Climate change
Hunger rising in C. America amid climate, virus shocks: UN
The UN's World Food Programme said that levels of hunger had risen nearly four-fold in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, from 2.2 million people...
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this year's chair of the club of wealthy nations, will convene the virtual talks at 1400 GMT, vowing to free up any surplus coronavirus vaccines for poorer countries at a future date.
A scientific assessment by the UN Environment Programme found that galloping economic growth has come at a devastating cost to the planet and urged governments, businesses and people around the world to act to reverse the damage before it is too late.
The virus, which has killed more than two million people and caused unprecedented global disruption, is thought to have originated in bats in Southeast Asia.
Young and old, rich and poor, respondents in 50 nations home to more than half the global population also chose from a score of policy options to tackle the problem, researchers at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Oxford reported Wednesday.
Globally, one in 12 people could face severe water shortages every year by 2100, compared to an average of about one in 33 at the end of the 20th century.
Earthlife Director Makoma Lekalakala said this will not only aggravate the climate situation but also lock the country into a treacherous carbon-intense future.
The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent and deepening trend, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported.
Almost every country on the planet signed up to the 2015 Paris deal, which calls for capping global warming at 'well below' two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.
Swiss Re cautioned that climate change was expected to exacerbate such perils, driving more extreme weather events such as wildfires and floods.
The Climate Ambition Summit, being held online, comes as the United Nations warns current commitments to tackle rises in global temperatures are inadequate.
President-elect Joe Biden plans immediately to re-enter the 2015 Paris climate accord, which Kerry helped negotiate but from which defeated President Donald Trump withdrew the United States.
Concerned at rampant fungi, freak storms and shifting graves, the cemetery's custodians are now seeking expert help to ensure its survival.
The sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean melts in summer and freezes again in winter. The problem is each year it is melting a bit more in the warm weather and refreezing a bit less.
Satellite images analysed by C3S also showed that Arctic sea ice extent was the second lowest for November in the database, which began in 1979.
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - the main driver of climate change - hit record highs last year and continued climbing in 2020 despite measures to halt the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK government aims to meet the Paris climate agreement goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Such outcomes - closely linked to poverty, especially in the tropics - will likely increase with global warming, especially during more frequent and intense heatwaves, they reported in BMJ, a medical journal.
It may prove to be a temporary blip before Democrat Joe Biden's administration rejoins the agreement. Otherwise, the global effort to rein in the Earth's warming will have to proceed without the government of the world's second-biggest carbon emitter.