Environment

• Friday, November 18th 2016 - 08:41 UTC

  2016 is set to be the world’s hottest year on record and an anticipation of current trend

  

  According to the World Meteorological Organization preliminary statement on the global climate for 2016, global temperatures for January to September were 0.88°C above the long-term (1961-90) average, 0.11°C above the record set last year, and about 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. While the year is not yet over, the final weeks of 2016 would need to be the coldest of the 21st century for 2016’s final number to drop below last year’s.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2016 - 11:31 UTC

  Small island nations fear they will cease to exist due to climate change

  

  Delegates from the Alliance of Small Island Nations (AOSIS) underscore the need to fight global warming and adapt to its effects as UN's 22nd Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change unfolds in Marrakesh.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2016 - 09:27 UTC

  Argentina plans to cull 100.000 beavers devastating Tierra del Fuego woodlands

  

  Argentina will cull 100,000 beavers which are devastating southern woodlands by gnawing down huge trees, officials said this week. The plague of big-toothed rodents has struck in the Tierra del Fuego province, a far southern region known as “the End of the World.”

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 08:48 UTC

  Supermoon, the closest since 1948, and won't be repeated until 2034

  

  This month's bright supermoon — the closest full moon in 68 years — is expected to light up the sky early Monday morning, NASA has reported. Every year, scientists and sky watchers welcome the supermoon, which is the closest full moon of the year. But this year, the supermoon is receiving extraordinary attention.

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 08:36 UTC

  Chile connects Latin America's largest solar plant to the national grid

  

  Spanish clean energy company Acciona Energía has connected the 246MW El Romero solar plant in Atacama desert, Chile to the county’s Interconnected Central System (SIC), becoming Latin America's largest. The US$343m El Romero Solar plant features 776,000 polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, spread across 280ha area in the municipality of Vallenar, 645km north of the Santiago.

• Monday, November 14th 2016 - 07:06 UTC

  Hundreds of aftershocks follow major earthquake and tsunami in New Zealand; thousands flee to high ground

  

  A strong new earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 rattled New Zealand's South Island on Monday, hours after a more powerful quake killed at least two people, damaged roads and buildings and sent thousands fleeing to higher ground. Emergency response teams were already flying by helicopter to the region at the epicenter of the original 7.8 magnitude quake, which struck just after midnight some 91 km northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.

• Saturday, November 12th 2016 - 21:19 UTC

  US Secretary of State Kerry approaches climate change in Antarctica

  

  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Antarctica Friday, in preparation for an international climate-change conference to be held in Marrakesh next week, at a time the world foresees different environmental policies under Trump.

• Friday, November 4th 2016 - 22:13 UTC

  Earthquake hits central Chile but no tsunami alert

  

  An earthquake measuring 6.4 points in the Richter scale was felt in central Chile on Friday afternoon, hitting the Santiago Metropolitan Area, O'Higgins and Maule, but no tsunami likely to hit shores.

• Thursday, November 3rd 2016 - 07:25 UTC

  Uruguayan pulp mill passes pollution tests - Gualeguaychú not quite

  

  An Argentine-Uruguayan commission took 50 samples of effluent from the pulp mill off Fray Bentos and as many in the Gualeguaychú mouth of the river in Entre Rios. Botnia passes test. The reports from the samples collected on the Argetine side recorded more polluting than those found off Fray Bentos. The plant's formal name is “Orion” but is widely known for its original Finnish name Botnia.

• Wednesday, November 2nd 2016 - 11:25 UTC

  Storms cause damage and power outages in several parts of Paraguay - orange alert still on in Uruguay

  

  Various locations within the country, Central, Asunción and the metropolitan area have been area without power for several hours, even in places that were not hit directly by the adverse weather. But service had to be interruped nonetheless as several destructions were reported.