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World
2023 World Air Quality Report
Technology company IQAir released its annual World Air Quality Report on Tuesday, which compiled data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 134 countries and territories. IQAir used annual PM2.5 particulate matter guidelines adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the standard for its results. PM2.5 pollutants are fine particulate aerosol particles linked to engine exhaust, industrial processes, power generation, and coal and wood burning. The country with the poorest air quality in 2023 was Bangladesh, with particulate matter 15 times higher than the WHO’s PM2.5 annual guideline. Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, and Burkina Faso are among the most polluted nations. Only seven countries – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – met WHO standards in 2023. However, not all countries and territories have publicly accessible air pollution data. Africa remains the most underrepresented continent, with a third of the population still lacking access to air quality data.
This map depicts the average PM2.5, or fine particulate matter, concentration for 2024, with higher levels indicating worse air quality. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Bloomberg
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Nigeria
Gunmen Kidnap 87 in New Attack
Gunmen kidnapped 87 people in Kaduna state in North-central Nigeria on Sunday evening. The gunmen approached homes in the Kajuru village and forcibly removed people at gunpoint. This attack comes after armed gangs kidnapped 287 students and staff from a school in Kaduna state earlier this month in the largest kidnapping in recent years. Armed bandits regularly loot villages and carry out large-scale kidnappings in northwestern and north-central Nigeria, with more than one million people displaced by the violence. Although making payment to kidnappers was made illegal in 2022, it remains common for bandits to demand ransom payments in exchange for the return of loved ones. Victims are often released following negotiations with authorities, although the government denies paying ransoms to the bandits. With an ongoing onslaught of attacks and kidnappings, pressure has piled onto President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take action.
This map depicts the location of recent kidnappings in Kaduna state in Nigera. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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South Africa
Invasive Mice to be Exterminated
Conservationists are planning the mass extermination of mice on Marion Island, a small, uninhabited island in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean. The mice were accidentally introduced to the island by seal hunting ships around 200 years ago, and their numbers have exploded in recent years as the climate has warmed. Now estimated to have a population of around one million on an island of only 115 square miles (297 km sq), the mice are damaging the ecosystem, feeding not only on invertebrates but on the seabirds that make the island their breeding ground. To eliminate the mice, four to six helicopters will drop up to 550 tons of rodenticide bait across the island on a carefully mapped plan. If even one pregnant female mouse survives the campaign, their ability to breed rapidly will mean the campaign was unsuccessful.
This map depicts the location of Marion Island, in the south Indian Ocean, where conservationists are planning a campaign to eliminate the invasive mouse population. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What country has the world’s largest inland delta?
A: Botswana
The Okavango Delta is a large alluvial fan located in north-western Botswana with permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains. It is one of a very few large inland delta systems without an outlet to the sea. Okavango’s waters drain instead into the desert sands of the Kalahari Basin. Around 60,000 years ago, the river deposited its water into Lake Makgadikgadi, a paleolake believed to have covered over 38,681 sq mi (100,000km²) of Botswana’s interior. Over 30,000 years ago, severe seismic activity created a tectonic trough which blocked the Okavango River’s original flow and formed the Delta, with its extensive waterways, swamps, flooded grasslands and floodplains. One of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Okavango Delta is an enormous oasis home to a wide variety of wildlife.
Source
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Q: What state is home to the tallest mountain in eastern North America?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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