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India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana host the largest number of cities with high-risk scores.

Oxford study finds world’s highest heat-risk cities concentrated in Asia and Africa

Heat risk is about more than temperature. A new Oxford study of 205 cities found that poverty, limited infrastructure and lack of access to cooling are key factors driving urban…

Researchers studied blue waxbills — small songbirds that were most affected in South Africa’s first documented heat-related mortality event involving wild birds, which occurred in late 2020.  (Wikimedia Commons)

Heat and humidity is a lethal mix for SA’s small birds

Scientists have warned that humidity, not just temperature, could determine which species survive in an era of escalating heatwaves

the country’s climate future is fast becoming hotter, drier and more dangerous. (Delwyn Verasamy, M&G)

South Africa’s major climate threats — from drought to deadly heatwaves

From collapsing maize yields to a possible cyclone hitting Richards Bay, a Wits expert warns that South Africa’s climate future is fast becoming hotter, drier and more dangerous

Hundreds of climate activists from groups including Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain march from the Royal Courts of Justice to Lambeth Bridge in solidarity with the nine Insulate Britain campaigners jailed three days previously by a High Court judge on 20th November 2021 in London, United Kingdom. The activists, who claim that the jailed activists are political prisoners, later blocked Lambeth Bridge for around 5 hours in breach of an injunction and Vauxhall Cross for around 3 hours. The Metropolitan Police made over 100 arrests. (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

After COP26, business leaders are warming up to sustainable practices

Chief executives have begun to recognise the importance of sustainability, but we urgently need climate science-aligned policies that provide a new framework for business

Pale males: Michael Bloomberg and other leaders attend the Climate Action Summit at the UN in 2019. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)

Most climate science is written by white men

In deciding how the world responds to the climate crisis, policymakers rely on research that tends to be written predominantly by men in the Global North

A general view of infrastructure being put in place at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, the site of the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties – also known as Cop26. Picture date: Tuesday September 14, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

What is COP and why is COP26 so important?

This year’s UN climate conference will be the first in-person meeting since COP25 in 2019, when developing countries walked away, outraged by the poor outcome

Dangers: A fisherman on the Niger River. Fishing, like many other livelihoods and activities, is under threat from the changes brought about by the climate crisis. Photo: Michele Cattani/AFP/Getty Images

Animals dying to ‘beat the heat’

Scientists can forecast how vulnerable species are to climate change using the right tools

Top climate scientist, Bob Scholes, has died

Scholes ‘a giant in the field of climate science’ – Wits University

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo teams collecting trees for planting

South Africa’s potential to expand tree cover as a climate mitigation tool

Should Africa’s largest emitter rely on tree planting initiatives to mitigate?

Strengthening the capacity of the Climate Services Centre and implementation of the SADC Disaster Framework requires urgent government attention. (Getty Images)

Southern Africa’s dangerous information gap exacerbates natural disasters

During Cyclone Idai, responses were hampered by a shortage of reliable information. This has worrying implications for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic

Hikers atop Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park

​It’ll cost R6.5-trillion to save the Arctic, but it’ll be worth it

The Arctic ice sheet is dwindling at a catastrophic rate, but researchers say building 10-million wind-powered pumps could save it.

Presenteeism is the new office plague

You’re not doing your company any favours by coming to work when you’re ill, experts warn.

Silent giants unlock story of climate change

Researchers are using baobab trees to learn about climate conditions that prevailed thousands of years ago.

Prof aims to get earth back on track

Prof aims to get earth back on track

A new discipline embraces the bigger pictures that link problems such as poverty and climate change.

Climate, Earth science centre launched

UWC this week launched its Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science, a venture with the NRF and the science and technology department.