CREAF

One day after the deadline, COP30 in Belém (Brazil) has finally reached a minimal agreement. The text does not mention a roadmap for abandoning fossil fuels, as requested by more than 80 states, including the European Union. The agreement states that countries agreed to accelerate climate action and triple funding for developing countries facing extreme weather events.

Lakes are considered sentinels of climate change, although most research has focused on temperate regions. An international team analysed 10 tropical lakes in the central Amazon during the 2023 drought, which caused high mortality among fish and river dolphins. Using satellite data and hydrodynamic models, the authors show how intense drought and a heatwave combined to raise water temperatures: five of the 10 lakes experienced very high daytime temperatures, exceeding 37°C. Specifically, temperatures in the shallow waters of Lake Tefé soared to 41°C—hotter than a thermal bath. The study is published in Science.

Some ecosystems are able to adapt to moderate droughts, even if they last for several years. However, in scrublands and grasslands, when the phenomenon is extreme and prolonged, their capacity to store carbon plummets. This is the main conclusion of an international study that has assessed the effects of the duration and severity of droughts on the productivity of 74 grassland and pasture ecosystems on six continents. According to the authors, the most vulnerable areas are arid and semi-arid regions, such as those in the Mediterranean region and the southwestern United States. The study, published in Science, involves CREAF, CSIC and IICG-URJC, among other centres.

Migratory birds are particularly affected by the climatic, ecological and urban changes resulting from the constantly changing world in which we live. Their survival is at risk, as are the ecosystems in which they live. We analyse the threats they face on a cyclical basis during their migratory routes and why it is important to protect them.

The 16th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP16) in Rome has concluded with an agreement to adopt the first global plan for financing nature conservation, after three days of meetings. This meeting meant resuming the negotiations that began last October in Cali (Colombia), where the parties failed to reach an agreement on how to finance the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework reached at COP15, which aims to protect a third of the land and oceans by 2030.

As announced, the new US president, Donald Trump, has signed on his first day in office an executive order for the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. This is the second time Trump has withdrawn his country from the signatory states of the most important climate change agreement, as he did in 2020.

After an intense night of negotiations in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), the countries participating in COP28 reached a historic agreement by mentioning for the first time "moving away from fossil fuels" in the Global Stocktake document - the assessment of progress made towards achieving the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The agreement comes after the first draft presented by the presidency did not make this mention - it referred only to "reducing consumption and production" of these fuels - which was described as "unacceptable" by countries such as Spain.

Las lluvias torrenciales caídas en Libia hace dos semanas fueron 50 veces más probables por el calentamiento global provocado por la acción humana. Algo similar ocurría con las lluvias caídas en Grecia, Bulgaria y Turquía, que fueron 10 veces más probables por el cambio climático, según concluye un estudio de atribución rápido de la Word Weather Attribution (WWA). La investigación apunta a que la tragedia en Libia se agravó por otros factores humanos, como construcciones en llanuras inundables y presas en mal estado. Los autores también analizaron las inundaciones registradas en España a principios de septiembre y concluyeron que precipitaciones tan intensas se esperan una vez cada 40 años. 

With the prolonged meteorological drought we find ourselves in, we are focusing too much on climate as its cause, while there is a lack of debate about the real problem: chronic water demand. It is necessary to rethink consumption models with all the actors of society and the competent administrations. A future adapted to climate change must address drought by prioritizing the restoration of our water systems and questioning the current development model.

The hydrological, meteorological and agricultural drought that is being experienced in Spain, especially in some regions, comes after a 2022 that was the warmest and one of the driest since records have been kept. Researchers Sandra García Galiano (UPCT) and Annelies Broekman (CREAF) participated in an informative session of SMC Spain in which they analyzed the causes, consequences and possible solutions to face this complex natural phenomenon.