Mexico's prickly pear cactus, which is emblazoned on the country's flag, could soon play a new and innovative role in the production of biodegradable plastics.

Svetlana Tuflyakova is in a hurry as she pushes her small son in his pram, keen to get back inside her house and away from the permeating smoke of Siberian wildfires: "It feels like it fills your whole body," she says.

July 2019 was the warmest month across the globe ever recorded, according to data released Monday by the European Union's satellite-based Earth observation network.

Emergency services battling to stop a reservoir dam in central England from collapsing brought in new pumps Saturday to reduce the water levels, as more storms were forecast.

As experts gather in Geneva to finalise the most detailed scientific assessment yet of how we use the land we live off, one phenomenon to which we all contribute will be under close scrutiny: food waste. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called in the army to fight forest fires that have been raging across vast expanses of Siberia for days, enveloping entire cities in black smoke.

These days whenever Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appears in public, he removes his jacket, rolls up his sleeves, grabs a shovel and gets to planting a tree.

Gigantic forest fires have regularly raged through the vast expanses of Russia's Siberia, but the magnitude of this year's blazes has reached an exceptional level with fears of a long-term impact on the environment.

As fires sweep across millions of hectares enveloping entire cities in black smoke and noxious fumes, environmentalists warn of a disaster threatening to accelerate the melting of the Arctic. 

Freak storms and flash flooding following last week's heatwave in Italy claimed three lives this weekend, including a young woman caught up in a mini-tornado near Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Belgian meteorologists registered a record high temperature for the country on Thursday when western Europe sweltered under a heatwave that has severely disrupted transport.