Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Biosecurity concerns raised over import from Canada as Australia’s winter crop forecast to drop 20% below 20-year long-term average
Australia is planning to import wheat for the first time in 12 years after drought across the eastern states saw grain production fall 20% last year.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed this week it had issued a bulk import permit to allow wheat to be brought in from Canada to be processed for the domestic market.
Thousands of homes swept away as rains follow devastating drought, with UN ‘shocked’ by lack of crisis funding support
Afghanistan has been hit with the worst flooding in seven years, with 20 dead, thousands of homes swept away and many families, already displaced by drought, forced to leave their homes for the second time.
The latest climate shock, which affected eight provinces including Kandahar, came as the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan criticised the European Commission for its “wholly insufficient” response to hunger and suffering in a country already in the grip of what analysts describe as the world’s deadliest conflict.
Focus for year ahead will be on ‘providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species’
The outlook for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin, particularly in the north, is extremely challenging and there will be almost no scope for environmental flows for the remainder of the 2018-19 year unless it rains, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned.
It says the focus will be “on providing drought refuges and avoiding irreversible loss of species”.
Low dam levels and the drought lead New South Wales government to act
Sydney’s desalination plant was likely to be switched on this weekend because of falling dam levels and the drought, the New South Wales resources minister said.
The plant is turned on when water storages drop below 60%.
With high temperatures also forecast for Victoria and NSW, there are warnings about potential power outages and blackouts, as well as total fire bans amid worsening weather. Follow developments live
Just on the issue of heatwaves and climate change, the ABC Melbourne presenter Rafael Epstein has pointed to recent statements from Victoria’s Bureau of Meteorology (Bom).
Just in case someone says hot weather has nothing to do with climate change
"Australia's climate is increasingly influenced by global warming... has warmed by just over one degree since 1910, with most of the warming occurring since 1950."
The world's rainforests are under attack at a rate of 2.5 acres per second. Global warming and clear-cutting for growing palm oil and raising cattle are some of the biggest annihilators.
Those drifting in through the air must run a gauntlet of filters. Those hitching a ride on employees find their paths barred by face masks and full-body hooded coveralls.
Farmers in Kansas and Oklahoma are planting more land with cotton than they have for decades as they ditch wheat, attracted by relatively high cotton prices and the crop's ability to withstand drought. A 20-percent increase from last year marks a sharp turnaround for the crop that once dominated the Mississippi Delta into Texas.
He said he wanted to get everyone together to discuss the bill to make sure they were all on the same page, in hopes of hearing top concerns as a vote approaches. The Farm Bill aims to provide a safety net to ensure producers can be successful growing the food we need.
USDA will issue $34 million to help agricultural producers recover from 2017 natural disasters through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish Program , which covers losses not covered by certain other USDA disaster assistance programs.
In March, the Kenyan government declared the region a 'National Emergency' as the severe drought takes hold. Credit: Giles Clarke/Getty Images for UNOCHA Almost half of the world's population - some 3.6 billion people - currently live in areas vulnerable to water scarcity.
In 1997, I was traveling in Sumatra and I ended up at this camp where they did orangutan rehabilitation for released into the wild. You could watch the morning feeding, where they left a bunch of fruit out and orangutans came from all over the place to eat it.
This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When a rainstorm slammed California's Russian River watershed in December 2012, water rushed into Lake Mendocino, a reservoir north of San Francisco.
If you are about Trumped out after this week, here are a few things going on outside the Beltway. Even as the East Coast groans in a deep freeze, the West is warmer than usual.
"Water policy: both flooding, drought and clean water could be a major issue in the session this year," Democratic Senator Rob Hogg said. "Water quality should not be a partisan issue.
MARCH 10: Protesters march during a demonstration against the Dakota Access Pipeline on March 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters and members of Native nations marched in Washington DC to oppose the construction of the proposed 1,172 Dakota Access Pipeline that runs within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.
An effort to accomplish that kicked off Saturday afternoon when the group Public Water Now held a rally at Laguna Grande Park. There were petitions available for signing, a chance to donate to the cause and to be videotaped while telling about experiences dealing with California American Water's Monterey District Water System.
Residents clear debris in the city of Tacloban, devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, in the Philippines in November 2013. It was reportedly the deadliest storm in recorded history.a Just two or three decades ago, scientists were talking about the consequences of climate change manifesting in 50-100 years.