AFP UK

Giant pumps whir deep underground at a plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution.

The tiny island nation has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighbouring Malaysia.

To boost self-sufficiency, the government has developed an advanced system for treating sewage involving a network of tunnels and high-tech plants.

Recycled wastewater can now meet 40 percent of Singapore’s water demand — a figure that is expected to rise to 55 percent by 2060, according to the country’s water agency.

While most is used for industrial purposes, some of it is added to drinking water supplies in reservoirs in the city-state of 5.7 million people.

And the system helps reduce maritime pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is discharged into the sea.

This is a contrast to most other countries — 80 percent of the world’s wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to UN estimates.

“Singapore lacks natural resources and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply,” Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the Public Utilities Board’s water reclamation department, told AFP.

One key strategy is to “collect every drop” and “reuse endlessly”, she added.

This is in addition to the city-state’s other main approaches to securing water supplies — importing it, using reservoirs and desalinating seawater.

At the heart of the recycling system is the high-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city’s eastern coast.

Parts of the facility in land-scarce Singapore are underground — some as deep as 25 stories — and it is fed by wastewater that flows through a massive, 48-kilometre (30-mile) tunnel, linked to sewers.

The site houses a maze of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, filtration systems and other machinery, and can treat up to 900 million litres (237 million US gallons) of wastewater a day — enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 24 hours for a year.

In one building, a network of ventilators have been installed to keep the air smelling fresh, although a putrid whiff still hangs in the air.

– ‘Limited amount of water’ –

Sewage that arrives at the plant undergoes an initial filtering process before powerful pumps send it flowing to facilities above ground for further treatment.

There, the treated water is further cleansed, with impurities like bacteria and viruses removed through advanced filtration processes, and disinfected with ultraviolet rays.

The end product, dubbed “NEWater”, is mainly used in microchip manufacturing plants — which are ubiquitous in the city-state and require high-quality water — and for cooling systems in buildings. 

But it also helps boost drinking water supplies. During the dry season, it is sent to top up several man-made reservoirs and, following further treatment, flows to people’s taps.

Singapore is expanding its recycling system. 

It will add an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island, which should be completed by 2025.

Singapore will have spent Sg$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) on upgrading its water treatment infrastructure by the time the expansion is finished. 

One impetus to seek greater self-sufficiency are the city-state’s historically fractious relations with key water source, Malaysia.

The neighbours have had stormy ties since Malaysia ejected Singapore from a short-lived union in 1965, and they have in the past had rows over water supplies.

Stefan Wuertz, a professor of environmental engineering at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, stressed the importance for other countries to treat wastewater more effectively, warning of serious long-term impacts otherwise.

“There is a limited amount of water on the planet,” he told AFP.

“If we were to keep polluting the freshwater, at some stage we would reach the point where… treatment becomes extremely expensive.”

Firefighters on the Greek island of Evia dug in late Monday in a desperate battle to prevent wildfires, which have been burning for a week, from reaching a regional hub with thousands of residents.

In eerie images broadcast by Greek state TV ERT, firemen and volunteers formed a line opposite a row of huge trees a few kilometres from the town of Istiaia, determined not to let the fire pass.

A short distance away, a massive wall of flame crept closer.

The civil protection authority had earlier ordered the evacuation of the nearby village of Avgaria, but as a local official admitted, many residents are determined to stay and defend their homes.

“Villages are evacuated, but those who can help stay behind,” central Greece governor Fanis Spanos told state agency ANA.

“Without them, many villages would have burned,” Spanos said.

Hundreds of homes have already been lost in Evia, greater Athens and other parts of Greece in wildfires that have been raging almost without pause since late July.

Thousands have fled their homes to escape the fires.

— PM apologises —

On Monday, facing criticism from the opposition for aerial fire-fighting support deemed inadequate, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologised to the nation and vowed to punish those responsible.

“I apologise for any shortcomings” in the state response, Mitsotakis said in a televised address.

“We may have done what was humanly possible, but in many cases it was not enough,” he said.

Some 650 firefighters have so far been deployed on Evia, according to Greek authorities.

Greek officials have already blamed climate change for the extreme heat, and the UN released a major report on Monday showing how the threat from warming is even more acute than previously thought. 

Two people died near Athens last week — a volunteer firefighter hit by a power pylon, and an industrialist who suffered a heart attack as the fire approached his factory. 

A third man whose bulldozer fell into a cliff during a weekend fire in central Greece died Monday.

Several others have been hospitalised with smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries.

— ‘Desperately alone’ —

Many mayors around the country have complained of a serious lack of aerial support in fighting the fires, despite the government’s assurances of having set aside ample resources earlier this year.

“Local officials and citizens cry out that they are desperately alone… for how long will this drama endure?” main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras tweeted on Sunday.

In response, Mitsotakis said over 580 fires had broken out in recent days around the country, exposing Greece to a “natural fury without precedent”.

“Because of the unprecedented heatwave and prolonged drought, (the fires) are hard to extinguish,” he said.

Civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias has said that water bombers have faced “serious difficulties” including turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility.

The defence ministry on Monday denied reports that the head of the army’s air support had resigned in response to the criticism.

In addition to being criticised for alleged poor preparation and resource mismanagement, government officials are also accused of avoiding the media at the height of the disaster.

After the Athens union of journalists lodged a formal complaint, the PM and Hardalias announced press conferences this week.

From July 29 to August 7, 56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) were burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. 

The average area burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares.

– Europe’s biggest firefighting operation’ –

The civil protection authority on Monday said EU states and other countries had so far contributed 21 aircraft, 250 vehicles and over 1,200 firefighters, some of whom were expected between Tuesday and Friday.

Mitsotakis said on Monday he discussed with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin the delivery of an additional giant BE-200 water bomber. 

He later spoke to Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, who pledged an additional two fire bombers.

Neighbour and traditional rival Turkey also pledged two fire-fighting aircraft, the Greek foreign ministry said.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laid bare the challenges facing the planet with a major report on Monday.

The IPCC said global temperatures would probably hit the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by around 2030 — a decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

The EU said it was mobilising “one of Europe’s biggest ever common firefighting operations” to assist Greece and other countries.

The response was needed “as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously”, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

The situation looked better elsewhere, with officials saying that fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a suburb north of Athens had abated. A fire on Crete was also brought under control.

World leaders, green groups and influencers reacted on Monday to a “terrifying” UN climate science report with a mix of horror and hopefulness as the scale of the emergency became abundantly clear.

US presidential envoy on climate and former secretary of state John Kerry said the IPCC report, which warned the world is on course to reach 1.5C of warming around 2030, showed “the climate crisis is not only here, it is growing increasingly severe”.

Current US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement that world leaders, the private sector and individuals must “act together with urgency and do everything it takes to protect our planet”.

Frans Timmermans, the European Union’s deputy climate chief, said the 3,500-page report proved “it’s not too late to stem the tide and prevent runaway climate change”. 

Britain’s Boris Johnson, whose government is hosting a crucial UN climate summit in November, said the assessment “makes for sobering reading”.

“I hope today’s IPCC report will be a wake-up call for the world to take action now, before we meet in Glasgow in November for the critical COP26 summit,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for the November climate conference to fully recognise the gravity of the situation, saying on Twitter: “The time for outrage is behind us… In Glasgow, let’s seal a deal that matches the urgency.”

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed said the document confirmed that climate-vulnerable nations such as his were “on the edge of extinction”.

– ‘Suicidal’ –

Saleemul Huq, director of Dhaka-based environmental think tank ICCCAD, said the IPCC report was “the final warning that bubble of empty promises is about to burst”.

He said it showed G20 countries needed to accelerate emissions cuts to ensure their economies are in line with the 1.5C target. 

“It’s suicidal, and economically irrational to keep procrastinating,” Huq said.

The Indian government called the report a “clarion call for the developed countries to undertake immediate, deep emission cuts and decarbonisation of their economies”.

India is the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases but its emissions per head are low owing to its large population of 1.3 billion.

The report “vindicates India’s position that historical cumulative emissions are the source of the climate crisis that the world faces today,” the environment ministry said in a statement.

Dorothy Guerrero, head of policy at Global Justice Now, said the report was a “terrifying warning of our future unless drastic action is taken.”

“There is no denying the science of the climate crisis,” she said. 

“But policymakers refuse to face up to the fact that it is rooted in economics and a history of colonial exploitation.”

– Action –

Many interpreted the IPCC’s assessment as a clarion call to overhaul the fossil fuel-powered global economy.

“Where can we start? Almost everywhere,” said Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy. 

“Accelerating the transition to clean energy; reforming our most environmentally damaging activities; and recalibrating financial flows to accelerate the economic transition.”

Climate wunderkind Greta Thunberg said the report was a “solid (but cautious) summary” of the state of the planet. 

“It doesn’t tell us what to do,” she said on Twitter. 

“It is up to us to be brave and take decisions based on the scientific evidence provided in these reports. We can still avoid the worst consequences, but not if we continue like today, and not without treating the crisis like a crisis.”

Ugandan climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate tweeted: “Scientists warn time running out on the 1.5C target! World leaders must get serious about climate change!”

– Fossil fall guys –

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday’s report “must sound a death knell” for coal, oil and gas and warned that fossil fuels were destroying the planet.

Greenpeace was even more direct. 

“Dear fossil fuel industry,” the charity said on Twitter. “We’ll see you in court.”

Firefighters on the Greek island of Evia dug in late Monday in a desperate battle to prevent wildfires, which have been burning for a week, from reaching a regional hub with thousands of residents.

In eerie images broadcast by Greek state TV ERT, firemen and volunteers formed a line opposite a row of huge trees a few kilometres from the town of Istiaia, determined not to let the fire pass.

A short distance away, a massive wall of flame crept closer.

The civil protection authority had earlier ordered the evacuation of the nearby village of Avgaria, but as a local official admitted, many residents are determined to stay and defend their homes.

“Villages are evacuated, but those who can help stay behind,” central Greece governor Fanis Spanos told state agency ANA.

“Without them, many villages would have burned,” Spanos said.

Hundreds of homes have already been lost in Evia, greater Athens and other parts of Greece in wildfires that have been raging almost without pause since late July.

Thousands have fled their homes to escape the fires.

— PM apologises —

On Monday, facing criticism from the opposition for aerial fire-fighting support deemed inadequate, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologised to the nation and vowed to punish those responsible.

“I apologise for any shortcomings” in the state response, Mitsotakis said in a televised address.

“We may have done what was humanly possible, but in many cases it was not enough,” he said.

Some 650 firefighters have so far been deployed on Evia, according to Greek authorities.

Greek officials have already blamed climate change for the extreme heat, and the UN released a major report on Monday showing how the threat from warming is even more acute than previously thought. 

Two people died near Athens last week — a volunteer firefighter hit by a power pylon, and an industrialist who suffered a heart attack as the fire approached his factory. 

A third man whose bulldozer fell into a cliff during a weekend fire in central Greece died Monday.

Several others have been hospitalised with smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries.

— ‘Desperately alone’ —

Many mayors around the country have complained of a serious lack of aerial support in fighting the fires, despite the government’s assurances of having set aside ample resources earlier this year.

“Local officials and citizens cry out that they are desperately alone… for how long will this drama endure?” main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras tweeted on Sunday.

In response, Mitsotakis said over 580 fires had broken out in recent days around the country, exposing Greece to a “natural fury without precedent”.

“Because of the unprecedented heatwave and prolonged drought, (the fires) are hard to extinguish,” he said.

Civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias has said that water bombers have faced “serious difficulties” including turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility.

The defence ministry on Monday denied reports that the head of the army’s air support had resigned in response to the criticism.

In addition to being criticised for alleged poor preparation and resource mismanagement, government officials are also accused of avoiding the media at the height of the disaster.

After the Athens union of journalists lodged a formal complaint, the PM and Hardalias announced press conferences this week.

From July 29 to August 7, 56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) were burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. 

The average area burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares.

– Europe’s biggest firefighting operation’ –

The civil protection authority on Monday said EU states and other countries had so far contributed 21 aircraft, 250 vehicles and over 1,200 firefighters, some of whom were expected between Tuesday and Friday.

Mitsotakis said on Monday he discussed with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin the delivery of an additional giant BE-200 water bomber. 

He later spoke to Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, who pledged an additional two fire bombers.

Neighbour and traditional rival Turkey also pledged two fire-fighting aircraft, the Greek foreign ministry said.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laid bare the challenges facing the planet with a major report on Monday.

The IPCC said global temperatures would probably hit the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by around 2030 — a decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

The EU said it was mobilising “one of Europe’s biggest ever common firefighting operations” to assist Greece and other countries.

The response was needed “as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously”, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

The situation looked better elsewhere, with officials saying that fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a suburb north of Athens had abated. A fire on Crete was also brought under control.

Before one of California’s worst-ever wildfires hit Greenville, the sky turned dark red like a warning. After the flames tore through the tiny town, all that remained was charred walls, ash and smoke.

The horrific consequence of the Dixie Fire was captured by AFP in a series of before and after photos from the monster blaze that has consumed hundreds of structures and forced thousands to flee.

“I watched in shock as a post office, fire station, bank, museum and countless other businesses were incinerated and reduced to smoldering piles of rubble,” wrote AFP photographer Josh Edelson. “Dead animals lay on roadsides.”

He watched “firefighters make futile attempts to stop 350-foot (105-metre) high flames towering over them – saving a few homes and losing most.”

Edelson, who has extensive experience covering wildfires, was at one point forced to drive through a “corridor of flames” roaring on either side of the road.

“I went into emergency mode and immediately started making mental notes of where my fire shelter was,” he wrote after making it to safety.

As of Sunday, the fire had destroyed 489,287 acres (198,007 hectares), authorities said. It was then covering an area larger than Los Angeles.

Over the weekend, it surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire to make it the second-worst fire in state history.

Governor Gavin Newsom visited the charred remains of Greenville on Saturday, expressing his “deep gratitude” to the teams fighting what he termed “climate-induced wildfires.”

Climate change amplifies droughts, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out of control and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.

Authorities estimate the fire, which began July 13, will not be fully extinguished for weeks.

Tami Kugler, sitting beside her tent at an evacuation station after fleeing Greenville, told AFP: “It was like driving out of a war zone that you see in a movie.” 

“My neighborhood is gone — I mean gone, gone,” she added.

Firefighters on Monday battled heat and suffocating smoke for a seventh consecutive day to try to save the Greek island of Evia from wildfires that have wiped out hundreds of homes and forced thousands to flee.

Greece and Turkey have been battling devastating blazes for nearly two weeks as the region suffers its worst heatwave in decades.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a televised statement said over 580 fires had broken out in recent days around the country, exposing Greece to a “natural fury without precedent”.

“Because of the unprecedented heatwave and prolonged drought, (the fires) are hard to extinguish,” he said.

He apologised to Greeks for possible “weaknesses” in the state’s response, vowing to correct mistakes and root out “whoever” is responsible.

“We may have done what was humanly possible, but in many cases it was not enough,” he said.

Greek officials have already blamed climate change for the extreme heat, and the UN released a major report on Monday showing how the threat from warming is even more acute than previously thought. 

Two people have been confirmed dead in Greece and eight in Turkey as a result of the fires, while dozens have been hospitalised.

The Greek government said vital aerial reinforcements were en route to Evia to help firefighters, with Russia, Turkey and Israel sending additional help.

Many of the other fires that have hit Greece have stabilised or receded, but on Evia — Greece’s second largest island after Crete — the blazes are being helped by wind and a rugged, forested landscape.

– Mass evacuations –

Firefighters told local media their priority was to stop the fires from reaching thick forest in the north of Evia.

Some residents said they had ignored evacuation orders to stay behind and save their homes.

As the sweeping wall of fire laid siege to one village after another in the north of the island, firefighters toiled to protect the town of Istiaia.

Thick and suffocating smoke earlier Monday had enveloped the coastal region of Pefki, where hundreds of villagers had been evacuated by sea.

The Greek coastguard said over 2,700 people had been evacuated by its forces and by private vessels over the last 10 days, most of them from Evia.

This included some 350 people evacuated from villages around Pefki, many of whom spent the night in a ferry moored near the long beach.

Looming in the haze offshore, a military ship awaited further evacuees.

Like many nearby communities, Pefki “had no electricity or water”, he said.

“Here, the people lived from the forest, from the crops, olives and tourism. There’s nothing of that left now,” said Louisa, a pensioner in Pefki.

In the town of Aidipsos, collections of basic necessities were organised for villagers who had lost everything in the fire.

– ‘Desperately alone’ –

While rain brought some respite from the blazes in Turkey over the weekend, Greece has this month suffered an intense heatwave that Prime Minister Mitsotakis said should show the hard reality of climate change even to doubters.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laid bare the challenges facing the planet with a major report on Monday.

The IPCC said global temperatures would probably hit the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by around 2030 — a decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

Meanwhile the EU said it was mobilising “one of Europe’s biggest ever common firefighting operations” to assist Greece and other countries.

The response was needed “as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously”, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

From July 29 to August 7, 56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) were burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. 

The average area burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares.

Some 650 firefighters have so far been deployed on Evia, according to Greek authorities.

Greek opposition parties have accused the government of failing to adequately deploy air support to some of the fires.

“Local officials and citizens cry out that they are desperately alone… for how long will this drama endure?” main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras tweeted on Sunday.

Mitsotakis said on Monday he discussed with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin the delivery of an additional giant BE-200 water bomber. 

He later spoke to Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, who pledged an additional two fire bombers.

Neighbour and traditional rival Turkey also pledged two fire-fighting aircraft, the Greek foreign ministry said.

Civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias has said that water bombers have faced “serious difficulties” including turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility.

The civil protection authority on Monday said EU states and other countries had so far contributed 21 aircraft, 250 vehicles and over 1,200 firefighters, some of whom were expected between Tuesday and Friday.

The situation looked better elsewhere, with officials saying that fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a suburb north of Athens had abated. A fire on Crete was brought under control.

Before one of California’s worst-ever wildfires hit Greenville, the sky turned dark red like a warning. After the flames tore through the tiny town, all that remained was charred walls, ash and smoke.

The horrific consequence of the Dixie Fire was captured by AFP in a series of before and after photos from the monster blaze that has consumed hundreds of structures and forced thousands to flee.

“I watched in shock as a post office, fire station, bank, museum and countless other businesses were incinerated and reduced to smoldering piles of rubble,” wrote AFP photographer Josh Edelson. “Dead animals lay on roadsides.”

He watched “firefighters make futile attempts to stop 350-foot (105-metre) high flames towering over them – saving a few homes and losing most.”

Edelson, who has extensive experience covering wildfires, was at one point forced to drive through a “corridor of flames” roaring on either side of the road.

“I went into emergency mode and immediately started making mental notes of where my fire shelter was,” he wrote after making it to safety.

As of Sunday, the fire had destroyed 489,287 acres (198,007 hectares), authorities said. It was then covering an area larger than Los Angeles.

Over the weekend, it surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire to make it the second-worst fire in state history.

Governor Gavin Newsom visited the charred remains of Greenville on Saturday, expressing his “deep gratitude” to the teams fighting what he termed “climate-induced wildfires.”

Climate change amplifies droughts, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out of control and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.

Authorities estimate the fire, which began July 13, will not be fully extinguished for weeks.

Tami Kugler, sitting beside her tent at an evacuation station after fleeing Greenville, told AFP: “It was like driving out of a war zone that you see in a movie.” 

“My neighborhood is gone — I mean gone, gone,” she added.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that generated shock waves on Monday is the most detailed assessment of climate science ever undertaken, advancing our understanding of how — and how fast — greenhouse gas emissions are changing the planet.

But experts caution that the comprehensive global review contains blind spots — overlooking regions that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change but where data on those impacts is severely lacking.

In its 40-page Summary for Policymakers, the IPCC presents three maps of the world, with regions divided up in to hexagons. 

Each of the maps shows observed changes in extreme heat, rainfall and drought. 

While there is a strong observed increase in extreme hot weather nearly everywhere, when it comes to rainfall and drought, South America, Africa and the Pacific Island states in particular are nearly blank slates. 

Of the seven sub-regions of South America, only one — the southeast — has reliable rainfall data, and just one other — the northeast — has sufficient data on drought. 

“It’s important to mention that we can only use and assess the available literature,” Paola Arias, associate professor at Colombia’s University of Antioquia and an IPCC author, told AFP.

“South America has a very important role in regional climate but also an important source of moisture to Central America,” said Arias, who helped design the three maps.

“We need more observational data. We don’t have enough of it to study extreme events on a daily or hourly scale.” 

– Lack of research –

The IPCC provided a two-page fact sheet on observed and projected climate trends in Africa, but the paucity of data is inescapable in the maps. 

Of the nine African sub-regions, the IPCC noted an observed increase in extreme rainfall for just two — western and eastern southern Africa. 

For the other seven it said “limited data and/or literature” were available.

Only half of the sub-regions provided sufficient data to determine an increase in rates of drought. 

Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, likened the lack of data to the old philosophical adage: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

“People in Africa are certainly aware of the overwhelming heat, rising seas and extreme weather on the continent, but if they are not being recorded by scientists it will be much harder for African voices to be heard in the climate debate to tackle it,” he told AFP.

The IPCC report makes it crystal clear that “human activities” were responsible for the 1.1C of warming above preindustrial levels observed so far. 

But Adow underscored a basic injustice: most climate-vulnerable nations are virtually blameless for the emissions that are driving ever more extreme weather. 

“Africa is most affected and yet least responsible for climate change,” he said. 

“Sadly, it’s also producing the least scientific research, and this lack of research is hurting the region’s ability to adapt.

“We need to urgently address this and ensure researchers and funders come together and invest in filling these glaring gaps in climate research.”

– Male-dominated –

Although more than half of the IPCC’s report authors were first timers, their composition is still imbalanced, both geographically and in terms of gender. 

Of the 116 authors credited with drafting or contributing to the report’s summary, just 13 come from non-G20 nations, for example. 

And the overall writing team is 72 percent male. 

Maisa Rojas Corradi, coordinating lead author of the IPCC report’s opening chapter and director of the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research in Chile, said efforts had been made to make this team more diverse. 

“I know that this was a worry that was actively worked on when the author team was selected, they really tried to have more women and more regional representation,” she told AFP.

Corradi said there were still too many obstacles stopping research conducted in regions where climate change is already hitting hard.

These include studies not written in English or not published in mainstream scientific journals, she said.

“If you live in a country where the scientific community is small or some aspects aren’t being investigated comprehensively, then the IPCC can’t really say anything.”

And better representation within the IPCC author team is not just a case of equality: bringing in more data and regional perspectives will foster better scientific outcomes, Corradi said.

“It’s critical to get a balanced report,” she said. “You cannot monitor what you don’t observe.”

Firefighters on Monday battled heat and suffocating smoke for a seventh consecutive day to try to save the Greek island of Evia from wildfires that have wiped out hundreds of homes and forced thousands to flee.

Greece and Turkey have been battling devastating blazes for nearly two weeks as the region suffers its worst heatwave in decades.

Greek officials have already blamed climate change for the extreme heat, and the UN released a major report on Monday showing how the threat from warming is even more acute than previously thought. 

Two people have been confirmed dead in Greece and eight in Turkey, while dozens have been hospitalised.

Greece said vital aerial reinforcements were en route to Evia to help firefighters, with Russia and Turkey promising to help.

Many of the other fires that have hit Greece have stabilised or receded, but on Evia — Greece’s second largest island after Crete — the blazes are being helped by wind and a rugged, forested landscape.

– Mass evacuations –

Firefighters told local media their priority was to stop the fires from reaching thick forest in the north of Evia.

Some residents said they had ignored evacuation orders to stay behind and save their homes.

As the sweeping wall of fire laid siege to one village after another in the north of the island, firefighters toiled to protect the town of Istiaia.

Thick and suffocating smoke on Monday also enveloped the coastal region of Pefki, where hundreds of villagers had been evacuated by sea.

The Greek coastguard said over 2,700 people had been evacuated by its forces and by private vessels over the last 10 days, most of them from Evia.

This included some 350 people evacuated from villages around Pefki, many of whom spent the night in a ferry moored near the long beach.

Looming in the haze offshore, a military ship awaited further evacuees.

The ferry “was the only place where people could get a little peace and security”, military official Panagiotis Charalambos told AFP.

Like many nearby communities, Pefki “had no electricity or water”, he said.

“Here, the people lived from the forest, from the crops, olives and tourism. There’s nothing of that left now,” said Louisa, a pensioner in Pefki.

In the town of Aidipsos, collections of basic necessities were organised for villagers who had lost everything in the fire.

– ‘Desperately alone’ –

While rain brought some respite from the blazes in Turkey over the weekend, Greece has this month suffered an intense heatwave that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said should show the hard reality of climate change even to doubters.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laid bare the challenges facing the planet with a major report on Monday.

The IPCC said global temperatures would probably hit the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by around 2030 — a decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

Meanwhile the EU said it was mobilising “one of Europe’s biggest ever common firefighting operations” to assist Greece and other countries.

The response was needed “as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously”, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

From July 29 to August 7, 56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) were burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. 

The average area burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares.

Some 650 firefighters have so far been deployed on Evia, according to Greek authorities.

Greek opposition parties have accused the government of failing to adequately deploy air support to some of the fires.

“Local officials and citizens cry out that they are desperately alone… for how long will this drama endure?” main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras tweeted on Sunday.

Mitsotakis said on Monday he discussed with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin the delivery of an additional giant BE-200 water bomber.

Neighbour and traditional rival Turkey also pledged two fire-fighting aircraft, the Greek foreign ministry said.

Civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias has said that water bombers have faced “serious difficulties” including turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility.

The civil protection authority on Monday said EU states and other countries had contributed 21 aircraft, 250 vehicles and over 1,200 firefighters, some of whom were expected between Tuesday and Friday.

The situation looked better elsewhere, with officials saying that fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a suburb north of Athens had abated. A fire on Crete was brought under control.

Humanity can no longer delay “ambitious” climate action, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday after the release of a landmark UN report warning of growing climate change peril.

Years in the making, the sobering report approved by 195 nations shines a harsh spotlight on governments dithering in the face of mounting evidence that climate change is an existential threat.

“This moment requires world leaders, the private sector and individuals to act together with urgency and do everything it takes to protect our planet,” Blinken said in a statement. 

“We cannot delay ambitious climate action any longer,” he added.

With only 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming so far, an unbroken cascade of deadly, weather disasters bulked up by climate change has swept the world this summer, from asphalt-melting heatwaves in Canada to untamable wildfires sweeping Greece and California. 

“We are seeing the detrimental impacts of these events on the lives and livelihoods of people around the world,” Blinken said.

“This is why the United States has committed to a 50-52 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels in 2030 and is marshaling the entire federal government to tackle the climate crisis,” he added.

President Joe Biden has proclaimed his intention to make the US a leader in the fight against global warming once more, rejoining the Paris climate agreement after his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew and naming former secretary of state John Kerry as his climate envoy.

The Biden administration has also announced $5 billion in public money to help states and local communities prepare for major disasters linked to extreme weather events. 

And the Democratic president has been touting the environmental merits of his $1.2 trillion plan to renovate the country’s aging infrastructure, which is poised to become law. 

According to the White House, the frequency of extreme weather events and climate change-related disasters has exploded in recent years. 

Where the US averaged six such major disasters each year between 2000 and 2009, that number has risen to 13 between 2010 and 2020.