More than 3,000 firefighters battled alongside ordinary Portuguese citizens desperate to save their homes from several wildfires that raged across the European country on Thursday, fanned by extreme temperatures and drought conditions linked to climate change.

The central part of the country has been particularly hard hit by a spate of blazes this week. In the village of Bemposta, residents used garden hoses to spray down their lawns and the roofs of their houses in hope that they could save them from the raging wall of red flames that approached through the wooden hills as dusk fell on Wednesday.

Countries on Africa's east coast are increasingly turning to climate funding initiatives to boost livelihoods of Oceanside communities, aid biodiversity and take climate action.

On the margins of the high-level political forum on sustainable development currently underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York, African coastal and island states and conservation groups outlined plans to boost ocean conservation and economic development through a system of " blue bonds" — a method of financing projects that would also benefit ocean health.

The German government unveiled a new package of climate measures Wednesday to close the emissions gap in the transport and housing sectors as part of the country's plan to become carbon neutral by 2045.

Transport Minister Volker Wissing said his department planned to boost the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, expand public transport and build more bicycle lanes in the hopes that people will leave their gasoline-powered cars at home.

A spate of wildfires is scorching Western Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that authorities are linking to climate change.

In Portugal, Civil Protection commander André Fernandes said that multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people — one civilian and one firefighter — suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.

Several areas of Spain were put on high alert Wednesday as temperatures were set to rise again with parts of western Europe suffering under a second heatwave in a matter of weeks.

Temperatures were set to reach 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in some parts of Spain, which has been sweltering since the heatwave started at the weekend. It is expected to last until Sunday. 

Firefighters in Portugal on Monday contained two forest fires that ravaged the center of the country which is under a state of emergency due to an ongoing heatwave. 

A police officer in eastern DR Congo has been detained for alleged poaching after locals heard the screams of a baby monkey coming from his bag, officials said Monday.

Heavy rainfall has flooded several villages in Yakutia, in Russia's Far East region, authorities said on Tuesday.

Firefighters battled wildfires in Spain and Portugal Tuesday as Western Europe faced its second heatwave in less than a month which threatened glaciers in the Alps and worsened drought conditions.

Countries have approved the first comprehensive guidelines for judging the value of nature following four years of intense debate, officials said Monday.

The report was endorsed by 139 countries that are members of the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES.