Senior officials from the Ministry of Energy met with Monsignor Kleden to discuss development projects. The prelate confirmed the Church's opposition, to protect the population and the territory. In the area, 80% of the inhabitants are farmers. Behind Jakarta's pressure are the interests of multinationals.
On the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, Bishop Mesiona notes that the planet is like a body and "we must pay attention not to abuse it.” The heavy rains of the last few days on the island have caused at least five deaths and affected more than 4,000 people. “Our petitions” will be in vain “if we neglect our responsibilities.”
Low temperatures and fog have caused a pollution emergency in Thailand, especially in Bangkok. The situation is bad in 64 out of the country’s 76 provinces. In 2024, one million people sought medical attention due to air pollution, at a cost of US$ 90 million. People are urged not to burn replica money as a lucky charm for Lunar New Year.
Veteran reporter Chhoeung Chheung, 63, was shot in the abdomen. Police arrested a suspect, but claims the attack was due to a "personal dispute" rather than the journalist’s ongoing investigations. Human rights groups are unconvinced by this version of events. Since 1994, at least 15 journalists have been killed in the Southeast Asian country.
Clean' energy in Russia remains just over 30%, and entire sectors such as automotive and heating still run exclusively on fossil fuels. Mind you, with the invasion of Ukraine, hopes of seeing Moscow as a major contributor to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism have faded.
On the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, just a few kilometres from the city of Turkmenbaši, five-star hotels, services of all kinds, an international airport and various entertainment, sports and catering facilities have been built. There really is everything, only now the sea is missing.
In the last ten years, the ice in the Himalayan region has shrunk by 65% compared to the previous decade. South Asia could lose up to 75% of its glacier volume by the end of the century. The call for climate finance to mitigate the effects and the compromise solution adopted in Baku, deemed insufficient by developing countries.
To meet rising demand, the Vietnamese government has announced that coal-fired plants, which still account for 48.7 per cent of total electricity production in the country, will operate for a record number of hours. In the meantime, the electric vehicle business is growing, with domestic manufacturer VinFast signing partnerships and conquering market shares.
In his speech at the UN Conference underway in Baku, the Vatican Secretary of State reiterated Pope Francis’s appeal for the 2025 Jubilee. “A new international financial architecture” is needed “that can truly ensure for all countries, especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate disasters, both low-carbon and high-sharing development pathways”.
On the eve of COP29 in Baku, the Indian Climate Report 2024 was released. In the first nine months of the year, as many as 3,238 people lost their lives in the country due to floods, landslides, and heat waves, up 18 per cent. Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of days of extreme weather, while Kerala had the most deaths.
On the Solemnity of All Saints and the proclamation of the Beatitudes as the "path of holiness", the pontiff stressed how war is "ignoble, because it is the triumph of the lie". He called on the faithful to pray for Chad hit by a grave terrorist attack and the Valencian community overwhelmed by storm Dana, a huge "environmental catastrophe". He also turned his thoughts to the "153 women and children massacred in Gaza in recent days.”
The number of such episodes in the country has increased by more than 10 times in the last 30 years, also creating problems for the economy and the health of the population. According to research commissioned by the World Bank, sandstorms lead to the premature death of 78 people per 100,000 inhabitants in Tajikistan, a figure lower only than that of Uzbekistan in Central Asia.
Intense monsoon rains cause havoc. Local authorities report more than 3,000 homes destroyed and at least 14 bridges damaged in various parts of the country. Several roads remain blocked due to debris. The prime minister held an all-party meeting.
The region's main river flows through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and finally empties into the languishing Aral Sea. Its flow is steadily decreasing due to climate change but also due to intensive exploitation for agricultural purposes, aggravated by competition between individual countries. But according to experts, with bottom-up initiatives it would still be possible to snatch it from its decline.
The structure, dating back to the fifth century, is subject to deterioration. Climatologists and authorities have started a collaboration to assess the long-term ‘impact and consequences’ on historical sites. But many architectural treasures are at risk, as are the country's crops and ecosystem in the face of a ‘silent enemy’ that threatens the future and is the focus of the Summit of the Future at the UN General Assembly in these hours.
The UN-backed World Restoration Flagship project seeks to restore 10,000 hectares by 2030. Coastal forests are vital to protect the country from natural disasters such as storm surges and tsunamis, playing a crucial role in resisting climate change. For environmentalists Dissanayake and Semasinghe, mangroves also provide “sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.”
Archbishop Martinelli stresses to AsiaNews the link that makes the declaration signed yesterday in Jakarta and the 2019 text on human fraternity‘different and complementary’. In a world marked by war ‘the danger is getting used to dehumanisation’. Strong ‘symbols’ such as the Tunnel of Friendship or the Abrahamic House are essential. From the Pope also the call to look in depth’ in interreligious dialogue, returning “to the question of God as a fundamental human question”.
So far, the efforts by governments and international organisations to contain the danger have failed. Dengue fever has no cure and the only prevention is via elimination of the Aedes mosquito. The most dramatic situation is in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The Emergency Management Ministry has released data for last month, with almost US$ 11 billion in losses due mainly to floods. Over 300 dead or missing and thousands of damaged houses and hectares of land. Summer in China is the season of typhoons and high temperatures, which this year could exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
More than half of the victims were not registered, arriving via "irregular" channels. The highest number of deaths was reported among Egyptians, but fatalities include people from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. In the future, global warming will likely make things worse.
Leaders of different faiths met yesterday at a seminar organised by the Archdiocese of Chittagong and World Vision to promote this perspective. Archbishop Lawrence Subrato Howladar wants to see the “strengthening the three-dimensional relationship between the Creator, nature, and human society.” Bangladesh is seventh most affected country in the world by climate change.
The Awyu and Moi protest in front of the Supreme Court, which must examine their appeals against some mega-concessions approved by the government that would lead to massive deforestation of the forests where they have always lived. The complaint of the NGO Forum for Development: ‘This would be ecocide’.
About 76 per cent of the land is degraded, while 86 per cent of the water used for irrigation is extracted from the ground. Droughts are expected to occur more frequently in the near future. Excessive groundwater use increases the risk of landslides. Caritas is pursing various projects to protect the land.
For the first time since post-COVID reopening, emissions fell in March by 3 per cent. Stabilised thanks to increased solar and wind power generation, they fell by 8 per cent in the steel industry and 22 per cent in construction. Still, several coal powered plants are in the planning stage.
May 1 in many Asian countries coincides with temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius. Increasingly frequent conditions that - as a study by the Global Labor Institute on textile companies in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Vietnam explains - risk compromising workers' health and productivity without adequate mitigation measures.
The Indian activist, 43, started a movement that saved 445,000 acres of forests in Chhattisgarh from the establishment of 21 coal mines. Awarded the 'Green Nobel Prize' for two decades of commitment to biodiversity and the cultural identity of the Adivasi people. A battle that has become 'a model of environmental justice ninth only in India'.
