The US saw a record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023, even when accounting for inflation. The number of long-running heat waves like the Southwest experienced is also rising.
Once the immediate crisis in North Queensland has subsided, authorities will need to grapple with how to deal with the ‘new normal’ of extreme weather events. The big question is: are they prepared?
A child’s doll discarded during a storm.
Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson
Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The agreement still leaves many unanswered questions, as well as concerns from vulnerable countries about who will qualify, who pays and who is in charge.
Through the Loss and Damage Fund, developed states and major emitters will compensate developing countries experiencing the most devastating effects of climate change. The fund is now operational.
Nations struggle if the health of their population fails. But good health is seriously threatened by climate change. So putting health at the centre of climate action makes sense.
A storm cell over Brisbane in 2014.
(AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Global climate models don’t let us zoom in on the fine details. A new set of high-resolution climate models for Australia is solving this problem.
The largest tributary on the left bank of the Amazon, the Rio Negro is known for its paradisiacal landscapes, fresh, clean and abundant waters, where pink dolphins swim. Today, much of its riverbed around Manaus looks like this.
AP Photo/Edmar Barros
The drought is expected to affect the region until mid-2024 at the earliest. Signs of its severity include the lowest water levels in the city of Manaus in 121 years.
Temperature sensitivity makes western fence lizards vulnerable to climate change.
Greg Shine/BLM
From dark dragonflies becoming paler to plants flowering earlier, some species are slowly evolving with the climate. Evolutionary biologists explain why few will evolve fast enough.
A subsistence farmer gathers withered maize from his farm. James Wakibia/
Getty Images
Smallholder farmers are bearing the brunt of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Deliberate steps are required to support them and boost agricultural output,
Smoke from the McDougall Creek wildfire fills the air and nearly blocks out the sun as people take in the view of Okanagan Lake from Tugboat Beach, in Kelowna, B.C., in August 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Canadians should demand greater accountability from their governments to reduce the need for last-minute humanitarian efforts in the face of climate-related disasters in their communities.
The aftermath of Storm Daniel in Derna, eastern Libya. September 2023.
EPA-EFE/Stringer