Global Warming

Climate-Induced Famine

The deepening food crisis affecting Madagascar after five years of extreme weather events is being dubbed the first climate-induced famine by the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP). About 1.3 million people there are suffering from acute hunger, with 30,000 in the grip of famine due to loss of crops and livestock. Some are eating cactus leaves and insects to survive.

WFP Deputy Country Director in Madagascar Aduino Mangoni said huge numbers have moved to urban centers in search of help. He added that while famines elsewhere have mainly been driven by conflict, “This is basically the only, maybe the first climate-change famine on Earth.”

Greenland Meltwater

Increased runoff from the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is heightening the risk of global coastal flooding, according to new research. Scientists from Britain’s University of Leeds say Greenland’s runoff has risen by 21% over the past four decades, and has become 60% more erratic from one summer to the next.

They found that global heating has melted 3.5 trillion tons of ice during that period, which flowed into the ocean. Over the past decade alone, that melt has lifted sea levels by 0.4 inches. The study concludes that the rising sea levels from that melt heighten the risk of flooding for coastal communities worldwide, and disrupt marine ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean.

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