As rising oil and gas use pushes the world ever closer to passing the 1.5 degree-Celsius warming limit set out in the Paris Agreement, we're getting a clearer view of what failing to curb climate change might look like.

Across the Middle East, crippling sand and dust storms are driving a surge in hospitalizations and a drop in productivity, as schools and offices close and flights are grounded. Altogether, such storms - worsened by harsher drought - already cost the region about $13 billion a year.

"Unless immediate and serious action is taken in the Middle East to address the matter of dust storms, outcomes like forced migration of people can turn (this) into a global problem rather than a regional one," Kaveh Madani, former deputy head of Iran's environment department, told our correspondent Sanam Mahoozi.

In Bangladesh, families who have lost all their land to surging erosion and floods are now living on small boats, largely unable to access schools and other government services without a fixed address, correspondent Zakir Hossain Chowdhury found.

Even the fishing they make a living from is now threatened, as commercial competition and population growth mean fewer fish to go round.

"We are exhausted from this life," admitted Chan Miah, a 58-year-old fisherman. "We want a place where we can live in peace."

Bangladesh's government is set to approve its first long-term national plan to adapt to global warming ahead of the COP27 climate conference in November, in an effort to cut flooding and other fast-rising risks from extreme weather and limit growing loss and damage.

The plan is likely to include efforts such as improving early warning systems, providing more insurance to flood-threatened communities, changing agricultural practices and strengthening cross-border river management with neighbour India.

In Belgium, meanwhile, towns like Limbourg - drowned by torrential flooding in Europe a year ago - are still figuring out how to rebuild safely as climate change brings more severe weather and uncertainty.

Early attempts to repair flood-damaged riverfront social housing have been abandoned as local leaders ponder whether bringing residents back to the same areas really makes sense.

What's clear is that "we are less safe than we were one year ago," admitted the mayor, noting she still has trouble sleeping when it rains.

We have a great new video this week, exploring an intriguing question: Can you pay an elephant to fight climate change? Turns out that might be the case in the Central African jungles of Gabon, where elephants act as "gardeners", improving the forest's carbon-storing abilities.

See you next week!

Laurie

Indigenous women battle growing Amazon violence with trauma center
The community space's founders say it's the first to treat trauma facing women and indigenous Amazon people as connected issues

Rising heat drives crippling sandstorms across the Middle East
Drought and changing weather patterns feed stronger, longer dust storms, causing damage that costs the region $13 billion a year

Can you pay an elephant to fight climate change?
Carbon offsetting projects generally ignore wildlife, which is often critically important to the growth of ecosystems

Floods haunt Belgian town as rebuild seeks to stop repeat disaster
Flood-hit homes lay empty in the town of Limbourg as authorities consider how to 'build back better' to avoid future risks

Without land, Bangladesh's Manta people live - and die - on boats
Eroding Bangladeshi rivers stole their land - and now climate change and overfishing threaten the life they have built on water

Ravaged by floods, Bangladesh pitches plan to adapt to climate effects
Reeling from dire floods in June, Bangladesh is set to approve a long-term plan to protect itself from the worst climate effects 

Uganda's illegal river sand miners boost rising flood risk
The illicit trade along the Nyamwamba River is exacerbating flooding as climate change brings more extreme weather

OPINION: Europe classifying gas and nuclear power as green is greenwashing
The European Union can expect to see its new classification challenged in court

OPINION: Lack of progress on loss and damage endangers international climate cooperation
While governments haggle, those people who did the least to cause the climate crisis are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and debt