Why do most tree planting campaigns fail?

Abubakar Said Saad

DW/AFP

August 11, 2024

Dozens of tree planting campaigns are launched in different countries every year to help suck CO2 out of the air. But often, there is no real climate benefit. What is going wrong?

Trees remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere

Image: Froi Rivera

Environmentalist Lucy Kagendo from NGO Green Dimensions Network planted 50 saplings in Kenya last year as part of a national campaign to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.

Today, most of those trees are dead.

The idea behind such tree planting initiatives is simple. Trees remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis, their leaves pull in water and planet-heating carbon dioxide, convert them into food and release oxygen as a by-product.

However, Kagendo's tree planting endeavor isn't the only one with disappointing results. Just take northern India's restoration efforts over the last 50 years.

A study by environmental journal Nature Sustainability found that the "decades of expensive tree planting programs in the region have not proved effective," because they did not "increase forest canopy cover" and failed to contribute to climate change mitigation.

Launched in 2007, Africa's ambitious Great Green Wall project aimed to restore 100 million hectares (247.1 million acres) of degraded land in the Sahel with vegetation and trees. According to the latest UN figures, just a fifth of that area had been planted. Progress is stalled due to a lack of funding, and some of the trees have died because they didn't receive enough water or care.
What's the problem with tree planting campaigns?

Many tree planting campaigns falter because they plant the wrong trees at the wrong time in the wrong place.

In Turkey in 2019, for instance, the government set out to plant 11 million trees across the country. However, Sukru Durmus, the head of Turkey's agriculture and forestry union, told DW they found "about 98% of the trees planted died in less than three months." He attributed the failure to "wrong planting time, low rainfall and wrong tree species selected."

Africa's Great Green Wall struggles to halt desertification   03:11

According to Seyifunmi Adebote, an environmental management researcher from Nigeria, most campaigns fail because people are too focused on planting trees rather than "proper implementation planning."

"Most times when tree planting campaigns are made, they are made in the context of either local politics or global politics motivated to tick the boxes," Adebote told DW.

For Yusuf Idris Amoke, a government official for climate change in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, "many government tree campaigns have unrealistic ambitions." He believes previous campaigns were unsuccessful because they were "created to give a positive public image of the government's green credentials.

Focus on nurturing trees from sapling to maturity

Trees generally take around 20 to 30 years to grow to maturity, which means it can be a while before they have a big effect on the climate. So, it's important to track the trees and collect data after they've been planted, which frequently doesn't happen.

It's also important to select "appropriate native species" and to look after trees in the long term.

"Successful campaigns are those that not only plant trees but also ensure their survival through care and monitoring," Elsie Gabriel, the founder of India's Young Environmentalists Programme Trust, told DW.

Many countries are launching national tree planting initiatives, including Ethiopia

Image: Dr Adefires Worku

The Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project in China, for instance, was successful because the species used were native, drought-resistant and could thrive in local climate and soil conditions.

The project successfully planted 270,000 hectares of trees and shrubs — more than triple the land area of New York City.
Who looks after trees once they've been planted?

After Kagendo from the Green Dimensions Network planted her trees in Kenya during the government campaign, she began to wonder who would look after the trees once they were in the ground.

"The president went out and plant[ed] trees, but will he go out and water it afterwards?" Kagendo asked. She herself went to a national park far from where she lives to help out during the campaign. Now, Kagendo says she will "grow trees close to me so I can take care of them."

Restoring sacred forests in India  05:01

Local communities can help keep trees alive, and should be included in projects.

"Tree plantations in India should reach local indigenous communities," said Gabriel. "Schools and colleges should be offered these opportunities. Women should be given jobs in horticultural and tree plantations to bridge gender gaps."

Some successful local tree planting campaigns have used this approach. The US Green Seattle Partnership project involved young volunteers from schools and local communities. They've clocked over a million volunteer hours so far.

And sometimes less is more.

"It is better to grow healthier, fewer trees than to plant many that might all fail," said Kagendo.

Edited by: Anke Rasper and Sarah Steffen

Sources:

Kenyan national tree planting initiative: https://www.treasury.go.ke/national-tree-planting-intiative-launch/

Limited effects of tree planting on forest canopy cover and rural livelihoods in Northern India, Nature Sustainability, 2021: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00761-z.epdf

The Great Green Wall: Implementation Status and Way Ahead to 2030, UNDCC, 2020: https://www.unccd.int/resources/publications/great-green-wall-implementation-status-and-way-ahead-2030

Abubakar Said Saad

Sa’id Sa’ad is Nigerian writer and multimedia journalist currently based in Germany.

How Sweden balances emission cuts with economic growth

Sweden has cut 80% of its net emissions since 1990 and still managed an impressive economic growth. What's the secret?

Anne-Sophie Brändlin
 DW

AUGUST 12, 2024


Sweden seems to have found the recipe to growing its economy while protecting the climate.

"You don't need to reduce welfare to reduce your climate impact," said Mattias Goldmann, founder of the Swedish 2030-secretariat, who works towards Sweden reaching its climate target for the national transport sector.

Sweden outperforms all other European countries when it comes to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, according to the European Environment Agency.

The country already emitted five times less carbon dioxide, or CO2, per capita than the European average back in 1990. Since then, Sweden has reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions by another 80%, while the average reduction in the EU has only been 30%.

What's most stunning, though, is that Sweden, a heavily industrialized country which produces steel, cement and cars, managed to clean up its act — while also growing its economy twofold.

So how do you successfully decarbonize an economy while still growing it?
Investing in clean energy sources

The Scandinavian country has some natural advantages. 70% of Sweden is forest land. And forests are very useful when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

The country is also blessed with a great deal of wind, as well as mountains, streams and lakes — perfect for renewable energy.

Sweden hardly burns any fossil fuels for electricity anymore

Image: Dalibor Brlek/picture alliance

But it wasn't just hitting the natural resources jackpot that got the country to where it is now. Sweden realized its natural potential early on and started investing in renewable energy sources much earlier than many other countries.

"Sweden has had hydropower for more than a century," according to Goldmann.

They also cut out fossil fuels from their energy mix back in the 1970s, when the global oil crisis hit. When countries were looking for other sources of energy, Sweden substantially built out nuclear energy.

Today, almost 70% of Sweden's electricity comes from renewables, especially hydropower and wind. The rest of its electricity demand is met by nuclear power. This means their greenhouse gas emissions for electricity production are almost zero right now.

"So, they are almost not using any fossil fuels for producing electricity. If you compare it with other countries, that's a whole other world," said Jorre De Schrijver, an energy expert from the European Environment Agency.
Decarbonizing heat production

And it's not just electricity that's now produced without fossil fuels in Sweden — that also goes for heating and energy-intense industrial processes.

So, what was the trick there?

Sweden invested in district heating systems early onImage: Stockholm Exergi

The first step was that Sweden invested in district heating systems early on, which are more efficient. This means that instead of having a heater in each home, you build big, centralized heaters that are connected to many houses and industrial areas through insulated pipes and underground infrastructure.

"You need the government and the private sector to work together to provide this infrastructure," said Asa Persson, who advises the Swedish government on climate policy and rates its performance.

It's also quite expensive — just think of all the piping you need to lay across entire neighborhoods. Nonetheless, the government decided to go for this approach early on and stuck with it.

"They saw the benefits of having these bigger system solutions. Sweden as a cold country had a real incentive to have a sort of energy efficient and sort of rational heating system in place to serve inhabitants," said Persson.

How clean is biomass?  08:21

The good thing about district heating is that you can shift the fuels that such a system uses. In the past, Sweden relied on fossil fuels like oil and coal. But since the 1990s, the country attached particular importance to the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, investing in the use of energy, especially wood fuels. Today, 97% of the heating in Sweden comes from biofuels and burning waste.

"Sweden managed to reduce emissions from electricity and heating by 70% in the last 30 years. So that also shows that big, bold changes are possible," said Persson.
Strong policies: giving people and businesses incentives

And these big, bold changes didn't come out of thin air. Sweden has implemented clear climate policies since the 1990s, such as introducing one of the world's first — and by now one of the world's highest — carbon taxes, charging individuals for the carbon dioxide they emit.

"There's a clear message for us: either we do something that's bad for the environment and we have to pay the tax, or do we do something that's better and we're not taxed," said Goldmann.

A 2019 empirical case study found that the Swedish carbon tax had a significant impact on CO2 emissions: it was responsible for a 6% decline of emissions from transport in an average year.

And it sped up the changes in the energy and heating sector by giving people and businesses the incentive to invest in renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.

While people many other countries would revolt against any new tax, acceptance in Sweden has been high.

"There has been support for environmental and climate policy for a long time in Sweden, and the country has also prided itself for being a leader in that regard," said Persson.

This is true across the political spectrum. In Sweden, seven out of eight parties agreed back in 2017 on the world's most stringent climate target: to be net zero by 2045.

"It's a world leading target that gave business and citizens a strong belief that this is actually going to continue happening and that I can invest in it knowing that even with the change of government, it will still stand," said Goldmann.

Sweden aims to become the world's first in producing large quantities of fossil free steel

Image: Hybrit Development AB

Setbacks due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine

While Sweden has taken some major steps to slash emissions, not all sectors have been successfully decarbonized yet. Transport and agriculture are currently Sweden's largest sources of emissions.

And it's especially the transport sector that's currently Sweden's biggest problem child.

Following the energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden's conservative government rolled back some important policies. It lowered petrol and diesel taxes by a quarter, which means Sweden now has among the lowest prices on diesel and gasoline in Europe.

It also introduced other measures that make it less expensive to drive a car to support struggling households, while abolishing incentives that were previously offered to buy electric vehicles.

"We are increasing emissions by roughly 5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. In fact, this is the biggest increase in transport emissions in the history of Sweden," said Goldmann.

For years, Sweden had been introducing incentives to reduce transport emissions, but those have now been rolled back

Image: Adam Ihse/TT/picture alliance

But he believes it's just a momentary setback as the government promised that these new measures will only be short-term, and that Sweden is still on track to meet its targets for the transport sector again: a reduction of 70% of emissions between 2010 and 2030.

Lessons learned

So what lessons can other countries learn from the Swedish success story?

"Sweden, I think, illustrates that yes, it's indeed possible to produce electricity without any greenhouse gas emissions at all, and that's an example for other countries in the world," said energy expert De Schrijver from the European Environment Agency.

Can Sweden's approach serve as a blueprint for other countries?

"Find where your main climate impact is and where you can make the biggest difference. Find what is your sort of unique selling point as a country, where is your entry point, and build on that," said Goldmann.

"That will give you the green businesses, the green jobs, the billions in export income that you can use for other things that you want, better welfare, better schooling, and so forth," he added.

He says that while the situation was different in each country, it was very important to include everyone in the transition. Persson agrees.

"The biggest lesson is that you need close cooperation between government, private sector, and the local government as well to really develop these system solutions together and take risks, make these big long-term investments. That has been a success factor behind Sweden's decarbonization," she said.

Edited by: Sarah Steffen

AI meets colonialism: Germany develops new research tool

Elizabeth Grenier

AUGUST 12, 2024

DW/AFP

Germany's Federal Archives own an important collection of documents from the colonial era. To untrained eyes, they are undecipherable. Now, artificial intelligence can help researchers.

A postcard from Cameroon, which was an African colony of the German Empire in the region of today's Cameroon

 akg-images/picture alliance


Anyone aiming to do serious research into Germany's pre-WWII archives needs a particular skill: They should be able to read forms of handwriting that have since completely disappeared from everyday use in the German language.

There is Kurrent, a form of cursive writing that developed in the late medieval era, as well as different variant forms, most notably the short-lived Sütterlin. This cursive script was developed in 1911 and taught in German schools from 1915 to 1941, until it was banned by the Nazis. Afterwards, schoolchildren rather learned a handwriting similar to present-day English cursive.

Even though German speakers who grew up with Sütterlin continued to use it well into the post-war period, most Germans cannot read the letters written by their grandparents.

But now, an AI program can do just that.

A new tool has been developed by the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) to help decode the different types of writing that can be found in documents from the colonial era.

It would be difficult for most Germans to decode the Kurrent handwriting on this postcard from 1903

akg-images/picture alliance

Important collection that must still be worked through

Documents from this era in particular were interesting for such a project, since the German Federal Archives own a collection of around 10,000 files from the Reich Colonial Office, which was the central authority for the German Empire's colonial policy.

They "were selected because a major part of them were handwritten," the archives' press spokesperson, Elmar Kramer, told DW. This collection was also selected for the pilot program because the files from the Reich Colonial Office have already been fully digitized and are no longer subject to any user restrictions, explains project manager Inger Banse.

But most importantly, as she points out, "coming to terms with the colonial era is a focus of our entire society, and we can make a good contribution to this with this collection."

"For too long, the crimes of the German colonial era have been a blind spot in our culture of remembrance," said German Commissioner for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth, welcoming the Federal Archives' project of using specially developed AI technology "to help strengthen knowledge about this dark chapter of German history. In doing so, it is making an important contribution to coming to terms with the past."

The local population being forced to work for colonialists in German East Africa (present-day Burundi, Rwanda and mainland Tanzania)

Image: akg-images/picture alliance

First genocide of the 20th century

Colonization by the German Empire began at the end of the 19th century and focused mainly on taking possession of territories and establishing colonies in Africa, the South Seas and China.

Germany's colonial empire only lasted 30 years — from 1884 until the end of the First World War — but shortly after it was established, it became the third-largest colonial empire after the United Kingdom and France. And its colonial rule was particularly brutal.

Documented in the Federal Archives' collectionare dark chapters that include the Sokehs rebellion from 1910/1911 that started on Sokehs Island off the main island of Pohnpei in the Eastern Caroline Islands, presently the Federated States of Micronesia. As a consequence, the German colonial rulers applied a scorched-earth policy to hunt down the rebels and had the tribe deported from their own island in the South Seas.

Another prominent case of colonial injustice is how King Rudolf Douala Manga Bell and Adolf Ngoso Din were executed in 1914 for peacefully campaigning against the German colonial administration's measures to remove and relocate the Douala people from their homes in the littoral and southwest region of Cameroon.

Most infamously, it was responsible for the Herero and Nama genocide, known as the first genocide of the 20th century. It took place from 1904 to 1908, after the Herero and the Nama people rebelled against their German colonial rulers.

It was only in 2021 that Germany officially acknowledged committing genocide during its colonial occupation of present-day Namibia.

This image shows the skulls of the Hereros being packed and sent to the Pathological Institute in Berlin

Image: akg-images/picture alliance

Early adopters of AI

That same year, the Federal Archives started developing an AI tool to make their colonial-era records more accessible. That was before the so-called new AI era began, when ChatGPT and other large language models were publicly released, turning artificial intelligence into an omnipresent topic of discussion.

"We find it important to always be part of the latest developments," explains Elmar Kramer, about the Federal Archives' pioneering role in the domain. "That's why AI has been a topic of interest for us for a few years already. In this case, we can say that we are now bringing together one of our oldest holdings and one of the newest technologies, if you will: AI meets colonialism."

One needs to keep in mind that the AI not only needs to be able to decode Sütterlin, but also sometimes "quite sloppy, scribbled writing," points out Kramer. And beyond "the different handwriting in general, we also have printed and typewritten material. There is a lot of crossing out, but there are also very clean pages," adds Inger Banse, which is why they separated the documents in three different categories, according to the complexity of the material on the page.

An example of a document written in Sütterlin and transcribed by the AI tool developed by the Federal Archives

Image: BArch/R 1001/5573/Image165/Bundesarchiv

"We looked at how the model behaves in these different categories," explains Banse. They trained the model by manually checking and improving, line by line, the AI's transcription results of about 170 pages of varied material.

Banse says that they have now reached a point where the AI model provides an acceptable rate of accuracy in its transcriptions of even the most complex material.

Achieving perfection in the transcriptions would have required a disproportional time investment, says Banse, quoting the Pareto principle according to which the hardest 20% of the optimization process requires 80% of the efforts. "So at some point, we had to draw the line," she explains. Instead, they rather developed a more lenient search engine that allows a broader range of results to be obtained.

And now that the Federal Archives' AI model has been trained to decode Kurrent, it opens a whole field of possibilities for other German-language archives. At the moment, however, it is still a pilot project specifically designed for this collection. It can be consulted on site, in the archives' research hall in Berlin-Lichterfelde, and it will soon be made available online.

Edited by: Brenda Haas

European Green Deal faces bumpy ride

Anchal Vohra in Brussels

DW/AFP

AUGUST 12, 2024

For the EU to reach its climate goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045, the 27-nation bloc will need to invest billions every year. But funding to help soften the impact of the green transition is still insufficient.

Farmers aren't the only people fearing the financial burden of the EU's so-called Green Deal

Karol Serewis/SOPA/ZUMA/picture alliance



Socialist Teresa Ribera is Spain's top pick to get a key job at the European Commission.

Ribera, however, has set her sights on a different portfolio than that of her predecessor, Josep Borrell, who has headed the bloc's foreign policy office — a portfolio that is even more important and controversial in EU politics.

Reportedly, Ribera is keen on leading the 27-member bloc into a greener future as EU vice president in charge of the so-called European Green Deal — a set of policy initiatives initiated by the European Commission with the aim of making the EU climate neutral by 2050.

As Spain's minister for ecological transition since 2018, Ribera is widely respected in the international environment-activist community. In a recent post on social media platform X, she said she was honored to head Spain's list of candidates for the EU Commission and wanted a more "just and green" Europe.

Teresa Ribera has been tipped to run the EU's green policyImage: Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo/picture alliance

Celia Nyssens-James, policy manager for agriculture and food systems at the European Environmental Bureau, thinks Ribera "deserves" to be charged with implementing the EU Green Deal. "What’s key for us is to have someone in the commission who is committed to the Green Deal, like Frans Timmermans," she told DW, referring to Dutch politician who was seen as instrumental in driving the EU's pro-climate agenda.

"But we have one big question and that is whether she will be tough enough on the farming industry. Spain has a big one and the farmers' lobby there is very strong, too," she added.

Green Deal under fire

Ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, farmers in several member states blocked streets and dumped manure in front of government offices in protest of what they see as failed environmental policies burdening EU farmers. The protests forced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to soften her stance on agricultural-related carbon emissions and even reverse a key regulation on slashing the use of pesticides.

But dealing with farmers will be just one of the many daunting challenges that Ribera is likely to face if she indeed gets to lead the EU's green-transition team.

Carlo Fidanza, of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, said the nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists group in the EU Parliament aims to "renegotiate" the most important parts of the Green Deal, "starting with the ban of conventional fuel and diesel engines by 2035."

"We need less ideology and more pragmatism, keeping together the environmental sustainability with the competitiveness of our businesses," he said.

Apart from the traditionally euroskeptic far-right members of the European Parliament, more and more center-right lawmakers, who make up the largest parliamentary group, are also gearing up to oppose key provisions in the Green Deal.

Green activists now fear that the center-right European People's Party (EPP), the most influential group in parliament, may also come under pressure to reverse green policies.

Anna Cavazzini, a German politician with the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in the EU, told DW that there were concerns over the EPP "backsliding" on their assurances to the Green Deal.

The Greens are not ready to discuss any reversals on any of the legislation already passed, she said, but EPP chief Manfred Weber has said he will push for rolling back the EU ban on the use of combustion engines planned for 2035.

So far, the EPP has supported the Green Deal objectives, but some members don't agree with all aspect of the legislation. Their main concern is how to garner enough green-transition funding and mitigate the policy's impact on vulnerable communities at the same time.

What's stalling the green transition?  26:06

EU struggles with social cost of green transition

The European Environment Agency has estimated that implementing the Green Deal requires investment to the tune of €520 billion ($568 billion) per year from 2021-2030.

But global consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. has said the necessary investment would total €6 trillion to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, of which "€5 trillion are replacement investments."

Germany's state-owned investment and development bank, KfW, meanwhile has put the price tag for Green Deal investments at €72 billion per year, meaning a total of just about €1.5 trillion until 2045.

As the EU is determined to push ahead with its green transformation, experts are criticizing that the focus has been merely on investment in green tech and not so much on mitigating the social impact on vulnerable communities.

Therefore, the EU has recently unveiled a €17.5 billion so-called Just Transition Fund intended to "alleviate the socioeconomic costs triggered by climate transition."

But many experts think the sum is still far too small.

Bela Galgoczi, a senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute — a research center of the European Trade Union Confederation — has described the Just Transition Fund as "absolutely not enough."

He argues even funding, boosted to €19.3 billion recently, is mainly "dedicated to helping coal regions manage job losses," which is only a "very small fraction of people" affected by decarbonization. "Sectors such as automobiles and energy-intensive industries do not have a dedicated instrument or a fund," he told DW.

In view of the criticism, Brussels is now planning to provide additional funding for vulnerable communities with a so-called Social Climate Fund. The fund will pool revenues from the auctioning of allowances from the European Emissions Trading system. Together with a mandatory 25% contribution from member states, Brussels hopes the SCF will mobilize at least €86.7 billion over the 2026-2032 period.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Will India listen to repeated environmental warnings?

Murali Krishnan in New Delhi/ DW/AFP

AUGUST 12, 2024

The landslide in southern Kerala state is the latest in a string of environmental disasters, prompting questions over whether India needs to take climate change more seriously.

Experts have blamed quarrying and mining in ecologically-sensitive regions for the deadly landslide

Francis Mascarenhas/REUTERS

Prasanna Kumar, a survivor of the deadly landslides that struck Kerala's Wayanad district on July 30, saw his sister and her family being swept away by the swirling and powerful muddy waters. Several others who were sleeping were caught unaware and were also washed away.

"I have seen many landslides in this region but this was devastating. The ground shook and the earth under my feet gave way in the blink of an eye. There was a trail of death and destruction after," Kumar told DW from a relief camp.
Fragile ecosystems

Rescue operations are winding down in the search for some 200 people who are still missing, including Kumar's relatives. The natural disaster took the lives of over 300 people and caused damage to property and infrastructure. It has also prompted soul-searching over whether India should be taking more steps to avoid environmental catastrophes in the future.

Sunita Narain, director at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, highlighted natural disasters in the Himalayan region as examples of the environment being unable to withstand damaging activities such as deforestation and ill-considered construction.

Last year, Joshimath town in the state of Uttarakhand was reported to be "sinking," with cracks in the town's buildings and streets. In October, a dam containing a glacial lake in Sikkim burst. The following month, a cave-in left over 40 Indian workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel of the Himalayas for 17 days.

Rescuers search for survivors of Kerala landslides  02:21

"It is just one example of the mindless way we are making hydroelectric projects in the fragile Himalayan zone. Should there not be better planning to decide what is good for people and good for the ecology? What is important is that we should have viable livelihood options for people in these fraught areas," Narain told DW.
Officials ignored recommendations from ecologists

In Kerala, the Western Ghats region where the landslides occurred is also an ecologically sensitive region where suggestions from environmentalists have been ignored. Quarrying and deforestation is carried out in unsuitable or dangerous locations.

An expert panel led by environmental scientist Madhav Gadgil recommended in 2010 that 75% of the 129,037 square-kilometer (49,821 square-mile) area of the Western Ghats be declared environmentally sensitive, citing its dense forests and the presence of many endemic species. But this was reduced to 50% just three years later based on recommendations by a second panel.

There are 5,924 quarries in Kerala, including in the most ecologically fragile zones, according to online outlet Mathrubhumi, citing a report by Gadgil. While not all quarrying is government-sanctioned, there is a lack of enforcement to crack down on quarrying without permits.

Gadgil attributed the landslide tragedy to the Kerala government's failure to implement crucial ecological recommendations, telling Indian media: "There is a direct link between hard-rock quarrying and slope failures in the form of landslides, especially in a place like Wayanad."

Should India update its weather warning system?

Nearly half of Kerala comprises hills and mountainous regions with slopes exceeding 20 degrees. A recent risk assessment, based on nearly 81,000 landslides covering 17 states in the country between 1998 and 2022, showed that Kerala witnessed 6,039 landslides and was the worst hit among non-Himalayan states, according to the Landslide Atlas of India.

Human-induced climate change is already intensifying weather extremes in India, including heat waves and flooding. Such events are likely to exacerbate disasters in already sensitive areas, such as on the steep slopes of Kerala. Ahead of the disaster, an unusually large 572 millimeters (22.5 inches) of rainfall was reportedly recorded in Wayanad in just 48 hours, triggering the massive landslides.

Climate change: Indians suffer scorching heat   05:08

Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the Department of Meteorology at the UK's University of Reading, called for India to adapt its current warning system to reflect the dramatic changes in climate the country is experiencing.

"The efficacy of the current color-coded warning system and the language used in alerts or forecasts must be re-examined by consulting all stakeholders in the country, including the media, citizens, disaster relief forces and state governments. Traditional ways of managing disasters are not going to work for such events," said Deoras.

He suggested that early warning systems in India be made more robust by exploiting the use of Doppler radars, satellites, real-time observations and direct communications with people.

"The focus needs to be on improving weather prediction models as well," Deoras told DW.

"Meteorologists must be empowered to alert people directly, reducing the dependency on state governments or local authorities for the dissemination of alerts. The tornado warnings and prediction systems in the US provides some clues," he said.

Edited by: Kate Martyr

Tanzania opposition Chadema says senior l

Protest organizers say police have arrested the leader of Tanzania's opposition Chadema party ahead of a planned rally. Hundreds of youth supporters were also taken into custody.

Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe was said to have been arrested while seeking answers about other detentions

Michael Jameson/AFP/Getty Images

DW/AFP

Tanzania's opposition Chadema party on Monday said its leader Freeman Mbowe had been arrested, the latest of several politicians to have been detained.

Police are also said to have rounded up several hundred youth supporters, saying they expect a scheduled demonstration marking International Youth Day to turn violent. The detentions come amid fears of a backslide in President Samia Suluhu Hassan's moves away from authoritarian rule.

What has happened to the arrested leaders?

Mbowe was said to have been arrested as he visited the southwestern city of Mbeya to meet police and army leaders.

Chadema said he was arrested at the city's Songwe airport alongside John Pambalu, the chairman of the party's youth wing Bavicha.

Mbowe had planned to use the visit to inquire about the health and whereabouts of already-detained opposition figures, including former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu.

Mbowe had on Sunday demanded "the immediate and unconditional release of all our leaders, members, and supporters who were arrested in various parts of the country."

"The party is closely monitoring the situation and will continue to inform the public of every development step by step," he said.

Hassan took over as president in 2021 after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magufuli. Since then, she has departed from the late president's authoritarian policies, relaxing some media and opposition restrictions.

However, opposition parties and rights groups have also criticized her for arrests last year of people planning protests against a port management deal.

The party's deputy chairman, Tundu Lissu, is among those arrested ahead of the planned protest

AP Photo/picture alliance
Mbowe was previously detained for about seven months after he and other Chadema leaders were arrested before a public forum to demand constitutional reforms. He was released in March 2022.

Lissu, Chadema's deputy chairman and a fierce critic of Hassan's ruling center-left Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), returned to Tanzania soon after Hassan lifted a ban on opposition rallies that was imposed in 2016. Lissu had previously spent five years mainly living in exile after an assassination attempt in 2017.

The country is due to hold presidential and parliamentary polls late next year, with Lissu expected to run for the presidency once again.

Why did police ban the demonstration?

Chadema youth wing had said about 10,000 youngsters would meet in the southwestern city of Mbeya under the slogan "Take charge of your future."

However, police chief Awadh Haji said his force had "clear indications that their aim is not to celebrate the International Youth Day but to initiate and engage in violence."

"Police have decided to ban any form of internal and public gathering or demonstrations which go under the name of marking the youth day," Haji said. His statement mentioned the "youth of Kenya," an apparent reference to anti-corruption and cost-of-living protests in the neighboring East African country.

Party officials on Sunday had denounced the demonstration ban and urged the president to intervene.

Chadema said some 500 of its young supporters had been temporarily on their way to the demonstration before being escorted home.

On Sunday, Lissu had condemned the detentions and appealed directly to the president.

"President Samia, don't bring Magufuli's strange ways. International Youth Day is celebrated globally. Why are your police blocking Chadema youth on the road and arresting them?" he posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

"This is not a time to stay silent, be afraid, or just talk. It's a time to stand up and be counted. Let's raise our voices with all our strength!"

rc/nm (AFP, LUSA)

WHIPLASH

Iran: Vice President Zarif quits after 11 days in office

Javad Zarif has stepped down from the post of vice president, citing his disappointment with the new Cabinet. It's the second crisis for newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's vice president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is resigning, leaving President Masoud Pezeshkian's Cabinet just 11 days after his appointment.

"I am not satisfied with my work and regret that I have not been able to fulfil expectations," the moderate politician said on the social media platform X.

Zarif, Iran's former foreign minister, hinted that the selection of ministers for Pezeshkian's new Cabinet had been the reason for his decision. At least seven of the 19 ministers nominated were not his first choice, according to Zarif.

Candidates did not match promised reforms

President Pezeshkian, who took office at the end of July, presented his Cabinet, which included one woman, to parliament on Sunday for approval. The proposed list drew criticism from some among Iran's reformist camp, including over the inclusion of conservatives from the government of late President Ebrahim Raisi.

"I am ashamed that I could not implement, in a decent way, the expert opinion of the committees (responsible for selecting candidates) and achieve the inclusion of women, youth and ethnic groups, as I had promised," Zarif said.

Iran's Pezeshkian unlikely to bring reform, expert suggests  05:13

Zarif pointed out that he also faced pressure after his appointment as vice president because his children hold US citizenship.

"My message ... is not a sign of regret or disappointment with dear Dr. Pezeshkian or opposition to realism; rather it means doubting my usefulness as a vice president for strategic affairs," he said, noting he would return to academia and focus less on Iran's domestic politics.

His resignation is the second crisis Pezeshkian has faced since taking office, following the killing of the Palestinian militant Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Zarif as key figure in the president's politics

During Pezeshkian's presidential election campaign, Zarif was his right-hand man and, due to his popularity, also played a key role in Pezeshkian's victory.

Javad Zarif was President Masoud Pezeshkian's right-hand man during the recent election campaign

Image: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMAPRESS/picture alliance

Zarif was also one of the key figures for Pezeshkian in the implementation of his new foreign policy line. Zarif was the country's chief diplomat between 2013 and 2021 and was able to conclude the landmark international nuclear agreement with the six world powers in 2015 as head of the Iranian negotiating team.

With Zarif and a new team of diplomats, Pezeshkian had hoped to resume the nuclear negotiations so that the sanctions that are paralyzing the Iranian economy could be lifted.

ch/nm (AFP, dpa)

POSTMODERN RUMPLESTILTSKIN

Waste into gold: Oyster shells repurposed as magic 'Seawool'

Tainan (Taiwan) (AFP) – Growing up on Taiwan's west coast where mollusc farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function -- a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called "Seawool".


Issued on: 12/08/2024 -

The Gijin Seafood Factory uses around 100 tonnes of oyster shells a year to churn out around 900 tonnes of Seawool, a trademarked and patented fabric 

© Sam Yeh / AFP

Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes.

"They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer," the 42-year-old told AFP at his factory in Tainan.

"So I was curious about why oyster shells have such a miraculous effect."

Wang's Creative Tech Textile company, established in 2010, was already producing an "eco-fabric" -- a polyester material made out of recycled plastic bottles -- but he felt its texture was a bit "ordinary".

So he started working with a research institute to experiment making fabric out of the oyster shell residue, in 2013 coming up with the right formula that produces a material similar to wool.

The fabric and clothing generate around NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) a year, with the bulk of it sourced by outdoor and sustainability clothing brands in Europe and the United States.

The Made-in-Taiwan fabric would not be possible without the island's unique oyster farming culture, Wang said.

'A magical yarn'

"This industry chain cannot be found anywhere else overseas," he says.

"We have people to harvest oysters, we have specialists to clean oyster shells, and we have people for drying and calcining (treating) oyster shells."

Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a 'low-carbon product' 

© Sam Yeh / AFP

The small island of Taiwan has a hefty appetite for oysters, harvesting an estimated 200,000 tonnes a year with the fleshy meat appearing in local cuisine such as crispy omelettes and silk-like noodle dishes.

But its popularity also means that about 160,000 tonnes of shells are discarded yearly, according to data from the agricultural ministry.

They pile up on the streets of aqua-farming towns -- the majority in western cities such as Yunlin, Changhua and Chiayi -- causing environmental issues by emitting fishy smells and providing breeding sites for mosquitos.

At Wang's factory, the shells are ground into nano beads and combined with yarn made from recycled plastic bottles.

"It creates a magical yarn," he said. "Oyster shell is a material with low thermal conductivity -- it does not absorb heat nor does it dissipate heat."

Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a "low-carbon product," said Wang.

The oyster shells are ground into nano beads and combined with yarn made from recycled plastic bottles 

 © Sam Yeh / AFP

A half-hour drive from his showroom where activewear jackets, sweaters and pants are displayed, state enterprise Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) also has a factory that grinds discarded shells into a powder that is used in manufacturing household items, like incense sticks.

The crushed shells help to reduce smoke and the toxic chemicals emitted from burning incense, said Chen Wei-jen, deputy chief of TSC's biotech business division.
From waste to gold

"We hope oyster shells can have multiple industrial applications and interested companies can use it as a raw material to make their products more environmentally friendly and add value to their products," Chen said.

Egrets wait for food from an oyster shells washing machine outside Gijin Seafood Factory © Sam Yeh / AFP

Before the shells get to the factories, farmers in Chiayi -- a county famed for producing oysters -- collect the molluscs at dawn from racks installed along the coast.

They are sorted into baskets before being sent to plants such as Dai Sen-tai's factory, where they are machine-washed before being sent to small family-run businesses that shuck the meat and send the shells south.

Dai, whose family have been in the oyster farming industry for three generations, said he is happy that Taiwan is breathing new life into the sea waste.

Workers sort oyster shells at the Gijin Seafood Factory © Sam Yeh / AFP

"When I was a child, no one wanted oyster shells -- they were dumped and discarded everywhere," he told AFP.

"It's good that the waste has been turned into gold now."

© 2024 AFP

More than 700 migrants cross the Channel to Britain in a single day

More than 700 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in small boats on Sunday, the highest number arriving on a single day since Prime Minister Keir Starmer took power vowing to tackle people-smugglers.


Issued on: 12/08/2024 - 

Migrants board a smuggler's boat on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, in northern France on April 26, 2024. © Sameer Al-Doumy, AFP file photo

Two migrants who attempted the crossing died, French authorities said earlier, taking the number of people to lose their life on the dangerous sea journey to 25 since the start of the year.

Some 703 people arrived on Sunday on 11 boats, according to provisional interior ministry figures released Monday.

Stopping the small boat arrivals was a key issue in Britain's general election in July.

Within days of taking power, Starmer scrapped a controversial scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.

The plan was a flagship policy of the last Conservative government.

Starmer has instead pledged to dismantle the people-smuggling gangs who organise the crossings and are paid thousands of euros by each migrant.

The latest figures come after the UK has been rocked by anti-migrant unrest, following a knife attack on July 29 that killed three children and was falsely linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant.

Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied across Britain on Saturday against riots that targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration.

Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron have pledged to strengthen "cooperation" in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.

The latest crossings take the number to make the journey since the start of 2024 to 18,342, 13 percent higher than at the same time last year.

AFP

Western media hail Olympics while Russia scorns 'shameful' Games

Agence France-Presse
August 12, 2024 

Au revoir: The Olympic rings are assembled over the stage during the closing ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France (Dimitar DILKOFF/AFP)

The Paris Olympics won mostly rave reviews from western media after they closed on Sunday, while media in Russia, whose team were excluded because of its war in Ukraine, sniffed at France's success.

Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke wondered whether Tinseltown was up to the task of rivalling Paris when it hosts the next Summer Olympics in 2028.

"We have to somehow take greatness and make it even greater," he wrote, calling the Games in France "a blockbuster Parisian party that was two weeks of pure Hollywood".

"How on earth can the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics surpass what the world just witnessed in a two-week burst of picturesque rejoicing from the Champ de Mars to the Palace of Versailles?"

The New York Times was generous in its praise of the sporting extravaganza, saying it lifted France from its gloom brought on by political crisis.

"Many are reluctant to let go of its magic: of the adrenaline-fuelled excitement, of the party free of political debate, of the sense of time deliciously suspended, like the glowing Olympic cauldron that has hovered wistfully over the city every night."

- 'Love letter' -

The Guardian of Britain hailed the Games' message which it said was "the importance of protecting the spirit of the games in an uncertain world riven by conflict".

But Jim White, writing in The Telegraph, said that Paris "could not match the spirit and warmth of London 2012".

The Italian media was unanimous in its praise, with Corriere della Sera saying Paris had "overcome its fears" despite a prologue marked by "rain, pollution of the Seine and sabotage".

La Repubblica highlighted the "Diversity Olympics".

Spain's El Mundo added: "The Paris of the Olympics was the most dedicated Paris we'd seen in a very long time."

Germany's Die Welt praised the security ensured by the French, saying Paris showed how the Games can be organised "safely in a metropolis in a free and democratic country".

Poland's Rzeczpospolita called the Paris Games "a love letter" while Gazeta Wyborcza noted that nearly all the competitions "took place in front of full stands".

In Portugal, the editor of daily Correio da Manha, Carlos Rodrigues, called the Games "a magnificent success".

"In sporting terms too, Paris was a success, even if it didn't dazzle or create a world star capable of rivalling the likes of Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps."

But others including Frank Renout, writing for Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool, warned that the magic would not last.

"Soon everything will return to normal, which in the case of the French means dark and confrontational," he wrote.

"If 'happiness' were an Olympic sport, France would never have won a medal."

- 'Endless scandals' -

In Russia, however, some newspapers found fault.

"The Paris Games weren't flawless," said Moskovsky Komsomolets, a pro-Kremlin mass circulation newspaper, stressing it remained unclear who sabotaged France's high-speed rail network before the opening ceremony.

The newspaper argued that spectators will remember "an endless series of scandals" and not the athletes' sporting feats or records.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-Kremlin tabloid, said the competitions in Paris were "the most shameful Olympic Games in history".


"The Paris 2024 organisers managed to offend hundreds of millions of people with an opening ceremony and a parody of the Last Supper. And then the Olympics became increasingly embroiled in problems, scandals and even crime."

One of its subheads read: "Vomiting athletes, champions with male chromosomes in women's boxing and worms in food."

In Algeria, an editorial in government daily El Moudjahid praised Algerian boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender eligibility row at the Paris Games.


"Imane's victory is also a victory for the oppressed and the excluded, but above all it is a victory for the law, which for too long has been trampled by the logic of the powerful, who are greedy for domination and adept at double-standard policies."

Hero's welcome for Olympic gender-row boxer Khelif in Algiers

Algiers (AFP) – Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif said she had won for her country's women as Algeria's Paris Games medallists received a hero's welcome at Algiers airport on Monday.

Issued on: 12/08/2024 - 

An artist paints a large portrait of Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif in her hometown Tiaret © - / AFP

Khelif, who was the centre of a gender controversy at the Olympics on her way to the women's 66kg title, teenage gymnastics gold medallist Kaylia Nemour and men's 800m bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati brandished their medals for the waiting fans.

The crowd cheered Khelif with chants of "Tahia Imane" (long live Imane).

"The answer lay in the results of each match," she said. "I wanted to show the strength of performance and the presence of women in general, and Algerian women in particular."

The International Olympic Committee took over the boxing competition in Paris after losing patience with the International Boxing Association.

The IBA, led by Umar Kremlev, a Kremlin-linked oligarch, retaliated during the Games by saying it had disqualified Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting from its world championships last year because its tests showed "these are men". The IBA had allowed both boxers to compete in Tokyo three years ago.

Khelif, 25, addressed what she called a "relentless campaign" on Monday.

She said she wanted "to thank the Algerian people who supported me in this ordeal and gave me strength".

"Algerian women are an example and a model for the whole world," the boxer said. "Thanks to God, we have restored Algeria's honour and flown the Algerian flag in Paris, which is the most important thing."

© 2024 AFP

OLYMPICS: THE FIRESTORM AROUND IMANE

Ryan Storr | Holly Thorpe 

THE CONVERSATION 

Published August 11, 2024 

Angela Carini (left) refused to shake Imane Khelif’s hand after their contest | AP

In a preliminary women’s under 66kg boxing match at the Paris Olympics last week between Algerian Imane Khelif and Italian Angela Carini, a powerful punch to the face resulted in Carini withdrawing after 46 seconds.

Carini dissolved into tears, crying “this is unfair”, and “I have never been hit so hard in my life.”

Almost immediately, journalists and commentators jumped to Carini’s defence, raising questions about International Olympic Committee (IOC) policies and making many false assertions about Khelif’s gender identity.

The back story


In the face of harmful inaccuracies and widespread online hate speech it is important to outline some of the basics.

Khelif has identified as female since birth and lived her entire life as a woman, including throughout her sporting career.

She is not transgender. She did not go through puberty as a male and then transition later.

The recent controversy at the Paris Olympics about a female Algerian boxer being falsely accused of being male or a transgender for throwing powerful punches or looking like a man was a case of misinformation, abuse and injustice

Her passport marks her identity as female, thus meeting the IOC criteria for gender classification of boxers.

In her first international boxing competition in 2018, she lost five of six elite level bouts. She went to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as one of Algeria’s first Olympic boxers and, while she won her opening bout, she lost her second.

Khelif has had some previous international success but she has been beaten by nine women boxers prior to the Paris games.

Boxing’s questionable approach to gender testing

In 2023, a boxing competition held in Russia and run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) questioned the gender identity of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting (who is also competing at the Paris Olympics).

The IBA president, Umar Kremlev of Russia, was quoted as saying the two athletes had XY chromosomes and thus were subsequently disqualified. Elsewhere, it was stated the athletes presented with “elevated” levels of testosterone.

The facts are yet to be confirmed and it is not the role of an international sports organisation to be handing out personal and private information.

Upon request from the athletes, the IBA refused to provide evidence of the tests undertaken. The IBA minutes (available on its website) state the decision to disqualify Khelif and Lin was initially taken solely by the IBA secretary general and CEO.

The IBA board only ratified it afterwards, with the minutes stating the organisation needs to “establish a clear procedure on gender testing.”

As the records suggest, the IBA did not follow ethical practice regarding the disqualification of Khelif and Yu-Ting. In fact, the very use of such tests to identify an athlete’s sex and/or gender are highly problematic.

Sex testing in question

Since 1968, some sportswomen competing in the Olympics have had to undergo humiliating tests, “proving” their gender identities. This often involved visual examinations of their genitals in front of doctors and other medical experts.

Mandated by the IOC, “gender verification” tests were then implemented by international sports organisations.

Underpinning such practices was a set of problematic assumptions, particularly that a woman who is good at sport could perhaps be a man masquerading as female.

Beyond visual examinations, blood tests documenting hormone levels and/or chromosome testing were used. But as research has revealed, the effects of testosterone on performance are often overstated, and understandings of sporting performance and gender require much more nuanced approaches.

After many years of critique, the IOC halted such practices in 1999.

In place of outdated sex tests that fail to recognise the physiological and socio-psychological complexities of gender identity, the IOC introduced a new set of guidelines, prioritising the basic human rights of privacy, inclusion and participation.

While the IOC sets out the framework in the hope of guiding other international organisations towards more inclusive understandings of gender, the guidelines remain contested.

Some organisations opted to take alternative approaches to testing and proving an athlete’s “true” gender identity — for example, World Athletics continue to use testosterone testing.

Boxing and the IOC: a clash of ethics

The boxing events at the Paris Olympics are not being organised by the IBA, but instead by a special IOC-appointed unit.

The IBA was suspended in 2019 by the IOC, and last year stripped of its status as the world governing body of amateur boxing due to concerns regarding its governance, financial transparency and the integrity of its officials.

The IOC was also concerned the IBA refused to follow their approach in issuing sanctions on Russian athletes over the Ukraine war. With the Russian leadership of the IBA, this position highlights another layer of geopolitical complexity in this case.

Responding to the media frenzy after the Khelif-Carini bout, the Paris 2024 boxing unit stated: “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU).”

The IBA has responded by offering Carini and her coach a payment similar to the purse awarded to the Olympic champion (US$100,000).

Since the incident, Carini has apologised to Khelif for her reaction and the resulting abuse, stating she would “embrace her” the next time they meet.

The real issues for women in sport

In the contemporary context, many sportswomen who appear too powerful, too successful, or look “too masculine” according to a particular set of values, are at risk of being targeted. Importantly, it is most often non-white athletes who face the most scrutiny of their gendered sporting bodies.

Beyond the ethics of the tests being used, the extreme levels of online abuse directed to sportswomen such as Khelif and Lin reveal new ways in which women’s bodies are being policed and regulated.

To avoid such accusations, many sportswomen are engaging in what scholars have termed “emphasised femininity” — wearing long lashes, jewellery, make-up, painted nails and overtly feminine clothing. This is not because it enhances their performance but to reassure audiences (and critics) of their femininity.

If they do not offer a convincing performance that meets limited versions of femininity, they may also face surveillance of their gendered bodies, and public attack and online abuse.

However, this recent controversy may be a distraction from the real issues affecting women’s sport, such as safeguarding against systematic abuse, which has been seen in recent high-profile cases involving Volleyball Australia and USA Gymnastics.

While the Paris Olympic and Paralympics may be celebrated as the first “gender equitable” games, with 50 percent female participation, the abuse faced by Khelif and Yu-Ting highlight the challenges many women still face in sport.

Holly Thorpe is Professor in Sociology of Sport and Gender at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand

Ryan Storr is a Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia

Republished from The Conversation

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 11th, 2024.

Heat caused nearly 50,000 deaths in Europe last year: study

A new report has estimated the number of deaths in Europe caused by heat during the hottest year on record. But it also observed the positive impact of certain adaptations to warmer weather.

More than 47,000 people died in Europe last year due to extreme heat, according to a new report.

The figure comes from modelling by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health that was published on Monday.

The researchers found that southern Europe had the highest mortality rates on the continent during 2023 — the hottest year on record.

Greece saw an estimated 393 deaths related to heat per million inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria with 229 deaths, Italy with 209 deaths and Spain with 175 deaths.

In comparison, Germany saw an estimated 76 deaths per million inhabitants.

Significantly more women died from heat than men in most of the countries analyzed, and older people were particularly susceptible to death. These health risks are set to increase with climate change.

Heat adaptations save lives

The report also found that adaptations like healthcare improvements, early warning systems, better communication and progress in occupational health all reduced the heat mortality rate.

Without these adaptations, the number of deaths would have been 80% higher, according to the study.

"Our results show how there have been societal adaptation processes to high temperatures during the present century, which have dramatically reduced the heat-related vulnerability and mortality burden of recent summers, especially among the elderly," said the study's lead author Elisa Gallo.

What heat waves do to our bodies and brain  01:47

The study found that the temperature with the lowest mortality risk has gradually increased from 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) in the period from 2000-2004, to 17.7 degrees Celsius (63.86 degrees Fahrenheit) in the period 2015-2019.

"This indicates that we are less vulnerable to heat than we were at the beginning of the century, probably as a result of general socio-economic progress, improvements in individual behavior and public health measures such as the heat prevention plans implemented after the record-breaking summer of 2003," Gallo said.

zc/jsi (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

Homeless struggling to survive Greece's cruel heat

Athens (AFP) – Sweating under the brutal Athens sun on a hot August afternoon, Emil Kamenov tugged the armpit of his T-shirt and said, "Smell this."

Issued on: 12/08/2024 - 

The brutal summer heat in Athens is especially hard on the Greek capital's homeless

 © Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

Particularly exposed as a street person, the 64-year-old was hiding in the shade.

With temperatures rising every year, the Greek capital's homeless do what they can to beat the heat, with help from passersby, charities and the city.

"This year was very bad. Hot days -- dizzy," said Bulgarian-born Kamenov, who became homeless during the long Greek economic crisis that began in 2009.

"When the weather is really bad, I try the trees. But my spot is here," he said from a bench with a view of his makeshift bed in a nook in the wall.

Greece set several climate milestones this year: its warmest winter, earliest heatwave and warmest June and July on record.

The mercury rose to 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in June, while some areas suffered 40-plus temperatures for more than a week last month.
Concrete jungle

One of Europe's hottest capitals, Athens is a densely-populated concrete jungle lacking in green space, making it ill-prepared for heatwaves.

The extreme weather is especially hard on the homeless.

"Because they live on the street, they are the most vulnerable," said Myriam Karela, 57, a long-time volunteer social worker with the Hellenic Red Cross.

The number of homeless in Athens has swelled since the financial crisis

 © Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

Climate change only compounds the problem. Scientists say it makes extreme weather events including heatwaves more likely, longer lasting and more intense.

"It's getting worse. I see it every year," said Michalis Samolis, a 67-year-old resident of a municipal homeless shelter in Athens.

"I'm outside 10 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. So I see the difference clearly," he told AFP.

Samolis stood at a busy metro exit holding the popular Shedia street newspaper sold by the poor and homeless.

"The train stations don't have a cover. So you're outside in the sun... You can stay there under the tree, but nobody will see you," he said.

"Besides wearing a hat and cold drinks, I have my dark glasses. And I'm trying very hard," added the former lorry driver who trained as an aircraft engineer.

"Because I have to work. I work to survive."

- Less change in their paper cups -

The number of homeless in the city of more than three million is unknown, but it has swelled since the financial crisis.

Pantelis Spanos, 50, sat under the direct sun at a bustling crossroad, with a cardboard sign and a paper cup for change.

It was 36 degrees Celsius -- "quite reasonable", said the rough sleeper and former heroin user.

Spanos wore a bucket hat, dirty jeans and an Adidas tracksuit top.

Scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more likely, longer lasting and more intense 

© Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

"Believe it or not this protects. If I wear short sleeves, I sweat, and then the wind comes and you get cold," he told AFP.

"Everything is studied to the last detail."

Five minutes earlier someone had brought him water, Spanos said.

To his left was a neglected area of dilapidated buildings, drug addicts and shops run by immigrants.

Yet tourists enjoying cocktails and taking snapshots of the ancient ruins were just a stone's throw away.

Beyond the heat, August is hard for Spanos because Athenians go on holiday so fewer euros get dropped into his cup.

- Air-conditioned spaces -

Homeless people looking for respite can access seven air-conditioned spaces made available by the city.

"In hot weather, the so-called Friendship Clubs... remain open until late in the afternoon and on weekends," said Jeannie Yennimata, head of the Kyada municipal social support agency.

But persuading them to go is another matter.

"They don't want to lose their post where they keep their things... Someone else will take it," said Karela, the Red Cross volunteer.

She estimated that only a third of street people visit the rooms.

Athens, one of Europe's hottest capitals, is ill-prepared for heatwaves 

© Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP

Earlier this month, the Red Cross distributed packages with necessities -- including hats and ice cold water -- to 150 homeless people.

The team also provided advice, first aid and psychosocial support.

While they hit the streets year-round to help, the climate crisis has turned their schedule on its head.

"For many years we were going out during the winter mainly... Now it's more and more during summer," Karela said.

© 2024 AFP