Day: July 16, 2021

The World Meteorological Organization is calling for action to halt climate change as extreme weather becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Heavy rainfall this week has triggered devastating floods across western Europe, killing and injuring scores of people, destroying homes and livelihoods. At the same time, parts of Scandinavia — northern Europe’s coldest region — are enduring scorching temperatures.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute says Finland had its warmest June on record, which has extended into July. Southern Finland it notes has had 27 consecutive days with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. By Finland’s normally frigid temperatures, that qualifies as a heatwave.

The western U.S. and Canada also have been gripped by heat, with many records broken in states of Nevada and Utah. Last August, Death Valley, California reached a temperature of 54.4 degrees Celsius, the world’s highest temperature record. But meteorologists believe Death Valley may have equaled that record a week ago on July 9.

The spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, Clare Nullis, says the heatwave in the western U.S. has led to megadrought conditions and numerous wildfires.

“The heatwave that we saw in parts of the U.S. and Canada at the end of June…This heatwave would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change,” said Nullis. “Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, made the heatwave at least 150 times more likely.”

Nullis says climate change already is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. She adds many single events have been shown to have been made worse by global warming.

“We need to step up climate action,” said Nullis. “We need to step up the level of ambition. We are not doing really enough to stay within the targets of the Paris agreement and keep temperatures below two degrees Celsius, even 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.”

The spokeswoman’s call echoes that of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who is urging all countries to do more to avoid a climate catastrophe linked to rising carbon dioxide emissions and temperatures.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N. refugee agency says a series of attacks by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has forced nearly 20,000 civilians to flee for their lives.

More than 100 armed groups, such as the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces, have been terrorizing communities in the eastern DRC for decades.

On May 6, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi launched a state of emergency in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Following that declaration, peoples’ hopes were raised that violence would end and law and order would be established in the region.

However, U.N. refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch says armed groups are continuing to devastate civilian lives. He says there is little military presence in the area to protect people from the relentless attacks.

“Where civilians are on their own, then the armed groups get a chance to make a comeback and attack civilian lives,” said Baloch. “And that is why they have been going from town to town, villages to villages killing people, burning their houses, looting the houses, injuring the people as well.

The UNHCR says the Allied Democratic Forces have allegedly killed at least 14 people and injured many others around the city of Beni since June 22. Last year, the ADF reportedly killed 500 civilians in eastern DRC.

Over the past two years, nearly two million people in North Kivu province alone have been uprooted by insecurity and violence, according to the U.N.

In the aftermath of the current crisis, Baloch says the UNHCR and partners are helping local authorities register forcibly displaced families and respond to their needs.

“More than 100,000 people were assisted with emergency shelters in 2020 and almost 14,000 so far in 2021,” said Baloch. “But needs remain high as attacks by armed groups continue to displace people in the province, with many forced to flee multiple times.”

Baloch says women and children are particularly vulnerable and are being provided with shelter, relief items and cash. He says his agency’s resources are overstretched as the international community has not responded well to its appeal. He says UNHCR’s $205 million appeal to run its DRC operations this year is only 36 percent funded.

Source: Voice of America