Six European countries issue warning over soaring temperatures

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 05 August 2023

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ROME/LISBON/ATHENS - Six European countries have issued a stark warning over the climate crisis following a summer of heatwaves and wildfires.

The leaders of Italy, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Malta and Portugal have urged countries to take immediate action amid fears extreme summers in southern Europe will harm the tourist industry and harvests.

"Extreme natural phenomena are destroying the ecosystem and threatening our daily life, our way of life," said a statement signed by six EU presidents on Thursday.

They added: "There is no more time to waste, no more time to compromise for political or economic reasons."

Large areas of the Mediterranean sweltered under an intense heatwave last month as firefighters battled to put out deadly blazes across a region stretching from Algeria to Turkey.

The leaders of the six nations said the Mediterranean was particularly exposed to the risks of water shortages and desertification.

Their statement added: "All Mediterranean countries must coordinate and react, engage in a collective effort to halt and reverse the effects of the climate crisis.”

The initiative was started through a telephone call between Italy's president Sergio Mattarella and his Greek counterpart, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and then extended to other members of the "Arraiolos Group" of non-executive presidents from EU states.

The statement stopped short of proposing concrete remedies to try to deal with the issue.

Italy itself needs to step up efforts to meet an EU 2030 target for lower carbon emissions, a government document seen by Reuters showed last month.

Dozens killed in wildfires

The statement comes after wildfires raged in many parts of southern Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, as countries endured soaring temperatures amid a summer heatwave.

Greece was one of the worst-affected nations, with more than 21,000 people evacuated from the islands of Rhodes and Corfu after the spread of forest fires.

Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Tunisia and Algeria were affected by wildfires, prompting evacuations.

At least 40 people died across Algeria, Italy and Greece.

Meanwhile, July is set to be world's hottest month on record.

The mean global temperature is projected to be at least 0.2C warmer than July 2019, the former hottest in the 174-year observational record, according to EU data.

July 2023 is estimated to be roughly 1.5C above the pre-industrial mean.

Oceans hit hottest ever recorded temperature

In a separate warning about the state of the planet, on Monday the EU's climate change service Copernicus reported that the temperatures of our oceans have reached their highest recorded levels, as they absorb warmth resulting from climate change.

This week, the average daily global sea surface temperature surpassed the 2016 record, reaching 20.96C.

This development carries serious consequences for the overall health of our planet.

The oceans play a crucial role in regulating the climate by soaking up heat, producing oxygen and influencing weather patterns.

However, as temperatures of the oceans rise, they become less capable of absorbing carbon dioxide, resulting in a higher concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Warmer waters can also speed up the melting of glaciers that feed into the ocean, leading to an increase in sea levels.

Land temperatures in Spain surpass 60C as deadly heatwave sweeps Europe

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 13 July 2023

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MADRID - The temperature of the ground in some areas of Spain has hit more than 60C during the deadly heatwave sweeping Europe, satellite recordings have shown.

It was so hot that a heat map that highlights scorching temperatures in red turned even darker – to black.

Temperature records have been broken on most of the continent, including France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, where highs of 40C were recorded again on Wednesday.

Sicily and Sardinia were forecast to be as high as 48C.

The heatwave claimed its first life this summer, prompting health warnings for tourists.

A 44-year-old worker was reportedly painting a zebra crossing in 40C heat in the town of Lodi outside Milan, Italy, at midday on Tuesday when he collapsed.

He was said to have lost consciousness due to the intense heat.

An area of high pressure, named Cerberus after the underworld monster from Dante’s Inferno, is making its way across the country.

On Tuesday, satellites recorded the land surface temperature in some areas of Extremadura in Spain at more than 60C.

A total of 13 autonomous communities were categorised as being at extreme risk (red alert), significant risk (orange alert), and risk (yellow alert), with some places recording 43C.

The 60C land temperature was recorded by the sea and land surface temperature radiometer (SLSTR) instrument, which is a feature of Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites.

Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme.

Bosses at Copernicus point out that the land surface temperature is that of the soil and should not be confused with the air temperature.

The extreme heat is forecast to last across the Mediterranean for around two weeks.

The world experienced its hottest days on record in the first week of this month.

Mothers of Srebrenica: ‘Sadly, the killing continues in the world’

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 12 July 2023

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NEW YORK - The pointe shoes were a testament to unfulfilled hopes. They belonged to a young ballet dancer from Bosnia and Herzegovina whose life was forever changed by the brutal conflict that broke out in the heart of Europe at the end of the 20th century and were on display at the UN Headquarters in New York to educate visitors about the horrors of war and genocide.

Among the exhibit’s visitors were members of the Mothers of Srebrenica, an association that united thousands of people – mothers, sisters, and wives – who have lost loved ones in the massacre in their city.

Munira Subašić doesn’t need photographs to remember the tragedy that claimed her husband, son, and 20 other close relatives.

“I represent all the mothers who lost their children in the genocide, all those whose dreams were shattered by this tragedy,” she told UN News ahead of Srebrenica Memorial Day, commemorated on 11 July.

Darkest page of war

The war that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia claimed more than 100,000 lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, mostly of Bosnian Muslims, and displaced more than two million others.

People were detained and put in concentration camps, and thousands of Bosnian women were systematically raped. The list of atrocities is endless, but Srebrenica became the darkest page of the war.

In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb army seized Srebrenica, previously declared by the UN as a “security zone”, and brutally murdered some 8,000 men and teenagers there and expelled 20,000 people from the city.

The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recognized the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by the army of Republika Srpska as an act of genocide.

The UN could not prevent this genocide because the small and lightly armed contingent of Dutch peacekeepers was not able to resist the units of the Bosnian Serbs.

Seeking justice

Founded in 2002, the Mothers of Srebrenica Association has been searching for missing persons and mass graves, supporting survivors, and seeking justice.

“We want the whole world to know that we have survived,” Ms. Subašić said. “We have forgotten nothing. We will strive to make sure that all criminals get what they deserve.”

In 2017, the ICTY sentenced Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, to life in prison for crimes of genocide, violations of the laws and customs of war, and crimes against humanity, including the massacres at Srebrenica, committed from 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The crimes committed are among the most atrocious acts known to mankind,” Judge Alphons Orie of the Tribunal said when announcing the verdict. “They include genocide and extermination, which is a crime against humanity.”

The Mothers of Srebrenica won a lawsuit filed against the Dutch government and Ministry of Defence for failing to protect the residents, Ms. Subašić said.

“The Dutch Government acknowledged the Court’s decision, took responsibility, and took an active role in financially supporting the survivors of the genocide,” she said. “Our children’s lives are priceless. No one can give them back to us, but we worked to ensure that justice was done.”

Identifying remains

Kada Hotić, a Mothers of Srebrenica member, has dedicated her life to finding those still missing and identifying their remains.

“It took years to find just two bones from my son’s remains,” Ms. Hotić, said, adding that the vast majority of those reported missing were later found dead in huge mass graves.

The last time she saw her husband was in July 1995, she said. They were trying to board a bus together during the deportation when a uniformed man led him out of the line with a gun to his throat.

“He had our belongings in his hands, everything we had managed to take with us, and I haven’t seen him since,” she said.

“They took us, women and children, by bus to Tuzla, but on the way, the bus was stopped, and soldiers burst in,” she explained. “They exposed their genitals and shouted at us that ‘these are their weapons against us’. We tried to protect the children somehow so they wouldn’t see this horror.”

Psychological trauma

Genocide is also about deep psychological trauma for the survivors. According to Ms. Subašić, the Srebrenica genocide left some 5,500 minors without one or both parents.

In front of many of these children, their families and loved ones were raped and murdered, she said.

“Members of our association were actively involved in raising these children, and many of them have become successful people in spite of their experiences,” says the head of the association. “We wanted them to grow up in love, to feel that love, and I hope we have succeeded.”

Srebrenica lessons

“The Mothers of Srebrenica are here, and their presence is a reminder of what should never happen again,” said UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Nderitu at the Stories of Survival and Remembrance exhibit at UN Headquarters.

“No genocide has ever happened without hate speech accompanying it before and even after,” she said, adding that genocide denial efforts continue today.

While touring the exhibit with the Special Adviser, Ms. Subašić expressed the association’s hope “that with our mission, we would ensure that no one else would have to go through the horrors of Srebrenica, through the genocide”.

“But, unfortunately, while I’m talking to you about this, a similar situation is developing in Ukraine, Somalia, and other places,” she said. “People are being killed there again.”