- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Climate change worsening heatwaves, air quality: UN
Climate change is driving more intense and more frequent heatwaves, which in turn generate a "witch's brew" of pollutants, threatening the health of humans and other living things, the UN warned Wednesday.
The wildfire smoke recently suffocating cities from Athens to New York may be the most visible sign of air pollution brought on by heat waves.
But extreme heat can also induce a whole host of other chemical processes that are hazardous for human health, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization said in its annual Air Quality and Climate Bulletin.
"Heatwaves worsen air quality, with knock-on effects on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and indeed our daily lives," WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
A recent study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) indicated that fine particulate air pollution from things like vehicle and industrial emissions but also sand and wildfires, is "the greatest external threat to public health" worldwide.
Taalas stressed that "climate change and air quality cannot be treated separately".
"They go hand-in-hand and must be tackled together to break this vicious cycle."
- 'More extreme' -
While Wednesday's report was based on 2022 data, Taalas cautioned that in terms of temperatures, "what we are witnessing in 2023 is even more extreme".
On Wednesday, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said the Earth had just had its hottest three months on record, with last July the hottest month ever recorded, followed by August and that 2023 was on track to become the hottest year on record.
That is bad news for air quality levels.
"Air quality and climate are interconnected because the chemical species that affect both are linked, because the substances responsible for climate change and for the degradation of air quality are often emitted by the same sources, and because changes in one inevitably cause changes in the other," WMO said.
It pointed for instance to how the combustion of fossil fuels emits carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere, which are not only heat-trapping greenhouse gases but can lead to the formation of pollutants like ozone and nitrate aerosols.
Researchers meanwhile widely agree that climate change is causing more intense and more frequent heatwaves, and that this in turn is leading to a growing risk of more severe wildfires, WMO said.
- 'Closely linked' -
"Heatwaves and wildfires are closely linked," said Lorenzo Labrador, a WMO researcher at the Global Atmosphere Watch network which compiled Wednesday's Bulletin.
"Smoke from wildfires contains a witch's brew of chemicals that affects not only air quality and health, but also damages plants, ecosystems and crops – and leads to more carbon emissions and so more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he said in the statement.
The 2022 data detailed in the report showed how heatwaves last year triggered wildfires in the Northwestern United States, leading to unhealthy air.
Soaring temperatures in Europe, accompanied by unusually high amounts of desert dust reaching the continent, meanwhile led to increased concentrations of both particulate matter and ground-level ozone pollution, it said.
While high-altitude, or stratospheric ozone provides humans with vital protection from harmful the ultra-violet rays of the sun, ozone close to the Earth's surface is harmful to human health.
It also reduces crop yield, with ozone-induced losses averaging 4.4-12.4 percent globally for staple food crops, and wheat and soybean losses as high as 15-30 percent in parts of India and China.
D.Philippon--CPN