Spanish authorities say 1,325 migrants reached the country's Canary Islands off the western coast of Africa by boat this weekend — with one carrying a single-vessel record of 321 people.
Authorities say all of those who arrived were from sub-Saharan Africa.
Spain's Interior Ministry has already documented 23,537 Canary Islands arrivals between January 1 and October 15 — an 80% increase over last year. This weekend's arrivals also come on top of a record two-week tally of 8,561 arrivals since October 1 — the most since a previous migration wave in 2006.
Images broadcast on Spain's TVE television Saturday showed a brightly colored wooden boat overcrowded with smiling migrants who waved as they reached port at the island of El Hierro.
In all, 783 migrants landed on El Hierro, 150 on Gran Canaria, and 98 on Tenerife. The International Red Cross said women and children were among the arrivals, though the vast majority of arrivals were young adult males.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who visited the seven-island Atlantic archipelago last week, said the spike in illegal arrivals was directly linked to the political "destabilization of the Sahel."
The Sahel region has seen a spate of military coups over the past several years, with the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Niger and Sudan now all ruled by military juntas.
The Canaries have become a preferred destination for desperate migrants hoping to arrive in Europe from Morocco and Western Sahara since the EU tightened control of passage via the Mediterranean Sea.
Morocco and Western Sahara are relatively close to the Canaries (100 kilometers, 60 miles), whereas other migrants have embarked on far-riskier journeys from Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, which are roughly 1,000 kilometers away.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.