A strong El Niño is likely to increase prices of staple foods such as rice, coffee, sugar and cocoa, say scientists. Forecasters agree that the El Niño effect, which can drive droughts and flooding, is under way in the tropical Pacific, but they say it is too early to say how severe it will be.
Last year was the hottest on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring warnings about the risks of runaway greenhouse gas emissions and undermining claims by climate change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.
Out of a total of 12 Peruvian companies in the fishmeal and fish oil industry, only two recorded profits during 2013, while the other ten accumulated a loss equivalent to 87.4 million dollars, according to the country's National Society of Fisheries, SNP.
The year 2013 was among the top ten warmest years since modern records began in 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It tied with 2007 as the sixth warmest year, with a global land and ocean surface temperature that was 0.50°C (0.90°F) above the 1961–1990 average and 0.03°C (0.05°F) higher than the most recent 2001–2010 decadal average.
Chilean experts and prosecutors are investigating the appearance of millions of dead prawns that washed up on a beach in southern Chile this week carpeting a three-kilometre strand in red.
Next season, 2012/13 Brazilian soybean growers could be in place to jump from the world's No. 2 producer and dispute the US first place. Brazil's 2012-13 soybean production is expected to rise 25% from this season’s drought-punished, to 83.1 million tons.
Stanford University marine biologist William Gilly and other researchers have been studying Humboldt squid in Mexico's Sea of Cortez to determine why the animals have been spawning at a much younger age and smaller size than usual.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that the arrival of the rainy season will help eliminate power rationing on weekends and on weekdays at non-peak hours. Chavez made the announcement during a meeting of an electricity advisory group at the Miraflores presidential palace that was aired by state-run VTV television.
Academics from around the world are taking an interest in Chile’s glaciers. A team of Canadian, French and Chilean experts have been working in Punta Negra, located in the Laguna Negra section of Cajon de Maipo (south of Santiago) since 2003, following both covered glaciers and those known as rock glaciers.