Natural environment

A series of "once-in-a-millennium" rainstorms have lashed the United States in recent weeks, flooding areas baked dry by long-term droughts, as human-caused climate change brings weather whiplash.

And scientists warn that global warming means once-rare events are already much more likely, upending the models they have long used to predict possible disasters, with worse to come.

Elephants are known for their gentle nature, but they can become aggressive when they feel harassed, vulnerable or threatened

By 2040, over 44 countries will face severe water scarcity. In general, the Mediterranean countries belong to the regions of the planet with the highest risk of drought and water scarcity. Today, Europe is already facing the longest period of drought in the last 500 years. This is according to an analysis by Prof. Dr. Yannis Maniatis and Ph.D.

The Oder river, which runs along Poland's border with Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea, is suffering from an environmental disaster and dead fish are washing up on the river banks. For over two weeks, local volunteers with the authorities have removed more than 10 tonnes of dead fish from the river area on the Polish side.

Mežica – The 15-year long programme to remediate the environment of the Upper Mežica Valley in the wake of its mining past is drawing to a close this year but traces of lead can still be found in children’s blood. Thus a follow-on project will be required.

Faced with a historic drought and threatened by desertification, Spain is rethinking how it spends its water resources, which are used mainly to irrigate crops.

The rehabilitation works of some 90 percent of the 139,500 hectares of land damaged in forest fires last year have been completed, the head of the General Directorate of Forestry has said.

Noting that the rehabilitation works will be completed by the end of the year, Bekir Karacabey said, "The methods to rehabilitate these lands were determined under the guidance of technical teams."

Copenhagen – Slovenia’s capital has placed 279th among 344 European cities in the European city air quality viewer with its air quality categorised as poor. Maribor ranks 207th having moderately clean air.

Companies have been calculating their carbon footprints since the early 2000s and just over one in three of the world's 2,000 largest public corporations have now set goals to become carbon neutral or emissions-free by mid-century or sooner.

EU countries have reached agreements on proposed laws to combat climate change on Wednesday night. They backed the phasing out of new fossil fuel-powered cars by 2035 and the creation of a multi-billion-euro fund to protect poorer citizens from spending on products that produce carbon dioxide, Reuters reported.