France's top administrative court on Monday ordered the government to ban fishing in parts of the Atlantic to protect dolphins which have washed up dead in their hundreds. . The move by the State Council, the highest court in government matters, comes days after an oceanographic institute reported that at least 910 dolphins had washed up on France's Atlantic coast since the start of the winter.
Norway's highest court confirmed on Monday the Norwegian state's exclusive right to natural resources on the continental shelf around the strategically important Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic.. Beyond the question of snow crab -- considered a delicacy in Asia -- the case was seen as an important test to determine who would control other lucrative resources thought to lie beneath the continental shelf, like oil and gas or minerals.
The Kuwait Oil Company declared a "state of emergency" Monday over an oil spill on land, in an incident decried by environmental activists as a "recurring problem" in the energy-rich Gulf state.. - 'Oil pollution' - Kuwaiti environmental activist Khalid Al-Hajire said the extent of damage from Monday's oil leak remains largely unclear but decried non-compliance with environmental protocol.
Devastating climate impacts are hitting faster than expected as the world teeters on reaching the 1.5 degree Celsius warming limit in a little over a decade, the UN said Monday.. The level of greenhouse gas emission reductions this decade will "largely determine" whether humanity can limit global warming to two degrees Celsius since preindustrial times, or the safer 1.5C, the UN expert report said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on wealthy countries Monday to move up their goals of achieving carbon neutrality as close as possible to 2040, mostly from 2050 now, in order to "defuse the climate time bomb.". Rich countries should commit to achieving carbon neutrality as close as possible to 2040, he said, "the limit they should all aim to respect."
When Burkina Faso makes the headlines these days, it's usually because of turmoil or suffering -- its jihadist insurgency, repeated military coups or grinding poverty.. Burkina Faso already suffers heavy water constraints and lies in a region where drought and desertification are likely to accelerate under climate change, researchers say.
In the realm of climate diplomacy, it's the little engine that could, the 80-to-1-odds Kentucky Derby winner, the low-budget multiverse fantasy that came out of nowhere to sweep the Oscars. . "While science on the 1.5C limit is less robust, efforts should be made to push the defence line as low as possible," it concluded.
The United Nations was poised to release a capstone report Monday distilling nearly a decade of published science on the impacts and trajectory of global warming, and the tools available to prevent climate catastrophe.. Since the last IPCC synthesis report in 2014, science has determined that devastating impacts are happening more quickly and at lower levels of warming than previously understood.
A blanket of crops covers the floor of the Imperial Valley in southern California, a patchwork of vibrant greens given life by the Colorado River in a landscape bleached by the desert sun.. - Productive land - Despite a very wet California winter, Imperial Valley hasn't gotten much rain this year.
With its cactus-filled garden and breathtaking views of the rocky peaks of the Arizona desert, Wendy and Vance Walker's home in the Rio Verde Foothills seemed to be a little slice of paradise. . City managers in Scottsdale, faced with meeting their own targets, decided Rio Verde Foothills -- which they view as profligate development -- would no longer be able to buy their water.
