In China, the world’s largest carbon emitter,no major strikes were held. Public gatherings and internet access are strictly controlled in what is also the world’s most populous nation This prolonged rainfall deficit caused an acute water shortage in Cape Town leading to a possibility of “day zero” when the city pipes would run dry Sparks, A., Hengl, T. & Nelson, A. GSODR: global summary daily weather data in R. J. Open Source Softw. 2, 177 (2017).

The overall results are in good agreement with respect to the sign and significance of the change in probability towards an increased risk of such an event with anthropogenic forcing. Combining the observational analysis as well as the models and using a simple average to synthesise the results, the change in the likelihood of an event like the observed 2015-2017 drought has increased by a factor of 3.3 (1.4 to 6.4). This is a very clear result with anthropogenic climate change having significantly increased the likelihood of such a drought to occur (Figure 2, top). Most people recover within three to seven days, however the elderly, infants and young children, pregnant women, the immunosuppressed and people with complex co-morbidities are at greater risk of complications – in these instances, if symptoms lasts more than a few days, medical help should be sought.

Partners

Eichholz and his team at city hall want to set a standard for vulnerable communities as they help Cape Canaveral find solutions. Florida is sometimes criticized for focusing on adaptation while ignoring the climate emissions causing global warming. Cape Canaveral is emphasizing both sides of the ledger, working to make solar power better available to residents and local businesses. The city is also targeting a green economy, “characterized by businesses who are efficient, clean, circular, collaborative and low-carbon.” Many people still think of climate change as a phenomenon that we will only face in the distant future. Perhaps that’s partly because climate change projections about rising temperatures and extreme weather events are tied to future dates: 2030, 2050, or 2100, for instance. If you don’t act like adults, then we will,” read one sign held by a student who had ditched school to join the protest. “Why would we go to school if you won’t listen to the educated?” read another sign written in a child’s handwriting. If climate change continues as expected, she said, “the prediction is that we will continue to see these high-stranding events, hundreds of animals, for the foreseeable future”.

The NRC notes in its 2007 Environmental Review that during low tide, the water flow out of the canal “is strong enough to scour the [ocean] bottom in the area near the discharge" and likely to affect fish and plants . But during high tide, "the heated discharge water does not displace the denser, colder, ambient water that remains near the bottom,” and therefore does not affect marine life. GAIN. Global and Feed Annual Report: Zimbabwe. https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/GRAIN%20AND%20FEED%20ANNUAL%20REPORT%20_Pretoria_Zimbabwe_7-26-2017.pdf (2017). Knox, J., Hess, T., Daccache, A. & Wheeler, T. Climate change impacts on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia. Environ. Res. Lett. 7, 034032 (2012).Warm events, when they meet specific criteria, are termed heatwaves. These are particularly dangerous for people, animals and plants, and are a direct cause of deaths. Slafer, G. A., Savin, R. & Sadras, V. O. Coarse and fine regulation of wheat yield components in response to genotype and environment. Field Crops Res. 157, 71–83 (2014). Niang, I. et al. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Ch. 22 Africa. In Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 1199–1265 (2014).

Ziervogel, G. et al. Climate change impacts and adaptation in South Africa: climate change impacts in South Africa. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Clim. Change 5, 605–620 (2014). Funk, C. et al. The climate hazards infrared precipitation with stations—a new environmental record for monitoring extremes. Sci. Data 2, 1–21 (2015). Cape Town is a case in point. In their proposed climate strategy, none of the goals explicitly deal with biodiversity, conservation or ecosystem restoration. Some of the proposed goals even undermine them. Business unusual Such policy is critical for the whole world – and urgent for southern Africa, which is particularly vulnerable to climatic changes. The region has already been experiencing climate changes that are more rapid, and with impacts that are more severe than the global average. It also struggles with a low adaptive capacity: there’s little capital available for investment in measures to protect against future climate hazards, and very pressing immediate human rights needs for a large proportion of the population.

Gibson, L. R. & Paulsen, G. M. Yield components of wheat grown under high temperature stress during reproductive growth. Crop Sci. 39, 1841 (1999). The global grass-roots campaign was designed to disrupt everyday life and build political pressure ahead of the U.N. summit, in which heads of state convened by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plan new climate pledges. Countries planning to forgo pledges include the United States, which President Trump is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.

In Miami Beach, where sea level rise and erosion could place more than 12,000 homes at risk of chronic flooding within the next 30 years, a relatively small crowd of roughly 300 students and adult chaperones gathered outside City Hall in the first of two protests Friday. Their signs read: “I hope my grand kids know how to swim” and “Take a stand before our city is all sand.” Michael Samways and Patricia Holmes do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Leichenko, R. M. & O’Brien, K. L. The dynamics of rural vulnerability to global change: the case of southern Africa. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change 7, 1–18 (2002). Cui, F. et al. Construction of an integrative linkage map and QTL mapping of grain yield-related traits using three related wheat RIL populations. Theor. Appl. Genet. 127, 659–675 (2014). Despite this threat, only 13 cities in Africa are C40 cities – cities committed to taking measurable climate action. Only five in South Africa have climate change strategies. The aim of a climate change strategy is to outline actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.Natural ecosystems help to stabilise climate and restoring them mitigates climate change. They deliver services such as clean water and carbon sequestration. The United Nations recognises the role of biodiversity in stabilising climate and has declared that the next decade will be the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. The first model used is the UK Met Office attribution model HadGEM3-A (Christidis et al, 2013). It is an atmosphere-land model with N216 horizontal resolution (about 60km). For this model, we have both historical simulations 1960-2015 driven by observed SST, and historicalNat simulations representing the historical period but with only non-anthropogenic forcings. The SST for these runs has been obtained by subtracting an estimate of the forced change in SST obtained from the mean CMIP5 ensemble response. Cape Town has the second highest number of plant extinctions worldwide. It is crucial that the city prevents further extinction by acquiring and restoring reserves for indigenous species.