The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.
Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region.

Research has already found that high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels can diminish the quantity of plant micronutrients like phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and iron, along with protein concentrations in vital crops; these effects add to the complexities that affect the gut microbiota. Climate-driven food shortage and undernourishment could affect the composition of the human gut microbiota, exacerbating the effects of climate change on human health, according to a new review article published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz looked at why South Asia continually experienced extreme heat events during the March to April 2022 period.

Comparing the heatwaves of March and April, the team found that each was driven by a different atmospheric process — the former by winds in high altitudes and the latter by dry soil conditions, which were created as a result of the former.

Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural ecosystems, that address societal challenges such as climate change, human health, food and water security, and disaster risk reduction effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. For example, a common problem is the flooding in coastal areas that occurs as a result of storm surges and coastal erosion. This challenge, traditionally tackled with manmade (grey) infrastructure such as sea walls or dikes, coastal flooding, can also be addressed by actions that take advantage of ecosystem services such as tree planting. Planting trees that thrive in coastal areas – known as mangroves — reduces the impact of storms on human lives and economic assets, and provides a habitat for fish, birds and other plants supporting biodiversity.