El Niño stokes underground peat fires in Indonesia, reminiscent of the 2015 disaster
Indonesia sees a sharp rise in hazardous peat fires as the El Niño phenomenon intensifies.
Ecology
Sheep's wool tested as a substitute for synthetics in glacier protection.
This summer, Swiss glacier tests used plain sheep wool—not synthetic material—as a cover to slow ice melt.
Soil Protection Act takes effect — what landowners are now required to do
Kazakhstan's Soil Protection Law takes effect. Fines for violations are introduced.
Kyrgyzstan has lost 90% of its forest cover in 50 years
A mountainous country, where forests held slopes against erosion and softened floods for centuries, lost nearly all its tree cover in just fifty years.
Algal bloom disabled nearly all of Israel's desalination plants.
Abnormal bloom of microscopic algae in the Mediterranean has knocked out five of six major desalination plants, which supply nearly a third of Israel's drinking water.
Kazakhstan completes demarcation of the Semipalatinsk nuclear safety zone borders.
35 years after closing the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, Kazakhstan completed long-term work to clearly divide its territory into hazardous and safe zones.
Wildfire smoke unexpectedly enriches soil with nutrients.
The wildfires that blanketed entire countries in smog this summer had an unexpected upside.