Mud and rock bury Swiss village after glacier collapse, one person missing

One person was missing, Ebener said. Officials gave no further details on the person during the press conference.
Officials said millions of cubic metres of rock and soil have tumbled down since Blatten was first evacuated this month when part of the mountain behind the glacier began to crumble, sparking warnings it could bring the ice mass down with it.
A video shared widely on social media showed the dramatic moment when the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came cascading down towards the village.
Experts consulted by Reuters said it was difficult to assess the extent to which rising temperatures spurred by climate change had triggered the collapse because of the role the crumbling mountainside had played.
Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, said while various factors were at play in Blatten, it was known that local permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures in the Alps.
The loss of permafrost can negatively affect the stability of the mountain rock which is why climate change had likely played a part in the deluge, Huggel said.
The extent of the damage to Blatten had no precedent in the Swiss Alps in the current or previous century, he added.
The rubble of shattered wooden buildings could be seen on the flanks of the huge mass of earth in the drone footage.
Buildings and infrastructure in Blatten, whose roughly 300 inhabitants were evacuated on May 19 after geologists identified the risk of an imminent avalanche of rock and ice from above, were battered by the rockslide, officials said.
SRF said houses were destroyed in the village nestled in the Loetschental valley in southern Switzerland.
Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the local population as emergency services warned people the area was hazardous and urged them to stay away, closing off the main road into the valley.
'It's terrible to lose your home,' Keller-Sutter said on X.
Reuters

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Mail & Guardian

11-06-2025

• Mail & Guardian

How the state plans to shield SA's coast from climate change

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The country's coastal municipalities are already under pressure, exposed not only to hazards originating from the ocean such as storm surge and sea level rise-related flooding and erosion, but also to the universal climate hazards experienced in the country, including drought, rainfall-related flooding, extreme temperatures and veld fires. The coastal sector must embrace a combination of structural, natural and community-based approaches to build resilience and adaptive capacity, protect vulnerable communities, while ensuring long-term sustainability in the face of evolving climate disasters, according to the report. About 22%, or 12.9 million people, of the country's total population of 60 million live within 20km of the oceans' coasts, 60% of them in densely populated metropolitan areas. Meanwhile, 95% of South Africa's imports and exports arrive and depart on ships, making about 60% of the economy dependent on coastal natural resources and trade infrastructure such as ports. 'Most of the socio-economic benefits that we receive from the coast are based on the intactness and functionality of natural coastal environments and ecosystems,' the report said, noting that this highlights the importance of coastal environments and resources. But this also indicates the potential risk and vulnerability to which coastal populations, environments and assets in South Africa are exposed. What is Carp? Carp is South Africa's first sector-specific climate adaptation plan dedicated to climate resilience. 'Our coastline or coastal cities are at the These issues require integrated inclusive and well-funded strategies that prioritise nature-based solutions, community resilience and sustainable urban planning to safeguard our coastal assets, he said. With climate change projected to increase the frequency and intensity of coastal storms, accelerate sea-level rise, and compound vulnerabilities from population growth, the risks to infrastructure and ecosystems are escalating. 'Carp responds by advancing ecosystem-based management, resilient infrastructure, strong governance and climate-smart livelihoods to secure a sustainable coastal future,' said the minister. The plan was developed through extensive consultation with more than700 stakeholders in 2023 and 2024. A total of 21 envisaged outcomes and roughly 150 actionable interventions have been developed. Its key objectives are to strengthen coastal resilience through integrated science-based adaptation measures, align national policies with global frameworks, including the Paris Agreement and the It also aims to mobilise public and private sector investment to finance adaptation initiatives, protect and restore blue and teal carbon ecosystems and enhance climate resilience and empower local communities. Coastal climate hazards South Africa's coastal climate, spanning a wide range of climate zones, is influenced by tropical, subtropical and mid-latitude systems. Subtropical high-pressure systems transport moisture, and ex-tropical cyclones can make landfall along the east coast. Antarctic cut-off low pressure systems can hit especially southern and southwestern coasts in winter — all these systems can result in severe weather events — which already affect lives, property and the country's economy. 'Floods and storms are by far the most frequently occurring disasters, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where they originate from extreme rainfall events,' the report noted. 'Unlike the Northern and Western Cape areas in general, the City of Cape Town experienced a high number of weather-related disasters, Extreme rainfall events have a high occurrence in the eastern inland areas of South Africa, but also throughout the coastal zone of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. 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Pro-active and climate-wise development planning for these areas is imperative to keep the growing population and economy out of harm's way. 'Apart from immediate human land use requirements and the preservation of a productive natural environment, the perspective of a changing climate (for example, shifts in rainfall patterns), increased storminess and rising sea levels pose additional threats to natural coastal ecosystems and the human population and infrastructure reliant on them.'

The Herald

11-06-2025

• The Herald

May was world's second-hottest on record, EU scientists say

The world experienced its second-warmest May this year since records began, a month in which climate change fuelled a record-breaking heatwave in Greenland, scientists said on Wednesday. Last month was Earth's second-warmest May on record, exceeded only by May 2024, rounding out the northern hemisphere's second-hottest March-May spring on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin. Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4°C higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, C3S said. That broke a run of extraordinary heat, in which 21 of the last 22 months had an average global temperature exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial times, though scientists warned the break was unlikely to last. "While this may offer a brief respite for the planet, we do expect the 1.5°C threshold to be exceeded again in the near future due to the continued warming of the climate system," said C3S director Carlo Buontempo. The main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Last year was the planet's hottest on record. A separate study, published by the World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists on Wednesday, found human-caused climate change made a record-breaking heatwave in Iceland and Greenland last month about 3°C hotter than it otherwise would have been, contributing to a huge additional melting of Greenland's ice sheet. "Even cold climate countries are experiencing unprecedented temperatures," said Sarah Kew, study co-author and researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. The global threshold of 1.5°C is the limit of warming which countries vowed under the Paris climate agreement to try to prevent to avoid the worst consequences of warming. The world has not yet technically breached the target, which refers to an average global temperature of 1.5°C over decades. However, some scientists have said it can no longer realistically be met, and have urged governments to cut CO² emissions faster to limit the overshoot and the fuelling of extreme weather. C3S's records go back to 1940 and are cross-checked with global temperature records going back to 1850. Reuters

IOL News

09-06-2025

• IOL News

Can reforestation cool the planet? New study reveals potential

Completely reforesting Earth might help cool the planet more than expected but still not enough to offset the warming that has occurred since industrial times, a recent analysis finds. Image: Supplied Completely reforesting Earth might help cool the planet more than expected but still not enough to offset the warming that has occurred since industrial times, a recent analysis finds. The scientists modeled what might happen if humans reached the planet's reforestation potential, adding about 4.6 million square miles of trees and bringing Earth's forests back to preindustrial levels. The good news is that trees' natural emissions could help with cooling, the researchers write in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. The researchers predicted the outcomes of full reforestation both taking and not taking the effects of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) into consideration. These natural, tree-emitted compounds interact with atmospheric molecules, encouraging cloud production, reflecting sunlight and cooling Earth's surface. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ In a news release, the researchers acknowledge that achieving full reforestation is not feasible. Nevertheless, they write, tree restoration may have 'higher climate change mitigation potential' than previously thought thanks to trees' atmospheric effects. The scenario that took BVOCs into consideration showed more cooling than without tree emissions. But though both scenarios lowered Earth's temperature, neither cooled the planet to preindustrial levels. Overall, the researchers found, average global temperatures could fall by 0.34 degrees Celsius if the forests were restored. But that would not be enough to make up for the amount of warming since industrialization. 'Reforestation is not a silver bullet,' Bob Allen, a professor of climatology at the University of California at Riverside and the paper's lead author, said in a news release. 'It's a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.'