Climate Threat Global Challenges

Methane Emissions Increase Sharply During Pandemic

During the COVID pandemic in the early 2020s, carbon dioxide emissions fell significantly – but at the same time, methane emissions rose at a record pace, a new study shows according to AFP.

Carbon dioxide acts as a natural “cleaner” for methane in the air. Combined with unusually high methane emissions from wetlands, rivers, lakes – due to unusually wet weather in the tropics – the reduction in carbon dioxide led to record-high methane emissions in 2020, which were then halved by 2023.

– The impressive increase in methane in the early 2020s is mainly due to a decrease in the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, says climate scientist Philippe Ciais, the study’s lead author.

Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change. It stays in the atmosphere for a much shorter time than CO2, but over a 20-year period it warms the Earth 80 times more. 

Extreme weather in Africa
Heavy rain in Morocco – nearly 150,000 evacuated

143,000 people have been evacuated in northwestern Morocco, where there is a high risk of flooding, Reuters reports.

Heavy rain has hit the agricultural province of Larache for a week, leading to high water levels in the rivers and great pressure on the dams. A red warning has been issued for continued heavy rainfall.

The city of Ksar el-Kébir is particularly affected, where around 85 percent of the population has been evacuated.

Larache consists largely of flat, low-lying land with wheat fields, which makes the risk of flooding particularly high.

Rainfall has increased by 215 percent after drought

Rainfall in Morocco this year has increased by 215 percent compared to the same period last year, and is 54 percent above the historical average, according to government data according to Reuters.

The exceptional rainfall has marked the end of a seven-year drought that has driven investment in desalination technology in the country.

Almost 150,000 people have been evacuated from northwestern Morocco, especially the agricultural province of Larache, where low-lying farmland poses an extra high risk of flooding.