Paris, France - Europe and the Mediterranean basin has been hit by a long-lasting drought covering over 45 percent of the region since mid-March, according to AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory (EDO) data made available on Tuesday. It is the first time since data collection began in 2012 that...

As the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha approaches, Fatima Kharraz can't seem to find the usual sense of celebration after drought-stricken Morocco urged people to forego the traditional sheep sacrifice this year.

In Tunisia's highlands, women harvest wild herbs to earn a living, but drought is making their work harder, shrinking incomes and opportunities

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia will host the COP16 UN conference on land degradation and desertification next week as the top oil exporter pitches itself as an environmental defender despite criticism of its role at climate talks. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the meeting for the United Nations Convention...

A prolonged drought in much of South America has forced tech giants Google and Amazon to rethink their plans for water-guzzling data centers

Janājah, Iraq - Bare feet pressed against the rough trunk of a palm tree, his back supported by a metal and fabric harness, Ali Abed begins the climb to the dates above. In Iraq, the date palm and its bounty are national icons, but they are being battered by drought. Once...

After four years of drought, Iraqi farmer Mohammed Sami was about to abandon his father's parched land, but then a water-saving irrigation system revived his crops and his hopes. He is among hundreds of farmers in the country battered by heatwaves, scarce rain and depleted rivers to benefit from new...

Launched by the Islamic Culture Foundation in 2018, Bouregreg Med-O-Med school provides free training to dropouts and other marginalized youths threatened with unemployment. Every year, the school takes in up to 90 apprentices, "young people who come from complicated family situations... and from really precarious and difficult surrounding neighborhoods, said...

Out of the 12, countries in the Horn of Africa were most affected, with Ethiopia and Somalia accounting for about half of the 27 million children facing hunger, Save said.

Geneva, Switzerland - The El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures, is expected to last until at least April 2024, the United Nations said on Wednesday. El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the...

Panama City, Panama - The operator of the Panama Canal, the passageway for cargo ships between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, said Tuesday that it would gradually limit the number of daily crossings due to drought. Traffic will be reduced to 25 ships a day from Friday, down from 29, and...

BANGKOK, THAILAND - Dry conditions, particularly in China, caused a "historic" global drop in hydropower in the first half of 2023, a new analysis shows, highlighting the effects of climate change. The research by renewable energy think tank Ember argues the drop is a "warning shot that hydro output could negatively...

The massive $4.2-billion dam built by Ethiopia has stoked tensions with Egypt and Sudan as they fear the dam will severely reduce their share of Nile water. Both nations have repeatedly asked Addis Ababa to stop filling it until an agreement has been reached. The talks are expected to pave...

The Jazlah plant in Jubail city applies the latest technological advances in a country that first turned to desalination more than a century ago. Projects like Jazlah, the first plant to integrate desalination with solar power on a large scale, are meant to ease the conflict: officials say the panels...

In the wake of a blistering and dry summer, residents of the mountainous Akkar region near the Syrian border are voicing fears about climate change and water scarcity. Akkar was already one of Lebanon's most disadvantaged regions before the national economy imploded in late 2019, plunging much of the population...

The bank of screens in Ismail Aydin's Istanbul water management system control room flashes a worrying number: 29.7 percent. That is the capacity level to which Istanbul's water reservoirs have dropped after another steamy summer put Turkey's largest city on the edge of a potential catastrophe.

Canada is suffering through its worst forest fire season in recorded history, with much of the country hit by high temperatures and serious drought. A total area of 15 million hectares (37 million acres) has now burned, an area larger than Greece.

It has been experiencing its fourth consecutive summer of drought, and temperatures in the country have been around 50 degrees Celsius. "Rising temperatures plus the drought, and the fact that the loss of diversity is a reality, is a wake-up call for Iraq and for the world," UN human rights...

Drastic government measures have restricted water use for some purposes, including crop irrigation, and authorities have cracked down on illegal practices they long ignored.

Designated by the UN as one of the five countries in the world most touched by some effects of climate change, Iraq is experiencing its fourth consecutive summer of drought.

Cairo, Egypt--The Arab League has called for efforts to confront drought and desertification in light of number of Arab countries lacking water resources, which resulted in land degradation and lack of agricultural land. This came on the occasion of the 29th World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, themed "Her...

New methods such as permaculture are especially useful in Tunisia where an unprecedented drought has parched the countryside and left water reservoirs at dangerously low levels this spring.

Iraq looks to have renewable energies cover a third of its electricity needs by 2030 and has signed several contracts for solar plants. Its huge oil reserves are enough to produce crude at current rates for another century, but as the world works to wean itself off hydrocarbons, the country...

The elegant water craft have long been vastly outnumbered by modern, motorised vessels and are threatened further as Iraq's waterways suffer from droughts linked to climate woes.

Since 2020 though, the world has been hit with an exceptionally long La Nina -- El Nino's cooling opposite -- which ended earlier this year, ceding way to the current neutral conditions. And yet, the UN has said the last eight years were the warmest ever recorded, despite La Nina's...

The "Friends of the Tree" group works to raise awareness about green areas around Tripoli that are quickly disappearing because of drought, human activity and desertification. "Man has destroyed forests" and much of the vegetation, said the group's leader Khalifa Ramadan, who has been working in agriculture and gardening for...

Iraq, one of the countries worst-hit by climate change, endured a dozen major sandstorms last year that turned the sky orange, brought daily life to a halt and left its people gasping for air. When the storms clear, layers of fine sand cover everything - including the Sumerian ruins of...

For the study, published in the journal Science, researchers analyzed a combination of satellite data and ground moisture readings from a period of over 60 years (1951-2014). The researcher, based out of China's Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), warned that the rapid onset of flash droughts gives...

Even before the roasting summer months, the soil is dry and dusty in the small Mediterranean country, whose water resources are steadily depleting as climate change intensifies. With some Tunisian water reservoirs almost completely dry, authorities imposed emergency measures last month, rationing household supplies and banning water use for washing...

More dams are being built in the region to shield the residents against floods, offer a lifeline during drought and work towards food sufficiency by enhancing agriculture output.

The relief of rainfall early this month was welcomed by the UN agency, which noted in a statement that in the Chibayish region "salinity levels decreased" to the point that people and animals could again drink the water.

The UN drugs agency noted that an increase in cases of human trafficking had been observed in Bangladesh and the Philippines after devastating cyclones and typhoons displaced millions.

According to secretary general of the government's High Commission for Planning (HCP) Ayache Khellaf, assuming recovery of agricultural activities, the national economy should show a 3.3-percent increase in 2023. The HCP in July had projected a 3.7-percent increase in Gross Domestic Product this year after just 1.3 percent in 2022.

After experiencing searing summer heat and a drought unprecedented in centuries, a wave of warm weather across Europe this winter has melted the snow from ski slopes in the Alps and Pyrenees, and seen temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) even in normally-freezing central regions.

After a decade of dynamic growth during the 2010s, Africa's second most populous country has suffered multiple shocks, including the Covid-19 pandemic, a record drought, a two-year war in its northernmost region of Tigray and the global impact of the invasion of Ukraine.

Hit by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation, poverty levels are back to where they were in 2014, the government's High Commission for Planning said in a recent report. Faced with the recent protests, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch has lately promoted expanding medical coverage, with more than...

Five villages are located on the site of the Makhoul dam and "a commission has been formed to ensure adequate damages for residents" and to relocate them.

In a dry country where access to water is already far below the 1,700 cubic meters per resident per year the United Nations defines as "water stressed", the drought-tolerant cactus is a safer bet compared with thirstier crops.

Developing nations least responsible for global emissions are pushing rich polluters to agree at COP27 on the creation of a fund to compensate countries facing huge losses from climate impacts. After dragging their feet over loss and damage over concerns it would leave rich nations legally exposed to open-ended demands...

Jordan is one of the world's most water-deficient countries, suffering from extreme droughts, and water cooperation with Israel long pre-dates the 1994 peace deal between them.

The G77+China block of more than 130 developing nations called in a position paper for a special fund "for assisting developing countries in meeting their costs of addressing non-economic and economic loss and damage" caused by extreme weather disasters and rising sea levels.

Published only days ahead of the UN climate conference in Egypt, the report titled "Living on The Edge" said, by the end of the century, 80 percent of the densely populated cities in the Middle East and North Africa were likely to suffer from heat waves for at least 50...

Al-Mishkhab, Iraq - Iraq has long drilled the desert for oil, but now climate stress, drought and reduced river flows are forcing it to dig ever deeper for a more precious resource: water. The war-scarred nation and major crude exporter is one of the world's five countries most impacted by key...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - In drought-hit Iraq, six out of 10 households have had their access to drinking water disrupted and a quarter of farmers have seen crop yields drastically fall this year, said a survey published Monday. Iraq has been battered by three years of drought, low rainfall and reduced...

The UN agencies for weather and for disaster risk reduction found countries with poor early warning systems on average see eight times greater mortality from disasters than countries with strong measures.

The Mesopotamian Marshes, a UNESCO World Heritage site, have been battered by low rainfall and reduced flows in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers due to dams built upstream in Turkey and Iran. Oil-rich Iraq, battered by decades of war, is also the world's fifth-most vulnerable country to some key effects...

Rainfall in Morocco is set to decline by 11 percent and average temperatures are set to rise by 1.3 percent by 2050, according to forecasts from the Ministry of Agriculture.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to tackle "four burning issues" between now and COP27: greater ambition to keep the 1.5C possible; meeting financial commitments to the developing world; increasing support for adaptation measures, and the issue of "loss and damage."

Water scarcity hitting farming and food security are already among the "main drivers of rural-to-urban migration" in Iraq, the UN and several non-government groups said in June.

Alerting five West African countries to the danger posed by climate change, the World Bank has urged them to diversify economies as they are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather patterns. The five countries in the arid Sahel region are vulnerable to droughts, floods, and heatwaves, according to a report.