“This is a budget shaped by the work we have been doing in the last two years, which has started to produce results,” Andersson said at a press conference before presenting it to parliament, which will debate the proposal and vote on it. The government will invest 23.6 billion kronor ($2.68 billion) in reforms in 2017, which will then increase to 28.1 billion ($3.28 billion) in 2018, 33.4 billion ($3.9 billion) in 2019, and 36 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2020. The biggest allocation is 10 billion kronor ($1.16 billion) per year to municipalities and county councils, while 3.5 billion kronor ($408 million) will go to refugee and integration projects. The latter amount includes covering the cost of proposed changes to the Swedish Migration Agency which aim to accelerate new arrivals' entry to the country's labour market. The police will receive 100 million kronor ($11.6 million) extra over the next year, while security police Säpo will receive 80 million ($9.34 … [Read more...] about Swedish budget: Integration, climate change and equality
Climate change
Southeast Asia closes island beaches to recover from climate change and tourism
People cliff diving at Ariel’s Point in Boracay, Philippines. The New Paper More popular Southeast Asian islands will be off limits to visitors this year as officials seek to protect eco-systems crumbling from warming seas and unchecked sprawl, despite the risk to tourism revenues and tens of thousands of jobs. Thailand will shut Maya Bay, which famously featured in “The Beach”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, for four months a year, from June. In the Philippines, officials plan to close Boracay island for six months at the end of April. “Islands have very fragile eco-systems that simply cannot handle so many people, pollution from boats and beachfront hotels,” said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine expert in Bangkok. “Coral reefs have been degraded by warmer seas and overcrowding. Sometimes, a complete closure is the only way for nature to heal,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. More than three-quarters of Thailand’s coral reefs have … [Read more...] about Southeast Asia closes island beaches to recover from climate change and tourism
NASA scientists are comparing climate change to the Dust Bowl
Back in the 1930s, the Great Plains region of the US went through an environmental catastrophe so severe, tens of thousands of families were forced to pack up their belongings and families and abandon their homes. Now, climate change may be about to create a similar situation, NASA scientists are warning. During the Dust Bowl, severe drought and an aggressive exploitation of agricultural land, fuelled by the American view of expansion and autonomy from nature, loosened the top soil. When strong winds blew, it sent giant swirls of dust clouds, called “black blizzards,” across 150,000 square miles, from regions of Colorado and New Mexico to as far east as New York City. The dust choked livestock, plants, and blocked out the sun. The Dust Bowl, which gathered ground over the course of 10 years, was “largely human-induced,” Ellen Stofan, NASA’s chief scientist, said at the James Beard Foundation’s “Rethinking the Future of Food” … [Read more...] about NASA scientists are comparing climate change to the Dust Bowl
These Maps Show How Climate Change Will Mess Up The Weather Where You Live
If you like the weather where you live, but are worried it’s not going to be the same as climate change wreaks havoc on meteorological systems, there’s now a way to know where you should be planning to move. The Climate Ex map shows the climatic similarities between different places, as well as the projected climate changes for those places over time. If you’re happy with the San Diego weather, you can see where will have the same characteristics 50 years from now. “If you know some place is good for something, like making wine, and climate is a big driver of that, you can search other similar places climatically,” says Tomasz Stepinski, the geography professor based at the University of Cincinnati who made the map, says in an interview. For example, California’s Napa Valley has climate twins on the west coast of South America and in northwestern Africa. The tool covers more than a million places on a 4-square-kilometer grid and brings … [Read more...] about These Maps Show How Climate Change Will Mess Up The Weather Where You Live
10 ways climate change is affecting Australia’s wildlife, according to science
Earth Hour is the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, uniting people to take action on climate change and protect the planet. Our unique wildlife and the natural places we love face a perilous future if we don’t step up to protect our planet and our home from the impacts of climate change. To see how you can help, click here. Climate change (and the resulting destruction of nature) is the top problem facing the world, according to millennials. The way we are going, the future looks dire. Our way of life as we know it will end if we don’t make some drastic changes soon. Even a 3C rise in global average temperatures could spark a whole series of catastrophic events. By 2100, there could be 10,000 heat-related deaths, dangerous water shortages in both rural and regional areas, we wouldn’t be able to grow food or work outdoors, and infrastructure would be put at risk. That’s just for starters. But climate change doesn’t affect … [Read more...] about 10 ways climate change is affecting Australia’s wildlife, according to science