayor Maribel Albalat said Thursday that not fewer than 62 people had perished.

“(Paiporta) never has floods, we never have this kind of problem. And we found a lot of elderly people in the town center,” Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE. “There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages … it was a real trap.’

Farms damaged

While the most suffering was inflicted on municipalities near the city of Valencia, the storms unleashed their fury over huge swaths of the south and eastern coast of the Iberian peninsula. Two fatalities were confirmed in the neighboring Castilla La Mancha region and one in southern Andalusia.

Greenhouses and farms across southern Spain, known as Europe’s garden for its exported produce, were also ruined by heavy rains and flooding. The storms spawned a freak tornado in Valencia and a hail storm that punched holes in cars in Andalusia. Homes were left without water as far southwest as Malaga in Andalusia.

Advertisement

Heavy rains continued Thursday farther north as the Spanish weather agency issued alerts for several counties in Castellón, in the eastern Valencia region, and for Tarragona in Catalonia, as well as southwest Cadiz.

“This storm front is still with us,” the prime minister said. “Stay home and heed the official recommendation and you will help save lives.”

The search goes on amid the destruction

Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency rescue units joined regional and local emergency workers in the search for bodies and survivors.

“We are searching house by house,” Ángel Martínez, with a military emergency unit, told Spain’s national radio RNE from the town of Utiel, where at least six people died.

Advertisement

An Associated Press journalist saw rescuers remove seven body bags from an underground garage in Barrio de la Torre on Thursday.

Many residents in both towns had to walk long distances in sticky mud to find food and water. Many of their cars had been destroyed and the mud, destruction and debris left by the storm made some roads unpassable. Some pushed shopping carts along sodden streets while others carried their children to keep them out of the muck.

Valencia regional President Carlos Mazón on Thursday asked if Spain’s army could assist with distributing basic goods to the population.

The National Police arrest 39 people for looting on Wednesday. The Civil Guard deployed officers to stop further thefts from homes, cars and shopping malls.

Some 150,000 people in Valencia were without electricity on Wednesday, but roughly half had power by Thursday, Spanish news agency EFE reported. An unknown number did not have running water and were relying on whatever bottled water they could find.

Advertisement

The region remained partly isolated with several roads cut off and train lines interrupted, including the high-speed service to Madrid. Officials said it will take two to three weeks to repair that damaged line.

A man wept as he showed a reporter from national broadcaster RTVE the shell of what was once the ground floor of his home in Catarroja, south of Valencia. It looked as though a bomb had detonated inside, obliterating furniture and belongings, and stripping the paint off some walls.

Continue Reading

World

Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

Published

on

Orbán's meeting with FPÖ leaders in Vienna sparks controversy

The Hungarian prime minister arrived in Vienna on Thursday, where he was received by parliamentary president Walter Rosenkranz in a meeting condemned by several Austrian political parties.

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite criticism from other political parties, Austria’s newly elected parliament president, Walter Rosenkranz of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna as his first official guest. 

The controversial visit took place in the Austrian parliament’s reception room, with the entire leadership of the FPÖ, including leader Herbert Kickl, reportedly in attendance. 

After the meeting concluded, Orbán had a separate, private meeting with Kickl. However, nothing was initially revealed about the content of their conversation.

Rosenkranz said the meeting had been arranged before he took office.

Other Austrian parties, including the Greens and Social Democrats, had resisted Orbán’s visit. Green party parliamentary leader Sigrid Maurer said the FPÖ views Orbán as a role model, which should be considered “an absolute warning signal.” 

Advertisement

FPÖ finished first in the recent Austrian parliamentary elections, garnering 29.2% of the vote in the country’s first far-right election win since World War II.

Experts say the party managed to tap into Austrian anxiety on housing and healthcare, as well as often successfully blaming migration for a host of other issues. 

As is customary within Austria, the group with the highest number of votes appoints the President of Parliament – hence Rosenkranz being elected to the second-highest state office in the country last week. 

Orbán will reportedly not meet with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer during the visit.

Far-right alliance in Europe

Austria’s Freedom Party and Orbán’s Fidesz party both belong to the new European far-right group Patriots for Europe.  

Advertisement

The party shares a deep aversion to the Green Deal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s flagship initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and have challenged the project of European integration as well as the power granted to EU institutions.  

Patriots for Europe are also opposed to providing Ukraine with military equipment, question the efficiency of Western sanctions against Moscow and want to maintain close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government. 

It is the third-largest group in the European Parliament, boasting dozens of MEPs from countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands. 

Continue Reading

World

Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House

Published

on

Analysis-US Crypto Industry Expects Friendlier Washington, Whoever Wins White House
By Hannah Lang (Reuters) – The cryptocurrency industry has spent years clashing with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over regulatory issues, but executives expect an easier ride from Washington, regardless of who wins the White House next week. Crypto asset managers including Bitwise …
Continue Reading

Trending