Native to the Mojave Desert region of California, the iconic Joshua trees thrive in inhospitable conditions. As a species they've survived for over 2.5 million years with individual trees normally living to 200 years of age. However, the distinctive-looking vegetation may face imminent extinction due to climate change, which would also have major ramifications on the desert's wider eco-system.
An intense period of drought in California from December 2011 to March 2019 had a devastating effect on the spiny-armed trees. They survive by holding on to large amounts of water and young trees and seedlings have shrivelled up and died before putting down the deep roots they need to thrive in the desert. With predictions – based on data from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – that summers here will be on average 3°C (5.4°F) hotter in the future, some studies suggest the trees won't survive much beyond the end of this century.
In 2018 the lake, which is near Malawi's eastern border with Mozambique, completely dried up, leaving hundreds of fishing boats marooned on its cracked dry mud. The receding water has been linked to persistent drought in southern Africa, deforestation, intensive farming and diversion of the lake's inlets for irrigation. Welcome heavy downpours in early 2019 refilled the lake, but the threat of recurrent and longer dry spells looms large.
Around 80% of Greenland is covered in ice – the Greenland ice sheet is over 100,000 years old and covers a surface of 660,000 square miles (1.7million sq km). It is the second-largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic ice sheet, and currently has a thickness of 1.8 miles (3km). However, it is extremely vulnerable to the changing climate and both warmer air and rising ocean temperatures are causing the ice cap to recede.
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The rate at which Greenland’s glaciers and ice cap are retreating has accelerated alarmingly. Between 2002 and 2020, Greenland lost 279 billion metric tonnes of ice per year. The scale and speed of ice loss will have a profound effect not just on the country but on the world, causing sea levels to rise and leading to a higher likelihood of storm surges and coastal flooding.
They’re on the national flag, currency and national airline of Lebanon, but now the centuries-old cedars trees are at risk of disappearing due to global heating. Some of the protected Cedrus libani trees (which are referenced in the Bible) are said to be up to 3,000 years old, yet their days may be limited. The evergreen trees need a minimum amount of snow and rain for natural regeneration but global warming has meant the revered trees are being subjected to shorter and milder winters.
However, due to record-hot Arctic temperatures in recent years, the glacier on the mountain's southern peak has begun to shrink dramatically, meaning it is officially no longer the nation’s tallest point. According to The Guardian, at the end of the summer melt of 2019, the northern peak was four feet (1.2m) higher than the southern peak at 6,880 feet (2,097m). The scientist who carried out the research said the glacier has lost an average of three feet (1m) a year in the past 20 years. Though the glacier is much smaller than it once was, 2022 showed fleeting signs of stabilisation, with the mountain maintaining the same height as in 2021.
Skopje was named as the most polluted capital city in Europe in 2018, with the highest annual mean readings of very fine particulate matter in the air according to the World Health Organisation. In December 2022, emergency measures were introduced to tackle the smog, with construction work limited to six hours a day and some events cancelled.
This image, taken in 2019, shows a sign where the glacier reached in 2000, with the actual glacier in the far background. The temperature increases that are causing it to melt are thought to be largely down to global warming. The temperature of the Alps has reportedly risen by just under 2°C (3.6°F) over the past 120 years and it is predicted that it could go up by a further 2°C (3.6°F) over the next few decades. Many other glaciers in the region have already shrunk dramatically, and by the end of the century could disappear altogether.
The ancestral lands of the Iñupiat are at risk because of the loss of the sea ice that protects the island’s shorelines from storm surges and coastal erosion. Now homes teeter perilously close to the water’s edge on the narrow spit of land with nothing to shield them from the rising tide. The sea ice is melting earlier in the season, which is also making it unsafe for villagers to traverse to hunt and fish, a way of living integral to their culture and survival.
Extremely low rainfall in 2018 caused a devastating and historic drought in Chennai which saw many of the reservoirs in India’s sixth-largest city completely run dry. Lake Puzhal, pictured here in 2016, was one of the city’s main water stores but dried up along with three of the city’s other reserves. The 2018 monsoon season was one of the driest ever recorded in Chennai, and the city’s population of 10 million suffered the consequences of the worst drought for 70 years.
Lake Puzhal fluctuates between a pool of heavy rainfall during monsoon season and a vast expanse of cracked earth in the dry season, leaving almost five million people to depend on makeshift wells. Pictured here is a shepherd grazing his parched sheep on the sun-baked ground in June 2019. While hot weather and droughts are common in India, it is thought that the rapid urbanization of the country is making cities such as Chennai increasingly vulnerable to water shortages.
With climate change making summers hotter and drier in the Northern Rockies, forests such as the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Montana (pictured) are threatened with increasing wildfire activity, deadly pathogens and insect infestations, including the mountain pine beetle outbreak. This image, taken in 2019, shows dead lodgepole pines that have been killed by the mountain pine beetle. The tiny but deadly insect has flourished due to warmer temperatures while the drought has left trees weak and unable to fight an invasion. A deadly combination that has seen the beetle ravage many western US forests.
Bushfires are a part of life in Australia, very often caused by lightning strikes and not by climate change alone. But they are becoming more frequent and ferocious as global warming continues to impact. In 2019 Australia experienced its driest spring since records began and then sweltered in record-breaking temperatures in December. A combination of extreme heat, prolonged drought and strong winds caused more than 11 million hectares (27.2 million acres or 110,000 sq km) of bush, forest and parks across Australia to burn from September 2019 until February 2020, when torrential rain extinguished some of the most persistent fires.
The scale and intensity of the most recent infernos that swept down the country’s east coast have been unequivocally linked to human-induced climate change by experts. An open letter written by 446 scientists, highlighted the trend towards more frequent and extreme fire-weather conditions during summer, and an earlier start to the fire season, particularly in southern and eastern Australia. Pictured here is Kangaroo Island after fires ravaged parts of the island and killed thousands of koalas among other native animals.
Low-lying East Anglia is just one part of the British coastline that is facing major changes as sea levels rise and more extreme weather batters coastal regions. More land will be lost to the sea as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of storms. According to the Committee on Climate Change, sea levels around Britain could rise by at least three feet (1m) within the lifetime of today's children.
The residents of 20 seaside chalets in Hemsby Beach, Norfolk had to be evacuated in March 2018 when high winds and waves threatened their cliff-edge homes, as great sections of the sand dunes were washed away. The highest tidal surge in 60 years hit east coast towns overnight, causing flooding and damage in many areas. Many other coastal communities in Britain are facing the real impact of climate change as huge chunks of cliffs and beaches are swept away in storms each winter.
This aerial view of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island shows some of the devastation caused when the Category 5 storm swept into the island and battered it with 220mph (354km/h) gusts of wind for two days. However, it was the 20-plus feet (6m) of storm surge and torrential rains that were the most destructive elements. Rising sea levels have made storm surges more powerful and deadly and, according to a New York Times article, research suggests that climate change has also made 'stalled' Atlantic storms more common. This kind of storm is more dangerous, as they linger in one place, wreaking immense destruction over a longer period.
Polar bears are one of the animals most recognisably impacted by global warming, as melting Arctic sea ice forces them to spend more time on land, where they compete for food and come into conflict with humans. The bears are dependent on the sea ice to hunt for seals, but according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, 2022 saw the eighth-lowest sea ice cover in the Arctic since it began collecting satellite data 40 years ago.
The melting of the sea ice in Arctic Russia has seen hungry and aggressive polar bears enter inhabited parts of Arctic Russia on the prowl for sustenance. In February 2019, the military town of Belushya Guba was “invaded” by polar bears as they prowled streets and ransacked the rubbish dump for food. According to reports, at least 52 bears were spotted on the streets from December 2018 until February 2019 when an emergency was declared in the town.
Chubut River (pictured) that flows through Patagonia in southern Argentina is named after the Tehuelche (a local indigenous group) word chupat, which translates as transparent – a reference to the river's incredibly bright blue and clear water. But the river and other water sources in the region are under threat from fish factories and sodium sulphite, an antibacterial product factories use to preserve prawns for export. Local residents have long complained about foul smells and other environmental issues, but in July 2021 the impact became visible.
The Corfo lagoon (fed by the Chubut River) turned bright pink and local environmental activists blame waste from the nearby Trelew Industrial Park, that has turned the water fuchsia in the past. Prior to the incident, residents of Rawson, a city near the park, had been protesting by blocking the trucks that carry the processed fish. It's reported that the provincial authorities allowed factories to dump their waste in the lagoon, which has since caused the vivid colour change.
Now discover the most destructive weather of the last decade
One of the least-visited countries in the world, the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu is on the front line of climate change as rising sea levels and deadly storms have had a devastating impact on the archipelago. The nine low-lying islands, located between Australia and Hawaii, have a high point of just 16.4 feet (5m) above sea level, with the main island of Fongafale just 66 feet (20m) across at its narrowest point. The rising ocean has contaminated groundwater supplies meaning Tuvalu is now totally reliant on rainwater. Yet, decreasing rains means droughts are now a common occurrence, which in turn causes shortages of drinking water.
With the severity of cyclones and droughts in the Pacific forecast to increase due to global warming, new evidence suggests the country could be completely swallowed up by the sea within a hundred years. The report, published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, found that sea levels had risen by eight inches (20cm) between 1901 and 2018, and were expected to rise by a further six to 10 inches (15-25cm) by 2050.
In July 2022, the Met Office issued its first-ever red warning for extreme heat across most of England. Between 16-19 July, parts of the country recorded its hottest ever temperatures, and London's Hammersmith Bridge was wrapped in giant pieces of foil to stop it from overheating, as pictured here.
On 19 July, a new UK and England temperature record of 40.3°C (104.5°F) was recorded in Coningsby, Lincolnshire. The heatwave marked a milestone in UK climate history, and heatwaves are forming a worrying trend of becoming hotter, longer and more frequent each year; the Met Office also announced that 2022 had been England's driest year since 1976. Pictured here is Colliford Lake in Cornwall, which saw its lowest water level since 1995.
Following hot and dry weather, extreme droughts spread across over half of the countries in the EU during summer 2022. Affected harvests, lower energy production and emergency water handouts caused knock-on effects, such as an increase in food prices. Pictured here is Italy's River Po, which experienced its worst drought in 70 years.
As a result of the extreme drought, so-called 'hunger stones' kept re-emerging across several major European riverbeds. These are rocks engraved with the low water levels of severe droughts in the past, as far back as the medieval era; if the stones show above the waterline, they act as a warning of the famine to follow. Pictured here is a 15th-century hunger stone spotted in Děčin, Czech Republic. Its translated inscription alarmingly reads: “If you see me, then weep”.
Deadly floods hit Nigeria between August-November 2022. The tragic event resulted in 600 deaths and caused some 1.5 million people to be displaced. The neighbouring countries of Chad and Niger were also badly affected, with over 500,000 hectares of farmland damaged. A shocking study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) revealed the floods were amongst the worst the region had ever seen, and were made 80 times more likely by climate change.
According to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), places along the River Niger and River Benue have higher chances of experiencing flooding. In August 2022 some states recorded over 11.8 inches (300mm) of rainfall in one month – over 40% of the standard monthly amount. Many villagers in the region might never see their homes again.
Unusually severe dust storms hit Syria, Iraq and other Gulf countries between April-June 2022. While they're common in late spring and summer, the phenomena arrived much earlier and affected a much larger area that year, which experts say is linked to climate change. These dust storms typically occur in arid and semi-arid climates, when dust and sand particles are picked up by heavy winds and sent into the atmosphere, causing hazy, red skies (as pictured here).
The devastating dust storms caused flights to be halted in places like Kuwait (pictured), while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued dust storm alerts. Hospitals in Syria were filled with patients unable to breathe. An official from Iraq's environmental ministry said the number of the country's "dusty days" had increased from 243 to 272 per year over the past two decades, but predicts this number could soon reach 300 days.
Stretches of the River Derwent in the Lake District's Borrowdale Valley (pictured) have dried up, resulting in devastating conditions for the wildlife who call it home. The river in England's wettest area has dried up for the third year in a row, as weeks of hot weather in mid-June 2023 has seen water levels drop drastically. Fish and insects have been worst affected, which has a knock-on effect for the rest of the river's eco-system. West Cumbria Rivers Trust said: "It's a shocking sight."