Ruling clouds future of southeast Alaska king salmon fishery


FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2014, file photo, endangered orcas swim in Puget Sound and in view of the Olympic Mountains just west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that has been tracking the whales. A federal court ruling this week has thrown into doubt the future of a valuable commercial king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska, after a conservation group challenged the government's approval of the harvest as a threat to protected fish and the endangered killer whales that eat them.

 (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More

GENE JOHNSON
Thu, August 11, 2022

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal court ruling this week has thrown into doubt the future of a valuable commercial king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska, after a conservation group challenged the government's approval of the harvest as a threat to protected fish and the endangered killer whales that eat them.

The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle, said NOAA Fisheries violated the Endangered Species Act and other environmental law when it approved the troll fishery.

The ruling means the federal agency will have to consider anew the effects of the fishery on orcas and on protected Puget Sound and Columbia River salmon stocks and whether a plan to offset the harvest by releasing more king salmon from hatcheries is sound.

It's unclear whether trollers in the $800 million industry will be allowed to continue fishing for kings, also known as Chinook, while that happens. The court is expected to begin considering remedies for the agency's legal violations in the next few weeks.

“We applaud Judge Jones' ruling that is finally calling into question decades of unsustainable Chinook harvest management in Southeast Alaska and marks a watershed moment for the recovery of Southern Resident orcas and wild Chinook,” said Emma Helverson, executive director of Wild Fish Conservancy, the group that challenged the approval of the fishery.

NOAA Fisheries said Wednesday it is still reviewing the decision. In a written statement, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said it was considering an appeal.

“We have a responsibility to look out for our fisheries and the Southeast coastal communities and families that rely on them,” said Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang.

Chinook, the largest of the Pacific salmon species, make up the bulk of the diet for endangered orcas in the waters of the Salish Sea between Washington state and Canada. Due to causes that include overfishing, dams, development and pollution, king salmon runs in the Northwest are at a small fraction of their historical abundance, and the orcas have suffered in turn, with just 74 whales remaining and scientists warning of extinction.

While the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales don't typically venture as far north as Alaska, a huge amount of the Chinook salmon caught in the Southeast Alaska troll fishery — about 97 percent — originate from rivers to the south, in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. If those fish weren't caught, many would be available for the orcas to eat as the salmon migrate to their natal rivers to spawn, the Wild Fish Conservancy argues.

In 2019, NOAA Fisheries issued a biological opinion approving the most recent decade-long plan for the commercial troll fishery for Chinook in Southeast Alaska, with harvest limits set during negotiations between the U.S. and Canada.

The agency acknowledged the harvest of Chinook was likely to hurt the orcas and protected Puget Sound and Columbia River king salmon stocks, but it said it would offset the harm by spending about $100 million on habitat restoration and to increase hatchery production of Chinook by 20 million smolts per year, thus providing more food for the whales.

Last year, a magistrate judge who reviewed the case, Michelle Petersen, took issue with that, finding that under federal law, NOAA Fisheries could not rely on hypothetical mitigation measures to offset actual harm to protected species. Because the funding for the restoration efforts was uncertain, because there were no binding deadlines for the mitigation measures and because the agency did not actually study what effect an increase of hatchery production would mean for wild salmon stocks or orcas, that mitigation was legally insufficient.

Jones adopted her recommendations in his opinion Monday and asked her to consider potential remedies. Possibilities include continuing to allow the trollers to fish for Chinook while NOAA fixes the legal errors, banning them from doing so, or something in between. It's also possible NOAA could be ordered to desist from increasing hatchery production of king salmon unless it demonstrates the mitigation plan is sound.

Around 1,000 permit-holders fish in the Southeast Alaska commercial troll fishery each year, according to court documents, and the industry supports thousands more full-time jobs. The trolling occurs 10 months out of the year, primarily divided between winter and summer seasons. The fishers also go after coho and chum salmon, but Chinook is the most valuable.

The Alaska Trollers Association, which intervened as a defendant in the lawsuit, criticized the Wild Fish Conservancy for filing the lawsuit, saying it had no regard for fisheries in Alaska.

“Our hook and line king salmon fishery is low impact, harvesting one fish at a time, and our harvests are annually limited to about a third of what we historically harvested,” the association said in an email Thursday. “We’ve been fishing for over one hundred years using this method, and are committed to continuing to do so in a sustainable manner. ... We will continue to fight to preserve our fishery and our way of life.”

Last fall the Wild Fish Conservancy separately sued the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, accusing it of massively expanding hatchery production to increase prey for orcas without undergoing environmental review and procedures required by state law.

A bear believed to be intoxicated off hallucinogenic honey was rescued in Turkey. The country is now asking the public to help name the cub.

Lloyd Lee

Thu, August 11, 2022 

A female bear cub was found disoriented somewhere in the Düzce Province of northwestern Turkey. She was believed to have eaten an excessive amount of "mad honey."Courtesy of dokuz8HABER

• A bear cub was found disoriented somewhere in the Düzce Province of northwestern Turkey.

• Reports said the bear ate excessive amounts of mad honey, which has hallucinogenic properties.

• The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is asking the public to help name the bear.

A bear cub found in the Düzce Province of northwestern Turkey got a little more than what she bargained for when she dipped into a stash of naturally hallucinogenic honey.

Multiple reports say that a cub was found and believed to be intoxicated after eating an excessive amount of a substance known as "mad honey."

Mad honey, also known as "deli bal" in Turkish, originated in the Black Sea Region of Turkey and is produced when bees pollinate rhododendron flowers that contain a natural neurotoxin called grayanotoxin, Texas A&M University anthropology professor Vaughn Bryant said in a university press release.

The effects can range from light-headedness, feelings of euphoria, and hallucinations, the publication wrote. Historically, the honey has also been used to treat hypertension, diabetes, and low libido, according to a study published in RSC Advances.

Video footage shared on Twitter by dokuz8Haber, a Turkish media outlet, shows the cub wobbling in the back of a pick-up truck in a drunken-like state.

The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry later shared on Twitter that the bear is in "good health" and in treatment. The agency is calling on the public to help find their "daughter" a new name.

In Syria, a 'golden' crop struggles to regain its shine



Farmer Nayef Ibrahim tends to a pistachio tree at his farm, in the northwestern village of Maan

Thu, August 11, 2022 
By Firas Makdesi

MAAN, Syria (Reuters) - Returning to their orchards after years of war, Syrian pistachio farmers hoping to revive their valuable crop have had their hopes dashed by scorched trees and the ravages of climate change.

Laden with maroon-coloured bunches of nuts that are harvested in summer, the pistachio tree is known in Syria as "a golden tree in a poor land", reflecting the value of a fruit long exported across the Middle East and Europe.

But farmers near the northwestern village of Maan are harvesting just a quarter of the crop they gathered before the war, farmer Nayef Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim and his family left their farms when the area became a frontline in the conflict that erupted in 2011. They returned after government forces drove out rebels in 2019.

They found pistachio trees slashed and burned during the conflict - and the new ones they have planted will take up to 12 years to bear fruit, Ibrahim said.

A successful harvest on his farm would likely take longer, with the road to recovery slowed by "the lack of rainfall, climate change as a whole, and the lack of basic materials that a farmer needs," he told Reuters.

Syria saw its worst drought in more than 70 years in 2021, with harvests across the country hit hard, according to the International Rescue Committee aid group.

Ibrahim estimated his fields had received half the rainfall of previous years but that the rising costs of fuel to pump in water meant he couldn't afford an alternative.

Nutrient-rich soil that could help him boost production was also unavailable or expensive, he said.

"I need fertiliser. There is none. I need water. There is none," he said.

HARVESTED AT DAWN

Importing fuel, fertilizer and other basic needs for farming into Syria has been hampered by around a decade of Western sanctions, a collapsing local currency and now the conflict in Ukraine, which has prompted global price hikes.

The West has tightened its sanctions on the Syrian government since conflict broke out in 2011 over rights violations, but many Syrians say the measures have hit regular citizens the hardest.

"It's hard for me to get pesticides because of the economic siege," Ibrahim told Reuters.

Some farmers have tried to find workarounds, with solar panels installed at one pistachio orchard to power irrigation.

The nuts are harvested at dawn and sunset - the times of day when their shells split naturally, generating a cracking noise that guides farmers to trees ready for picking.

They are poured into machines that peel and sort them by size before being bagged in 50 kg sacks labelled "Aleppo pistachio" - a name recognised across much of the Middle East.

Clutching a bunch of freshly picked pistachios, farmer Youssef Ibrahim said he was disappointed at the size of the kernels. "If there was adequate irrigation, the nut should be bigger than this."

Farmers across Syria have been struggling with similar problems, with indications of a poor wheat harvest adding to concerns about food supplies in a country where the U.N. says more people are in need than at any point since 2011.

Agriculture ministry official Jihad Mohamed said pistachio farming had suffered because the areas where they are grown had been badly affected by the war, noting widespread tree cutting.

Despite that, exports continued with Syrian pistachios selling in markets including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, he said.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Maya Gebeily and Andrew Heavens)

Saudi firm has pumped Arizona groundwater for years without paying. 

Time to pony up



Bruce Babbitt and Robert Lane

AZCentral | The Arizona Republic
Thu, August 11, 2022 

The Butler Valley is an empty stretch of desert west of Phoenix, worthy of note for two reasons.

It holds more than 6 million acre-feet of groundwater, strategically located near the Central Arizona Project canal.

And more than 99% of Butler Valley is owned by the state of Arizona in trust for the support of public schools.

In 1982 as the Central Arizona Project canal neared completion, Wes Steiner, the renowned director of the Department of Water Resources, proposed that the state set aside Butler Valley as a groundwater reserve for future use in connection with the CAP.

Acting on his advice, we worked with the federal Bureau of Land Management to transfer the Valley into state ownership to be managed by the State Land Department.

How much water has Fodomonte pumped?

In June, The Arizona Republic uncovered the story of how the State Land Department had recently handed over thousands of acres to a Saudi corporation called Fondomonte, giving it permission to pump unlimited amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa hay for export to Saudi Arabia.

This tale of official misfeasance began in 2015 when the State Land Department began leasing land to Fondomonte at an annual rental of just $25 per acre.

Sweet deal for Saudis: Arizona allows farm to use Phoenix's backup supply

However, the 2015 lease in addition allowed Fondomonte to pump unlimited amounts of groundwater at no cost whatever.

How much is Fondomonte pumping? The company refuses to disclose how much water it uses each year, and the State Land Department has never bothered to demand reports. That Fondomonte is growing alfalfa year round on approximately 3,500 acres can be verified from aerial photos.

And according to U.S. Geological Survey studies, alfalfa in Butler Valley requires 6.4 acre-feet of water per acre. That means the company has likely been pumping 22,400 acre-feet of water each year for the last 7 years.

Void its lease, charge for past rent

How much should the state be charging for this water? The Arizona Constitution, Article 10, Section 4, requires that land leases and “products of land” … “shall be appraised at their true value.”

The appropriate method for determining true value is hiding in plain sight. The Central Arizona Project sells water to customers throughout Maricopa County for $242 per acre foot delivered through the project canal that passes just south of Butler Valley.

Add these figures, and Fondomonte should have been paying $5.42 million per year for each of the last seven years.

What should be done to clean up this scandal? First, Gov. Doug Ducey should instruct the State Land Department to void the lease and restore Butler Valley to its intended use as a groundwater reserve for the future.

Second, Gov. Ducey should instruct the attorney general to collect past due rentals of about $38 million to be held in trust for the benefit of Arizona school children.

Bruce Babbitt served as governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987. Robert Lane served as State Land commissioner from 1982 to 1987. Reach them at bbabbittaz@gmail.com and robert.lane@me.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ducey, AG must get Saudi firm to pay for groundwater use

AMERIKA
Slavery Fueled Our Climate Crisis. Here’s How Reparations Can Slow It Down.

Sage Howard
Wed, August 10, 2022 

Reparations Are A Climate Issue Too

 (Photo: Illustration:Jianan Liu/HuffPost Photo:Getty Images)

Growing up, I heard the phrase “40 acres and a mule” from all the adults in my life, usually in the context of an unkept promise. “We’re still waiting for our 40 acres,” they’d say, referring to yet another violation of our rights sprayed across the news. When I was old enough to grasp the concept, my parents explained that after the Civil War, our ancestors were promised 40 acres of land and a mule as an “apology” for forced servitude. Growing up in Brooklyn, it was obvious that neither I nor any of my community members were descendants of people who had received such an apology.

It took some time before I fully understood that there’s a nuanced relationship between climate change, colonialism, enslavement and reparations that affects all of us profoundly today. When we discuss the reasons for accelerating global warming, our conversations often focus on the corporate waste littering waterways, or emissions pumped into the ozone from factories. While these present-day practices contribute substantially to rising temperatures and more destructive and more frequent natural disasters, colonialism and chattel slavery also play a huge part. And even beginning to address this damage is going to take more than money — it’s going to take new laws and a deeper understanding of how all this damage came to fruition.


As one 2019 BBC article explains: “Enslaved people were brought [to North America] to work on the cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations. The crops they grew were sent to Europe or to the northern colonies, to be turned into finished products. Those finished goods were used to fund trips to Africa to obtain more slaves who were then trafficked back to America.” During slaveryin North America, it’s believed that 40% of New York’s cotton revenue was earned by shipping companies, insurance companies and financial institutions through this very process.

This wealth, in turn, was used to facilitate the pillaging of land stolen from its stewards, Indigenous people. So in many ways, slavery allowed for unbridled greed and a rapid rise in industrialization that exploited people of color while kicking global warming into overdrive.

Fast forward to today. The economy that thrived as a result of this system is still operating at the expense of the environment and the lives of people deemed less than human. And so reparations should be thought of not just as repayment for historical wrongdoings, but as a way to fight for a sustainable future.

Most of our understanding of reparations comes from a plan to redistribute about 400,000 acres of seized Confederate land to formerly enslaved Black people. This plan is commonly known as the “40 acres and a mule” approach, or the Sherman Field Order No. 15, named for Union General William Sherman, who issued the order. According to various historical accounts, it was initially devised by a group of Black ministers in Savannah, Georgia, and was set to take place on the seized Southern coastal land stretching from South Carolina to Florida. For the first time, there was a plan that could decrease the power held by the Confederacy while addressing the desires of formerly enslaved people to own land and establish their own sovereign state. It would be a place where they could recreate their world outside of enslavement.

As historian Lisa Betty puts it, justice is about way more than just a check; it’s about reimagining the world as a place where degradation and land theft are no longer normalized. Betty is a leading reparations advocate who’s been vocal about how reparationsare not just an act of social justice, but one of climate justice. In a recent article for Ethical Style Journal, she examines the ways in which white supremacy, colonialism and the enslavement of Black people not only affected the wealth of Black and Indigenous people in this country, but laid a foundation for the current climate crisis.

The water tower at the Flint Water Plant looms over Flint, Michigan, on March 4, 2016, nearly two years after the start of the city's water crisis. (Photo: GEOFF ROBINS via Getty Images)

The water tower at the Flint Water Plant looms over Flint, Michigan, on March 4, 2016, nearly two years after the start of the city's water crisis. (Photo: GEOFF ROBINS via Getty Images)

“When my ancestors were fighting in the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, it was about being against plantation economies,” Betty says, referring to the rebellion in Jamaica led by formerly enslaved people who mobilized against poor living conditions and poverty exacerbated by a drought. “It was about saying no, we shouldn’t have monocrop sugar cane or coffee run through the land, and no food for our communities ... We weren’t fighting to create plantation systems but to sustain and create alternatives to them.” In other words, formerly enslaved people had demands that were bigger than financial restitution; they were more in line with a desire to build something that would ensure a safer, healthier future for Black people.

A combination of rabid capitalism and racial erasure has clouded our understanding of what reparations initially entailed: the building of a sustainable future absent of violence against people and nature. Of course, that starts with money. But even those conversations are often left unresolved, because it feels impossible to create a system that provides financial restitution for every descendent of a formerly enslaved person. A recent New York Times piece, about the millions of dollars that descendants of enslaved Haitians paid France for the end of enslavement, reminds us that when it comes to gaslighting Black people, anything is possible.

White supremacy has led to an abuse of resources that is literally killing us and the planet. Even if we executed a plan for financial restitution today — say, Venmo-ing all Black Americans — it wouldn’t fix our problems.Many of us have ended up living on land that’s been abused and that abuses us in turn with chemicals, illnesses, floods and higher temperatures. For those experiencing climate apartheid in places like Flint, Michigan, and Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, the history of enslavement leaves an inescapable residue. We need to totally rethink our relationship with each other and with the natural world around us.

“We’re still living in a plantation economy, but it’s worse because now more people are reliant on the plantation economy than even before,” Betty says. Our inextricable reliance on the global exploitation of land and people fostered by the institution of slavery, she argues, is expediting the climate crisis. So where do we start with reparations as a solution, and how would it address or even slow down climate change?

Catherine Kaiman, attorney and co-founder of the University of Miami School of Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic, pulls from legal scholarship and existing reparationist ideology to propose community-based environmental justice reparations, which she says would allow “for a more narrow and tailored reparations program that centers around the affected community and its needs.”

Similar to the reparative demands of formerly enslaved people in 1865, this framework focuses on wrongdoers taking accountability by acknowledging what they did and using their wealth and power to come up with solutions. “This is done by considering the physical injuries of the community, as well as the property damage, financial damage, reputation damage, and psychological damage,” Kaiman says. “These same principles apply to any reparations initiative.”

To provide reparations to communities facing environmental injustice, Kaiman says, lawmakers must implement legislation, and wrongdoers have to use their wealth and influence as resources that fund community-based programming centered around the people and environment they exploited. This would restore power to the people and the environment.

Though the ultimate goal is to insure that those who are harmed receive the proper redress, Kaiman also acknowledges the shortcomings that come with completely relying on existing environmental legislation. “Environmental laws are actually more adept at addressing current environmental injustices than they are historic injustices, meaning that communities that were previously exposed to contamination through air, soil, or water, have even less legal recourse through environmental laws than those who continue to be actively contaminated,” she says.

While an emphasis on current-day climate justice-based reparations may sound like it overlooks historical injustice, Black Americans are currently 75% more likely to live near commercial facilities that produce noise, odors, traffic or emissions that directly affect them. Again, these are the residuals of slavery and Jim Crow-era neighborhood redlining. Ultimately, we need reparations not just as an apology for our nation’s racist past, but for a chance at a sustainable future.

“We’re owed so much more than just a little check,” Betty says. “We’re owed the eradication of plantation-based societies, civilizations and economies — and alternatives that were founded in the midst of the chaos that is the ‘colonial climate crisis.’”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

UK

Heatwave: When is it too hot to work?

Jennifer Meierhans - BBC News
Wed, August 10, 2022 

Construction workers will endure soaring temperatures over the next few days

An amber extreme heat health warning has been issued for large parts of England from Thursday, with temperatures set to soar to 35C (95F) in some areas.

This is the second such alert in recent weeks.

The Met Office said while conditions would be below record highs, this heatwave could last longer.

A heatwave is defined as: above average temperatures sustained for three days or more.

So what does that mean for people going to work in the heat?
Is there a maximum temperature for workplaces?

No law in the UK says a given temperature is too hot or too cold to work.

But guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says a workplace's temperature must be "reasonable" with "clean and fresh air".
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In cold weather, it says you shouldn't be asked to work in less than 16C - or 13C if the job is mostly physical. But it doesn't mention a top temperature.

A number of MPs recently backed a campaign for a legal upper limit of 30C in most workplaces - or 27C for those doing strenuous work - but there's no sign of legislation on that for now.

What do heatwaves do to the body and who is at risk?
What are my rights?

Whether your employer accepts that it's too hot to go to work is "a matter for them", according to Mark Scoggins, solicitor advocate at Fisher Scoggins Waters.

"The HSE won't issue any guidance on that and they shouldn't," he adds.

But the Health and Safety at Work Act means bosses are generally responsible for employees' welfare.

Woman working in a factory

The Unite union says employers have "a legal and moral duty to ensure workers' health is not damaged during the current hot weather".

And following the heatwave in July, the HSE has said employers should be responding to the changing environment by planning adaptations such as ventilation and air conditioning.

The HSE encourages staff to talk to their bosses if the workplace isn't comfortable.
What can employers do to cool things down?

The HSE says employers should let staff work flexibly where possible - shifting their hours to minimise working at the hottest times of day.

Relaxing formal dress codes and moving workstations away from hot places or out of direct sunlight can also help.

Where possible, windows should be opened, radiators should be switched off, and fans or air-conditioning units should be available.

The TUC, the umbrella body for the UK's trades unions, says businesses should let office staff work from home or adjust their hours to avoid rush-hour travel.

If you are working from home, close curtains to block out the sun, and in the morning and evening open windows on opposite sides of your home, to let hot air out and cold air in. Use a fan to encourage airflow.

How to keep your cool when the office heats up

How air conditioning changed the world

What about people who work outside?

The Unite union says manual workers are particularly vulnerable.

"Employers should consider rescheduling work to cooler times of the day, and provide cooling areas such as shade or air-conditioned rest rooms.

"If workers show any signs of heat exhaustion, the employer should immediately ensure they stop work and are allowed to recover, without loss of pay."

Watch out for heat exhaustion and heatstroke

Wildfires broke out in several locations in July stretching fire service resources

But Justin Sullivan, chair of the Construction Industry Council chair, says building sites' operating hours are often limited by planning laws designed to minimise their impact on surrounding communities. So starting early or finishing late isn't always an option.

However, he agrees that all workers should have access to water, protective clothing and shade.

Some materials, like paint and concrete, can't be used on extremely hot days as the heat causes the materials to fail. He says all site managers have temperature gauges, and switch workers to different jobs where possible.

A lifeguard on a beach

Lifeguards are especially important in hot weather, when more people are tempted to swim, but they also need to look after themselves.

All lifeguards should have cold water, a wide-brimmed hat, a long-sleeved top, polarised sunglasses, a high factor sunscreen and access to shade, according to Jo Talbot from the Royal Life Saving Society UK.

They should also have regular breaks.

Commuters carrying water on train and underground services

Should I travel to work?

There is no official advice in place instructing you not to travel.

Some disruption to transport services is likely, although not on the scale of the last heatwave.

Network Rail says it is not planning blanket speed restrictions because temperatures are not predicted to hit their trigger point, although temperatures could be high enough to prompt "spot" speed restrictions. Railway tracks get a lot hotter than the air temperature; during the last period of hot weather hundreds of trains were cancelled and delayed. At airports in July the scorching heat also impacted runways causing disruption.

National Highways is advising drivers to plan their journeys over the next few days in advance and carry out basic checks to ensure vehicles are roadworthy before setting off, including keeping coolant and engine oil topped up.

Keep children out of sun as heatwave hits - NHS


How does sunscreen work?


Tips for sleeping in the heat
How can I keep cool at work?

There are some simple things individuals can do to make the heat more bearable.

Dr Anna Mavrogianni, who researches sustainable building and urban design at University College London, says as well as avoiding direct sunlight and opening windows, it can help to switch off electrical equipment that's not in use, like photocopiers.

Light-coloured clothing is cooler than dark, as it absorbs less heat. Choose looser-fitting garments made from natural materials like cotton and linen, which are more breathable.

To stay hydrated, drink water before you feel thirsty, and avoid heavy meals which require more digestion, in turn producing more body heat.

Tips for staying cool: Drink water and eat foods with high water content; Wear loose-fitting clothing in breathable fabrics and a hat. Stay in the shade and limit travel and exercise; use fans, ice and cool showers to reduce body temperature

Bad news: Study reveals the Arctic is warming much faster than previously thought

David Knowles

·Senior Editor

Thu, August 11, 2022 

The Arctic is warming much faster than previously thought, according to a new study, which highlighted the challenges ahead for limiting climate change and keeping global temperatures in check.

While previous scientific estimates concluded that the Arctic was warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe, the new study undertaken by researchers with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and published Thursday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment claims that the Arctic increase over the last 43 has been 3.8 times faster than the global average.

“In recent decades, the warming in the Arctic has been much faster than in the rest of the world, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. Numerous studies report that the Arctic is warming either twice, more than twice, or even three times as fast as the globe on average,” the study states. “Here we show, by using several observational datasets which cover the Arctic region, that during the last 43 years the Arctic has been warming nearly four times faster than the globe, which is a higher ratio than generally reported in literature.”

Mika Rantanen, one of the study’s authors, noted that the rate of warming was not uniform throughout the Arctic Circle, and that portions of the Barents Sea, which borders Russia, have been warming at up to seven times the global average.

Calling prior scientific assessments of the rate of warming in the Arctic “a clear underestimation of the situation,” the new study comes at a time when Greenland’s ice sheet continues to melt with unprecedented speed and wildfires have burned more than 3 million acres in Alaska this summer.

A bearded seal near the Norwegian Svalbard Islands in the Arctic Ocean. (Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

As global temperatures continue to climb thanks to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels, the threat to the Arctic and Antarctic polar ice caps worsens. That melting is poised to continue to cause sea levels to rise dramatically in the coming decades, and could also trigger what scientists refer to as “feedback loops,” which will further speed the rate of global warming.

Two of those loops that pertain to the Arctic include the “albedo effect,” which refers to white sea ice reflecting the sun’s radiation back into space. The loss of that ice means that the Earth’s darker surface and waters absorb that radiation, further warming the planet. In fact, the albedo effect is, in part, behind the increased rate of warming measured in the study.

A second feedback loop occurs with the melting of the Arctic permafrost, which then releases previously frozen carbon and methane stores that further increase temperatures while also potentially unleashing dormant viruses and bacteria.

Climate scientists have long warned that unless dramatic action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global warming will continue, polar ice caps will melt, oceans and temperatures will rise significantly and life as we know it will be put at risk.

On Friday, the House of Representatives is poised to pass the first major climate change legislation in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Democrats already passed the bill along party lines in the 50-50 Senate, and the measure is expected to face uniform GOP opposition in the House as well.

Satellite imagery shows Antarctic ice shelf crumbling faster than thought

FILE PHOTO: Thinning Antarctic ice shelf finally crumbles after heatwave

Wed, August 10, 2022 

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Antarctica's coastal glaciers are shedding icebergs more rapidly than nature can replenish the crumbling ice, doubling previous estimates of losses from the world's largest ice sheet over the past 25 years, a satellite analysis showed on Wednesday.

The first-of-its-kind study, led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles and published in the journal Nature, raises new concern about how fast climate change is weakening Antarctica's floating ice shelves and accelerating the rise of global sea levels.

The study's key finding was that the net loss of Antarctic ice from coastal glacier chunks "calving" off into the ocean is nearly as great as the net amount of ice that scientists already knew was being lost due to thinning caused by the melting of ice shelves from below by warming seas.

Taken together, thinning and calving have reduced the mass of Antarctica's ice shelves by 12 trillion tons since 1997, double the previous estimate, the analysis concluded.

The net loss of the continent's ice sheet from calving alone in the past quarter-century spans nearly 37,000 sq km (14,300 sq miles), an area almost the size of Switzerland, according to JPL scientist Chad Greene, the study's lead author.

"Antarctica is crumbling at its edges," Greene said in a NASA announcement of the findings. "And when ice shelves dwindle and weaken, the continent's massive glaciers tend to speed up and increase the rate of global sea level rise."

The consequences could be enormous. Antarctica holds 88% of the sea level potential of all the world's ice, he said.

Ice shelves, permanent floating sheets of frozen freshwater attached to land, take thousands of years to form and act like buttresses holding back glaciers that would otherwise easily slide off into the ocean, causing seas to rise.

When ice shelves are stable, the long-term natural cycle of calving and re-growth keeps their size fairly constant.

In recent decades, though, warming oceans have weakened the shelves from underneath, a phenomenon previously documented by satellite altimeters measuring the changing height of the ice and showing losses averaging 149 million tons a year from 2002 to 2020, according to NASA.

IMAGERY FROM SPACE

For their analysis, Greene's team synthesized satellite imagery from visible, thermal-infrared and radar wavelengths to chart glacial flow and calving since 1997 more accurately than ever over 30,000 miles (50,000 km) of Antarctic coastline.

The losses measured from calving outpaced natural ice shelf replenishment so greatly that researchers found it unlikely Antarctica can return to pre-2000 glacier levels by the end of this century.

The accelerated glacial calving, like ice thinning, was most pronounced in West Antarctica, an area hit harder by warming ocean currents. But even in East Antarctica, a region whose ice shelves were long considered less vulnerable, "we're seeing more losses than gains," Greene said.

One East Antarctic calving event that took the world by surprise was the collapse and disintegration of the massive Conger-Glenzer ice shelf in March, possibly a sign of greater weakening to come, Greene said.

Eric Wolff, a Royal Society research professor at the University of Cambridge, pointed to the study's analysis of how the East Antarctic ice sheet behaved during warm periods of the past and models for what may happen in the future.

"The good news is that if we keep to the 2 degrees of global warming that the Paris agreement promises, the sea level rise due to the East Antarctic ice sheet should be modest," Wolff wrote in a commentary on the JPL study.

Failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions, however, would risk contributing "many meters of sea level rise over the next few centuries," he said.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Hogue)

From Kenya to the Serengeti to Kruger National Park, African lions and elephants under severe climate threat

Associated Press
Thu, August 11, 2022 

Africa’s national parks, home to species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall.

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s national parks, home to thousands of wildlife species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects, stressing habitats and the species that rely on them.

A prolonged drought in much of the continent’s east, exacerbated by climate change, and large-scale developments, including oil drilling and livestock grazing, are hampering conservation efforts in protected areas, several environmental experts say.

A lion lies in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. National parks in Africa, home to thousands of wildlife species, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects, stressing habitats and the species that rely on them. (Photo: Kevin Anderson/AP, File)

The at-risk parks stretch all the way from Kenya in the east — home to Tsavo and Nairobi national parks — south to the Mkomazi and Serengeti parks in Tanzania, the Quirimbas and Gorongosa parks in Mozambique and the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, and west to the Kahuzi Biega, Salonga and Virunga reserves in Congo.

The parks not only protect flora and fauna but also act as natural carbon sinks — storing carbon dioxide emitted into the air and reducing the effects of global warming.

An estimated 38% of Africa’s biodiversity areas are under severe threat from climate change and infrastructure development, said Ken Mwathe of BirdLife International.

“Key biodiversity areas over the years, especially in Africa, have been regarded by investors as idle and ready for development,” said Mwathe. “Governments allocate land in these areas for infrastructural development.”

He added that the “powerlines and other energy infrastructure cause collisions with birds, due to low visibility. The numbers killed this way are not few.”

In their quest to bolster living standards and achieve sustainable development goals, such as access to clean water and food, boosting jobs and economic growth and improving the quality of education, African governments have set their sights on large building projects, many of them funded by foreign investments, especially by China.

The proposed East African Oil Pipeline, for example, which the Ugandan government says can help lift millions out of poverty, runs through Uganda’s Kidepo valley, Murchison Falls and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, threatening species and drawing criticism from climate campaigners.

The growth of urban populations and the building that goes with it, like new roads, electricity grids, gas pipes, ports and railways, have also added to the pressure on parks, conservationists said.

But they add that replacing wildlife with infrastructure is the wrong approach for economic growth.

“We have to have a future where wildlife is not separated from people,” said Sam Shaba, the program manager at the Honeyguide Foundation in Tanzania, an environmental non-profit organization.

When “people start to see that living with wildlife provides the answer to sustainable development … that’s the game-changer,” said Shaba.

Most of Africa’s wildlife parks were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by colonial regimes that fenced off the areas and ordered local people to stay out. But now conservationists are finding that a more inclusive approach to running the parks and seeking the expertise of Indigenous communities that live around the parks can help protect them, said Ademola Ajagbe, Africa regional managing director of The Nature Conservancy.

“The inhabitants of these areas are forcefully evicted or prevented from living there such as the Maasai (in Tanzania and Kenya), Twa and Mbutis (in central Africa) who for generations have lived with wildlife,” said Simon Counseill, an advisor with Survival International.

“Africa is depicted as a place of wildlife without people living there and this narrative needs to change,” he said.

“If we don’t pay attention to communities’ social needs, health, education and where they are getting water, we miss the key thing,” said John Kasaona the executive director of the Integrated Rural Development in Nature Conservation in Namibia.

The effects of worsening weather conditions in national parks due to climate change should also not be ignored, experts said.

A recent study conducted in Kruger National Park linked extreme weather events to the loss of plants and animals, unable cope with the drastic conditions and lack of water due to longer dry spells and hotter temperatures.

Drought has seriously threatened species like rhinos, elephants and lions as it reduces the amount of food available, said Philip Wandera, a former warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service who’s now range management lecturer at the Catholic University of East Africa.

More intensive management of parks and removing fences that prevent species from migrating to less drought-prone areas are important first steps to protecting wildlife, Wandera said.

He added that financial help to “support communities in and around national parks” would also help preserve them

The post From Kenya to the Serengeti to Kruger National Park, African lions and elephants under severe climate threat appeared first on TheGrio.

Climate risks dwarf Europe's energy crisis, space chief warns

  

 

A Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite image shows Po River water levels in northern Italy


Italy DroughtThe dried riverbed of the Po river in Sermide, Italy, Thursday, Aug.11, 2022. The river Po runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice. But Northern Italy hasn't seen rainfall for months and this year's snowfall was down by 70%. Higher than usual temperature did the rest, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs, with repercussions on its surrounding economy, tourism, and agriculture. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra)

Thu, August 11, 2022 at 2:37 AM·4 min read

By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) - The head of the European Space Agency (ESA) has warned economic damage from heatwaves and drought could dwarf Europe's energy crisis as he called for urgent action to tackle climate change.

Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters successive heatwaves along with wildfires, shrinking rivers and rising land temperatures as measured from space left no doubt about the toll on agriculture and other industries from climate change.

"Today, we are very concerned about the energy crisis, and rightly so. But this crisis is very small compared to the impact of climate change, which is of a much bigger magnitude and really has to be tackled extremely fast," he said.

He was speaking in an interview as heatwaves and floods generate concerns over extreme weather across the globe.

More than 57,200 hectares have been swallowed by wildfire in France this year, nearly six times the full-year average.

In Spain, a prolonged dry spell made July the hottest month since at least 1961.

Utah's Great Salt Lake and Italy's Po River are at their lowest recorded levels. France's Loire is now on the watch list.

On Tuesday, Britain issued a new amber "Extreme Heat" warning.

That follows record temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) that placed a renewed focus on climate risks at July's Farnborough Airshow in southern England, where Aschbacher said the issue was humanity's biggest challenge.

"It's pretty bad. We have seen extremes that have not been observed before," Aschbacher told Reuters this week.

Soaring air temperatures are not the only problem. The Earth's skin is getting warmer too.

Aschbacher said ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite series had measured "extreme" land surface temperatures of more than 45C in Britain, 50C in France and 60C in Spain in recent weeks.

Land surface temperature drives air circulation.

"It's really the whole ecosystem that is changing very, very fast and much faster than what scientists expected until some years ago," he said.

"It is drought, fires, intensity of storms, everything coupled together, which are the visible signs of climate change."

As changes in temperature also become more marked, winds become stronger and unleash harsher storms.

"Typhoons are much more powerful than they used to be in terms of wind speed and therefore damage," Aschbacher said.

BREXIT FUNDING GAP

The Austrian scientist was named head of Paris-based ESA last year after leading the 22-nation agency's Earth observation work including Copernicus, which ESA says is the world's largest environmental monitoring effort, co-led by the European Union.

Together, the programme's six families of Sentinel satellites aim to read the planet's "vital signs" from carbon dioxide to wave height or temperatures of land and oceans.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images taken on roughly the same day in June between 2020 and 2022, released by ESA, show how the drought-stricken Po - whose plains sustain a third of Italy's agriculture - has retreated to expose broad sandbanks.

But the programme faces a Brexit funding gap of 750 million euros ($774 million) needed to help develop a second generation of satellites that Britain was to have contributed via the European Union and whose fate is now under discussion.

After leaving the EU last year, Britain remains a member of ESA and its 170-million-euro direct contribution is unaffected.

"We do still need the 750 million to complete development of this second generation of satellites," Aschbacher said.

"And yes, that is certainly an issue for climate monitoring globally but (also) for Europe in particular, because many of these parameters are aiming at priorities for Europe."

A funding package for Earth observation worth an estimated 3 billion euros will be discussed by ESA ministers in November.

Aschbacher dismissed what he called two myths voiced by critics who question the international climate drive.

"The first is that people think one can wait and by waiting somehow we will tough it out," he said. "The second is that it will cost a lot of money to deal with climate change ... and affect the poorest people, and we shouldn't do it," he said, adding that failing to heed warnings like this year's weather crisis could cost hundreds of trillions of dollars this century.

"Of course, you always have weather fluctuations ... but never of this magnitude. There is no doubt in my mind that this is caused by climate change," Aschbacher told Reuters.

($1 = 0.9685 euros)

(Reporting by Tim Hepher Additional reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Potter)

'Hitting rock bottom' - drought, heat drain Spanish reservoirs

Wed, August 10, 2022 
By Vincent West

CIJARA, Spain (Reuters) - A flock of sheep shelter from the midday sun under the gothic arches of a medieval bridge flooded in 1956 to create the Cijara reservoir in central Spain, but now fully exposed as the reservoir is 84% empty after a severe drought.

In Andalusia, one of Europe's hottest and driest regions, paddle-boats and waterslides lie abandoned on the cracked bed of Vinuela reservoir, remnants of a rental business gone with the water, now at a critical level of 13%.

A nearby restaurant fears a similar fate.

"The situation is quite dramatic in the sense that it's been several years without rain and we're hitting rock bottom," said owner Francisco Bazaga, 52. "If it doesn't rain, unless they find some alternative water supply, the future is very, very dark."

A prolonged dry spell and extreme heat made July the hottest month in Spain since at least 1961. Spanish reservoirs are at just 40% of capacity on average in early August, well below the ten-year average of around 60%, official data shows.

"We are in a particularly dry year, a very difficult year that confirms what climate change scenarios have been highlighting," Energy Minister Teresa Ribera told a news conference on Monday, also highlighting that the drought was leading to devastating wildfires.

Climate change has left parts of the Iberian peninsula at their driest in 1,200 years, and winter rains are expected to diminish further, a study published last month by the Nature Geoscience journal showed.

The dry, hot weather is likely to continue into the autumn, Spain's meteorological service AEMET said in a recent report, putting further strain on Europe's largest network of dammed reservoirs with a holding capacity of 5.6 billion cubic metres.

At the Buendia reservoir east of Madrid, the ruins of a village and bathhouses have reappeared, caked in dried mud, Reuters drone footage showed, while at another dam near Barcelona a ninth-century Romanesque church has reemerged still intact, attracting visitors.

(Additional reporting by Albert Gea, Jon Nazca, Susana Vera, Borja Suarez, Editing by Andrei Khalip and Jane Merriman)

Wildfires burn, farmers struggle as another heatwave bakes western Europe






Wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region

Thu, August 11, 2022 at 6:27 AM·4 min read
By Manuel Ausloos and Stephane Mahe

HOSTENS, France (Reuters) - European nations sent firefighting teams to help France tackle a "monster" wildfire on Thursday, while forest blazes also raged in Spain and Portugal and the head of the European Space Agency urged immediate action to combat climate change.

More than 1,000 firefighters, backed by water-bombing planes, battled for a third day a fire that has forced thousands from their homes and scorched thousands of hectares of forest in France's southwestern Gironde region.

With a dangerous cocktail of blistering temperatures, tinder-box conditions and wind fanning the flames, emergency services were struggling to bring the fire under control.


"It's an ogre, a monster," said Gregory Allione from the French firefighters body FNSPF said.

Heatwaves, floods and crumbling glaciers in recent weeks have heightened concerns over climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather across the globe.

The head of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, said rising land temperatures and shrinking rivers as measured from space left no doubt about the toll on agriculture and other industries from climate change.

ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite series has measured "extreme" land surface temperatures of more than 45C (113F) in Britain, 50C in France and 60C in Spain in recent weeks.

"It's pretty bad. We have seen extremes that have not been observed before," Aschbacher told Reuters.

In Romania, where record temperatures and drought have drained rivers of water, Greenpeace activists protested on the parched banks of the Danube to draw attention to global warming and urge the government to lower emissions.

CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS

With successive heatwaves baking Europe this summer, searing temperatures and unprecedented droughts, renewed focus has been placed on climate change risks to farming, industry and livelihoods.

Severe drought is set to slash the European Union's maize harvest by 15%, dropping it to a 15-year a low, just as Europeans contend with higher food prices as a result of lower-than-normal grain exports from Russia and Ukraine.

Swiss army helicopters have been drafted in to airlift water to thirsty cows, pigs and goats sweltering under a fierce sun in the country's Alpine meadows.

In France, suffering its harshest drought on record, trucks are delivering water to dozens of villages where taps have run dry, nuclear power stations have received waivers to keep pumping hot discharge water into river, and farmers warn a fodder shortfall may lead to milk shortages.

In Germany, scant rainfall this summer has drained the water levels of the Rhine, the country's commercial artery, hampering shipping and pushing freight costs.

However, as Europe contends with another heatwave, one group of workers has little choice but to sweat it out: gig-economy food couriers who often fall between the cracks of labour regulations.

After the mayor of Palermo on the island of Sicily in July ordered horses carrying tourists be given at least 10 litres of water per day, bicycle courier Gaetano Russo filed a suit demanding similar treatment.

"Am I worth less than a horse," Russo was quoted as saying in a Nidil CDIL union statement.

"HEARTBROKEN"

Britain's Met Office on Thursday issued a four-day "extreme heat" warning for parts of England and Wales.

In Portugal, more than 1,500 firefighters spent a sixth day fighting a wildfire in the central Covilha region that has burned 10,500 hectares (40 square miles), including parts of the Serra da Estrela national park.

In Spain, electrical storms triggered new wildfires and hundreds of people were evacuated from the path of one blaze in the province of Caceres.

Macron's office said extra fire-fighting aircraft were arriving from Greece and Sweden, while Germany, Austria, Romania and Poland were all deploying firefighters to help tackle wildfires in France.

"European solidarity at work!" Macron tweeted.

Firefighters said they had managed to save the village of Belin-Beliet, which emptied after police told residents to evacuate as the flames approached. But the blaze reached the outskirts, leaving behind charred houses and ruined tractors.

"We've been lucky. Our houses were saved. But you see the catastrophe over there. Some houses could not be saved," said resident Gaetan, pointing to houses burnt to the ground.

The Gironde was hit by big wildfires in July.

"The area is totally disfigured. We're heartbroken, we're exhausted," Jean-Louis Dartiailh, a local mayor, told Radio Classique. "(This fire) is the final straw."

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Wildfires spread, fish die off amid severe drought in Europe

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SYLVIE CORBET and VANESSA GERA
Thu, August 11, 2022 at 2:21 AM·5 min read


PARIS (AP) — Firefighters from across Europe struggled Thursday to contain a huge wildfire in France that has swept through a large swath of pine forest, while Germans and Poles faced a mass fish die-off in a river flowing between their countries.

Europe is suffering under a severe heat wave and drought that has produced tragic consequences for farmers and ecosystems already under threat from climate change and pollution.

The drought is causing a loss of agricultural products and other food at a time when supply shortages and Russia's war against Ukraine have caused inflation to spike.

In France, which is enduring its worst drought on record, flames raged through pine forests overnight, illuminating the sky with an intense orange light in the Gironde region, which was already ravaged by flames last month, and in neighboring Landes. More than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday.

The French wildfires have already forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 16 houses.

Along the Oder River, which flows from Czechia north into the Baltic Sea, volunteers have been collecting dead fish that have washed ashore in Poland and Germany.

Piotr Nieznanski, the conservation policy director at WWF Poland, said it appears that a toxic chemical was released into the water by an industry and the low water levels caused by the drought has made conditions far more dangerous for the fish.

“A tragic event is happening along the Oder River, an international river, and there is no transparent information about what is going on,” he said, calling on government authorities to investigate.

People living along the river have been warned not to swim in the water or even touch it.

Poland’s state water management body said the drought and high temperatures can cause even small amounts of pollution to lead to an ecological disaster but it has not identified the source of the pollution.

In northern Serbia, the dry bed of the Conopljankso reservoir is now littered with dead fish that were unable to survive the drought.

The water level along Germany's Rhine River was at risk of falling so low that it could become difficult to transport goods — including critical energy items like coal and gasoline.

In Italy, which is experiencing its worst drought in seven decades, the parched Po River has already caused billions of euros in losses to farmers who normally rely on Italy's longest river to irrigate their fields and rice paddies.

“I am young and I do not remember anything like this, but even the elderly in my village or the other villages around here have never seen anything like this, never ever,” said Antonio Cestari, a 35-year-old farmer in Ficarolo who says he expects to produce only half his usual crops of corn, wheat and soy because his river-fed wells have such low water levels.

The Po runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice. It has dozens of tributary rivers but northern Italy hasn’t seen rainfall for months and this year’s snowfall was down by 70%. The drying up of the Po is also jeopardizing drinking water in Italy’s densely populated and highly industrialized districts.

Over in Portugal, the Serra da Estrela national park was also being ravaged by a wildfire. Some 1,500 firefighters, 476 vehicles and 12 aircraft were deployed to fight it but the wind-driven blaze 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Lisbon was very hard to reach, with inaccessible peaks almost 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) high and deep ravines. The fire has charred 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of woodland.

In Britain, where temperatures hit a record 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in July, the weather office has issued a new warning for “extreme heat” from Thursday through Sunday, with temperatures forecast to reach 36 C (96.8 F).

It has been one of the driest summers on record in southern Britain, and the Met Office weather service said there is an “exceptional risk” of wildfires over the next few days.

London Fire Brigade said its control room had dealt with 340 grass, garbage and open-land fires during the first week of August, eight times the number from last year. Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Smith said “the grass in London is tinderbox dry and the smallest of sparks can start a blaze which could cause devastation.”

In Switzerland, a drought and high temperatures have endangered fish populations and authorities have begun moving fish out of some creeks that were running dry.

In Hausen, in the canton of Zurich, officials caught hundreds of fish, many of them brown trout, in the almost dried-up Heischerbach, Juchbach and Muehlebach creeks this week by anesthetizing them with electric shocks and then immediately placing them in a water tank enriched with oxygen, local media reported. Later, the fish were taken to creeks that still carry enough water.

Despite all the harm caused by the extreme weather, Swiss authorities see one morbid upside: they believe there's hope of finding some people who went missing in the mountains in the last few years because their bodies are being released as glaciers melt.

In the Swiss canton of Valais, melting glaciers have recently revealed parts of a crashed airplane and, at separate locations, at least two skeletons. The bodies have not yet been identified, news website 20Minuten reported Thursday.

Spanish state television showed dozens of trucks heading to France having to turn around and stay in Spain because wildfires had forced authorities to close some border crossings. TVE reported that truckers, many carrying perishable goods, were looking for ways to cross the border because the parking areas around the Irun crossing were full.

France this week is in its fourth heat wave of the year as it faces what the government describes as the country's worst drought on record. Temperatures were expected to reach 40 C (104 F) on Thursday.

___

Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Jill Lawless in London, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Andrea Rosa in Ficarolo, Italy and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed reporting.

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Follow all AP stories on climate change at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.