News from IFGR and the rivers

Global and diffuse, plastic pollution has become a global scourge involving decomposition mechanisms and flows from the land to the sea, whose magnitude we are only just beginning to assess and understood. Rivers are at the centre of these interactions and thy must be protected from plastic pollution to prevent it from reaching the oceans. […]

On 1 March a law came into force in China prohibiting fishing in the entire watershed of the Yangtze river (including its tributaries and lakes) for ten years to preserve biodiversity. A majestic but threatened river The Yangtze flows for 6,300 kilometres, starting its course in the Tanggula mountains on the high Tibetan plateaux and […]

Dominique Berod, responsible of the monitoring’s division for Earth System at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has recently joined the Rivers Committee of IFGR. Below, he describes the key role played by his organisation, which has just celebrated its 70th anniversary, within the UN network on water and for the 190 member countries. Above all, […]

The environmental situation in the Balkans is critical. For several years, the impacts of coal fired power plants on air quality are regularly castigated. However, atmospheric pollution is not the only factor that disturbs the life of the populations. Rivers are also victims of pollutions that jeopardise their good health and, indirectly, that of the […]

The Ninã, which normally has the effect of cooling temperatures, will not have been enough. The past year is one of the three hottest years on record, comparable to the record year 2016. The information has made little noise, so busy are our eyes and minds with the Covid-19. However, in its provisional report on […]

That is the estimation of the weight of the buildings, transport infrastructures and other manufactured products reached in 2020. This “anthropic mass” is henceforth greater than the biomass of natural origin (plants, fauna, forests, wetlands, etc.).   The weight of the products made by humanity doubles every 20 years. According to a study  carried out […]