Cattle now graze and sunflowers grow in the dried lakebed of the Terkos Dam outside Istanbul, where a drought this year has reduced water levels in the reservoirs of Turkey’s largest city to their lowest in nearly a decade.

In the 11 months to September, Turkey’s northwest received 23% less precipitation than average, according to the Turkish State Meteorological Service. In August alone, it was 74% lower than average, and down 90% from last year.

At Terkos Dam – among the fullest of Istanbul’s 10 reservoirs – water levels are around 9%. Overall levels are under 25%, the lowest since 2014, risking water rationing and jeopardising some farming for its 16 million people.

Fishing boats are grounded along the dam’s old water line. Nearby, villagers have planted sunflower fields to cultivate land left where the lake once was.

Mehmet Emin Gergili, a 45-year-old shepherd, said the water had receded significantly since he first came to the Terkos Dam to graze cattle three months ago.

Villagers in nearby Ormanli, which depends on Terkos Dam water, could not sow most of their rice fields this year due to a lack of rain. Villagers at the local teahouse complained of subpar yields in 2023 that had slashed their income.

Farmer Cavit Gurbuz, 68, said residents had planted rice paddies here since 1958. They tried sowing different crops this year but the soil was not suitable.

“If you could see the field, it is cracked so wide your foot could go into it. It hasn’t rained for a year. There has not been drenching rain for a year,” he said,

Gurbuz, standing next to a dry former rice paddy that had not been left fallow, said 25,000 acres of soil would normally turn into a lake when floods arrived every year.

“We did not plant everywhere (this year) – only along the river where we could water them if needed. But we couldn’t even water those because there is no water and the river is not flowing,” he said. “We are very pessimistic (about coming years). Drought is raging everywhere.”

There were an estimated 4,507 heat-related deaths in England in 2022, according to an official study on climate-related mortality published on Friday which showed some signs of an increase in deaths linked to hot weather.

Britain recorded its hottest day ever in July 2022, when temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius as part of a climate change-fuelled heatwave across Europe.

The Office for National Statistics said their study showed “some indication that heat-related deaths have increased over recent years” but described the data as experimental and advised caution when making individual year-to-year comparisons.

Britain’s 10 warmest years on record have all occurred this century, according to the Met Office national forecaster.

The ONS said during the 35 years from 1988 and 2022 an estimated 51,670 deaths in England were associated with the hottest 5% of days and an estimated 199,298 deaths were associated with the coldest 5% of days.

The highest mortality risk was in London when temperatures rose above 29 C, where the risk of death was three times higher than when temperatures were between 9 C and 22 C, the ONS said.

Temperatures in Britain this summer did not hit the highs of 2022, but a heatwave earlier this month also saw the first ever run of seven consecutive days above 30 C in September. The Met Office said 2023 was Britain’s eighth warmest summer on record.

Poland has issued an environmental permit for the country’s first nuclear power plant, state run news agency PAP reported on Friday, citing Climate Minister Anna Moskwa.

According to Poland’s General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOS), the building and operation of the plant will not adversely affect the environment, and its impact will be monitored, PAP reported.

Warsaw plans to build its first nuclear power plant on the Baltic coast by 2033. Construction is set to begin in 2026.

“This is a milestone in the implementation of an investment that is crucial from the point of view of energy security,” Moskwa was quoted as saying.

Bechtel, the largest U.S. engineering company, and Westinghouse Electric Co, which Poland earlier chose as the supplier of technology, signed a formal agreement on Thursday to partner on the design and construction of the plant.

The U.S. consortium and Polish utility Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe are expected to sign an engineering services contract next week, according to Bechtel.

Hydropower generation in Asia has plunged at the fastest rate in decades amid sharp declines in China and India, data shows, forcing power regulators battling volatile electricity demand and erratic weather to rely more on fossil fuels.

The two countries, which account for about 3/4 of Asia’s power generation and most of its emissions, are also to a lesser extent using renewables to make up for the hydropower shortfall and address rising electricity use.

Major Asian economies have faced power shortages in recent years due to extreme weather conditions, including intense heat and lower rainfall over large swathes of northern China and Vietnam, as well as in India’s east and the north.

Higher use of polluting fuels such as coal to meet electricity demand spikes and supply shortages underscore the challenges of lowering emissions.

Asia’s hydropower output fell 17.9% during the seven months through July, data from energy think tank Ember showed, while fossil fuel-fired power rose 4.5%.

China’s hydroelectricity generation during the eight months ended August declined at the sharpest rate since at least 1989, falling 15.9%, an analysis of National Bureau of Statistics data showed.

In India, hydropower generation fell 6.2% during the eight months ended August in the sharpest decline since 2016. Its share of power output plunged to 9.2%, the lowest in at least 19 years, according to an analysis of government data.

China made up for the hydro shortfall and higher power demand mainly by increasing electricity generation from fossil fuels by 6.1% in the eight months through August, while India boosted fossil fuel-fired power output by 12.4%, data showed.

The Ubangi River, which is also spelled as Oubangui, it one of the biggest rivers in Central Africa, as well as the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River, flowing  to the west and in the same time forming the border of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so that later would form the border between the two Congo Republics.

There is no spring for the river, because it begins at the confluence of the Mbomou and Uele Rivers, where before exiting the Central African Republic, it bends and goes through the capital city, Bangui.

With approximate length of about 1,060 km (660 mi), together with the Uele River has a length of about 2,270 km (1,410 mi), and the area of the drainage basin from which the Ubangi River gets its water has an area of around 772,800 square km (298,400 square mi).

The river flowing towards the Congo River is separated by elongated islands, however, in the lower part the land is with sandy shoals compared to the confining rock in the upper part that creates rapids.

Being an important source of water, but most of all transportation route, the Ubangi River plays a major role in everyday life of the people that live around it.

There were some plans in the 1960s which were promising for the Lake Chad to divert waters from the Ubangi to the Chari River which flows into the lake.

According to the plan, the water from the Ubangi would revitalize that lake and provide a livelihood in fishing and enhanced agriculture to tens of millions of central Africans, however, the plans were not finalized and over the years there were similar proposals, which until today still have not been realized.

In 2008, the countries committed to the preservation of Lake Chad, renewed the plans, but with the ongoing struggles, political issues in the countries, it is not clear whether something will happen.

Nonetheless, it definitely is one of the greatest rivers in Africa, which brings ease to the livelihood of the Central Africans and enriches the flora and fauna of the countries through which it passes.