Global Pulse

分类： environment

  • Thousands in Spain return home but new heatwave raises wildfire fears

    Thousands in Spain return home but new heatwave raises wildfire fears

    A weeks-long wave of catastrophic wildfires has scorched vast swathes of Southern Europe, with tens of thousands of evacuees finally permitted to return to their homes in Spain this week as authorities across the Iberian Peninsula and France brace for the region’s fourth major heatwave of 2026.

    In Spain, officials have lifted evacuation orders and access restrictions across four affected regions: Toledo, Madrid, Ávila, and Castellón. In the Madrid autonomous community alone, 24,000 displaced residents have been cleared to return to their properties, while movement restrictions have also been removed for an additional 20,000 people living in high-risk fire zones. For many residents like the woman from Navas del Rey, this marks the first time they have set foot on their property since wildfires swept through their community.

    Despite the lifting of evacuation orders for most areas, the threat of new fire outbreaks and flare-ups of existing blazes remains critically high amid the incoming heatwave. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has warned that the next 12 hours will be a decisive period for containing the blazes near the capital, noting that while containment efforts have progressed favorably, rising temperatures, plummeting humidity and unpredictable wind gusts create significant new risks.

    One wildfire near Vall d’Uixó, northwest of Valencia, remains completely out of control. The blaze at Burgohondo in Ávila province, already the largest recorded wildfire in Spanish history, has scorched more than 108,000 acres of land and forced 40,000 people to flee their homes. Firefighting coordinator Francisco Bolaños reported that the blaze held stable through the previous night, but officials remain on high alert for reignition amid the heat, with crews working to secure the fire’s 112-mile perimeter.

    Across the border in southwestern France, the largest wildfires in the Gironde region are currently classified as “stabilized,” but officials have warned that new flare-ups have already been recorded, and forecasted dry winds and temperatures reaching 106°F (41°C) threaten to reignite large blazes. Blandine Sarrazin, mayor of the Gironde town Le Barp, noted that two new blazes broke out just one day prior, warning that the situation is growing increasingly difficult and requiring constant hyper-vigilance from residents and crews.

    Sixteen French departments are currently under orange heatwave alerts, including the southern Landes region. French fire services have deployed specialized emergency protocols to protect critical defense and aerospace industrial sites in Gironde, including high-risk “Seveso” sites that produce hazardous materials for missiles and rocket systems. In a small moment of goodwill amid the crisis, animal rescue volunteers in the Gironde town of Le Porge successfully rescued a young roe deer trapped in fire-affected woodlands.

    More than 2,000 people displaced by Spanish fires in the Tiétar Valley were housed by volunteer groups in the southern town of Talavera de la Reina, with around 300 evacuees still sheltering there as of Wednesday morning. Local mayor José Julián Gregorio confirmed that evacuees would continue to receive the same full level of care they received at the start of the emergency.

    Tragically, authorities in the southern Spanish city of Seville confirmed this week that a woman who suffered severe burns in the earlier Los Gallardos fire in Almería has died of her injuries in hospital. The Almería fire outbreak has now claimed 14 lives, with victims including citizens from Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the United States, and France. No other fatalities have been reported from the current round of fires around Madrid and Castellón.

    The wildfire crisis extends beyond Spain and France this summer. Northern Portugal’s Vila Real district is currently battling an active blaze with a one-kilometer active fire front, and civil protection crews are maintaining constant surveillance to protect a local water treatment plant and a nearby gas depot near the town of Valpaços. In Greece, new wildfires have broken out on the Aegean island of Paros and in the southern mainland town of Trifylia, adding to the strain on European firefighting resources across the Mediterranean.

  • Spain returns wildfire evacuees as France braces for worsening weather

    Spain returns wildfire evacuees as France braces for worsening weather

    Across Western and Southern Europe, nations are navigating a brutal season of unprecedented wildfires, driven by record-breaking heatwaves and long-term human-induced climate change. While thousands of displaced residents in Spain are finally heading back to their homes after days of fleeing raging blazes, French emergency crews are bracing for deteriorating weather conditions that could reignite already stubborn fires.

    Over the past week, neighboring Spain and France have faced some of the most destructive forest fires recorded in modern history. Vast swathes of forest and scrubland have been reduced to ash, forcing more than 40,000 people across both nations to evacuate their homes at short notice.

    In Spain, the most intense fire activity has been concentrated west of the capital Madrid. By late Tuesday, regional and national authorities lifted evacuation orders for more than a dozen affected municipalities, allowing residents to return. In total, 24,000 evacuees have been cleared to return to their properties, with a further 20,000 released from mandatory confinement orders across the Madrid region, according to Francisco Martin Aguirre, the central government’s delegate to the Madrid region, who shared the update on social media platform X. Similar repatriation steps have also been implemented in eastern Spain’s Valencia region, another area hit hard by recent blazes.

    For returning residents, the homecoming brought a quiet sense of relief after days of displacement. “I’m happy — I couldn’t wait to come home and have my coffee and breakfast,” said Maria Jesus Perez Blanca, a 70-something resident who was among the first returnees to visit local cafes in Aldea del Fresno, a small town west of Madrid, on Wednesday morning. Her daughter Susana Barrul, a 39-year-old housewife, echoed the sentiment, saying she was eager to return to the simple, familiar daily routine she had missed: “getting up in the morning, having coffee, going shopping, coming home, and cooking.”

    Improved overnight weather conditions have allowed fire crews to make significant progress, lowering fire intensity and stabilizing fire perimeters across Spain, according to the central government’s Madrid delegate office. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters Tuesday that firefighters had largely contained active blazes, with a goal to fully stabilize and extinguish all remaining flames by Wednesday if conditions allow. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed Wednesday that containment efforts for the major Madrid-area blaze were progressing “favourably”, adding that the next 12 hours would be decisive for cementing the gains made by civil protection teams.

    Across the border in France, the Gironde region, located west of the iconic winemaking capital Bordeaux, has also seen a second consecutive calm night, with the massive regional blaze currently holding stable. But authorities are warning that conditions are set to worsen Wednesday, as the fourth major heatwave of an already sweltering European summer settles over the region. The Gironde and neighboring Landes departments have been placed under orange-level extreme heat warnings starting at midday, with forecasts predicting inland temperatures as high as 41°C, and 38°C on the Atlantic coast.

    Emergency crews are particularly concerned that strengthening westerly winds, forecast to arrive by early afternoon with gusts between 30 and 45 km/h, combined with plummeting humidity, could fan smoldering embers and spark new flare-ups across fire perimeters. “Wednesday will be an important day that we will be watching very closely, given the extreme temperatures we are going to have,” said Gironde fire chief Lieutenant Colonel Eric Pitault on Tuesday. Despite the looming risks, authorities have cleared 57,000 residents evacuated from three towns near Bordeaux last weekend to return to their homes starting Wednesday.

    Local volunteers helping with fire response say the stakes remain high for permanent residents. “We fear today,” said Jeremy Presi, a local business owner who has been volunteering at a water refilling station for firefighters. “The tourists can get in their cars and get out of here. Here, it’s our home.”

    The wave of wildfires across Europe is not limited to the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France. On Wednesday, Greek firefighters were battling a fast-moving blaze on the Aegean island of Paros, where strong winds have been fanning flames. The Greek fire service has deployed two fixed-wing fire aircraft, five helicopters, and roughly 100 ground crew to contain the blaze.

    Climate scientists have long linked this year’s string of extreme heatwaves and widespread drought across Europe to human-caused climate change. The prolonged extreme heat has dried out vegetation that grew unusually lush during wet winter and spring conditions, creating ideal tinderbox conditions for wildfires to spread rapidly. According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, Spain has already seen 207,000 hectares of land burn between January and July 2023 — one of the largest areas recorded for the period in modern records. In France, more than 92,000 hectares have burned already this year, the highest total recorded in 20 years of record-keeping. The European Union has warned that fire-prone conditions are expected to spread further into central Europe over the coming days.

  • A heat wave threatens to reignite France’s mega-fire near Bordeaux

    A heat wave threatens to reignite France’s mega-fire near Bordeaux

    In the coastal Gironde region of southwest France, hundreds of firefighters are locked in a high-stakes battle against an out-of-control wildfire nearly four times the geographic size of the French capital Paris. As authorities warned Wednesday, soaring temperatures forecast to surpass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) paired with shifting strong winds could derail a week of hard-won progress against the blaze that has already forced one of the largest peacetime evacuations in modern French history.

    A week after the fire first ignited, regional officials reported that overnight conditions remained relatively calm, with no further expansion of the fire line. However, the blaze has not been fully contained, and the combination of record heat and parched, tinder-dry vegetation has created extreme risk of sudden flare-ups that could send flames spreading rapidly again.

    To date, the massive wildfire has displaced more than 220,000 people across the region surrounding the major wine hub Bordeaux. Just on Tuesday, regional authorities ordered an additional 4,000 residents and tourists to evacuate popular coastal vacation spots along the Atlantic shoreline, expanding the scope of what is already France’s largest peacetime evacuation effort on record. In a contradictory but necessary adjustment, officials also cleared 60,000 evacuees to return to their homes in three low-risk Bordeaux suburbs that have not been touched by flames, though all returnees were instructed to remain on high alert for sudden changes in fire conditions.

    “The situation remains complicated. That’s clear. We’re not out of the woods,” Gironde Prefect Sophie Brocas told reporters Tuesday evening. This simultaneous movement of thousands of people fleeing coastal resorts and others returning to partially cleared neighborhoods underscores the highly unstable and precarious hold the fire still has over the region.

    The Gironde blaze is not an isolated crisis. Across the Iberian Peninsula and southwest France, a coordinated outbreak of extreme wildfires has displaced roughly 330,000 people from their homes and seasonal vacation sites. To the south, Spain is bracing for its fourth major heat wave of the 2022 summer, with multiple large blazes still burning uncontrolled across the country – including the largest wildfire recorded in Spain’s modern history. Despite the ongoing danger, Spanish authorities have begun rolling back evacuation orders for thousands of residents after firefighting teams made tangible gains in containing fire lines over the past 48 hours.

    At the peak of its intensity last week, the Gironde fire generated a rare and devastating atmospheric event never before recorded in France: a massive, black pyrocumulonimbus cloud – a thundercloud spawned by the extreme heat of a wildfire. The electrified cloud generated its own lightning, which sparked dozens of new spot fires far beyond the original fire perimeter, and created unpredictable violent winds that complicated firefighting efforts.

    Preliminary data from France’s Interior Ministry shows that more than 1,160 square kilometers (448 square miles) of land have already burned across the country this wildfire season. Climate scientists warn that this season’s extreme fire activity aligns with long-term climate trends: the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms Europe is warming faster than any other continent on Earth, heating at more than twice the global average. Western Europe just recorded the hottest June ever documented by modern monitoring, and the combination of extreme heat, widespread drought, and chronically dry vegetation created the perfect conditions for wildfires to spread and intensify rapidly across France and Spain.

  • A 2:47 a.m. alert, a rabbit and 220,000 evacuees as France’s wildfire rages on

    A 2:47 a.m. alert, a rabbit and 220,000 evacuees as France’s wildfire rages on

    In the early hours of the morning, a jarring, high-pitched blare cut through the silence of a sleeping town in southwest France, popping up on every resident’s smartphone screen marked with an ominous “URGENT” header. The message was stark and uncompromising: *Evacuate immediately*.

  • Wildfires are more extreme in Europe and North America, but global burning is oddly decreasing

    Wildfires are more extreme in Europe and North America, but global burning is oddly decreasing

    This summer, headlines from across the Northern Hemisphere have painted a grim picture of out-of-control wildfires: Spain is battling its largest recorded blaze, Canadian and American wildfire seasons are far outpacing historical averages, and thick smoke has choked entire regions, creating hazardous air quality for millions. Yet hidden beneath these alarming regional events is a counterintuitive global trend: according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, total global wildfire carbon emissions hit a 25-year low in 2025, driven by dramatic declines in fire activity across Africa and Asia.

    Experts emphasize that these two opposing trends are not contradictory — both are rooted in human activity reshaping fire patterns across the planet. “It does seem like a paradox because we’re talking increases in fires, yet the global numbers have been going down and down. But they’re both true,” explained Mike Flannigan, a fire scientist at Canada’s Thompson Rivers University.

    Regional data bears out the growing severity of wildfires in wealthy Northern Hemisphere nations. Spain’s ongoing wildfire has already scorched more than 500 square kilometers (193 square miles), making it the largest in the country’s recorded history, while total area burned across Europe is just slightly below the all-time record set earlier this decade. In North America, data from national wildfire monitoring centers shows total burned land this summer is at least 25% higher than the 10-year average, and more than double the levels seen 30 years ago. Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist at the University of Colorado, noted that wildfires across these regions are growing more extreme in every measurable way: size, intensity, spread speed, and frequency. “Extreme wildfires are on the rise globally in different parts of the world. And that’s the piece that you know has us shaking in our boots,” Balch said.

    The global decline in total fire activity, by contrast, is driven by shifting human land and fire management practices across the world’s most fire-prone continents. Statistics from Copernicus show that Africa and Asia account for more than three-quarters of all global carbon emissions from vegetation burning, while North America and Europe contribute less than one-eighth. This means changes in African and Asian fire activity overwhelmingly shape global totals.

    “Africa dominates the global fire activity,” said Park Williams, a water and fire scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “So if there’s a trend in Africa, then that’s going to be the trend in the global fire activity. In sub-Saharan Africa, fire activity over the last 25 years has gone down pretty dramatically.”

    Traditionally, annual large-scale grassland fires swept across African savannas, contributing the single largest share of global burned area. But John Abatzaglou, a fire scientist at the University of California Merced, explained that expanding agriculture and residential development have reduced the scope of these traditional burns, while human-built barriers also limit the spread of any fires that do start. In Asia and the Amazon, where fire has long been used as a low-cost tool to clear forest for agricultural land, shifting demographic and land use patterns have also cut the number of intentional burns. “It really is all driven by human demographic change,” Williams said.

    For the worsening extreme wildfires seen in North America and Europe, scientists say the primary human driver is climate change. Burning fossil fuels for energy has raised global average temperatures, creating hotter, drier conditions that are ideal for large, intense wildfires to ignite and spread. Five separate experts interviewed by The Associated Press confirmed this link between human-caused warming and more extreme fire activity.

    Hotter temperatures don’t just dry out vegetation — they also eliminate the natural overnight recovery period that once allowed forests and firefighters to gain the upper hand on blazes. “Hotter temperatures mean humans ‘have our foot on the gas pedal’ for bigger fires, but we also have lost the brakes on fire’ because warmer and wetter nights don’t give forests — or firefighters — time to recover during darkness like they used to,” Balch said.
    Flannigan added that rising temperatures pull more moisture out of soil and vegetation, turning plant material into ready fuel for fires, and have extended the length of the wildfire season across North America, especially in northern boreal forests. Where once just a handful of days each year had conditions suitable for large wildfires, now entire months carry high fire risk. When more extreme fires hit densely populated regions, they also cause far greater economic and human harm, destroying higher-value property and displacing more communities, Flannigan noted.

    Abatzaglou added that while North America has a long history of successful aggressive fire suppression, climate change has made blazes so intense and frequent that traditional suppression strategies are no longer sufficient to keep them under control.

    Looking ahead, scientists warn that the developing strong El Niño event will likely worsen wildfire activity in coming months across tropical regions. El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern marked by warmer ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, typically creates drier, hotter conditions that favor more intense wildfires across tropical zones. “The most predictable outcome of El Niño is going to be more tropical fire, specifically tropical forests,” Williams said, noting that increased fire activity is likely in the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific.

    While El Niño is expected to bring more rain and reduce the risk of large forest fires in the western United States, Abatzaglou noted that increased rainfall can also spur extra grass growth in arid desert regions, creating extra fuel that can ignite into devastating grass fires later — a pattern that contributed to major destructive blazes in Los Angeles in 2025 and Hawaii in 2023.

    Regardless of El Niño’s impact, scientists agree that communities across North America and Europe will need to improve long-term wildfire planning and adaptation to address the worsening trend of extreme blazes. Key strategies include intentional prescribed burns to reduce excess built-up vegetation that can fuel large out-of-control fires. “It’s not a question of whether our landscapes are going to burn, it’s the question of when they’re going to burn,” Balch said.

    This reporting on climate and wildfires from The Associated Press receives financial support from multiple private foundations, with AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • Japan coral protectors race to save reefs from heat ‘bomb’

    Japan coral protectors race to save reefs from heat ‘bomb’

    As global ocean temperatures hit record-breaking highs in June and a powerful El Niño event is forecast to sweep through the Pacific later this year, marine scientists and conservation groups in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture are rushing to develop innovative solutions to protect the region’s iconic coral reefs, which were already reduced to ecological wastelands by a devastating climate-driven bleaching event in 2024.

    Okinawa, a subtropical island chain in southern Japan, hosts some of the most biologically diverse coral ecosystems on the planet, home to a rainbow array of coral species that support thousands of forms of marine life. But the 2024 marine heatwave turned these vibrant underwater habitats into graveyards, leaving most coral either bleached pale white or discolored sickly brown. With climate conditions set to worsen in the coming years, experts warn that 2026 could bring an even more catastrophic mass bleaching event that could wipe out remaining vulnerable colonies.

    Paradoxically, a recent string of Pacific typhoons has provided temporary relief, churning up cool deep water that has lowered sea surface temperatures around Okinawa in recent weeks. But leading marine scientist Timothy Ravasi, a professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, warns that this short reprieve is no reason for complacency. “If not this year, it’s almost 100 percent that soon in Okinawa, all around the world, we will have another mass bleaching event,” he told AFP. “Just like a bomb, it will explode.”

    This looming threat has turned the work of Ravasi’s lab into a high-stakes race against time. The team operates one of only two “heatwave simulators” in the world: a sprawling setup of temperature-controlled seawater tanks that replicate natural marine habitats, hosting coral, giant clams, clownfish and other reef species. By manually adjusting water temperature and pH levels to mimic future climate conditions, researchers can induce bleaching and study which organisms are able to adapt to warmer, more acidic oceans. “If we don’t understand what climate change, ocean warming or acidification does to coral ecosystems, there is a chance we’re going to lose them,” Ravasi explained.

    Okinawa’s coral reefs face more than just climate change, however. The region is one of Japan’s most popular tourist destinations, with more than 80 percent of its local economy tied to the tourism sector. Widespread hotel construction, overfishing and coastal pollution have compounded the stress from rising ocean temperatures, pushing already vulnerable reef ecosystems to their breaking point. For Ravasi, the biggest barrier to meaningful action is not scientific, but political: convincing local policymakers and industry stakeholders that urgent change is needed. He has proposed limiting tourism growth and rolling back excessive urban development to protect reefs, a proposal that remains deeply controversial for leaders focused on economic expansion. “We have enough evidence that climate change is already pushing this ecosystem to limits,” he said.

    Despite these challenges, local conservationists have been leading on-the-ground restoration efforts for decades. The coastal village of Onna, which hosts the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, launched a native coral breeding and transplantation program back in 1999. Initially, many critics viewed human-assisted coral cloning as an unnatural “taboo” disruption of wild ecosystems, explained Shoichi Ikeno, head of local diving operator Lagoon. But subsequent DNA analysis confirmed the practice causes minimal harm to natural ecosystems, softening much of the early opposition.

    Similar pushback has greeted the work of Koji Kinjo, a coral breeder who opened a custom-built “artificial sea” indoor coral farm in the Okinawan village of Yomitan in 2009. At the facility, which resembles an underwater rainforest spread across dozens of connected aquariums, Kinjo has bred what he calls “miracle coral” – strains that have naturally developed extra resistance to warm water temperatures.

    Kinjo’s breakthrough came after years of trial and error. Early attempts to raise coral in low-stress, controlled environments produced fragile organisms that died quickly after being transplanted into the wild. He eventually succeeded by intentionally exposing growing coral to strong UV radiation and other natural stressors, “toughening up” the organisms to survive harsh ocean conditions. The resulting corals survived the 2024 mass bleaching event completely unharmed.

    Like the Onna restoration project, Kinjo’s human-assisted approach has drawn criticism from traditionalists who argue the ocean should be left to heal itself. But Kinjo says critics underestimate how severe the current crisis has become. All of the natural coral reefs near his coastal farm have already died off, replaced entirely by the resilient coral strains he has cultivated. Natural coral populations, he argues, can no longer keep up with the rapid pace of human-caused ocean warming and pollution. Sooner or later, he says, all unprotected coral will die out without intentional human intervention. “There is no restoring the sea to what it used to be,” he said. “That’s why my approach is to create a biodiverse place that can adapt to the coming era.”

  • India’s capital part of aggressive electric vehicle targets in bid to curb air pollution

    India’s capital part of aggressive electric vehicle targets in bid to curb air pollution

    NEW DELHI, July 2026 – On a typical weekday in one of New Delhi’s wealthiest residential districts, electric vehicle charging hubs adjacent to a busy shopping center hum with activity. Drivers of electric two-wheelers, passenger cars and small commercial trucks queue up to top up their batteries, a small but growing daily routine that reflects a landmark shift underway in India’s pollution-choked capital. On July 1, the Delhi government rolled out one of the most aggressive electric vehicle transition policies in India, setting binding deadlines to phase out new registrations of gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles in a bid to tackle the city’s chronic toxic air pollution.

    Under the new policy, Delhi aims to make the vast majority of newly registered vehicles fully electric by 2027. While no existing gas-powered vehicles will be removed from roads immediately, policymakers project their numbers will decline steadily in the coming years as the transition takes hold. The policy maps out clear, sequential deadlines for high-priority vehicle segments: starting in 2027, all newly registered three-wheelers and small cargo trucks must be electric, with two-wheelers following suit in 2028. These two vehicle categories make up nearly 70% of all registered vehicles in Delhi and account for almost half of the city’s total vehicular air pollution.

    To encourage adoption, the policy offers robust financial incentives. Buyers of new electric vehicles can qualify for subsidies of up to 50,000 rupees ($522), while residents who scrap their old gas-powered vehicles can receive payouts of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,044). It also includes waivers on registration fees and select road taxes, and allocates funding for a massive expansion of public charging and battery swapping infrastructure across the city. The entire 10-year transition plan is projected to cost the Delhi government 150 billion rupees ($1.5 billion).

    Energy and environmental experts across India have hailed the policy as a groundbreaking step for clean mobility in the country. “Delhi’s EV policy is one of the most ambitious policies that I have seen in India,” said Jaideep Saraswat, who leads clean power and electric mobility work at the non-profit Vasudha Foundation. “The binding deadlines send a clear signal to automakers and consumers alike that this transition is inevitable.” Delhi has a long history of pioneering clean transport policies in India: it was the first major city to shift public transit to compressed natural gas decades ago to cut pollution, a move that set a national precedent.

    Ruchita Shah, an energy analyst at global climate think tank Ember, notes that Delhi is already outpacing the rest of the country in EV adoption. In the 2026 financial year, electric vehicles made up 12.7% of new vehicle sales in Delhi, compared to just 8.3% nationwide. So far, only around 5% of Delhi’s 8.7 million total registered vehicles are electric, but registrations have surged over the past 12 months, with more than 100,000 new EVs added – most of them two and three-wheelers.

    Shah added that the policy’s most innovative feature is its pairing of consumer subsidies with firm regulatory deadlines that will block new registrations of gas-powered vehicles in high-emission segments, creating clear certainty for the market. For a city that regularly faces winter smog so severe it forces school closures, construction halts and emergency public health orders, the transition is expected to deliver major public health gains. Vehicles contribute roughly 25% of all air pollution in Delhi’s National Capital Region, and cutting vehicular emissions is expected to dramatically reduce public exposure to toxic roadside pollutants that cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

    Still, analysts and drivers agree that major hurdles remain before the policy can deliver on its promises. The most pressing challenge is expanding EV charging infrastructure fast enough to meet growing demand. Current charging networks remain insufficient to serve the expanding fleet of EVs, drivers say. “Charging facilities are not up to the mark yet,” said Shyam Singh, a marketing executive who owns an electric two-wheeler. For drivers traveling longer distances, limited battery range and a lack of widespread charging points make switching to EVs impractical for many right now.

    Many potential buyers remain hesitant to make the switch. Siddhant Jha, a 22-year-old software engineer who lives in North Delhi, says he plans to wait several years before replacing his gasoline two-wheeler. He has concerns about EV battery lifespan, damage to electrical components from Delhi’s annual monsoon street flooding, and the current high upfront cost of new electric models. “I’d like to wait for a few years for better models, then the 150,000 rupees I’ll spend will make more sense,” he explained.

    Beyond charging access, experts warn that Delhi must also upgrade its electricity grid to handle the surge in demand from EV charging, particularly the high-capacity fast chargers needed for buses, passenger cars and cargo trucks. Most EV charging currently happens overnight, when solar power generation is offline, meaning most charging relies on electricity from fossil fuel-powered thermal plants. To maximize the climate and air quality benefits of the EV transition, analysts say Delhi will need to expand renewable energy capacity, add battery storage at charging stations, and implement time-of-use electricity pricing to encourage drivers to charge when renewable output is higher.

    Sunil Dahiya, founder of environmental research organization Envirocatalyst, cautioned that even with the policy in place, air quality improvements will take time to materialize. Existing gas, diesel and CNG vehicles will remain on roads for years after the new policy takes effect, so emissions will not drop overnight.

    Other Indian states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, have already introduced EV incentives, tax breaks and investments in charging infrastructure, but Delhi is the first to set formal deadlines to phase out new registrations of gas-powered vehicles. Looking ahead, Saraswat says Delhi’s next big challenges will be coordinating with neighboring states to decarbonize the regional electricity grid and expand electrification across public transport networks. For residents hopeful of an end to Delhi’s crippling winter smog, the policy marks a long-awaited turning point. “As a resident of Delhi, I’m sure each and every one will be extremely thrilled to have this policy, to see a winter where there is no smog, no pollution,” Saraswat said.

  • The deaths of 15 elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park spark investigation

    The deaths of 15 elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park spark investigation

    In a development that has raised alarm across Kenya’s conservation community, wildlife authorities announced Tuesday that an official investigation is underway into the sudden, unexplained deaths of 15 African elephants over the past month near Amboseli National Park, one of the country’s most iconic wildlife habitats.

    The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the government body responsible for managing the nation’s protected wildlife areas, shared key details about the unusual mortality event: 10 of the elephants showed visible symptoms of partial paralysis before succumbing within 48 hours of first showing signs of illness. The other five carcasses were discovered already decomposed after being scavenged by other animals in the region.

    Demographic breakdown of the dead animals shows a disproportionate impact on female elephants and juvenile calves: only one of the 15 fatalities was an adult male. All deaths were recorded in two unprotected areas adjacent to the national park, the Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Ranch, landscapes that form critical migration corridors for Amboseli’s elephant population as they move between seasonal grazing grounds.

    Kenya has a long history of human-wildlife conflict and poaching activity, both of which have previously led to intentional poisoning of elephants. Poachers sometimes poison elephant carcasses to kill off responding rangers and vultures that would alert authorities to their illegal activity, while local herders may poison animals that destroy crops or kill livestock in retaliation. That means poisoning is a top working hypothesis for investigators in this case.

    Initial laboratory testing of tissue samples from the dead elephants, conducted by researchers at the University of Nairobi, identified a possible unconfirmed toxic substance present in the samples. However, parallel testing carried out by the Government Chemist, Kenya’s national forensic analytical body, returned negative results for all the specific toxins that examiners tested for. To resolve this discrepancy, KWS confirmed that additional rounds of testing are currently ongoing at multiple independent facilities.

    In addition to toxicological analysis of the elephant samples, authorities are conducting broad environmental surveys across the affected zone. “We are testing water sources, forage, and other potential environmental contaminants in the area to determine if all elephants were exposed to the same toxic source,” KWS explained in an official public statement released Tuesday.

    Authorities have moved quickly to reassure nearby local communities and visitors that there is currently no evidence that whatever caused the elephant deaths can spread to human populations. Local conservation groups have called for a swift, transparent investigation, noting that Amboseli’s elephant population is a major draw for the international tourism that supports tens of thousands of local jobs, and that unexplained mass mortality events threaten both conservation and economic outcomes for the region.

  • The race to stop the French woodland fires in their tracks

    The race to stop the French woodland fires in their tracks

    Across the drought-parched woodlands of southwestern France, an urgent, high-stakes race against raging wildfires is unfolding, with crews scrambling to halt the spread of flames before they can engulf more vulnerable terrain. Reporting from the small community of Blagon, BBC correspondent James Waterhouse has documented the round-the-clock efforts of firefighters and auxiliary crews who are carving out strategic firebreaks in the forest, one of the most critical defensive tactics to stop advancing blazes in their tracks.

    Unusually hot and dry conditions across much of Western Europe this season have turned French forestlands into tinderboxes, creating prime conditions for fast-moving wildfires that are difficult to contain. In Blagon, where the fire line has crept dangerously close to populated areas, crews are working nonstop to clear vegetation and dig wide gaps in the forest that will strip incoming flames of fuel, preventing them from advancing further into unburned woodland and nearby residential zones.

    Waterhouse’s on-the-ground reporting highlights the immense pressure facing these teams: winds can shift unexpectedly, sending embers flying past existing containment lines and forcing crews to adjust their strategy at a moment’s notice. While the battle is far from over, the coordinated work to build out firebreaks remains a core pillar of the broader effort to protect communities, biodiversity, and thousands of hectares of protected forest from the devastating impact of the ongoing wildfire outbreak.

  • Fires in Europe: latest developments

    Fires in Europe: latest developments

    Across southern and western Europe, ongoing wildfire battles have shown small signs of progress in Spain and France this Tuesday, but forecasters and authorities warn that new extreme heat and shifting fire risks threaten to reverse hard-won gains for firefighting teams.

    In Spain, which has faced some of the most severe wildfire seasons in its modern history, the Interior Ministry announced Tuesday that evacuation orders for 13 municipalities in two fire-stricken regions would be lifted starting at 5:00 pm local time (1500 GMT). While officials have not yet confirmed how many residents are affected or when they will be able to re-enter their properties permanently, the announcement marks a clear milestone in the country’s weeks-long fight to contain raging blazes.

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez echoed cautious optimism during a press briefing Tuesday, noting that firefighting crews are starting to see a turning point in the crisis. “We are indeed turning the tide and we can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against these fires, with every precaution, especially during the complex days and hours ahead,” Sanchez told reporters.

    Across the border in France, thousands of residents and visitors have been evacuated as blazes continue to ravage the southwestern Gironde region near Bordeaux. Some displaced residents are starting to return home this week: villagers from Haillan, Merignac and Eysines, three communities near Bordeaux that were forced to flee the massive fire, have been cleared to return, though authorities have stressed that residents must remain ready to evacuate again at short notice if conditions shift.

    Earlier Tuesday, 4,000 people staying at campsites west of Bordeaux were ordered to leave as a precaution ahead of forecast adverse weather conditions. National meteorological service MeteoFrance predicted that inland temperatures would climb to 35 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, with westerly ocean winds capable of spreading existing flames. Even more concerning, forecasts predict temperatures will hit 40 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, paired with light, dry winds that create ideal conditions for blazes to spread.

    Regional prefect Sophie Brocas told reporters that the main massive fire in Gironde has now “stabilized, meaning it is not advancing.” However, 14 smaller surrounding blazes have reignited in recent days, keeping crews on high alert.

    French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the Bordeaux crisis response center late Monday, warned that the region faces a long road ahead. “The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out,” Macron said. He added that a second large fire further south in the Landes region, which forced the evacuation of 30,000 people, has been contained but still poses an ongoing risk; 15,000 evacuees from that fire have so far been allowed to return to their homes.

    A new and immediate threat is emerging for both Spain and France: an incoming heatwave. Spain’s national meteorological agency AEMET officially declared that a new heatwave would begin across the country on Wednesday, lasting through the end of the week. The agency warned that soaring temperatures and dropping humidity will push wildfire risk to “very high or extreme levels across almost the entire country,” adding that “this situation will persist, or may even worsen, in the following days.” Forecasts also call for rising temperatures across France, where two major blazes are already active along the Atlantic coast.

    The European Union, which has already deployed additional firefighting aircraft to support response efforts in France and Spain, warned Tuesday that fire risk is spreading east across the continent. EU Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib told AFP that existing response resources are already stretched thin, with new extreme conditions forecast for Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Portugal in addition to the already hard-hit Iberian Peninsula and France.

    Portugal already reported multiple new wildfire outbreaks in northern and central regions of the country on Tuesday. Civil protection services confirm that over 1,000 firefighters and support personnel are battling the new blazes, backed by roughly 20 aerial firefighting aircraft and helicopters.