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      Ecuador rations power as Andean drought tightens grip

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 16 April - 22:07

    El Niño weather phenomenon depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants

    Ecuador has begun to ration electricity in the country’s main cities as a drought linked to the El Niño weather pattern depletes reservoirs and limits output at hydroelectric plants that produce about 75% of the nation’s power.

    “We urge Ecuadorians to cut their electricity consumption in this critical week,” the ministry of energy said in a statement late on Monday. “And consider that each kilowatt and each drop of water that are not consumed will help us face this reality.”

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      As Thailand revels in Songkran water fights, tourist hub Samui suffers through drought

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 12 April - 13:15

    The resort island is facing days without running water, even as the country celebrates new year with water fights

    Across Thailand, people are getting ready to take to the streets for a giant water fight to mark the new year. Roads will be lined with vendors selling water pistols, businesses will put out buckets of icy water for refills and no passersby is safe.

    What began as a tradition of the Songkran festival to sprinkle water on the hands of elders, in a symbol of cleansing and reverence to mark the new year, has evolved into huge water fights that draw tourists from across the world.

    But on the tourist resort island of Samui, the water fights and celebrations bely a long running problem: the island is parched.

    Residents say taps can stop running for days,causing disruption to businesses and daily life.

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      Colombians told to shower with a friend as drought hits capital water supplies

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 12 April - 10:37


    Bogotá brings in water rationing with El Niño weather phenomenon meaning city could run out in under two months

    Couples in Bogotá are being asked to shower together as water supplies are rationed in the Colombian capital.

    Major neighbourhoods were cut off from the water grid on Thursday to preserve dangerously low water levels at reservoirs that have been starved of rain by the weather phenomenon known as El Niño.

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      Zimbabwean president declares state of disaster due to drought

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 3 April - 20:14


    Emmerson Mnangagwa says country needs $2bn of aid as severe dry spell caused by El Niño afflicts southern Africa

    Zimbabwe has declared a national disaster over a drought caused by the climate event known as El Niño and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the country needs $2bn in aid to help millions of people who are going hungry.

    The severe dry spell is wreaking havoc across southern Africa.

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      It takes a village: the Indian farmers who built a wall against drought

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 29 March - 05:00

    In rural Rajasthan, villagers have taken action against climate damage by constructing water-saving walls, trenches and dams to revive their farmland

    The villagers of Surajpura have built a wall: a 15ft (4.5 metre) mud bulwark that snakes through barren land for nearly a mile, with an equally long trench dug beneath it. It might not look like it, but for the 650 residents who toiled on it for six months in 2022, it is an architectural marvel.

    The wall passed its strength test last year when it stopped rainwater runoffs, and the trench channelled the water to parched farms in the drought-prone region of Rajasthan in north-west India, reviving them for the first time in more than two decades.

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      South Sudan closes schools in preparation for 45C heatwave

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 08:50


    Authorities advise parents to keep children indoors during extreme heatwave, expected to last two weeks

    South Sudan is closing all schools from Monday in preparation for an extreme heatwave expected to last two weeks.

    The health and education ministries have advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 45C (113F).

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      ‘It makes me so sad’: church reemerges from reservoir as Spain faces droughts

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 2 March - 06:00

    Increased evaporation, shorter rainy seasons and less mountain snow cover are set to worsen water crises in the western Mediterranean

    Magdalena Coromina tapped the hard ground with her walking stick and looked up at a church that was meant to be underwater. Six decades ago, when engineers had built the reservoir in which she stood, they had flooded the town of Sant Romà de Sau and drowned its buildings. The rains that slaked the region’s thirst had kept the ruins covered.

    But that world no longer exists. Struck by a drought that has dried the reservoir to 1% of its capacity, the remains of the village have come back into view. Crumbling stone structures now sit on cracked soil among ashen plants. The church, whose spire used to poke above the surface during dry spells, today stands high above the waterline.

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      How watching beavers from space can help drought-ridden areas bounce back

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 29 December - 13:38

    Beaver on a dam

    Enlarge / Where beavers set up home, the dams they build profoundly change the landscape. (credit: Troy Harrison )

    For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building rodents are today hailed by scientists as ecological saviors. Their ponds and wetlands store water in the face of drought, filter out pollutants, furnish habitat for endangered species, and fight wildfires. In California, Castor canadensis is so prized that the state recently committed millions to its restoration.

    While beavers’ benefits are indisputable, however, our knowledge remains riddled with gaps. We don’t know how many are out there, or which direction their populations are trending, or which watersheds most desperately need a beaver infusion. Few states have systematically surveyed them; moreover, many beaver ponds are tucked into remote streams far from human settlements, where they’re near-impossible to count. “There’s so much we don’t understand about beavers, in part because we don’t have a baseline of where they are,” says Emily Fairfax, a beaver researcher at the University of Minnesota.

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      UK government is not prepared for climate disasters, says spending watchdog

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Wednesday, 6 December - 06:01


    Cabinet Office does not have strategy to ensure resilience to extreme weather, says National Audit Office

    The UK government is not adequately prepared for climate disasters including severe droughts and floods, a report by the National Audit Office has found.

    Climate campaigners have said that the UK government is “like a boiling frog” and “oblivious” to extreme weather.

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