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Growing up in the mountains of western Guatemala, Feliciano Perez Tomas cultivated the same type of native maize his family had for generations. The breed of corn was central to his Indigenous Kiche communitys diet, a grain and pulse-heavy intake that dates back to the time of the Maya Civilization. But over the years, more frequent and intense rainslinked to climate changecame earlier in the year, disrupting the harvest. Before it rained in March and we would sow seeds when it happened, but these days the rains can begin in February, and there can be a lot of ice and colder conditions, said Tomas, 42. We would have to work so hard, but receive little. Indigenous communities around the world are losing the crops their forebears had bred over centuries to a changing climate, deforestation, and industrial farming. Three-quarters of the worlds plant genetic diversity has been lost over the last century, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, with only 30 plants fueling 95% of the calories that all humans consume globally. Such a homogenized food system raises the risk of crop failures, pests and diseases, malnutrition, and the extinction of unique and ancient plant species. Perez Tomas, left, at his local seed bank. [Photo: ASOCUCH] Though its difficult to gauge exactly how much the biodiversity crisis is costing farmers, one 2023 survey suggests smallholder farmers are spending $368 billion of their own income every year on measures to adapt to climate change, which include pest control, soil improvements, and biodiversity conservation. Increasingly, farmers like Tomas are turning to seed banks. These modest, community-run storage hubstypically located within walking distance of the fieldspreserve Indigenous, climate-resilient seeds adept at dealing with harsh conditions, while also providing farmers like Tomas with a free, direct supply of seeds. In turn, proponents say seed banks can help to protect biodiversity. A 2022 survey by the company Terraformation found more than 400 seed banks operating in 96 countries worldwide. There are so many uses of the seed banks, says Sergio Alonzo, senior technical manager of ASOCUCH, a Guatemalan nonprofit that works with 16,000 farmers in the Huehuetenango region where Tomas lives. They protect biodiversity. They protect incomes. If theres a disaster or emergency, they are there as a kind of insurance for farmers. ASOCUCH launched its seed bank program in 2007 and Tomas joined in 2010. It has provided him with long-term, protective storage for his native seeds, meaning he no longer has to pay for them at the market, and crucially, a kind of insurance for when extreme weather strikes. Research by ASOCUCH has also found that cultivating these native seeds in banks has tripled farmers yields. They increase food availability for families and create income from the sale of surpluses, said Alonzo. Tomas local branch of the seed bank, run by a committee of local farmers of which he is a member, has seen his community through crop-destroying frosts, floods, heat waves, and a severe seed shortage in 2018. Without the seed banks, it would have been disastrous, Tomas said. You save a lot of money not having to buy seeds, too. Each storage hub holds hundreds of containers of seeds, divided into sections for each farmer. Seeds shown to be resistant to harsh weather are prioritized. Some farmers visit the bank every month, while others just use it in case of emergencies. When Tomas first joined the bank, he was one of only six participating farmers in the communitynow there are more than 40 of them. They saw the need, he says. Many farmers now see the importance of the banks. Agricultural experts say that supporting the use of traditional seeds, also known as heirloom varieties, could minimize the likelihood of food shortages, improve diets amid growing malnutrition, and bolster the resilience of rural farming communities. Farmers have long been conserving seedsand the banks support them to do this, said Ronnie Vernooy, a genetic resources specialist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, a nonprofit. Its so important because we are losing crop diversity everywhere. We have to take action to protect seeds. The emergence of modern seed banks follows in the path of the ancient Indigenous practice of seed-keeping, which is becoming increasingly important for areas relying on subsistence farming as they are disproportionately affected by climate change. Before the focus was on national seed banks, says Vernooy. They would put seeds in a freezer and store them for as long as possible. But that has its limits. And thats very far away from the farmers. Instead, community seed banks provide a living use of seeds, at once supporting farmers and their families, helping to secure the future of native and climate-resilient seeds, as well as encouraging social cohesion, equality, and knowledge exchange among farmers. They become more than a physicl area, they increase interchange, sharing of seeds, said Vernooy. A 2023 study co-authored by Vernooy focusing on community banks in Kenya and Uganda found that 2,630 smallholder farmers protected 72 unique crop and tree species, serving as a platform for community action and womens empowerment. Women have always played a key role in seed saving and management, he says. Similar projects are sprouting up across Central America, home to large Indigenous populations who are knowledgeable about seed keeping, yet also on the frontlines of climate change. Many of these communities suffer high rates of malnutrition. In Nicaragua, a Swiss NGO is working with more than 7,000 farmers to identify native breeds of maize, grains, beans, and other legumes and develop new drought-resistant varieties. Mexicos national FES Iztacala Seed Bank, a state-led initiative, works directly with community seed banks and international partners to conserve about 12% to 13% of the countrys 23,000 plant species. In the United States, volunteers gathered seeds to regrow native plants in areas of Southern California devastated by Januarys wildfires. Seed Savers Exchange, based in Iowa, is one of the nations largest nongovernmental seed banks, holding some 20,000 species. But in order to live up to their potential, which could allow farmers to generate extra income through sales, advocates say the seed banks need more support from national governments. Support is improving, but it remains lacking, Vernooy said. Alonzo of ASOCUCH agreed that institutional backing would make it easier for farmers to develop and independently maintain their own seed banks while recognizing their crucial role in protecting biodiversity. Even if the banks are working, climate change still presents challenges, he says. If we want to safeguard the needs, we need to recognize the value of these smallholder producers. By Peter Yeung, Nexus Media News This story was originally published by Nexus Media News, an editorially independent publication of MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates).
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This week, AccuWeather released its prediction for the Atlantic hurricane season. The weather service found that after last years Hurricanes Beryl, Helene, and Milton, 2025 will likely be another supercharged year for tropical storms. AccuWeather expects the Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1, to yield 13 to 18 named storms, including 7 to 10 hurricanes. Of those, three and six are expected to have direct U.S. impacts, with the Gulf Coast, Atlantic Canada, the Carolinas, and northwestern Caribbean at the highest risk. Meanwhile, as climate change and record-warm ocean temperatures usher the U.S. into yet another intense storm season, the Trump administration has signaled that it may be working to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Heres what to know: Why does hurricane season keep getting worse? According to AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva, one of the main factors driving the companys prediction is elevated water temperatures. Across the oceans surface, including in the Gulf and Caribbean, temperatures aren’t just well above historical averages, the warm waters also extend to deeper depths than usual. Warm water fuels storms by evaporating quickly, causing rising columns of moist air to feed developing hurricanesmeaning that an abundance of warm water can make hurricanes develop both more quickly and more intensely. “A rapid intensification of storms will likely be a major story yet again this year as sea-surface temperatures and ocean heat content (OHC) across most of the basin are forecast to be well above average,” DaSilva said in a news release. Last year, high OHC supercharged intense storms, including Hurricane Beryl and Hurricane Milton. In an article for The Conversation that summer, expert Brian Tang noted, The peak intensification rates of hurricanes increased by an average of 25% to 30% when comparing hurricane data between 1971-1990 and 2001-2020. Experts believe that as climate change continues to worsen and ocean temperatures rise, its likely that hurricane season will only become more extreme and more dangerous. What’s going on with FEMA? As more information about the upcoming hurricane season comes to light, it appears that the Trump administration may be gearing up to shutter the governments largest disaster aid group. On Monday, Kristi Noem, secetary of Homeland Security, reportedly said that her department planned to eliminate FEMA. On Tuesday, CNN reported that top officials from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security met to discuss FEMAs future and options for shutting it down. According to CNN, the agency is currently in a state of disarray as more than $100 billion in disaster assistance and grant money is frozen and hiring is largely stalled. The elimination of FEMA could have major consequences for the future of disaster relief in the U.S. In January, Samantha Montano, an emergency management professor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, told Fast Company that abolishing FEMA would result in a less effective, less efficient, and less equitable emergency management system, which means it makes all of us less safe. Without question, we would see higher death tolls, greater physical damage, and immense economic impacts. Currently, aid from FEMA is provided only after local jurisdictions have depleted their own resources and the agencys intervention is approved by Congress. In 2023, the agency spent $30 billion aiding in the aftermath of fires, floods, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, and winter storms across the country. In 2024, FEMA workers went door-to-door providing aid after Hurricane Helene struck. Now, though, when the agency should be prepping for the upcoming hurricane season, staffers tell CNN that theyve had to pause their operations. March is typically when were finalizing hurricane plans. A lot of that got paused, one anonymous source shared. So, its already having an impact, which is that were not preparing.
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In mountain ranges around the world, glaciers are melting as global temperatures rise. Europes Alps and Pyrenees lost 40% of their glacier volume from 2000 to 2023. These and other icy regions have provided freshwater for people living downstream for centuriesalmost 2 billion people rely on glaciers today. But as glaciers melt faster, they also pose potentially lethal risks. Water from the melting ice often drains into depressions once occupied by the glacier, creating large lakes. Many of these expanding lakes are held in place by precarious ice dams or rock moraines deposited by the glacier over centuries. Too much water behind these dams or a landslide into the lake can break the dam, sending huge volumes of water and debris sweeping down the mountain valleys, wiping out everything in the way. Today, over 10million people across the world are vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods.In High Mountain Asia alone, these flooding hazards are projected to triple by 2100, especially with continued high emissions. Read full @Nature paper: https://t.co/PsXcyH2jFC pic.twitter.com/RgZ44VF6v4— International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (@ICCInet) May 30, 2024 These risks and the loss of freshwater supplies are some of the reasons the United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers Preservation and March 21 the first World Day for Glaciers. As an earth scientist and a mountain geographer, we study the impact that ice loss can have on the stability of the surrounding mountain slopes and glacial lakes. We see several reasons for increasing concern. Erupting ice dams and landslides Most glacial lakes began forming over a century ago as a result of warming trends since the 1860s, but their abundance and rates of growth have risen rapidly since the 1960s. Many people living in the Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Rocky Mountains, Iceland, and Alaska have experienced glacial lake outburst floods of one type or another. A glacial lake outburst flood in the Himalayas in October 2023 damaged more than 30 bridges and destroyed a 200-foot-high hydropower plant. Residents had little warning. By the time the disaster was over, more than 50 people had died. Juneau, Alaska, has been hit by several flash floods in recent years from a glacial lake dammed by ice on an arm of Mendenhall Glacier. Those floods, including in 2024, were driven by a melting glacier that slowly filled a basin below it until the basins ice dam broke. Avalanches, rockfalls and slope failures can also trigger glacial lake outburst floods. These are growing more common as frozen ground known as permafrost thaws, robbing mountain landscapes of the cryospheric glue that formerly held them together. These slides can create massive waves when they plummet into a lake. The waves can then rupture the ice dam or moraine, unleashing a flood of water, sediment, and debris. That dangerous mix can rush downstream at speeds of 20 to 60 mph, destroying homes and anything else in its path. The casualties of such an event can be staggering. In 1941, a huge wave caused by a snow and ice avalanche that fell into Laguna Palcacocha, a glacial lake in the Peruvian Andes, overtopped the moraine dam that had contained the lake for decades. The resulting flood destroyed one-third of the downstream city of Huaraz and killed between 1,800 and 5,000 people. Teardrop-shaped Lake Palcacocha, shown in this satellite view, has expanded in recent decades. The city of Huaraz, Peru, is just down the valley to the right of the lake. [Image: Google Earth, data from Airbus Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO] In the years since, the danger there has only increased. Laguna Palcacocha has grown to more than 14 times its size in 1941. At the same time, the population of Huaraz has risen to mre than 120,000 inhabitants. A glacial lake outburst flood today could threaten the lives of an estimated 35,000 people living in the waters path. Governments have responded to this widespread and growing threat by developing early warning systems and programs to identify potentially dangerous glacial lakes. Some governments have taken steps to lower water levels in the lakes or built flood diversion structures, such as walls of rock-filled wire cages, known as gabions, that divert floodwaters from villages, infrastructure, or agricultural fields. Where the risks cant be managed, communities have been encouraged to use zoning that prohibits building in flood-prone areas. Public education has helped build awareness of the flood risk, but the disasters continue. Flooding from inside and thawing permafrost The dramatic nature of glacial lake outburst floods captures headlines, but those arent the only risks. As scientists expand their understanding of how the worlds icy regions interact with global warming, they are identifying a number of other phenomena that can lead to similarly disastrous events. Englacial conduit floods, for instance, originate inside of glaciers, commonly those on steep slopes. Meltwater can collect inside massive systems of ice caves, or conduits. A sudden surge of water from one cave to another, perhaps triggered by the rapid drainage of a surface pond, can set off a chain reaction that bursts out of the ice as a full-fledged flood. Thawing mountain permafrost can also trigger floods. This permanently frozen mass of rock, ice and soil has been a fixture at altitudes above 19,685 feet for millennia. Freezing helps keep mountains together. But as permafrost thaws, even solid rock becomes less stable and is more prone to breaking, while ice and debris are more likely to become detached and turn into destructive and dangerous debris flows. Thawing permafrost has been increasingly implicated in glacial lake outburst floods because of these new sources of potential triggers. In 2017, nearly a third of the solid rock face of Nepals 20,935-foot Saldim Peak collapsed and fell onto the Langmale glacier below. Heat generated by the friction of rock falling through air melted ice, creating a slurry of rock, debris, and sediment that plummeted into Langmale glacial lake below, resulting in a massive flood. A glacial outburst flood in Barun Valley started when nearly one-third of the face of Saldim Peak in Nepal fell onto Langmale Glacier and slid into a lake. The top image shows the mountain in 2016. The lower shows the same view in 2017. [Figures: Elizabeth Byers (2016)/Alton Byers (2017)] These and other forms of glacier-related floods and hazards are being exacerbated by climate change. Flows of ice and debris from high altitudes and the sudden appearance of meltwater ponds on a glaciers surface are two more examples. Earthquakes can also trigger glacial lake outburst floods. Not only have thousands of lives been lost, but billions of dollars in hydropower facilities and other structures have also been destroyed. A reminder of whats at risk The International Year of Glaciers Preservation and World Day for Glaciers are reminders of the risks and also of who is in harms way. The global population depends on the cryospherethe 10% of the Earths land surface thats covered in ice. But as more glacial lakes form and expand, floods and other risks are rising. A study published in 2024 counted more than 110,000 glacial lakes around the world and determined 10 million peoples lives and homes are at risk from glacial lake outburst floods. The U.N. is encouraging more research into these regions. It also declared 2025 to 2034 the decade of action in cryospheric sciences. Scientists on several continents will be working to understand the risks and find ways to help communities respond to and mitigate the dangers. Suzanne OConnell is a Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth science at Wesleyan University. Alton C. Byers is a faculty research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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