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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 25th 2024 - 07:52 UTC

Environment

  • Thursday, March 23rd 2017 - 11:25 UTC

    “Nothing can grow without water,” warns UNICEF, as 600 million children could face extreme shortages

    “Water is elemental; without it, nothing can grow. But around the world, millions of children lack access to safe water” said Executive Director Anthony Lake.

    Some 600 million children – or 1 in 4 children worldwide – will be living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040, according to a UNICEF report released on World Water Day, 22 March.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:39 UTC

    Torrential rains and mudslides ravage Peru: thousands left homeless

    Evangelina Chamorro emerged near a bridge, lifting herself from a current of wooden planks and walking toward the shore covered head to toe in mud.

    Muddy water spilled onto streets and into homes on Thursday in a new round of unusually heavy rains that has killed at least a eighteen people in Peru and now threatens flooding in the capital Lima. The intense rains and mudslides over the past three days have wrought havoc around the Andean nation and caught residents in Lima, a desert city of 10 million where it almost never rains, by surprise.

  • Tuesday, March 14th 2017 - 21:34 UTC

    Death of swimming pigs of Big Major Cay shocks Bahamas

    Running wild on the uninhabited island, swimming out to meet boatloads of tourists the friendly porkers enjoyed a porcine paradise on their island in the sun.

    For many years the swimming pigs of Big Major Cay, also known as Pig Beach, in the Bahamas Exuma island chain, have been a major tourist attraction. Running wild on the uninhabited island, swimming out to meet boatloads of tourists and happily gobbling down the food and snacks they brought, the friendly porkers enjoyed a porcine paradise on their island in the sun.

  • Wednesday, March 8th 2017 - 13:50 UTC

    Australia's “Angry Summer” breaks more than 200 weather records

    The Climate Council report said the season was defined by intense heat-waves and bushfires in eastern Australia but heavy rain and flooding in the west.

    More than 200 weather records were broken during Australia's most recent summer, a climate group has warned. The Climate Council report, titled “Angry Summer”, said the season was defined by intense heat-waves and bushfires in eastern Australia but heavy rain and flooding in the west.

  • Monday, March 6th 2017 - 10:53 UTC

    UK's Signy Station on South Orkney Islands, hottest place in Antarctica

    The +19.8°C (67.6°F) measured at BAS Signy Research Station on South Orkney Islands on 30 January 1982 is a record for the Antarctic region

    A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) committee of experts announced on March first, new records for the highest temperatures recorded in the Antarctic Region. The results are part of continuing efforts to expand a database of extreme weather and climate conditions throughout the world.

  • Thursday, March 2nd 2017 - 07:31 UTC

    HM Commissioner hosts South Georgia stakeholders on 12-day visit

    The visit takes place on board the Government’s logistics and fishery patrol vessel MV Pharos SG and will have a particular focus on the natural environment.

    HM Commissioner for South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, Colin Roberts CVO, departed this week for a 12-day visit to the UK Overseas Territory accompanied by representatives of some of South Georgia’s key stakeholder organizations. The information was reported in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Newsletter.

  • Tuesday, February 28th 2017 - 17:53 UTC

    UN says that action to curb climate change is unstoppable, despite Trump

    Ms Espinosa said it would be more damaging for the US to leave the on-going climate talks process altogether than to stop funding the clean energy program.

    The UN’s new climate chief admits she’s worried about President Donald Trump – but is confident that action to curb climate change is unstoppable. President Trump said he’d withdraw from the UN climate deal and stop funding the UN’s clean energy program. But former Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa said that the delay in any firm announcement suggests the issue is still unresolved.

  • Monday, February 27th 2017 - 08:47 UTC

    Torrential rains and mudslides leave 4 million people in Santiago with no drinking water

    The torrential rain that started Saturday prompted mudslides and rubble to surge into the Maipo river which supplies most homes in the capital.

    Just two weeks ago Chile was desperately combating with foreign support thousands of acres of bushfires out of control, but now over the weekend rainstorms and landslides killed four and contaminated a major river, forcing authorities to cut off drinking water to four million people in the capital Santiago, authorities said.

  • Sunday, February 26th 2017 - 09:19 UTC

    Argentine-Chilean Antarctic inspectors check BAS Rothera base

    The bi-national team at Rothera next to the aircraft used for the inspection tour

    A team or Argentine and Chilean experts have visited Czech and British bases in Antarctica as part of the routine inspection of environment and security operations, in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty. The Argentine foreign ministry reported that the inspections took place for the second consecutive year between 19 January and 25 February.

  • Monday, February 20th 2017 - 21:27 UTC

    South Georgia gentoo penguins feed preferably on krill, shows 22 year BAS study

    The team, based at BAS, found that between 1989 and 2010 gentoo penguins ate approximately equal amounts of crustaceans, (mainly Antarctic krill) and fish. (Pic BAS)

    The longest and most comprehensive study to date of what penguins eat is published this month. The study, published in the journal Marine Biology, examines the diets of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) at Bird Island, South Georgia over a 22 year period and is part of a project investigating the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its response to change