Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 13 June 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# The National Research Foundation of South Africa has invited climate change researchers across Africa to apply for funding through the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action initiative. This aims to advance climate sustainability research on the continent. Proposals must address themes such as water-energy-food-health nexus, pollution, and disaster preparedness. Research consortia applying for funding must be transdisciplinary, including researchers from the social sciences and involving multiple countries.

# Greece’s most visited tourist site, the Acropolis in Athens, was closed during the hottest hours of yesterday as the season’s earliest-ever heatwave swept the country, prompting school closures and health warnings. The Culture ministry said the UNESCO-listed archaeological site would close from midday to 5pm, with temperatures again expected to reach 43 degrees Celsius today. The first heatwave of the year in Greece, regularly hit by searing summer temperatures, is due to peak over those two days, and the ministry says the measure could be extended.

# And finally: An invasive species of mosquito has set up home in 13 countries in the European Union, including France, Spain and Greece, with experts linking their presence to a rise in dengue fever. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says climate change is creating favourable conditions for the tiger mosquito to spread. Authorities have been monitoring and trapping the insect as far north as Paris, where the Olympic Games will start at the end of July. Mosquitoes have become a growing threat in Europe over the past two decades.

Stay tuned for more news………….