AFP UK

Vaccines were promoted as a silver bullet to end the pandemic, the path to finally beating Covid-19. 

But in Africa, they remain scarce, with access hampered by hoarding, export bans and empty promises. 

Nearly six billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, but only two percent of those have been in Africa.

Experts hope that a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week will address gaping vaccine inequalities that are leaving many countries in Africa behind. 

So why has Africa found itself at the bottom of the vaccination curve?

– What’s the current state of play? –

Africa has largely been spared the high infections and death rates that Covid-19 has wrought in many Western nations, though Delta-variant outbreaks have seen some of the numbers creep up.  

Home to 1.3 billion people, the continent has reported nearly 8.2 million infections and 206,000 deaths.

In Europe, by comparison, 1.2 million people have died from the virus. 

But the continent badly lags on vaccine rates too. 

Just 3.6 percent of Africa’s eligible population has been inoculated — compared with an average of more than 60 percent in Europe and Britain.

Access has been a major hindrance. 

African countries can get their hands on vaccines by purchasing them directly from manufacturers, or via donations. 

One main avenue for getting donated shots is through Covax, an international vaccine-sharing scheme for lower-income nations. 

The African Union also buys vaccines for its members under the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT). 

But Covax and AVATT have both been hit by restrictions by vaccine-producing nations — India, for example, which blocked exports of AstraZeneca as it was facing a deadly wave of the virus earlier this year. 

Manufacturers have also prioritised bilateral deals with individual countries, leaving African nations at the end of the queue.

That means many African nations are increasingly reliant on donations from wealthy countries — but often only if they have surplus to give away. 

Around 57 million vaccine doses have been donated to Africa by governments and private firms, about three-quarters of the total 77.5 million pledged, according to UNICEF.

– Who has given Africa vaccines? – 

This is where the empty promises come in. 

“It’s a story of this pandemic. Everybody talks big, but delivers small,” said Fatima Hassan from South Africa’s non-profit Health Justice Initiative. 

“The world doesn’t give a damn about people in Africa”.

Western nations have been vocal in their promises to donate shots to Africa. In June, the G7 pledged hundreds of millions of doses to poorer countries, but most have yet to be shipped.

The US has so far donated the most — 31.5 million doses, ahead of China with 6.8 million, Britain with 5.3 million, and France with 4.5 million, according to data from UNICEF. 

Campaigners have called for drugmakers to waive intellectual property rights so poorer nations can produce the vaccines themselves, something that pharma firms are reluctant to do. 

Others are pushing for vaccines to be made available for purchase — by removing export controls and prioritising contracts — so African countries don’t need to be “drip-fed” via donations. 

“You can donate to us if you so wish, but… we want access to purchase,” AVATT coordinator Strive Masiyiwa pleaded at a World Health Organization last week. 

– Where does China fit in? –

While most Western donations came through Covax, China has chosen to sell or donate jabs via bilateral deals. 

China has sold 49 million doses to African countries so far, according to Beijing-based vaccination tracking company, Bridge Consulting. 

Observers say China is eager to boost its profile in Africa via vaccine diplomacy, but its efforts have been hampered by doubts about the efficacy of its shot. 

Supplying vaccines has become a new frontier in the battle to gain influence in Africa and beyond, said Hugo Brennan of risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft. 

“(It’s) one of multiple fronts on which the US and China are competing for geopolitical influence around the globe,” he said. 

– What’s next? – 

Campaigners hope that vaccine equality will be addressed at a meeting this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, hosted by US President Joe Biden. 

The US leader — keen to lead the fight to vaccinate the globe — has invited heads of states, business, philanthropists and charity organisations to talks to “end the pandemic”. 

But there are sceptical voices. 

“The US has said many of the right things about global commitments,” said Mitchell Warren, director of AVAC, a US-based global health organisation. 

“But we have not seen that translate into shots in arms.”

In the bay of Vlora on central Albania’s coast, crystal clear waters sparkle in the sun but under the surface, it is a desert.

The large brown algae forests — a hot spot of biodiversity — are steadily shrinking, scientists warn.

Warming sea temperatures, pollution and dynamite fishing are causing Adriatic marine forests to disappear.

The trend has prompted Albanian experts to join a Mediterranean programme to try to reverse the loss using laboratory-grown versions.

A lack of historical data makes it difficult to quantify the decline of Cystoseira, a genus of brown algae which provides a key habitat for many species, serving as food as well as spawning and nursery areas.

But experts warn its disappearance in both the Adriatic and Ionian seas is worrying.

“In recent years we have seen a sharp decline in the marine forests of Cystoseira, the most affected by the increase in temperature caused by climate change,” Ina Nasto, a biology professor at Vlora University, told AFP.

Accelerated coastal urbanisation, discharge of agricultural or industrial waste water, trawling, sediment pollution and overfishing also contribute to the problem, she said.

– Protected species –

Practices like harvesting date mussels with dynamite or jackhammers to break the rocks where they live devastate the seabed too, Denada Sota, also a professor at Vlora University, said.

Although they are a protected species, many restaurants on Albania’s coast still serve date mussels as a delicacy.

Images shot by scientists in Vlora bay show bare rocks, where fish are few and far between, populated only by sea urchins that proliferate because their natural predators have disappeared as the victims of overfishing.

Since January 2019, professors from the university’s biology laboratory have been part of an experiment aimed at restoring the brown algae.

Some 10 other institutes in the Mediterranean region are also participating, applying the same protocol.

It involves the scientists at the Vlora lab growing fertilised Cystoseira algae cells in aquariums.

The tiny algae fix themselves onto stones that are later immersed in the sea at a depth of some four metres (13 feet).

“We have to do all the monitoring even at the bottom of the sea,” said Nasto, who regularly dives down to inspect the seabed and check on progress.

After a few weeks, the scientists look again to see the results of their experiment and find out if the algae have made a new home. 

It is hoped that the experiment will enable them to develop protocols for marine forest restoration.

– Invasive species –

Invasive species pose another threat to the seabed ecosystem — for several years, Albania’s more than 400-kilometre (250-mile) coastline has hosted many non native species.

Chief among them is Caulerpa cylindracea, which has decimated meadows of Posidonia, another seaweed crucial to biodiversity.

Introduced from Australia in the 1990s, Caulerpa — dubbed the tumour of the Mediterranean — has already colonised all the Albanian coast, Sajmir Beqiraj, a professor at Tirana University, said.

“Like other invasive species, this algae has great advantages to compete with native species and degrade the marine fauna and flora, significantly reducing biodiversity.”

In Kallmet, on the northern coast, you only have to dive down two metres to find dense colonies of Caulerpa, he said, showing AFP areas conquered by the invasive seaweed.

In just a few minutes, his bag is half-filled with the dark green algae in the shape of tiny bunches of grapes.

– ‘Like Covid’ – 

Experts have identified a total of 40 invasive plant and animal species in Albanian waters, such as the dusky spinefoot fish from the Red Sea that is devouring algal forests it feeds on.

Since the phenomenon is common to Mediterranean and Adriatic countries, scientists urge a joint approach. 

“We must join forces and act quickly to find a solution,” said Nexhip Hysolokaj, a biodiversity expert from Vlora.

Baci Dyrmishaj, a fisherman for more than 25 years in Vlora, agrees that the problems defy borders — and so should the response.

He laments the proliferation of the invasive blue crab that destroys his nets and attacks his catch.

“It’s like Covid,” he said smiling. “The big countries got together to find a vaccine, we have to do the same for the planet because no border can save you.” 

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce “good news” on addressing a shortfall in a $100 billion global climate fund, a UN official said Monday following a closed-door meeting between countries on the sidelines of the general assembly.

Biden, who will make his first speech to the world body as the American leader on Tuesday, was represented by his climate envoy John Kerry at the meeting convened by Britain and UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Ahead of the Paris agreement, developed countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year from 2020 to support poorer nations with climate adaptation, but there is currently around a $20 billion shortfall.

“We did hear from the US representative in the room that… some good news was imminent,” the UN official said, adding there were “really positive views and signals coming from the US representative.”

“We don’t have the details, of course, but hopefully it will help to provide that clarity on how the US intends to step up to support the mobilization of the $100 billion.”

The announcement was a sliver of hope on the climate front following a slew of recent scientific reports painting a bleak picture of the planet’s future, as the world’s top polluters continue to spew greenhouse gases at alarming rates.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who co-hosted the meeting, took leaders to task over their failure to honor their pledges for the fund, which is meant to deliver $100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025.

“Everyone nods and we all agree that ‘something must be done,'” said Johnson, whose country will host the all-critical COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

“Yet I confess I’m increasingly frustrated that the something to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough,” he added, in remarks shared by his office.

Last week, the OECD confirmed that only $79.6 billion was mobilized in 2019. 

“We heard from some of the industrialized countries… the faint signs of progress,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting, mentioning Sweden and Denmark.

Both countries have announced they would allocate 50 percent or more of their climate financing for adaptation in the developing world, another key UN goal.

“Let’s see what the president of the United States has to say tomorrow,” he added, hinting at the news to come.

– Transition from coal –

Britain for its part trumpeted its $15 billion climate finance pledges over the next five years, and announced Monday that $750 million of that would be allocated to supporting developing countries to meet net zero targets and end the use of coal.

“We’re the guys who created the problem — the industrial revolution started more or less in our country,” said Johnson.

“So of course I understand the feelings of injustice in the developing world… But I say to them, that’s why we’ve got to get the funding to help you to make the progress that you need.”

The meeting came days after Guterres warned the world was on a “catastrophic” path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating, after the latest bombshell report by UN scientists unveiled last week.

The figure would shatter the temperature targets of the Paris climate agreement, which aimed for warming well below 2C and preferably capped at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Guterres told reporters he called the conference with Johnson as “a wake-up call to instill a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process ahead of COP26.”

While recognizing “developing countries need to take the lead,” the secretary-general also called on “several emerging economies” to “go the extra mile.” 

This is taken to mean the likes of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.

The Paris agreement calls for net zero emissions by 2050, with strong reductions by 2030, to meet the 1.5C goal.

With only 1.1C of warming so far, the world has seen a torrent of deadly weather disasters intensified by climate change in recent months, from asphalt-melting heat waves to flash floods and untamable wildfires. 

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in the United States on Monday, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes.

A number of separate fires were converging on the California woodland that is home to the huge trees, highlighting the terrifying power of wildfires to consume everything in their path.

Incident commanders said the Windy Fire, which has already charred 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) has burned into the remote Peyrone Sequoia Grove and the Red Hill Grove.

“We don’t know that those are destroyed,” Windy fire incident spokeswoman Amanda Munsey said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But the fire has completely surrounded those two groves.”

In nearby Long Meadow Grove, the blaze had spread to the vulnerable top of at least one of the trees.

“It was running toward multiple trees and (firefighters) were able to get it out, but it did get into the crown of one of the sequoias.”

Wildfires that spread to the tops of trees — especially very tall trees — can move quickly through the forest, as the tops of the trees explode, showering embers over a large area below them. 

Further north, the KNP Complex fire continued to threaten the renowned Giant Forest, home to General Sherman, the world’s biggest tree by volume, and standing at 275 feet (83 meters).

General Sherman, which is estimated by the National Parks Service to be 2,200 years old, was wrapped in fireproof foil blankets last week.

Incident commanders said they believed they could protect the tree from the 24,000-acre blaze, which was sparked by lightning just over a week ago

They point to meticulous forest management over the last few decades, including prescribed burns that deplete available fuels, and slow the progress of fires.

California and other parts of the western United States are laboring under a years-long drought that has left swathes of the region’s magnificent forests tinder dry.

Scientists say human activity, including the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is warming the planet and changing weather patterns, making wildfires hotter, more intense and more destructive.

The giant sequoias are the world’s largest trees by volume. Their relatives, the California redwoods, can grow taller — well over 100 meters — but are not as wide.

Both kinds of tree are adapted to fires, with thick bark that protects them from heat.

In their lifetimes, which are measured in thousands of years, they typically endure lots of fires, the heat from which helps their cones to open, allowing the seeds to disperse.

But longer, hotter and more aggressive fires can damage them, sometimes irreparably, and California has recently seen multiple severe fire seasons in a row.

One fire last year killed up to 10,000 of the trees. 

Rising temperatures and increased dryness due to changing rainfall patterns thanks to climate change create the ideal conditions for forest fires. The World Meteorological Organization said that the five-year period to 2019 was “unprecedented” for fires, especially in Europe and North America. 

NASA on Monday announced it would land an ice-seeking rover on a region of the Moon’s south pole called the Nobile Crater in 2023.

The space agency hopes the robot will confirm the presence of water ice just below the surface, which could one day be converted into rocket fuel for missions to Mars and deeper into the cosmos.

“Nobile Crater is an impact crater near the south pole that was born through a collision with another smaller celestial body,” Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s planetary science division told reporters.

It is one of the solar system’s coldest regions, and has only so far been probed from afar using sensors such as those aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

“The rover is going to get up close and personal with the lunar soil, even drilling several feet down,” said Glazer.

The robot is called Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER. 

Its dimensions are similar to a golf cart —  five feet by five feet by eight feet (1.5 meters by 1.5 meters by 2.5 meters) and looks somewhat similar to droids seen in Star Wars. It weighs 950 pounds (430 kilograms).

Unlike rovers used on Mars, VIPER can be piloted in near real time, because the distance from Earth is much shorter — only around 200,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) or 1.3 light seconds.

The rover is also faster, topping out at 0.5 mph (0.8 kph).

Solar-powered VIPER comes with a 50-hour battery, is built to withstand extreme temperatures, and can “crab walk” sideways so that its panels keep pointing toward the Sun to maintain charging.

In terms of the mission’s scientific goals, the VIPER team wants to know how frozen water reached the Moon in the first place, how it remained preserved for billions of years, how it escapes and where the water goes now.

The mission is part of Artemis, America’s plan to return humans to the Moon. 

The first crewed mission is technically set for 2024, but will likely take place significantly later as various aspects are running behind schedule.

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to protect several groves of giant sequoias in the United States on Monday, warning the enormous ancient trees were at risk from out-of-control blazes.

A number of separate fires were converging on the California woodland that is home to the huge trees, highlighting the terrifying power of wildfires to consume everything in their path.

Incident commanders said the Windy Fire, which has already charred 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) has burned into the remote Peyrone Sequoia Grove and the Red Hill Grove.

“We don’t know that those are destroyed,” Windy fire incident spokeswoman Amanda Munsey said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But the fire has completely surrounded those two groves.”

In nearby Long Meadow Grove, the blaze had spread to the vulnerable top of at least one of the trees.

“It was running toward multiple trees and (firefighters) were able to get it out, but it did get into the crown of one of the sequoias.”

Wildfires that spread to the tops of trees — especially very tall trees — can move quickly through the forest, as the tops of the trees explode, showering embers over a large area below them. 

Further north, the KNP Complex fire continued to threaten the renowned Giant Forest, home to General Sherman, the world’s biggest tree by volume, and standing at 275 feet (83 meters).

General Sherman, which is estimated by the National Parks Service to be 2,200 years old, was wrapped in fireproof foil blankets last week.

Incident commanders said they believed they could protect the tree from the 24,000-acre blaze, which was sparked by lightning just over a week ago

They point to meticulous forest management over the last few decades, including prescribed burns that deplete available fuels, and slow the progress of fires.

California and other parts of the western United States are laboring under a years-long drought that has left swathes of the region’s magnificent forests tinder dry.

Scientists say human activity, including the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is warming the planet and changing weather patterns, making wildfires hotter, more intense and more destructive.

The giant sequoias are the world’s largest trees by volume. Their relatives, the California redwoods, can grow taller — well over 100 meters — but are not as wide.

Both kinds of tree are adapted to fires, with thick bark that protects them from heat.

In their lifetimes, which are measured in thousands of years, they typically endure lots of fires, the heat from which helps their cones to open, allowing the seeds to disperse.

But longer, hotter and more aggressive fires can damage them, sometimes irreparably, and California has recently seen multiple severe fire seasons in a row.

One fire last year killed up to 10,000 of the trees. 

Rising temperatures and increased dryness due to changing rainfall patterns thanks to climate change create the ideal conditions for forest fires. The World Meteorological Organization said that the five-year period to 2019 was “unprecedented” for fires, especially in Europe and North America. 

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce “good news” on addressing a shortfall in a $100 billion global climate fund, a UN official said Monday following a closed-door meeting between countries on the sidelines of the general assembly.

Biden, who will make his first speech to the world body as the American leader on Tuesday, was represented by his climate envoy John Kerry at the meeting convened by Britain and UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Ahead of the Paris agreement, developed countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year from 2020 to support poorer nations with climate adaptation, but there is currently around a $20 billion shortfall.

“We did hear from the US representative in the room that… some good news was imminent,” the UN official said, adding there were “really positive views and signals coming from the US representative.”

“We don’t have the details, of course, but hopefully it will help to provide that clarity on how the US intends to step up to support the mobilization of the $100 billion.”

The announcement was a sliver of hope on the climate front following a slew of recent scientific reports painting a bleak picture of the planet’s future, as the world’s top polluters continue to spew greenhouse gases at alarming rates.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who co-hosted the meeting, took leaders to task over their failure to honor their pledges for the fund, which is meant to deliver $100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025.

“Everyone nods and we all agree that ‘something must be done,'” said Johnson, whose country will host the all-critical COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

“Yet I confess I’m increasingly frustrated that the something to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough,” he added, in remarks shared by his office.

Last week, the OECD confirmed that only $79.6 billion was mobilized in 2019. 

“We heard from some of the industrialized countries… the faint signs of progress,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting, mentioning Sweden and Denmark.

Both countries have announced they would allocate 50 percent or more of their climate financing for adaptation in the developing world, another key UN goal.

“Let’s see what the president of the United States has to say tomorrow,” he added, hinting at the news to come.

– Transition from coal –

Britain for its part trumpeted its $15 billion climate finance pledges over the next five years, and announced Monday that $750 million of that would be allocated to supporting developing countries to meet net zero targets and end the use of coal.

“We’re the guys who created the problem — the industrial revolution started more or less in our country,” said Johnson.

“So of course I understand the feelings of injustice in the developing world… But I say to them, that’s why we’ve got to get the funding to help you to make the progress that you need.”

The meeting came days after Guterres warned the world was on a “catastrophic” path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating, after the latest bombshell report by UN scientists unveiled last week.

The figure would shatter the temperature targets of the Paris climate agreement, which aimed for warming well below 2C and preferably capped at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Guterres told reporters he called the conference with Johnson as “a wake-up call to instill a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process ahead of COP26.”

While recognizing “developing countries need to take the lead,” the secretary-general also called on “several emerging economies” to “go the extra mile.” 

This is taken to mean the likes of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.

The Paris agreement calls for net zero emissions by 2050, with strong reductions by 2030, to meet the 1.5C goal.

With only 1.1C of warming so far, the world has seen a torrent of deadly weather disasters intensified by climate change in recent months, from asphalt-melting heat waves to flash floods and untamable wildfires. 

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce “good news” on addressing a shortfall in a $100 billion global climate fund, a UN official said Monday following a closed-door meeting between countries on the sidelines of the general assembly.

Biden, who will make his first speech to the world body as the American leader on Tuesday, was represented by his climate envoy John Kerry at the meeting convened by Britain and UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Ahead of the Paris agreement, developed countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year from 2020 to support poorer nations with climate adaptation, but there is currently around a $20 billion shortfall.

“We did hear from the US representative in the room that… some good news was imminent,” the UN official said, adding there were “really positive views and signals coming from the US representative.”

“We don’t have the details, of course, but hopefully it will help to provide that clarity on how the US intends to step up to support the mobilization of the $100 billion.”

The announcement was a sliver of hope on the climate front following a slew of recent scientific reports painting a bleak picture of the planet’s future, as the world’s top polluters continue to spew greenhouse gases at alarming rates.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who co-hosted the meeting, took leaders to task over their failure to honor their pledges for the fund, which is meant to deliver $100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025.

“Everyone nods and we all agree that ‘something must be done,'” said Johnson, whose country will host the all-critical COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

“Yet I confess I’m increasingly frustrated that the something to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough,” he added, in remarks shared by his office.

Last week, the OECD confirmed that only $79.6 billion was mobilized in 2019. 

“We heard from some of the industrialized countries… the faint signs of progress,” Johnson told reporters after the meeting, mentioning Sweden and Denmark.

Both countries have announced they would allocate 50 percent or more of their climate financing for adaptation in the developing world, another key UN goal.

“Let’s see what the president of the United States has to say tomorrow,” he added, hinting at the news to come.

– Transition from coal –

Britain for its part trumpeted its $15 billion climate finance pledges over the next five years, and announced Monday that $750 million of that would be allocated to supporting developing countries to meet net zero targets and end the use of coal.

“We’re the guys who created the problem — the industrial revolution started more or less in our country,” said Johnson.

“So of course I understand the feelings of injustice in the developing world… But I say to them, that’s why we’ve got to get the funding to help you to make the progress that you need.”

The meeting came days after Guterres warned the world was on a “catastrophic” path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating, after the latest bombshell report by UN scientists unveiled last week.

The figure would shatter the temperature targets of the Paris climate agreement, which aimed for warming well below 2C and preferably capped at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Guterres told reporters he called the conference with Johnson as “a wake-up call to instill a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process ahead of COP26.”

While recognizing “developing countries need to take the lead,” the secretary-general also called on “several emerging economies” to “go the extra mile.” 

This is taken to mean the likes of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.

The Paris agreement calls for net zero emissions by 2050, with strong reductions by 2030, to meet the 1.5C goal.

With only 1.1C of warming so far, the world has seen a torrent of deadly weather disasters intensified by climate change in recent months, from asphalt-melting heat waves to flash floods and untamable wildfires. 

A wildfire broke out in a Greek seaside town northeast of Athens on Monday, burning through brush and pine trees and causing precautionary evacuations, firefighters said.

The latest fire comes after Greece was shaken by deadly blazes last month fanned by a heatwave that officials blamed on global warming.

Around 70 firefighters and 20 vehicles were battling flames on Monday night in the town of Nea Makri, 38 kilometres (24 miles) northeast of the capital, an official for the firefighters’ press service said.

“The fire broke out at 10.35 pm local time (1935 GMT) near homes in Nea Makri, and evacuations have been recommended as a precaution,” the official told AFP.

A series of devastating forest fires claimed three lives and ravaged more than 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) across Greece in early August, mainly northwest of the capital, on the island of Evia and in the southern Peloponnese.

It was also a brutal summer fire season for a swathe of southern European countries, including Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and Cyprus, while blazes also claimed lives in Turkey and Algeria.

Scientists have warned that extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to man-made global warming, and Greece’s prime minister has linked the blazes to climate change. 

At a summit in Athens on Friday, nine southern European Union members pledged their “firm commitment” to implementing the Paris 2015 agreement, which aims to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius (34.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Also on Friday, the United Nations warned that the world is on the “catastrophic” path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating because it is failing to slash global emissions.

Over the weekend the temperature rose above 35C in parts of Greece before dropping to 32C on Monday. It is forecasted to fall further this week.

NASA on Monday announced it would land an ice-seeking rover on a region of the Moon’s south pole called the Nobile Crater in 2023.

The space agency hopes the robot will confirm the presence of water ice just below the surface, which could one day be converted into rocket fuel for missions to Mars and deeper into the cosmos.

“Nobile Crater is an impact crater near the south pole that was born through a collision with another smaller celestial body,” Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s planetary science division told reporters.

It is one of the solar system’s coldest regions, and has only so far been probed from afar using sensors such as those aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

“The rover is going to get up close and personal with the lunar soil, even drilling several feet down,” said Glazer.

The robot is called Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER. 

Its dimensions are similar to a golf cart —  five feet by five feet by eight feet (1.5 meters by 1.5 meters by 2.5 meters) and looks somewhat similar to droids seen in Star Wars. It weighs 950 pounds (430 kilograms).

Unlike rovers used on Mars, VIPER can be piloted in near real time, because the distance from Earth is much shorter — only around 200,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) or 1.3 light seconds.

The rover is also faster, topping out at 0.5 mph (0.8 kph).

Solar-powered VIPER comes with a 50-hour battery, is built to withstand extreme temperatures, and can “crab walk” sideways so that its panels keep pointing toward the Sun to maintain charging.

In terms of the mission’s scientific goals, the VIPER team wants to know how frozen water reached the Moon in the first place, how it remained preserved for billions of years, how it escapes and where the water goes now.

The mission is part of Artemis, America’s plan to return humans to the Moon. 

The first crewed mission is technically set for 2024, but will likely take place significantly later as various aspects are running behind schedule.