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Mail & Guardian
heatwaveslatest news & developments
India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana host the largest number of cities with high-risk scores.
AIR CONDITIONING

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…

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
CARADEE WRIGHT

SA launches first climate and health surveillance platform

The tool allows researchers and policymakers to track links between extreme weather, heatwaves, flooding and health outcomes

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
the country’s climate future is fast becoming hotter, drier and more dangerous. (Delwyn Verasamy, M&G)
CLIMATE ADAPTATION

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

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
Flood of information: The University of the Witwatersrand’s Global Change Institute and the South African National Biodiversity Institute have developed climate change fact sheets for local governments. Photo: EMS KZN
ADAPTATION PLANNING SOUTH AFRICA

SA municipalities get high-resolution data to tackle climate hazards

Wits and Sanbi have launched fact sheets, helping local governments plan for a climate-stressed SA

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
Low: The Vaal Dam, part of the Integrated Vaal River System supplying Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Free State and Northern Cape, is under pressure from planned maintenance and low rainfall. Photo: Mike van Jaarsveld
DROUGHT IMPACT SOUTH AFRICA

Vaal Dam’s levels are plummeting

Although there is a backup plan in the Sterkfontein Dam, residents need to reduce their water use

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Workers carry ice blocks on a hand cart in New Delhi on May 30, 2024, amid an ongoing heatwave. Temperature readings in the city rose into the high 40s Celsius on May 29, with power usage in the city, where the population is estimated at more than 30 million, surging to a record high. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)
BANGLADESH

In the face of climate change, extreme heat is a human rights crisis

National and local governments should adopt and implement heat action plans to guide heatwave preparation and emergency response

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
Limiting greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience can improve the everyday lives and experiences of South Africans. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)
AGRICULTURE

Report: Climate change to reduce incomes, undermine food and water security, raise cost of living

Limiting greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience can improve the everyday lives and experiences of South Africans This content is restricted to registered users and…

  • Sheree Bega
1 min read
Nestlé’s Communication Executive Mota Mota.
CACAO TREE

Climate crisis: Huge blow to cocoa producers

Chocolate prices set to soar as climate change affects Nestlé’s production

  • Mandisa Makgakga
3 min read
In recent years, research Wright and colleagues led has highlighted how prolonged heat exposure places outdoor workers, children, older people and low-income communities at increased risk of dehydration, heat stress, respiratory illness and other adverse health outcomes. The risks are expected to intensify as temperatures continue to rise. (Envato Elements)
TEMPERATURE RECORDS

Heatwaves: ‘This is just the beginning’

The lengthy period of very high temperatures in November broke monthly records This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail &…

  • Sheree Bega
1 min read
Another Brics in the wall: High-rise buildings in Beijing’s central business district show the city shrouded in air pollution. All five Brics countries fall among the world’s top 20 carbon polluters. Photo: Sheldon Cooper/Getty Images
BRAZIL

The elephant in the room at Brics is the climate crisis

The bloc’s countries are some of the worst polluters, so they need to take climate seriously

  • Ozayr Patel
6 min read
Warning: People on the Greek island of Rhodes left fruit on scorched land to help animals survive after wildfires swept through the area this month. (Angelos Tzortzinis/Getty Images)
CLIMATE CHANGE

SA should prepare for hottest summer ever, climate experts warn

A study says extreme heat in North America, Europe and China in July were made more likely by human-driven climate change

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
New report warns future heatwaves will lie outside range of human experience. Photo by: VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
CLIMATE CHANGE

How SA is preparing for the killer heatwaves of the future

New report warns future heatwaves will lie outside range of human experience

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
GUADALAJARA, SPAIN – 2022/07/19: A helicopter works to extinguish a wildfire near Valdepeñas de la Sierra, where several fires have forced to evacuate nearly 100 residents from the area. Wildfires have broken out across Spain amid a severe heatwave. (Photo by Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
EDITORSPICKS

Europe counts cost of heatwave as Spain PM says more than 500 died

Climate change protesters said the scorching weather should be a wake-up call for the continent

  • Daniel Silva
4 min read
HARROGATE, ENGLAND – JULY 19: Remnants of the 17th century village of West End can be seen after water levels in the Thruscross reservoir are partially depleted in the heatwave on July 19, 2022 in Harrogate, England. Yorkshire Water, the regional utility, warned residents to use water wisely during the heatwave, adding that the area has had below average rainfall since last autumn. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
EDITORSPICKS

UK breaches 40 degrees for first time as heatwave batters Europe

Experts blame climate change for the latest heatwave and note the more frequent extreme weather will only worsen in years to come

  • Joe Jackson
5 min read
Flock Of Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) At Sunset Flying To Roosting Tree. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
ANDREW MCKECHNIE

How birds adapt to rising heat is an early warning on climate change effects

Birds living in hot, humid climates have evolved to handle larger spikes in body temperature

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Young girls splash through a waterfall at a park in Washington, DC, on June 28, 2021, as a heatwave moves over much of the United StatesPhoto by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
CLIMATE CHANGE

Searing Canadian heatwave unprecedented but five more extreme events went under the radar

Heatwaves need to be assessed in terms of local temperature variability because ‘a smaller absolute extreme may have more harmful effects’

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
ANTONIA GUTERRES

People, nature will struggle to adapt to rise in global warming if emissions aren’t rapidly cut, says IPCC

The dangerous effects of climate change are occurring faster and will worsen sooner than previously predicted, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Climate says in its…

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
Sinking feeling: The Roman ruins of Tipasa on the Algerian coast are a Unesco World Heritage Site and just one of 56 such sites under threat from climate change. (Michael Runkel/Robert Harding Premium/AFP)
ADAPTATION

Africa’s heritage sites under threat as sea levels rise

For the first time a study has identified 56 heritage sites on the continent’s coast that are exposed to a one-in-100 year coastal extreme event, flooding and erosion

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
People walk with their belongings in a flooded area after the Nile river overflowed after continuous heavy rain which caused thousands of people to be displaced in Bor, central South Sudan, on August 8, 2020. (Photo by Akuot Chol / AFP)
BOB SCHOLES

The dummy’s guide to climate change for southern Africa

Though there is no going back and fixing what we have done, we can certainly all take responsibility for our corner of the world to ensure we have a fighting chance

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
Relief: A man uses fans spraying air mixed with water vapour to cool down in a street in Iraq’s capital Baghdad during June’s severe heat wave. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
ALS PARAMEDICS

South Africa unprepared for intense heatwaves of the next 20 years

Garrith Jamieson and his paramedic colleagues were on high alert days before a scorching heatwave struck Durban earlier this month. With the mercury expected to soar to 40°C and…

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read