Environment

[ad_1] From afar, the acacia trees look like they have been decorated with grass pom-poms. The birds have been busy, building shelters of straw and grass. Up close the real shape of the "pom-poms" becomes clear: grass tubes in the form of an upside down "U", with an opening at each end. These structures are the work of white-browed sparrow weavers (Plocepasser mahali). White-browed sparrow weavers are cooperative breeders. Within a multi-generational family group, only one dominant pair will reproduce; […]

[ad_1] Devastating rains that triggered floods in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan in recent months - killing hundreds of people and displacing millions - were worsened by human-caused climate change, a team of international scientists announced Wednesday. Global warming made the seasonal downpours this year about 5-20 percent more intense across the Niger and Lake Chad basins, said World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of scientists studying the link between climate change and extreme weather. In a study published […]

[ad_1] Pressure for climate intervention may gain momentum as world heats up As interest grows in geoengineering as a strategy for tackling global warming, the world's largest association of Earth and space scientists today launched an ethical framework as a guide to responsible decision-making and inclusive dialogue. The report, facilitated by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and advised by a global panel of experts, says any research into large-scale interventions in Earth's climate system must be grounded in sound ethical […]