２０２２年８月１８日（Thu.）11:00UP ：　　　異常気象と言うよりも気候変動・地球温暖化を認識し，根本対策を強化すべきでしょう，ロシアのような戦争行為に終止符して。（ニュースソース：　DWーDE ８月１７日発　）

＜原文の一部＞

Dry rivers: Traffic backed up on Rhine as engine failure worsens woes

Rivers and lakes across Europe are suffering from low water levels, affecting transport, electricity production, wildlife and farming. Now, traffic on the Rhine has been blocked by a ship's engine failure.

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River traffic has been greatly reduced as boats are loaded to a quarter capacity to avoid running aground

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About 20 ships were queued up in Germany's crisis-struck Rhine river on Wednesday as a ship broke down in a busy shipping lane.

River traffic was closed in the Middle Rhine after a ship with a 1,660-ton load dropped anchor after an engine failure, police said.

"The berths are full all the way to Mainz" (about 50 kilometers or 31 miles from the affected area), a spokesperson for the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration told the Reuters news agency.

The ship was eventually towed out.

River traffic on the key shipping route has already been severely hampered in recent weeks by low water levels, with ships either unable to sail or forced to carry a quarter of their normal capacity to avoid running aground.

Water levels have dropped as part of a Europe-wide drought. Climate change has made extreme weather, including heatwaves and droughts, more likely.

Conditions are expected to improve in the coming days, with rain forecast to raise levels by as much as 50 centimeters (20 inches).

The Kaub gauge was at 34 centimeters on Wednesday — just barely above the minimum level to allow relatively unladen ships to pass.

The shipping headaches have reignited calls for dredging in the area.

"The navigation channel there urgently needs to be deepened so that it is possible to keep inland shipping running even at low water levels," Germany Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing told public broadcaster ARD.

Deepening the channel by 20 centimeters would take until the early 2030s, he said, and cost about €180 million ($183 million).

His plan was criticized by North Rhine-Westphalia State Environment Minister Oliver Krischer, who said that a deeper navigation channel won't help if the river no longer carries any water. Instead he called for additional funding for other solutions, such as promoting ships with a shallower draft.

"We need to adapt ships to the Rhine, not the other way around," he said.

On Tuesday, industry leaders in Germany sounded the alarm on low water levels, saying chemical, steel and other industrial plants would soon be forced to shut down due to transport problems.

As well as restricting transport, low water levels impact power plants that need water for cooling — a problem that is getting particularly grave for France's nuclear plants. Hydropower plants are also affected by a lack of river flow and low reservoirs.

Shifting freight to road and rail is hampered by existing rail network problems and a lack of drivers. However, the German government is working to prioritize coal transport by rail to ensure stable energy supplies.

On Wednesday, the German Raiffeisen Association announced that it is expecting considerable damage to the corn harvest, due to the drought. Losses of almost 600,000 tons of grain maize are to be expected — around 15 percent of the originally forecast harvest. Other crops are being affected by high transport prices.

（注：　以下，転載省略。　原文サイトは下記のリンクへ　）

www.dw.com

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産業革命以降の地球温暖化は明々白々であり，その根本対策を講じるべきです。持続可能な社会・世界を構築しましょう。その為にも，口先ばかりの・金の亡者の政治家を排除しましょう。プーチンもそうですが，日本の政治家にも多い。

＊＊＊　下の写真は，記事内容とは関係ありません。