Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The worst monsoon season in 25 years is affecting parts of the Indian sub-continent. In India, 84 people have been killed in the state of Gujarat and 50 have died in the state of Maharashtra. Three hundred and fifty villages are underwater in the Amravati district. "Crops and almost three feet high soil have been washed off from farms. This means that farmers can resume agricultural work only after four months. Some land in fact has been rendered barren," reported Madhukar Namdev Rao Gumble of Apeksha Society.

1.5 million people have been affected by storms, tornadoes and landslides in Bangladesh. Cyclone Yemyin recently struck Bangladesh and Pakistan. "When you walk through areas of Baluchistan [in Pakistan], the air smells of rotting goat carcasses and the heat is so stifling that many people are covering themselves in mud just to keep cool," said Asar ul Haq of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "Access to the flood-affected population and areas is a major problem, since highways and other infrastructure have been damaged by the flooding rivers," according to Kari Egge of the United Nations Children's Fund.

Musicians performed at Live Earth concerts on seven continents to raise awareness of the climate issue on July 7th. Global warming is "one problem we can solve if we come together as one and take action and drive our neighbours, businesses and governments to act as well. That's what Live Earth is all about," said Al Gore, who inspired the event. The shows were staged in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro and scientists at an Antarctic research base recorded a contribution.

The event did receive some criticism. "The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," said Roger Daltrey of The Who. The Arctic Monkeys commented that the artists appearing were patronizing and hypocritical, "especially when we're using enough power for ten houses, just for stage lighting". The organizers did promise that the concert series would be carbon-neutral. At the South African concert, anti-poverty campaigner Kumi Naidoo introduced two Kenyan women who highlighted the way in which global warming has changed the lives of pastoralists in their country. "The struggle against poverty and the fight to reverse climate change are one and the same", said Naidoo. "They need to be given equal priority."

Conservation International (CI) reports that ten per cent of the Caribbean's 62 reef-building corals are candidates for "critically endangered" designation. "One of the Atlantic Ocean's most beautiful marine habitats no longer exists in many places because of dramatic increases in coral diseases, mostly caused by climate change and warmer waters," said CI's Michael Smith.

The assessment was reached after scientists met in March 2007 to analyze data on tropical corals, seagrasses, mangroves and algae, basic components of healthy marine ecosystems. "Coral reefs support some of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. When the coral reefs disappear, so will many other species which rely on reefs for shelter, reproduction and foraging," said Suzanne Livingstone at CI, who contributed to the study. Significant damage is also occurring to the mangrove ecosystem, which covers 42 per cent less area in the Caribbean than 25 years ago.