The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.

The year 2020 has the eerie feel of the first chapter in a dystopian novel, but the idea that something must be done about climate change isn’t new.

Sponsored by Santam Agriculture -Johan van den Berg -Independent Agricultural Meteorologist (M.Sc Agric, Agricultural meteorology, UFS)

Plant protein foods—like lentils, beans, and nuts—can provide vital nutrients using a small fraction of the land required to produce meat and dairy.

Once upon a time there was a British newspaper that believed in free markets and limited government. Not any more. The Economist now favours ‘re-wiring’ the world’s economy, through carbon taxes, regulation, subsidies, pricing, and other government interventions.

The last two decades saw the number of disasters caused by extreme weather nearly double to 6,681, up from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999, according to a report issued ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Oct. 13.

Weather and climate have far-reaching effects on every part of life.

Temperatures in Africa have increased over 1º Celsius compared to the average between 1901 and 2012, and warming in large areas of the continent may exceed 2ºC from pre-industrial times by 2080 to 2100 if emissions continue at their current levels, according to the report released on Monday and coordinated by the WMO.

IMPORTANT ISSUES

The impact of fluctuating weather conditions has been evident throughout agricultural markets over the past decades. Dairy production in South Africa is responsive to the growing domestic and regional demand but is also sensitive to the producer price.

South Africa is approaching increasing water scarcity and according to the National Groundwater Strategy of the Department of Water and Sanitation, the development of groundwater resources will become crucial for sustaining water security.

Cycads, the world’s oldest seed-producing plants, are facing extinction. Africa is home to a variety of cycad species and South Africa is regarded as a global hotspot for cycad diversity.

The University of Maryland (UMD) has collaborated with Cornell University and Stanford University to quantify the man-made effects of climate change on global agricultural productivity growth for the first time.

Climate alarmists would have you believe that climate change is already hurting farm productivity. But hasn’t farm productivity been relentlessly rising?

A growing global population and changing diets are driving up the demand for food. Production is struggling to keep up as crop yields level off in many parts of the world, ocean health declines, and natural resources—including soils, water, and biodiversity—are stretched dangerously thin.

Our society has become digital to a point where, without a smartphone or a computer, our capacity to do anything is severely restricted.

It’s a common scene across many African countries’ rural areas: cows grazing peacefully. But, by 2050, heat stress induced by climate change may drastically alter this familiar picture.

Young people are leaders of today, not tomorrow

As the climate crisis worsens, some South Africans are relocating to places with more stable climate conditions, according to a study led by Princeton University researchers.