Hello,
Today’s newsletter counts the human and environmental toll in the aftermath of various natural disasters – such as floods, typhoons, wildfires, and droughts – and how they affect the ecosystems and families left in their wake.
Four months after devastating flooding wrecked their house in southern Brazil, Milton do Nascimento, and his family still have no permanent home and are sleeping rough under a highway bridge.
Nascimento, his wife Gabriela and stepdaughter live just 300 meters (984 ft) from their house which was destroyed in the unprecedented flooding that hit the city of Porto Alegre and surrounding areas in May, killing more than 180 people and driving half a million more from their homes.
“After going through what we went through in the flood, this is nothing. Now we’re in luxury. I have everything I need,” Gabriela said.
Elsewhere, scientists in a report from World Weather Attribution said that the devastating typhoon that tore through the Philippines, Taiwan and China last month, destroying infrastructure and leaving more than 100 people dead, was made significantly worse by human-induced climate change.
Climate researchers said warmer seas were providing extra “fuel” for tropical storms in Asia, making them more dangerous, as another typhoon made landfall in Japan.
In Canada, a study published in the journal Nature found that the wildfires that swept Canadian woodlands last year released more greenhouse gases than some of the largest emitting countries.
Typical emissions from Canadian forest fires over the last decade have ranged from 29 to 121 megatonnes. But climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is leading to drier and hotter conditions, driving extreme wildfires. The 2023 fires burned 15 million hectares (37 million acres) across Canada, or about 4% of its forests.
The carbon released in last year’s wildfires exceeded those of seven of the 10 largest national emitters in 2022, including Germany, Japan and Russia the study found.
Scroll down to today’s Climate Lens for the aftermath of Bolivia’s wildfires on local farmers and produce.
