GLIC REPORT
Politics
ECOWAS holds emergency session over Senegal crisis and member exits
West African foreign ministers are holding emergency talks on Thursday in Nigeria’s capital Abuja to discuss the political crisis in Senegal and disputes with military rulers in three other member states. The extraordinary session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) follows President Macky Sall’s sudden decision to delay elections in Senegal, just a week after Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger declared they were quitting the bloc.
ECOWAS holds emergency session over Senegal crisis and member exits 9th February 2024
Environment
At least 120 people have been killed in wildfires in Chile
Devastating wildfires tearing through swaths of Chile have killed more than 120 people, authorities said Monday, as they warned that the death toll was set to rise.
At least 120 people have been killed in wildfires in Chile 6th February 2024
Environment
Two dead in California floods as heavy rain, mudslides and falling trees hammer state
The storm started on Saturday, causing flooding, mudslides, and power outages across the state. Dangerous winds in the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, and Central Coast were recorded, causing fallen trees and power line damage. Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, confirmed the two deaths occurred in Santa Cruz County and Sutter County.
Two dead in California floods as heavy rain, mudslides and falling trees hammer state 6th February 2024
Environment
Iceland volcano erupts, spewing lava and hitting roads
A volcano in south-western Iceland erupted on Feb 8, for the third time since December 2023, pumping lava up to 80m into the air and disrupting life in the Reykjanes peninsula.
Fountains of bright-orange molten rock spewed from cracks in the ground and lava crossed a road near the Blue Lagoon – a luxury geothermal spa – which had closed its doors on Feb 8 due to the volcanic outbreak.
Iceland volcano erupts, spewing lava and hitting roads 8th February 2024
Environment
First time world exceeds 1.5C warming limit over 12-month period
For the first time on record, global warming has exceeded temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over a 12-month period, European climate monitors have said, in what scientists called a “warning to humanity”.The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported the run of exceptional heat on Thursday, measuring temperatures between February 2023 to January 2024 to record the highest 12-month global temperature average on record. Storms, drought and fires lashed the planet as climate change, as well as the El Nino weather phenomenon that warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, made 2023 the planet’s hottest year in global records going back to 1850.The extremes have continued into 2024, C3S said, confirming the year-long warming of 1.52C above the 19th century benchmark. Scientists said, however, that the world has not yet permanently breached the crucial 1.5C warming threshold target outlined in the Paris climate agreement, which is measured over decades. In 2015, almost 200 governments signed the unprecedented Paris climate agreement to phase out fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy in the second half of the century. Last year, the United Nations said the world is not on track to meet the long-term goals of that deal, including capping global warming at 1.5C.
First time world exceeds 1.5C warming limit over 12-month period 8th February 2024
