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When the sun becomes a threat

It was just 12 p.m. in Accra, but the streets already shimmered under a punishing sun. At the bustling Accra New Town, Hawawu Abdul Karim, a journalist in her mid-30s, wiped sweat from her forehead as she drank from a bottle of water. “Last year, the heat was too much,” she sighed. “I drank a lot of water, but it did not help—it only kept me dehydrated. How do we survive if every year is hotter than the last?” She was compelled to keep bottled water in her fridge at home. Miss Hawawu, who was then working with Voice of America (Hausa) from Ghana, was required to produce quality stories for publication. This meant she had to hunt for stories via public transport under a scorching sun. “Sometimes, I got home so tired, and my room was always so warm that I could not produce stories on time,” she said. Hawa added that she had sleepless nights, drenched in sweat, because of the heat. The situation became even worse when there was a power outage at night or during the day when she was at home. Hawawu’s story is one of millions across Ghana and Africa, where rising heat is fast becoming a silent crisis. According to a new review by the India-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Africa is warming at 0.3°C per decade — nearly 1.5 times faster than the global average. In 2024 alone, the continent recorded an average temperature anomaly of 0.87°C above normal. For Elias, a 36-year-old entrepreneur and farmer in Jirapa, the problem is no longer just the daytime heat. “Sometimes, I feel pain in one side of my neck with off-and-on headaches. Later, the neck pain became so severe that I could not even turn my neck to that side. The heat was really unbearable—imagine sleeping in a room with as many as six people,” he said. CSE’s review shows that night-time land surface temperatures across Africa have risen sharply, with cities like Cairo, Lagos, and Accra recording alarming increases. For families living in informal settlements with poor ventilation, the risk of heat-related illness grows each year. Cities turning into heat traps In Kumasi, Ghana’s “Garden City,” green spaces that once cooled the urban environment are shrinking. Dr Alex Nti-Kani, an environmental economist with Centre for Climate Change & Food Security (CCCFS), explained that rapid urbanisation means people are cutting down trees and paying for every open space.

Delhi braces for rising air pollution as winter nears

With the onset of cooler weather, Delhi is once again preparing for the seasonal surge in air pollution that has become a recurring public health crisis. Capital’s air quality could deteriorate sharply in the coming weeks as emissions from vehicles, industry, and stubble burning combine with stagnant weather conditions. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shows that pollution levels begin climbing in late September, peaking between October and January when low wind speeds and temperature inversion trap pollutants close to the ground. Last year, Delhi recorded “severe” air quality on multiple days, forcing school closures, flight disruptions, and restrictions on construction and traffic. One of the biggest contributors remains vehicular emission. According to Kalyani Tembhe, Deputy Programme Manager, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi’s own pollution is very high and within that around 50 per cent pollution is getting contributed through vehicular emission. Despite repeated crackdowns and subsidies for alternative methods, crop residue burning in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana add to the toxic mix. Meanwhile, environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the government will conduct a study on titanium oxide-based ‘smog-eating’ coatings that can be applied to roads to curb the air pollution in the city. He said that if the study confirms that the technology is effective and cost efficient, the department will move the proposal for implementation. Health experts caution that even short exposure to polluted air can aggravate respiratory illnesses. With hospitals already stretched, the coming months are expected to test the city’s resilience once again. “You should try to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible. Even when somebody is moving out, they should use a mask. A face mask is a must. In case of any respiratory ailment or such problem, it should not be taken lightly, ” Dr. Ajay Swaroop, ENT Surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had told Tehelka earlier. The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 23.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, with the weather office predicting a mainly clear sky. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 35 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Stubble burning begins with 64 farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and UP

Experts note that the early numbers are not significant enough to affect Delhi’s air quality. “Since the fire counts are currently low, the impact on Delhi’s air is negligible. But preparations must be in place, as October usually marks the peak of the burning season,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment. The stubble burning season has officially begun, with 64 farm fire incidents recorded in neighbouring states of Delhi between September 15 and 21, 2025, according to satellite data compiled by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). While experts say the current numbers are too low to impact Delhi’s air quality, trends indicate a sharp spike in farm fires from October onwards, coinciding with the withdrawal of the monsoon from northwest India. Punjab leads in early farm fire cases Of the total 64 reported cases, Punjab alone accounted for 56, while Haryana recorded three, Uttar Pradesh four, and Rajasthan one. Within Punjab, Amritsar topped the list with 35 cases, followed by Patiala with seven and Tarn Taran with five. Interestingly, despite flood-related challenges this year, Punjab has already reported slightly more cases than the same period last year (56 in 2025 compared to 52 in 2024). Negligible impact on Delhi air quality for now Experts note that the early numbers are not significant enough to affect Delhi’s air quality. “Since the fire counts are currently low, the impact on Delhi’s air is negligible. But preparations must be in place, as October usually marks the peak of the burning season,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment. She also stressed the importance of providing farmers timely access to crop residue management machines and ensuring proper collection of waste stubble, especially in flood-affected areas where logistics pose additional challenges.

Bad air season begins in North India; Delhi’s air still clean, but experts say don’t relax

The stubble burning season has quietly begun in north India, with 64 farm fires reported in neighbouring states of Delhi between 15 and 22 September. While these early incidents remain low in number and have not yet affected the capital’s air quality, experts warn that the real surge is usually seen after the monsoon withdraws from the region, typically around late October. According to satellite data compiled by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) under the 2021 standard protocol set by the Commission for Air Quality Management, Punjab has recorded 56 fire incidents so far, Haryana three, Uttar Pradesh four, and Rajasthan one.

Foul air season: Farm fires startin north India; impact onDelhi negligible so far

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, "While early interventions are needed to upscale implementation of the key strategies to prevent stubble burning, be also prepared to address the special challenges this year. Giving all farmers timely access to crop residue management machines and ensuring collection of waste stubble from the fields to provide feedstock and raw material to the industry are likely to face barriers in the flood-affected area Stubble burning has commenced in Delhi's neighboring states, with 64 farm fires recorded so far this season. Punjab leads with 56 cases, followed by Haryana, UP, and Rajasthan. While the impact on Delhi's air quality is currently negligible, experts warn that crop burning typically intensifies in October after the monsoon's retreat.

When the Ganga Flows Again, Shattering the Rocks

As Sunita Narain has cautioned, hundreds of hydropower projects in Uttarakhand can dewater Bhagirathi (up to ~80%) and Alaknanda (~65%) across stretches, if run without ecological guardrails. At dusk upon this sullied couch, O Ganga— With what sorrow are you, sob by sob, lulling to sleep The tender longings of your heart? What fathomless anguish surges within, so restless? Under what grievous burden has your current turned still? These lines, penned by national poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ in 1931 (Pāṭaliputra ki Ganga), ring word-for-word true nearly a century later. The ache in that verse still “groans and groans” before us, voicing a reality once popularised in Raj Kapoor’s song, “Rām terī Gaṅgā mailī ho gayī, pāpiyoṅ ke pāp dhote–dhote”—that the river born to wash away sin we have spared no effort to defile. Bhagirath brought Ganga to redeem his forebears, to wash their sins; for ages she has washed ours. But the methods of defilement that took shape in the late 19th century, and the pace of urbanisation in the 20th, crossed a line—so much so that the water once said to purify sin is, at many stretches, no longer even fit for ritual sipping. Ganga is India’s most consequential river—flowing some 2,510 km through India and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Sundarbans, cradling an immense swath of land. She is not merely a natural asset, but the people’s emotional and spiritual wellspring. Over her 2,071 km in India and on into Bangladesh, with her tributaries, she renders nearly a million square kilometres fertile. But if the name “Ganga” summons only statistics, one has missed the point. As the national river, Ganga does not merely carry water; she carries a civilisation’s literary, spiritual and human consciousness. From the Ṛgveda, Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa and Purāṇas onward, Ganga is puṇya-salilā, pāpa-nāśinī, mokṣa-dāyinī—life-giver and liberator. Sanskrit poet Jagannath’s Śrī-Gaṅgā-Laharī hymns her; the early Hindi epics Pṛthvīrāj Rāso and Vīsaldev Rāso invoke her; Jagnik’s Ālhā-khaṇḍ extols the Ganga–Yamuna–Saraswati confluence as sin-destroying; Tulsidas, Vidyapati, Kabir, Jayasi, Ras Khan and Rahim all sing her flow and force. Few rivers on earth are so revered across the bodily, worldly, and spiritual planes. Statesmen and scholars at home and abroad have all invoked her. Ganga holds the oar of life—and the ferry to release. What, then, have we given her? For decades, an estimated tens of millions of litres per day of polluted discharge—industrial effluent, sewage, plastics—have been her daily ration. Civilisations rise where rivers run; the very towns and city-belts that grew fat on Ganga’s banks have poisoned her most. A World Bank analysis once suggested that ~12% of disease in Uttar Pradesh stems from contaminated Ganga water. India’s National Cancer Registry Programme has reported elevated cancer incidence along the river corridor—arsenic, fluoride and heavy metals leaching from waste streams into the water; gallbladder cancer rates are especially high, and India ranks among the world’s worst-affected. Skin diseases are more prevalent too. Scientists at the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (Lucknow) found E. coli with virulence traits in Ganga—traced to untreated human and animal faecal flows. CPCB samples from Rishikesh to West Bengal historically showed few sites meeting Class A (drinking) standards; many urban stretches barely met bathing or irrigation norms. Rishikesh often hovered at “bathing only”; by Haridwar quality slipped further; Buxar, Patna, Munger, Bhagalpur fared no better. Varanasi, Kanpur and Allahabad/Prayagraj frequently reported water fit only for cattle. Plastic load worsened the picture. Treatment plants and laws existed—on paper more than on the ground. The present picture (2024–25): claims, gains, and gaps Over the past decade, Namami Gange has poured large investments into sewage treatment and interception–diversion of drains. On the main stem, STP capacity reportedly rose from ~1,200–1,400 MLD to ~3,500 MLD+; basin-wide sanctioned capacity exceeds 6,000 MLD. Discharges from 180+ major drains have been intercepted/treated. Government dashboards often show stretches at Haridwar, Rishikesh, Prayagraj and Varanasi meeting BOD < 3 mg/L and DO > 5 mg/L frequently, with faecal coliform at or under 2,500 MPN/100 ml at many stations. Yet monsoon vs. lean flows, city-specific operations, and up/downstream variability swing those readings. Critically, tributaries—Kali, Hindon, Ramganga—and the Kanpur–Unnao belt still dump substantial loads. The environmental flow (e-flow) norms notified in 2018 (releasing 20–30–30% of average flows in lean/normal/monsoon) give a policy spine to aviral (uninterrupted) flow, but compliance on river lags paper. Bottom line: many main-stem segments have improved, but a clean + continuous Ganga is not yet reality. Declaring Ganga a National River (2008) was meant to anchor urgency. Long before that, the missionary Duff, who came in the 18th century, wrote: “I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares.” We were too slow to care. As Sunita Narain has cautioned, hundreds of hydropower projects in Uttarakhand can dewater Bhagirathi (up to ~80%) and Alaknanda (~65%) across stretches, if run without ecological guardrails. A CAG review once warned: sustain the project spree, and at Devprayag—where the two unite to become Ganga—there may be too little water left to form the river. The 2006 power policy even allowed up to 90% diversion to turbines (global practice tends to cap near 75%). Arresting the aviral flow dulls water quality; lentic pools breed disease, deoxygenate, and starve aquatic life. When rock–water abrasion ceases, trace copper/chromium/thorium that once leached naturally and kept microbial balance no longer do so. We celebrated “renewable power,” rarely asking what the river lost. Ganga’s “self-purification” has a scientific basis—bacteriophages that cull harmful microbes; an unusual capacity to maintain dissolved oxygen. But when oxygen falls and loads rise, even that natural buffer fails. Historically some dense urban segments recorded BOD ~6 mg/L, not the ≤3 bathing norm. Some now read better, but variability persists. If Ganga fails, a civilisational thread frays. We, the media, are not blameless. We love to report “Ganga is polluted,” or “crores spent, nothing improved.” We seldom report how floodplains are encroached, what altering the river’s path invites, why citizens must not dump plastic or idols, what each city’s Nala X discharges, which STPs run, which are down, what the e-flow actually is, or how tributaries are the force-multipliers of filth. In the 1980s we launched Ganga Action Plan, spent big, and withdrew—having under-built (e.g., Varanasi once sent ~350 MLD sewage, with ~100 MLD treatment), under-ran (frequent plant downtime), under-watched (few audits), under-flowed (low e-flow). Today capacity is up, but e-flow, polluting tributaries, and O&M discipline are the three large holes still to be plugged. The media awakens after tragedy or court orders—Kedarnath (2013), NGT/HC directives. Yet our job is to forewarn, not only postmortem. We are quick to boosterise the Ganga Expressway as a miracle of hours saved between Noida and Ballia, slower to examine the floodplain and hydrology it slices. We prefer motor-speed headlines to river-speed truths. As children we tossed copper coins into rivers; copper purifies. Now we toss brass-plated tokens and plastic garlands that scar. Small cultural corrections never seem sexy enough to warrant a prime-time slot. In the last century, pilgrim counts alone tell a tale: between 1906–2012, kumbh and ardh-kumbh at Allahabad/Prayagraj saw roughly 356.7 million bathers; the last full kumbh drew ~100 million. If even a fraction of those 200 million hands that rose in homage rose also to remove the trash they had cast, a Bhagirath-like citizens’ effort would move mountains. After the Kumbh (2020–25): Prayagraj, Varanasi, Haridwar–Rishikesh retained many permanent assets post-festivals—STPs, drain diversions, ghat sanitation. Several stations now frequently meet bathing norms (BOD/DO/faecal-coliform). Still, downstream Kanpur–Unnao and segments in Bihar report recurrent breaches. The mantra is simple: Aviral + Nirmal + Janbhāgīdārī—uninterrupted flow, clean water, and citizen stewardship. Enforce e-flows, treat the tributaries, protect floodplains, and reset civic behaviour. Only when these four pillars stand together will “Ganga phir bahegi—ṭoṛkar mazbūt chaṭṭāneṅ”—the river will flow again, shattering the rocks.

Ethiopia faces historic drought and climate crisis

Ethiopia is grappling with the worst drought it has experienced in 70 years—an unprecedented climate crisis marked by extreme weather and a deepening food insecurity situation. The country, impacted by five consecutive failed rainy seasons, finds itself at a crossroads, balancing urgent humanitarian needs with a prominent role in continental climate diplomacy. According to the recent “State of the African Environment 2025” report released in Addis Ababa, the Horn of Africa region, which includes Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, suffered a historic drought in early 2023. This event was the most severe in seven decades, driven by prolonged rainfall deficits exacerbated by a strong El Niño in 2024, which also severely affected southern Africa. The report, a joint production by New Delhi’s Down to Earth magazine and the Center for Science and the Environment, highlights that the period from 2021 to 2025 is the deadliest in Africa’s recent history regarding climate-related human casualties. Ethiopia has borne a substantial share of this burden, with effects rippling across its population and economy. The drought’s impact on water availability is acute. Groundwater reserves for emergency use are rapidly depleting, while river flows have dwindled, and agricultural productivity has suffered greatly. Prolonged dry conditions have caused reduced crop yields and lower livestock milk production, particularly in the country’s mountainous regions. Millions of Ethiopians are confronting dire shortages of food and drinking water. Rising temperatures compound the crisis. An analysis by Climate Central found that between December 2024 and February 2025, Ethiopia experienced 74 days of extremely high average daily temperatures, underscoring the severe influence of climate change. Food security—a preexisting challenge—has worsened significantly. The World Food Security and Nutrition Report 2025 reveals that a large proportion of Ethiopians lack consistent access to sufficient nutritious food. Alarmingly, 37% of children under five suffered developmental disabilities linked to malnutrition in 2023. The report also warns of shrinking food baskets as African crop systems face unprecedented stress, with sharp declines in production anticipated in the near term. Ethiopia’s mountainous regions, home to some of Africa’s highest populations outside Asia, face unique yet understudied climate challenges. In January 2025, a study published in Nature Climate Change uncovered a troubling reduction in fog—a vital water source for plants—in ten mountainous African locations, including Ethiopia’s Bale region. Farmers in these areas report worsening conditions: diminished river flows, crop and livestock yield reductions, increased soil erosion, rising plant and animal diseases, and deteriorating human health. The broader implications for global food systems are dire. A global analysis published in March 2024 in Nature Food warns that nearly half of the world’s crop production in the Northern Hemisphere risks becoming unviable if global temperatures rise beyond 1.5°C, underscoring the urgency to contain climate change. Despite these immense domestic challenges, Ethiopia is emerging as a leader in global and African climate diplomacy. The country hosted the second African Climate Summit (ACS-2) in Addis Ababa from September 8 to 10, 2025. Themed “Accelerating Global Climate Solutions: Financing for Resilient and Green Development in Africa,” the summit underscored Ethiopia’s dedication to positioning Africa at the forefront of global climate action. At the summit, African leaders endorsed the Addis Ababa Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, reaffirming the continent’s commitment to sustainable development and climate resilience. A flagship response from Ethiopia is the Green Footprint Initiative—a mass tree-planting campaign that has seen the distribution of over 32 billion seedlings across the country over the past five years. Impressively, the survival rate of these seedlings is approximately 90%, making the initiative a continental model for nature-based solutions and a cornerstone of Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy. The CRGE initiative is ambitious: it aims for Ethiopia to achieve middle-income status by 2025 while building a green economy and buffering itself from the impacts of climate change. Plans include generating electricity primarily from hydropower, supplemented by wind (20%) and geothermal (10%) renewable sources within the same timeframe. However, Ethiopia’s environment and economic prospects are closely intertwined with broader regional stability. The World Bank estimates that countries grappling with conflict or instability, including Ethiopia, harbor a disproportionate share of the world’s poorest people and are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. Conflict and climate disasters often form a vicious cycle that severely erodes the population’s capacity to survive shocks. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) highlights that three-quarters of the estimated 120 million forcibly displaced globally reside in countries most affected by climate change, Ethiopia among them. While confronting alarming food shortages, escalating displacement, and extreme weather, Ethiopia also demonstrates strong political will and leadership. Its national initiatives and active representation in international climate negotiations showcase a commitment to both mitigating and adapting to climate risks

Five new monitors soon in Gurgaon to boost real-time AQI checks

Gurgaon: In a move to plug the gap in state's air quality network, Haryana state pollution control board has cleared a plan to set up five additional continuous ambient air quality monitoring (CAAQM) stations in the city and one each in Rewari and Jhajjar. Right now, most of the existing stations in Gurgaon are lying defunct, leaving the city, which consistently figures among the country's worst polluted, effectively blind to real-time air quality data. "Each station will cost around Rs 2 crore. We will float a tender for the project next week and locations for these stations will be finalised after that. These will track key pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone, feeding data to the pollution board's portal. This will help the administration both in designing interventions and in enforcing restrictions when air quality dips," said JP Singh, senior environment engineer, HSPCB. Experts have long argued that Gurgaon needs a denser monitoring grid because of its rapid urbanisation, heavy traffic, and the industrial belt along NH8. Without reliable data, authorities struggle to enforce the graded response action plan (GRAP), which kicks in every winter to control smog across NCR. According to central pollution control board (CPCB) guidelines, areas with populations between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 should have a minimum of five CAAQMs and three manual monitors to ensure comprehensive air quality assessment. The district, with a population of over 1.5 million as per 2011 census, has five CAAQMs and no manual monitors. "The current number of monitors is insufficient for a city of this size and population density. The city needs at least eight monitoring stations to track and manage air quality effectively," said Shubhansh Tiwari, research associate at Centre for Science and Environment.Moreover, according to experts, the monitoring stations in the city are not properly distributed and lead to inaccurate air quality data. "Gwal Pahari, Sector 51, and Teri Gram monitoring stations track data from one side of the city while Vikas Sadan is the only one to get data from the old city. The stations are not ideally located. More stations should be set up where most people live to check the pollutants they are exposed to," Tiwari added. The monitoring station at Gwal Pahari is run by India Meteorological Department, while the stations at Vikas Sadan, Teri Gram, Sector 51, and Manesar are under HSPCB. These stations, however, do not give an ideal picture when calculating the data as they do not cover all district zones. Meanwhile, Rewari and Jhajjar, where the new stations will be set up, are smaller cities but also pollution hotspots because of industrial activity and crop-residue burning that takes place in the surrounding areas.

Climate change could displace 100 million Africans by 2050 – Report

By 2050, up to 5 per cent of Africa’s population—about 100 million people—could be forced to move due to the impacts of climate change. This warning is contained in the State of Africa’s Environment Report 2025, released in Ethiopia by the India-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The report presents thoroughly researched data and analysis on climate-induced migration and related challenges. “Africa, in fact, would have the highest rate of displacement or migration due to impacts of climate change,” the report states.

Frontline of a Planetary Emergency: Africa Demands Climate Justice and Action

The room at the Swiss Inn Nexus Hotel in Bole was silent but tense as Sunita Narain, one of the world’s most influential environmental voices, fixed her gaze on rows of African journalists, scientists, and policymakers. Her tone was gentle, but the words cut deep. “Us, we are—I call us the ants of the world, okay. We are the ants, so we have to keep at it,” said Narain, the Director General of India’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “We have to keep understanding and we have to keep at it and to do that we need to build this conversation, this community and keep it going.” Her audience had gathered on September 18 for the launch of The State of Africa’s Environment 2025, a sweeping assessment of a continent reeling from floods, heat waves, droughts, and collapsing food systems. The event, organized by CSE in partnership with the Alliance for Science–Ethiopia and Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) of Kenya, became more than a briefing—it was a call to arms. A Continent on the Frontline The report’s numbers were stark. Africa’s warming trend now outpaces the global average. “2024 was the warmest year on record for Africa,” Narain said. “The entire ocean area of Africa was under marine heat wave… and between 2021 and 2025 you had the most devastating five-year stretch in terms of human toll from extreme weather events.” In just five years, over 200 million Africans have been affected by extreme weather, with nearly 70 percent of recorded deaths from such events occurring in that period. Yet, Narain noted, “There is no death because of climate change,” quoting the euphemisms and omissions in national databases. “Every year, every month, extreme weather events are breaking new records. Every region is devastated. I call this the revenge of nature.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has long warned of Africa’s vulnerability, but the report underscored how rapidly the danger is escalating. Seven of the world’s ten most climate-vulnerable nations are African, according to Brookings Institution analysis. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that every third global death from extreme weather in the past 50 years occurred in Africa. ‘This Is a Matter of Existence’ Negus Lemma, Ethiopia’s Deputy Director General of the Environmental Protection Authority, offered a blunt assessment: “Discussing and working on issues of climate and environmental protection is an extravagance, but it is a matter of existence and way of life.” He cited UNFCCC figures showing 16 of the world’s 19 hunger hotspots this year are in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Sahel, where conflict and climate shocks combine to devastate crops. “Over 115 million people faced acute food insecurity in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Sahel in 2025,” he said. “In Africa, the most vulnerable populations are particularly people living in remote rural areas and informal settlements, as well as women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those living in poverty.” Lemma highlighted Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) as an African-led solution. Anchored by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the program planted a record-breaking 714.7 million seedlings in a single day this July. “The 2025 planting campaign was part of an annual target to plant 7.5 billion trees,” Lemma said. “This is an African model of climate adaptation.” Food, Water, and Health on the Edge Narain warned that Africa’s climate crisis is not just about weather—it is about livelihoods. “Water will be at the center of climate change,” she said. “You will get more water in fewer number of rainy days. The ability of a society to be able to hold the water… is going to be key.” She painted an unsettling picture of failing crops, declining cocoa yields, and rising plant diseases that will erode farmers’ profits. “That means more and more money being spent by the farmer and less and less money in terms of the ability to be able to save or to make farming profitable.” Health threats loom equally large. “Climate change will lead to more temperature spikes, more flooding, more rain, and more heat,” Narain said. “It will have an impact on vectors—on malaria, on dengue, on chikungunya… flooding… cholera has come back as one of the biggest health problems once again.” Her concern extended even to the concrete towers of Addis Ababa. “I look at your architecture and I wonder whether this is going to be appropriate for the extreme heat that we are going to have. Architecture for heat is going to require us to have more and more ventilation—the traditional architecture of our region.” Climate Justice and Reparations Dr. Rita Bissoonauth, UNESCO’s Director for the Addis Liaison Office, described the crisis as one of equity and dignity. “Africa is on the frontline of a climate emergency it did not create,” she said. “Climate hazards are causing significant economic losses… This is not just an environmental crisis; it is a profound inequality. It is also a humanitarian crisis: water scarcity already affects 14 African countries, with a further 11 projected to join them by 2025—putting nearly half of the continent’s 1.45 billion people at risk of severe water stress.” Bissoonauth called the report “a moral compass,” linking environmental stress to broader issues like food insecurity and migration. She urged journalists to humanize the science: “Reports don’t change the world; people do, especially those who turn complex evidence into public understanding and demand for action.” She reminded participants of the African Union’s 2025 Theme on Reparations. “Climate justice is inseparable from historical justice. This is a call to action, through innovative financing and public–private collaboration, to scale investment where it counts.” Holding the Rich World Accountable Narain did not spare high-emitting nations. “Africa is not responsible for the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Let’s be absolutely clear about it,” she said. “The appropriation of the global carbon budget … that’s a finite budget.” She pointed to the United States taking nearly a quarter of that budget since 1870. “China became the manufacturing hub for the entire world… and then you have India… the rest of the world, all of you combined, are left with 24 percent of the global budget,” she said. “Now the world is going to go even more backwards. We have the Trump world now, where climate change is being denied. Drill, baby, drill is back on the agenda.” Migration and Social Fractures Narain cautioned against oversimplification. “I have a problem with [the term] ‘climate refugees’ because one day it will come back to haunt us,” she said. Extreme weather, she added, is often “the tipping point that forces already vulnerable people to migrate.” The report shows disaster-related displacements surged from 1.1 million to 6.3 million in 2020, with projections of unprecedented future migration without urgent action. “Africa would have the highest rate of displacement or migration because of this,” Narain warned. Chroniclers of Today For Narain, the fight is as much about storytelling as science. “We are the chroniclers of today… if we don’t have that voice, if we don’t have that reality check, we will forget,” she said. “We will in a generation believe that whatever we are seeing in the name of climate change is just a new normal and that there’s nothing we can do about it.” Bissoonauth echoed this. “An African proverb reminds us: ‘Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.’ This report provides the evidence. But you—the journalists—are the writers who will ensure the story of Africa’s environment is told by Africans, for Africans, and for the world.” Spotlighting African Solutions Lemma urged the continent to “spotlight African solutions and adaptation mechanisms … including during the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil.” Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy, integrated with its National Adaptation Plan, is an example of embedding adaptation into development. Narain pressed journalists to focus on local innovation. “Solutions are where our mind is today,” she said. “Highlight water harvesting, sustainable farming, and community resilience alongside the warnings.” Bissoonauth suggested cross-border collaborations and empowering citizens: “Follow pledges from summit halls to real-world outcomes… amplify innovation from communities, youth, and women—they are not just victims.” A Call to Keep Going As applause filled the hall, Narain’s closing words were both a plea and a promise: “It is sometimes heartbreaking to say we have not got where we need to go—but we can’t give up. So, we have to keep at it. What does the continent of Africa do? What does India do?… This is the double whammy that exists—the environmental crisis coming on top of the climate crisis. But we are ants. We keep going.” The State of Africa’s Environment 2025 may not reverse the climate emergency, but for Narain and her allies, chronicling Africa’s crisis—and its ingenuity—is itself an act of resilience. “How do you stitch it together and make the big picture come alive? That’s what these reports are able to do,” she said. “Because if we do not tell this story, no one else will.”

New report warns of escalating climate and environmental disasters in Africa

A new report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in India, titled “State of Africa’s Environment Report 2025”, has painted an alarming picture of Africa’s climate and environmental future. The report released today in Ethiopia warns that the continent is facing its most devastating five-year period yet, as weather, climate, and water-related disasters intensify. The 152-page report highlights that between 2021 and 2025, Africa experienced unprecedented losses—marked by rising temperatures, deadly floods, prolonged droughts, and food system shocks. Africa’s climate crisis is intensifying. In only 15 years, extreme weather has touched the lives of 412 million people, with over half of those cases concentrated in the past five years. Since 2021, more than 41,500 deaths have been recorded, while droughts alone have devastated 178 million lives. For instance, in Kenya and Ethiopia, repeated droughts have left pastoralist communities unable to feed their herds, wiping out livelihoods and forcing mass migrations. In West Africa, flash floods in Nigeria and Ghana submerged entire communities, displacing families overnight. Director of CSE, Sunita Narain, said it is time to fulfill commitments, take responsibility, and bring others into the fight against global environmental challenges driven by climate change. The report warns that Africa could face the world’s highest rate of climate-related displacement if urgent measures are not taken. Nearly 265 million people were forced into internal migration in the past year alone, and projections show up to 5 per cent of Africa’s population of some two billion people could become environmental migrants by 2050. Director of the Addis Ababa Liaison Office to the AU and UNECA, Dr. Rita Bissoonauth, emphasized that climate change is not only an environmental crisis but also a question of inequality. She called on journalists to “humanize climate stories, track financing, and amplify local solutions,” noting that the communities hardest hit are often those least responsible for the crisis. Experts stressed the importance of turning Africa’s vulnerabilities into strengths. Director General of Ethiopia’s Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Professor Kassahun Tesfaye, highlighted the potential of a sustainable bioeconomy that harnesses Africa’s crops, forests, livestock, and microorganisms within a circular, regenerative system. While the continent bears the heaviest costs of a crisis it did little to create, the report says, it is also uniquely positioned to lead with homegrown solutions.

Rare honour: Jabbowal govt school lecturer to attend climate convocation in Rajasthan

Sanjeev Kumar, a vocational lecturer in horticulture at Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Jabbowal, has been selected to attend the prestigious GSP Climate Convocation 2025, scheduled to be held in October this year at the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute (AAETI), Nimli, Rajasthan. The convocation, organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) under its Green Schools Programme (GSP), is an exclusive platform that brings together a select group of teachers from across India to strengthen climate education. Fewer than 15 teachers from the country have been shortlisted for this year’s edition, making the selection a rare honour. Sanjeev Kumar, a vocational lecturer in horticulture at Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Jabbowal, has been selected to attend the prestigious GSP Climate Convocation 2025, scheduled to be held in October this year at the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute (AAETI), Nimli, Rajasthan. The convocation, organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) under its Green Schools Programme (GSP), is an exclusive platform that brings together a select group of teachers from across India to strengthen climate education. Fewer than 15 teachers from the country have been shortlisted for this year’s edition, making the selection a rare honour. During the three-day programme, participants will engage with leading experts in the field of climate science, explore the latest developments in global climate negotiations and share innovative practices in climate change education. The residential sessions at AAETI will also give the teachers exposure to sustainable campus practices, providing hands-on learning experience. According to CSE, the convocation is designed to build a community of climate educators who can integrate sustainability into school curricula and inspire students to adopt eco-friendly practices. Travel and accommodation for the shortlisted participants will be covered by the organisers.

Africa: Frontline of a Planetary Emergency - Africa Demands Climate Justice and Action

The room at the Swiss Inn Nexus Hotel in Bole was silent but tense as Sunita Narain, one of the world's most influential environmental voices, fixed her gaze on rows of African journalists, scientists, and policymakers. Her tone was gentle, but the words cut deep. "Us, we are--I call us the ants of the world, okay. We are the ants, so we have to keep at it," said Narain, the Director General of India's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). "We have to keep understanding and we have to keep at it and to do that we need to build this conversation, this community and keep it going." Her audience had gathered on September 18 for the launch of The State of Africa's Environment 2025, a sweeping assessment of a continent reeling from floods, heat waves, droughts, and collapsing food systems. The event, organized by CSE in partnership with the Alliance for Science-Ethiopia and Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) of Kenya, became more than a briefing--it was a call to arms.

How Rwanda is faring on carbon market

Rwanda is among the top five regional countries that are investing in carbon market projects, according to the State of Africa’s Environment Report released on September 18. The State of Africa’s Environment Report, published by the Centre for Science and Environment, was presented during a conference of journalists from across Africa for the book release and media briefing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Carbon markets are trading systems in which carbon credits (one carbon credit representing one tonne of reduced or avoided emissions) are bought and sold to reduce air pollution. Companies or individuals can use these markets to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing credits from entities or countries that reduce or remove emissions. Some countries, like Rwanda, are mobilising climate finance by attracting companies and countries

Report: Africa’s Hottest Year on Record Signals a Continent on the Climate Brink

The African continent is warming faster than the global average, and the pace of disasters is outstripping the continent’s capacity to cope, a new report shows. The State of Africa’s Environment 2025 report, produced by Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), paints an alarming picture, warning of relentless warming, deadly disasters and ocean heat waves engulfing the continent. According to the report released on September 18 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa, the world’s second-largest continent, has just lived through its hottest year on record, with almost the entire ocean around it gripped by marine heatwaves. Between 2021 and 2025, Africa endured its most devastating five-year stretch on record for weather, climate, and water-related disasters. In 2024 alone, the continent’s average annual temperature rose 0.86°C above the 1991–2020 average. North Africa is the fastest-warming region in Africa, with a staggering 1.28°C. According to the World Meteorological Organisation’s State of the Climate in Africa 2024, the record-breaking heat collided with unprecedented floods, droughts and deadly heatwaves. In Sudan and Somalia, temperatures soared past 45°C, shutting down schools and destroying crops, with the usually bone-dry Sahara Desert seeing five times its annual rainfall in August, triggering rare and destructive floods. Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi were battered by floods from March to May that killed hundreds and displaced over 700,000, only to be hit by drought a few months later. The report warns that Africa’s crisis is not only on land but also in the surrounding seas, which are boiling at record levels. In 2024, nearly 3 million square kilometres of ocean around Africa were engulfed in marine heatwaves (MHWs). Marine heatwaves are extreme, prolonged spikes in sea surface temperature that devastate marine life and fuel stronger tropical cyclones. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, MHWs reached “strong, severe or extreme intensity,” smashing the previous record set just a year earlier. This oceanic fever threatens the continent’s coastal fisheries, coral reefs, and food security. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Report 5 (AR5) describes Africa’s warming as “beyond natural variability”, warning that without rapid global emissions cuts, temperatures on the continent could rise 3–6°C by 2100. According to UNESCO, the human toll is already staggering, with an estimated annual climate-driven economic losses of US$1.18 billion in North Africa and US$1.25 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa. UNESCO representative to Ethiopia, Dr Rita Bissoonauth, said Africa is on the frontline of a climate emergency it did not create. “This is not just an environmental crisis; it is a profound inequality. It is also a humanitarian crisis,” said Dr Bissoonauth. She described the State of Africa’s Environment 2025 as more than a scientific assessment, saying it is a moral compass that connects environmental stress, in water, food, and health, to issues of equity and human dignity. “Its message is clear: the current trajectory is not sustainable”, she said. Sunita Narain, Director General of Centre for Science and Environment, noted that despite the grim numbers, African countries are not standing still. “Change is taking shape in Africa. Nations are rolling out net-zero strategies, local adaptation plans, and indigenous knowledge systems to tackle droughts and extreme weather,” said Narain.