It’s wrong to blame climate change for famine and conflict. These can either be prevented, or the impact minimised, if institutions and mechanisms of good governance are in place.
At present, the Middle East and North African region contains 7% of the world’s population but only has access to 1.5% of its renewable freshwater supply through rainfall.
The US wants to invest in more infrastructure to handle our rainfall and melted snow. Stormwater credits could help cut costs and protect the environment.
As the planet warms, the amount of moisture in the atmosphere is increasing. This will cause a lot more heavy rainfall, even in areas that are becoming drier.
Rain made a welcome comeback to Australia in 2016 after several years of deepening drought. But Tasmania and the Top End were among several places that did not fare so well.
Scott Power, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Brad Murphy, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Christine Chung, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; François Delage, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and Hua Ye, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
New research shows that global warming has already begun to exacerbate extremes of rainfall in the Pacific region – with more to come.
South Africa’s weather is very attractive to international visitors. Climate change could alter their perceptions unless mitigation strategies are put in place.
After some unusually wet years, our landscape and ecosystems have once again returned to poorer conditions that were last experienced during the Millennium Drought.
Since 1999, Australia has swung between drought and deluge with surprising speed, because El Niño has fallen into sync with similar patterns in the Indian and Southern Oceans.
Australia is the land of drought of flooding rains, driven by events such as El Nino. But despite this variability, some parts of Australia are clearly drying out.
El Niño dominated global climate in 2015, but in Australia the story was more complicated. 2015 was Australia’s fifth warmest year on record, and saw the return of very dry conditions to parts of Australia.
The Millennium Drought ended more than five years ago, but several years of below-average rainfall and El Niño have brought drought back to many parts of Australia. Our latest report on water in Australia shows rainfall is continuing to decline in eastern Australia and increase in the north.