The earlier target represents a loss for the German Greens who, ahead of a three-day party congress in Lyon this weekend, had pushed for the climate neutrality target to be delayed to 2045, according to amendments seen by POLITICO.
The election manifesto, which was adopted by a large majority of national delegations, warned that meeting these climate objectives “must not rely on false solutions such as geo-engineering.”
The Greens are at risk of losing about a third of their seats in the European Parliament at the EU election in June, while a backlash against Brussels’ green agenda has been sweeping across the Continent in recent weeks. The party’s response has been to redouble the push on its core demands for higher climate ambition.
The final manifesto, for example, calls for the EU energy system to rely on 100 percent renewable sources and to phase out all fossil fuels by 2040, “starting with coal by 2030.” It also calls on the EU to adopt a plan for phasing out “fossil gas and oil as early as 2035 and no later than 2040.”
That point is another loss for the German Greens, who had pushed for deleting phaseout dates for fossil gas and oil from the manifesto.
The Greens have also been fighting back against the conservatives’ and far right’s attacks blaming them for farmers’ current struggles and for forcing the green transition to quickly on the sector.
Over the weekend, the Greens amended their manifesto to respond to farmers’ discontent, saying they will campaign for “a new agricultural model that reduces emissions, protect the environment, and foster social justice.”
The text insists that “farmers should make a decent income of their work,” and that the Greens will push to “make sure farmers are not exposed to unfair competition from products not respecting the same standards, including those imported from third countries” — which have been key demands of farmers’ unions during the recent demonstrations.
Five-month old cassava plants growing in the greenhouse of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Credit: Rene Geurts/ENSA
Opinion by Rene Geurts (wageningen, netherlands)
Inter Press Service
WAGENINGEN, Netherlands, Feb 01 (IPS) – The 500 per cent increase in global agricultural productivity over the past 60 years has largely been made possible by the scientific advances of the “Green Revolution” – from the ability to breed higher yielding varieties to improvements in farm inputs, especially fertiliser.
But this has come with both environmental trade-offs and widening inequality. Half the world is now fed thanks to synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, but its use generates an estimated 10.6 per cent of agricultural emissions, including up to 70 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions, one of the less prevalent greenhouse gases that is nevertheless almost 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
To address this, scientists are embarking on a new frontier of the Green Revolution, built on fresh understanding about soil microbes and crop biology. This offers the potential for a “genetic revolution” that enables agricultural production without the need for as much costly chemical fertiliser use.
The genetic revolution is partly born of a need to address the fact that the gains of the Green Revolution in the 1960s were not evenly spread. Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have limited access to the latest varieties of planting material and fertiliser, while contending with some of the most degraded soil in the world.
Rene Geurts of Wageningen University visiting a smallholder farmer’s cassava field near Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in October 2022. Credit: Christian Rogers/ENSA
Meanwhile in Africa, key staple crops such as cassava have not yet fully benefited from the progress in modern breeding technologies.
Recent advances in scientific knowledge about how crops interact with soil bacteria and fungi to obtain nutrients therefore offer the opportunity to optimise plant biology to reduce the need for fertiliser, helping to solve both agriculture’s environmental challenges and the inequality that has held back food security in Africa.
In the evolution of crop species, cassava narrowly missed the opportunity to develop the same natural ability as legumes to interact with soil bacteria to convert nitrogen from the air. Legumes engage with rhizobia in soil to naturally fix nitrogen, meaning beans, peas and lentils do not need synthetic nitrogen fertiliser to grow.
While cassava did not evolve with this trait, the root crop does make good use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a soil fungus, to source mineral nutrients such as phosphate. The biological system that allows cassava to interact with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was the evolutionary ancestor of nitrogen fixation.
This makes cassava something of a stepping stone between legumes, which do not need nitrogen fertiliser, and other crops, which currently rely on artificial sources of nutrients.
Scientists including those of us at the Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA) project are investigating the possibility of using cassava’s existing mechanism for engaging with fungi to also interact with bacteria to fix nitrogen.
Transgenic cassava plantlets possessing legume genes, which may enable the plants to recognize nitrogen-fixing rhizobium bacteria. Credit: Rene Geurts/ENSA
This research is at a very early stage but increasing the ability of more crops to source nutrients organically without the need for fertiliser would in theory have multiple benefits.
Such a development would help improve the uptake of crop nutrients, which would translate into increased growth and higher yields. This is particularly valuable for African farmers, who have seen cassava yields remain stagnant since the 1960s.
Pursuing the development of nitrogen-fixing cassava could also lead to reductions in the need for fertiliser, which would help bring down agricultural emissions while unlocking productivity gains in regions otherwise limited by access to fertiliser. This would mean smallholder farmers in Africa could benefit from yield increases similar to those achieved elsewhere in the Green Revolution.
Finally, if scientists can introduce the trait to fix nitrogen to cassava, it opens the possibility of translating it to other, related crop species.
Researchers are at the start of their exploration of this new frontier but the potential of a “genetic revolution” is ultimately for a “doubly green revolution” that accelerates agricultural intensification without the need for chemical fertiliser.
Not only would this help to feed a growing population more sustainably, but it would also level the playing field for those who have been historically left behind by agricultural innovation.
Rene Geurts, Associate Professor, Wageningen University, and principal investigator at the Enabling Nutrient Symbioses in Agriculture (ENSA) project
Opinion by Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair, Nirupama Vinayan (london)
Inter Press Service
LONDON, Jan 31 (IPS) – The 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) marked a pivotal moment in the global efforts to combat climate change. Held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the participation of delegates from around the world, COP28 showcased a commitment to drive genuine strides in climate action, bringing optimism and progress to the forefront. Here we explore the implications of COP28 outcomes for small and other vulnerable Commonwealth countries and identify the gaps that still need attention. Additionally, it will discuss concrete expectations for COP29, focusing on critical discussions held at COP28.
Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair
COP28 Highlights
COP28 was distinctive in its comprehensive approach, covering a diverse range of topics crucial for addressing the climate crisis. Notable discussions included the First Global Stocktake, the Operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, the Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum, the UAE Leaders’ Declaration on the Global Climate Finance Framework, and the UAE Climate and Health Declaration.
First Global Stocktake
The First Global Stocktake at COP28 provided a comprehensive assessment of collective progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement. It involved a thorough review of individual countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and their efforts to limit global temperature rise. This mechanism served as a vital tool for accountability and transparency, fostering a sense of shared responsibility among nations.
For the Commonwealth countries, the Global Stocktake offers an opportunity to showcase their commitment to climate action and demonstrate tangible progress. However, challenges persist in ensuring that the Stocktake remains fair and inclusive, addressing the diverse circumstances of the Commonwealth nations, including those that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Operationalization of Loss and Damage Fund
Addressing loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change is a critical aspect of climate action. COP28 saw discussions on the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, aiming to provide financial and technical assistance to countries facing the most severe consequences. For the Commonwealth nations, particularly those in low-lying regions, this initiative is crucial for building resilience and adapting to climate-induced challenges.
Nirupama Vinayan
Despite positive strides, gaps remain in determining the fund’s scale and ensuring swift disbursement to affected countries. COP29 must prioritize finalizing the operational details of the Loss and Damage Fund to ensure its effectiveness and responsiveness in times of need.
Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum
The Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum at COP28 facilitated crucial discussions on the role of private sector engagement and philanthropy in climate action. Commonwealth countries, with their diverse economies, can leverage partnerships with businesses and philanthropic organizations to accelerate sustainable initiatives.
However, challenges persist in ensuring that such collaborations align with the principles of climate justice and contribute to the overall well-being of communities. COP29 should focus on refining frameworks for private sector involvement, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and the alignment of business practices with climate goals.
UAE Leaders’ Declaration on the Global Climate Finance Framework
The UAE Leaders’ Declaration at COP28 outlined a framework for global climate finance, acknowledging the need for increased financial support to developing countries. For Commonwealth nations, many of which are developing economies, this declaration holds promise for accessing the necessary funds to implement ambitious climate actions.
Nevertheless, a significant gap exists in defining the specifics of the finance framework, including the sources of funding and the mechanisms for distribution. COP29 should prioritize establishing a clear and robust climate finance framework to ensure that developing Commonwealth countries receive the support needed for sustainable development.
UAE Climate and Health Declaration
The UAE Climate and Health Declaration emphasized the interconnectedness of climate change and public health. Commonwealth countries, facing diverse health challenges exacerbated by climate impacts, can benefit from a holistic approach that integrates climate and health policies.
While the declaration at COP28 recognized the importance of this intersection, concrete steps for implementation and resource allocation are crucial. COP29 should prioritize the development of strategies that integrate climate and health considerations, ensuring the well-being of Commonwealth populations in the face of a changing climate.
Shaping Expectations for COP29
COP28 concluded on a note of optimism and progress, with participants committing to genuine strides in climate action. However, acknowledging the herculean task ahead is essential. COP29, set to be held in Azerbaijan, becomes a crucial milestone for the international community.
Concrete expectations for COP29 include deciding on a new climate finance goal and framing new and ambitious NDCs. The Commonwealth, as a collective voice for equitable and sustainable growth, is expected to play a more prominent role in the global climate action scene. Ensuring that all parties move as one entity with a clear vision is imperative for deriving the desired outcomes and addressing the gaps highlighted at COP28.
Looking ahead, the international community anticipates decisive actions at COP29, setting the stage for framing new NDCs at COP30, hosted by Brazil. The Commonwealth’s involvement will be pivotal in achieving a sustainable and resilient future, fostering global cooperation and ensuring that no nation is left behind in the pursuit of a climate-safe world.
Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair is the Head of Climate Change at the Commonwealth Secretariat covering 56 small and other vulnerable Commonwealth countries.
Nirupama Vinayan is an intern at the Commonwealth Secretariat working in the area of climate finance for the small and other vulnerable member countries of the Commonwealth.
Opinion by Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (port louis, mauritius)
Inter Press Service
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, Jan 29 (IPS) – Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, Former President of the Republic of MauritiusThe Republic of Mauritius, an island nation, experienced its latest flash floods since the last bad one in 2013. These floods resulted in the loss of lives and hefty bills for car insurers with over 3000 cars have been damaged.
Unfortunately, we will go through more climate-related traumas because as an island nation we are sorely ill-prepared and we seem to be blithely oblivious to climate challenges especially when one takes a look at our development trajectory.
There is an urgent need to factor in resilience of our infrastructure; our adaptation strategy, the use of appropriate technology to inform and educate our people for better awareness and preparedness. When we look at recent tragedies, we cannot and must not put everything on the back of a changing climate, although I am sure the temptation is great in order to absolve one of his/her responsibilities. Urgent measures need to be put in place to counteract this new reality and also address our vulnerabilities.
There is no doubt that we will experience more devastating cyclones and they will take our economies back several decades.
It is the becoming increasingly clear that the way we urbanise, the resilience of our infrastructures, how ‘green’ we keep our buildings and landscape will all underscore how well we adapt to a changing climate.
Locally and in many parts of the world, there is a high proclivity to cut down big swath of forests, drain the ‘Ramsar-protected’ swamps which are the lungs the world; build bungalows on sea fronts; sacrifice century-old trees in the name of ‘development’; century-old drains which have survived the test of time, are now increasingly seeped in cement!
In many surrounding islands including Mauritius, buildings are seen popping up on the slopes of mountains. There’s also massive investment in infrastructure projects with no visibility on the ‘Environment Impact Assessments – EIA’ (absence of Freedom of Information Act in Mauritius prevents the public from accessing to these critical documents).
There’s also locally, no visibility on the Flood-prone zones which imply that people will keep building in these regions with the surreal consequences we have seen last week in Port Louis – cars piling up, flooded cemeteries reaching people’s homes, people being carried away by the sheer force of the water.
It is becoming abundantly clear that climate-related events will recur and we, as the human race, we have no choice but to adapt to our new realities. Time and time again, the rhetoric of ‘saving the planet’ is mentioned. It has to be brought home to all of us that Nature has existed before our appearance 200.000 years ago and will do well after we have gone. So let us not be presumptuous to even think that we can ‘tame’ or ‘save the planet’.. Our rhetoric must be couched in a the following language ‘how we save ourselves in the light of the crisis we have unleashed’!.. That would be more appropriate and much more in line of this truism which is facing us.
Part of our adaptation realities demand a culture of transparency, participatory-leadership, promote greater awareness among the general public on what’s at stake and more importantly, there has to be accountability from those who we vote to decide on our behalf. They cannot suddenly go mum when they are questioned or pass the buck to technical staff whose roles are, often purely advisory, when things start going south. The personal and material loss for the general public are simply too painful to see when entire lifetime efforts and savings are washed away by the gushing waters.
I am a resident of town called Quatre Bornes and which got badly affected by the recent floods. I am tempted to ask for this ‘confidential’ EIA report for the Quatre Bornes tram project so that we can be enlightened on the remedial actions going forward?
May be those who were at the helm in 2016 when the decision was taken to start this mega project can enlighten us ? No?
But this is where “Real politik” kicks in..
Those who were vociferously against this project during the electoral campaign, when they were in the Opposition (that was before they switched side and joined the winning party) are now its greatest defenders.
Some of those who actioned the decisions when in government are now in the Opposition and are expressing outsized aspirations for higher posts ..hmm.. at the next general elections??.
Really?
Transparency, Justice and Accountability are the virtues that the public demands what we certainly DONOT need are empty rhetoric and promises … The survival of our children and grandchildren depends on it and we have NO right to sacrifice their future through our inaction.
An area of illegal mining activity was raided by the Brazilian Federal Police in the eastern Amazon on Jan. 17, where their precarious installations and housing, as well as their equipment, were destroyed. The fight against illegal mining, especially in indigenous territories, intensified after a new tragedy of deaths of Yanomami indigenous people caused by encroaching garimpeiros or informal miners became headline news. CREDIT: Federal Police
by Mario Osava (rio de janeiro)
Inter Press Service
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 29 2024 (IPS) – Artisanal mining, or “garimpo” as it is known in Brazil, has returned to the headlines as a factor in the deaths of Yanomami indigenous people, whose territory in the extreme north of Brazil suffers constant encroachment by miners, which has intensified in recent years.
In the first few days of the year, Yanomami spokespersons denounced new invasions of their land and the suspension of health services, in addition to the violence committed by miners or “garimpeiros”, which coincided with the fact that the military withdrew from areas they were protecting.
Furthermore, the media published new photos of extremely malnourished children. In response, the government promised to establish permanent posts of health care and protection in the indigenous territory.
“But what they are involved in there is not garimpo but illegal and inhumane mining practices,” said Gilson Camboim, president of the Peixoto River Valley Garimpeiros Cooperative (Coogavepe), which defends the activity as environmentally and socially sustainable when properly carried out.
“Garimpo is mining recognized by the Brazilian constitution, with its own legislation, which pays taxes, is practiced with an environmental license and respects the laws, employs many workers, strengthens the economy and distributes income,” he told IPS by telephone from the headquarters of his cooperative in Peixoto de Azevedo, a town of 33,000 people in the northern state of Mato Grosso.
Coogavepe was founded in 2008 with 23 members. Today it has 7,000 members and seeks to promote legal garimpo and environmental practices, such as the restoration of areas degraded by mining.
But it is difficult to salvage the reputation of this legal part of an activity whose damage is demonstrated by photos of emaciated children and families decimated by hunger and malaria, because the encroachment of miners pollutes rivers, kills fish and introduces diseases to which indigenous people are vulnerable because they have not developed immune defenses.
Garimpeiros and indigenous deaths
The humanitarian tragedy among the Yanomami people became big news in January 2023 when Sumaúma, an Amazonian online media outlet, denounced the deaths of 570 children under five years of age, due to malnutrition and preventable diseases, during the far-right government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office on Jan. 1, 2023, visited Yanomami territory and mobilized his government to care for the sick and expel illegal miners, destroying their equipment and camps. But a year later, the resumption of mining activity and a resurgence of hunger and deaths were reported.
Moreover, the entire extractivist sector has a terrible reputation due to tragedies caused by industrial mining. Two tailings dams broke in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in 2015 and 2019, killing 289 people and muddying an 853-kilometer-long river and a 510-kilometer-long river.
Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of iron ore, following Australia. Iron ore is the main focus of industrial mining in the country.
Garimpo is mainly dedicated to gold, and accounts for 86 percent of its production. Garimpeiros also produce cassiterite (the mineral from which tin ore is extracted) and precious stones, such as emeralds and diamonds. Its major expansion, many decades ago, was along rivers in the Amazon jungle, to the detriment of indigenous peoples and tropical forests.
Indigenous people protest in the state of Roraima in northern Brazil against the invasion of Yanomami territory by garimpeiros or artisanal miners, who often practice illegally. CREDIT: Alberto César Araújo / Amazônia Real
Threat to the environment and health
Currently, 97.7 percent of the area occupied in Brazil by artisanal mining is in the Amazon rainforest, where it reaches 101,100 hectares, according to MapBiomas, a project launched by non-governmental organizations, universities and technology companies to monitor Brazilian biomes using satellite images and other data sources.
The production of gold uses mercury, which has contaminated many Amazonian rivers and a large part of their riverside population, including indigenous groups, such as the Munduruku people, who live in the basin of the Tapajós River, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon with an extension of 2,700 kilometers.
Garimpo dumps about 150 tons of mercury in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest every year, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates. The fear is that the tragedy of Minamata, the Japanese city where mercury dumped by a chemical industry in the mid-20th century killed about 900 people and caused neurological damage in tens of thousands, may be repeated here.
Brazil produced 94.6 tons of gold in 2022, according to the National Mining Agency. But the way it is extracted varies greatly, based mainly on informal mining, of which illegal mining makes up an unknown percentage.
Three prices govern this production, according to Armin Mathis, a professor at the Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazónicos of the Federal University of Pará, who lives in Belém, the capital of this Amazonian state, with 1.3 million inhabitants.
The price of gold in Brazil; the price of diesel, which represents a third of the cost of gold mining; and the cost of labor are the three elements that determine whether the garimpo business is profitable, the German-born PhD in political science, who has been studying this activity since he arrived in Brazil in 1987, explained to IPS from Belém.
This mining was in fact artisanal, but it began to use machines, especially the backhoe, in the 1980s, which is why diesel increased its costs. And unemployment and periods of economic recession, in the 1980s and in 2015-2016, made garimpo more attractive.
In those periods and the following years, invasions of Yanomami territory, which also extends through the state of Amazonas in southwestern Venezuela, became more massive and aggressive. But the consequences for the native people living in vast areas of the rainforest only become news on some occasions, like now.
Small airplanes seized by police and environmental authorities were at the service of illegal miners in Roraima, an Amazonian state in the extreme north of Brazil. This is where most of the Yanomami Indians live, currently the main victims of illegal, mechanized mining. CREDIT: Federal Police
From artisanal to mechanization
Mechanization has restructured the activity. Machines are expensive and require financiers. Entrepreneurs have emerged to manage the now more complex operations, as well as others who only own and rent out the equipment.
In addition, the owners of small airplanes that supply the mining areas and facilitate the trade of the extracted gold became more powerful. The hierarchy of the business has expanded.
“We must differentiate between garimpo and the garimpeiros. This is not a rhetorical distinction. The garimpeiro, who works directly in the extraction of gold, is more a victim than a perpetrator of illegal, predatory and criminal mining. The person responsible lives far away and gets rich by exploiting workers in slavery-like labor relations,” observed Mauricio Torres, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Pará.
“The garimpeiro, depicted as a criminal by the media, pays for the damage,” he told IPS by telephone from Belém.
The workers recognize that they are exploited, but feel that they are a partner of the garimpo owner, as they earn a percentage of the gold obtained. They work hard because the more they work, the more they earn.
A large part of the garimpeiros along the Tapajós River, where this kind of mining has been practiced since the middle of the last century, are actually landless peasant farmers who supplement their income in the garimpo business, when agriculture or fishing does not provide what they need to support their families, Torres explained.
Therefore, agrarian reform and other government initiatives that offer sufficient income to this population could reduce the pressure of the garimpo on the environment in the Amazon rainforest, which affects the region’s indigenous and traditional peoples, he said.
The situation of the garimpeiros also differs according to the areas where they work in the Amazon jungle, Mathis pointed out. In the Tapajós River, where the activity has been taking place for a longer period of time and is already legal in large part, coexistence is better with the indigenous Munduruku people, some of whom also became garimpeiros.
In Roraima, a state in the extreme north on the border with Venezuela and Guyana, where a large part of the territory is made up of indigenous reserves, illegal mining is widespread and includes the more or less violent invasion of Yanomami lands.
On the other hand, as the local economy depends on gold, the population’s support for garimpo, even illegal and more invasive practices, is broader than elsewhere. There, former president Bolsonaro, a supporter of garimpo, won 76 percent of the votes in the 2022 runoff election in which he was defeated by Lula.
Another component that aggravates the violence surrounding garimpo and, therefore, the crackdown on the activity, is the expansion of drug trafficking in the Amazon rainforest. The informality of the mining industry has facilitated its relationship with organized crime, whether in the drug trade or money laundering, said Mathis from Belém.
ROTTERDAM, SOUTH HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS – 2022/02/08: The deep-sea creatures on board the Luciana and the mining vessel Hidden Gem seen in the background, during the demonstration.
Ocean Rebellions protest The Deep Sea Says No Why the deep sea? The deep seabed is largely unexplored, many areas have unique marine life (an estimated 10-million life forms and most are undiscovered) and many areas are important to the survival of all ocean life. Deep Sea Mining in areas like the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) (Pacific Ocean) will destroy the deep seabed and the life that depends on it, destroying corals and sponges that have taken thousands of years to grow. (Photo by Charles M. Vella/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Norway says its controversial decision to approve deep-sea mining is a necessary step into the unknown that could help to break China and Russia’s rare earths dominance.
In a vote earlier this month that attracted cross-party support, Norway’s parliament voted 80-20 to approve a government proposal to open a vast ocean area for commercial-scale deep-sea mining.
It makes the northern European country the first in the world to move forward with the process of extracting minerals from the seabed.
Norway’s government said the practice could be one way to help facilitate the global transition away from fossil fuels, adding that every country should be exploring ways to sustainably collect metals and minerals at their disposal.
Scientists, however, have warned that the full environmental impacts of deep-sea mining are hard to predict, while environmental campaign groups have slammed the approval of what they call an “extremely destructive” process that sends a “terrible signal” to the rest of the world.
The goal of any exploration activities should be to better understand the scale of the environmental threats deep-sea mining poses — not to justify a practice we know will have vast negative impacts on marine life and the planet’s health.
Anne-Sophie Roux
Deep-sea mining Europe lead at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance
Essential metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules on the seafloor. The end-uses of these metals — along with other strategic minerals and rare earth elements — are wide-ranging and include electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
As a result, demand is growing fast. The IEA expects this trend to continue as the clean energy transition gains pace, noting that demand for cobalt and nickel jumped 70% and 40%, respectively, between 2017 and 2022.
“Today, we are almost dependent on Russia and China and we have to diversify the global supply chain production of minerals around the world,” Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland told CNBC via videoconference.
“We have been looking into the seabed minerals opportunity for a long time. We have a really reliable tradition on how we use the resources in the Norwegian continental shelf. We do it sustainably and we do it step by step.”
As part of the rapid uptick in demand for critical minerals, the IEA has warned that today’s supply falls short of what is needed to transform the energy sector. That’s because there is a relatively high geographical concentration of the production of many energy transition elements.
Most rare earth reserves are located in China, for example, while Vietnam, Brazil and Russia are also major rare earths countries based on reserve volume.
Norway’s parliamentary decision paves the way for companies to apply to mine in its national waters near the Svalbard archipelago. The area, which is part of Norway’s extended seabed shelf, is estimated to be larger than the U.K. at roughly 280,000 square kilometers (108,108 square miles).
Norway’s government does not intend to immediately start drilling for minerals. Instead, companies will need to submit proposals for licenses that will be voted on a case-by-case basis in parliament.
Aasland said the first commercial licenses for exploring the seabed could come “maybe next year” but a license to extract these minerals would likely not happen this decade.
(L-R) Norwegian member of Parliament Arild Hermstad, French climate activists Camille Etienne and Anne-Sophie Roux, and French actor Lucas Bravo attend a demonstration against seabed mining outside the Norwegian Parliament building in Oslo, Norway on January 9, 2024.
Javad Parsa | Afp | Getty Images
The approval of deep-sea mining puts Norway at odds with both the U.K. and the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which have pushed for a temporary ban on environmental concerns.
In response to the criticism, Norway’s Aasland said the vote outcome would help lawmakers better understand whether hunting for minerals on the seafloor can be done in a sustainable way.
“One of the key issues in the debate is we don’t have enough knowledge to decide if we can go to extract these minerals — and I totally agree,” Aasland said.
“We have to collect more information before we can take a decision about extracting these minerals. That is what this opening is all about. It is not the same as approving extraction.”
Anne-Sophie Roux, deep-sea mining Europe lead at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, said Norway’s decision to greenlight commercial deep-sea mining is “irresponsible” and “puts a nail in the coffin” of the country’s proclaimed role as a climate leader.
“The goal of any exploration activities should be to better understand the scale of the environmental threats deep-sea mining poses — not to justify a practice we know will have vast negative impacts on marine life and the planet’s health,” Roux told CNBC via email.
Marine ecosystems are not well understood. Campaigners fear that exploration and exploitation activities in the deep sea could permanently alter a home that is unique to known — and many as yet unknown — species.
“The argument put forward by the Norwegian government — and the deep-sea mining industry — that ‘deep-sea mining can be done in a sustainable way’ goes against the large consensus of scientific literature,” Roux said.
“There is no way to sustainably mine the deep sea in our current day and age, as it would inevitably lead to ecosystem destruction, species extinction, various sources of pollution and disruption of the climate ecosystemic services of the ocean.”
A slide show of texts are projected onto the side of the Hidden Gem during the demonstration.
Charles M. Vella | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Maria Varteressian, deputy foreign minister of Norway, said the Nordic country takes its reputation as a sustainable ocean nation “seriously,” however, and this is the case when considering whether seabed minerals could play a role in the energy transition.
“No exploitation activity has started. The main reason to that as you have already said is the huge knowledge gaps which must be filled prior to any activity even being considered. That is important,” Varteressian told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Jan. 24.
“Regardless of the views on mining activities onshore and offshore, minerals will be a critical component in the new energy systems so the main question is not whether we need the minerals or not, the important question is can we produce them in a sustainable way?”
The French government rushed to appease the country’s farmers on Sunday in a last-ditch bid to prevent a major blockade of the French capital this week. But agriculture union leaders showed no signs of backing down from their ongoing protests over a range of grievances related to taxes, regulations and prices.
Freshly minted French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spent Sunday visiting a cattle farm in Indre-et-Loire, as Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau promised new measures would be unveiled as soon as Tuesday to address farmers’ concerns at both the EU and national level.
The ministers are trying to head off a promised “siege” of Paris by the farmers, with major roads around France already facing blockages.
Attal acknowledged Sunday that longstanding rules have been throwing “sticks in the wheels” and heaping new burdens on farmers over recent decades, and lamented that politics seemed to be pitting farmers against the environment. While he announced some concessions on Friday, Attal said he was well aware that the government had not yet addressed the issues at the root of the farmers’ grievances.
Key agriculture union leaders seemed unimpressed by the government’s promises. Plans for a full-scale action haven’t changed, said Arnaud Rousseau, head of the FNSEA farmers’ union. Speaking to BFMTV from a barricade near Beauvais, north of Paris, Rousseau told farmers to rest up ahead of a week “full of dangers.”
Discontent among farmers has boiled over into major protests around Europe, driven by complaints about environmental regulations and increases in taxes on diesel fuel. Despite significant subsidies from the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy, far-right political groups have increasingly sought to capitalize on farmers’ anger by linking their concerns to EU technocrats and foreign migrants.
Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally party, also met with farmers on Sunday, questioning whether the government wants to “eradicate” French agriculture to further globalization.
An artwork juxtaposing Chinese yuan cash bills with the China’s flag
Javier Ghersi | Moment | Getty Images
China’s financial institutions should provide strong support to the country’s beleaguered real estate sector and not “blindly withdraw” financing for projects facing difficulties, according to a senior Chinese financial regulatory official.
His strongly worded comments follow the Chinese central bank’s largest cut in mandatory cash reserves for banks since 2021. Beijing also recently released a fresh policy mandate aimed at easing the cash crunch for Chinese developers, which have struggled under the crackdown on the sector’s bloated debt.
“The financial industry has an unshirkable responsibility and must provide strong support,” said Xiao Yuanqi, deputy director of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, according to a CNBC translation.
“We all know the real estate industry chain is long and involves a wide range of areas. It has an important impact on the national economy and is closely related to people’s lives,” he added.
China’s real estate troubles are closely intertwined with local government finances since they typically relied on land sales to developers for a significant portion of revenue.
The property market slumped after Beijing cracked down on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth in 2020, weighing on consumer growth and broader growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
“For projects that are in difficulty but whose funds can be balanced, we should not blindly withdraw loans, suppress loans, or cut off loans,” Xiao said. “We should provide greater support through extending existing loans, adjusting repayment arrangements, and adding new loans.”
Still, Xiao cautioned the latest relaxation of funding guidelines, which is only valid through the end of the year, is designed to be targeted.
“China’s state banks will issue operating property loans to real estate companies on the basis of controllable risks and commercial sustainability,” Xiao said.
“Eligible property developers may then use these loans to repay existing loans of real estate companies and open market bonds they have issued,” he said.
China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development held a meeting Friday morning that emphasized again that local regions could adapt the newly release property policy guidelines as needed, according to official reports.
While not new, the meeting is among several this week — pointing to official efforts to speed up implementation of recent policy announcements.
Beijing’s stimulus announcement on Wednesday also marked a rare decision to release news at a press briefing, suggesting the Chinese government is signaling its intent at a time when the country’s stock markets are teetering on the edge of capitulation.
Such policy moves are typically only published online and disseminated via state media. But the People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng announced the forthcoming reserve ratio requirement cut and real estate policy in person.
Last week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced the country’s annual GDP growth figure in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos — a day before China’s National Bureau of Statistics was scheduled to release the country’s official GDP print and other data.
Young Rwandan citizen scientists record bird sounds in the forests in a project that plays a pivotal role in the country’s bird protection. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation
by Aimable Twahirwa (kotiang, rwanda)
Inter Press Service
KOTIANG, RWANDA, Jan 23 (IPS) – Claver Ntoyinkima wakes up early in the morning, at least three times a week, and goes into the Nyungwe rainforest to record bird vocalizations.
Ntoyinkima is one of several community members in a remote village in rural southwestern Rwanda who volunteer with a group of scientists to help boost wildlife conservation.
Relying on a voice application installed on his mobile phone, which is connected to a parabolic reflector with a dedicated cable, the 50-year-old tour guide and his team walk long distances every week to collect sounds from various birding hotspots in this area.
“Love for birds is critical when it comes to engaging many young people in this career,” Ntoyinkima told IPS while referring to his second profession of bird sound recording.
To better protect the birds, the veteran tour guide has been able to launch the Nyungwe Birding Club, bringing together about 86 members of local communities living in Gisakura, a remote village located on the outskirts of the Nyungwe rainforest in southwestern Rwanda. Thanks to this mobilization, members of the club, which also consists of 26 young students from primary and secondary schools, were equipped with skills on how to record bird sounds.
Conservation experts believe that birds are important indicators for the biodiversity and health of a habitat where they are sometimes visible but more widely audible. Researchers are now convinced that audio recognition skills are vital for effective monitoring and guiding, especially in forests and wetlands.
“We are engaging youth from rural communities through local bird clubs, site guides, schools, and colleges,” Hilary MacBean, founder of the Foundation, told IPS.
It is a major task to collect mass data covering the sounds of various species across various birding hotspots in this East African country.
Nyungwe natural reserve is known to be home to 278 species of birds—26 of those are found only in the few forests of the Albertine Rift. The latest scientific estimates show that there are seven other important birding areas in Rwanda, including three wetland areas at Akanyaru (south), Nyabarongo river system (south), and Rugezi swamp (north), where there are efforts to recover the biodiversity from human activities that led to the degradation of these hotspots. The urban wetland in Kigali city has also received massive investment and is radically improving.
“This task requires much practice for people so that they are able to decode all those different bird songs and calls,” Ntoyinkima said.
At present, the first ever Rwandan citizen science initiative, which has been running since 2021, focuses on equipping young students, many from rural communities, with the skills to observe, audio record, and scientifically label birds by their sounds, songs, and calls.
By using affordable sound recording equipment aimed at entry-level citizen scientists, participants are trained in audio-data collection, verification, preparation, and storage for both higher-level scientists and other citizen scientists. Currently, different existing teams deployed across birding hotspots in Rwanda are divided into categories, including recordists and verifiers.
Experts also point out that using the available dataset with multiple records of the songs and calls of the bird population has been crucial to ensuring the protection of species that are forest-dependent.
Through the “Bioacoustics Recording” initiative, which the foundation and other stakeholders jointly run, MacBean has been involved in mentoring and training young bird guides from Rwanda for international tourism while also educating local guides and students about bird sounds.
Hilary MacBean of the Planet Birdsong Foundation has been involved in mentoring and training Rwandan young bird guides for international tourism while bringing awareness and knowledge of bird sounds to local guides and students. Credit: Planet Birdsong Foundation
“Key focus has been on equipping communities with skills on how to work with bioacoustics data collected in the field as a move to identify bird species in the recordings with confidence,” she said in an exclusive interview.
During the implementation phase, data collection is done by using a smart phone with downloadable free apps and a ParaChirp an acoustic mirror designed for educational use to promote learning about birds and product design. The technology focuses mainly on individual bird songs and calls collected in their natural or semi-natural habitat.
The latest official estimates by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) show that Rwanda boasts more than 703 bird species, making it one of the countries with the highest concentration of bird populations in Africa.
However, Protais Niyigaba, the Nyungwe Forest National Park’s manager, told IPS that much effort has been put into providing migratory birds with safe habitats and breeding sites.
“These solutions with available recording data are currently helping to understand the routes of these migratory birds and make sure visitors are able to locate them easily by sound,” Niyigaba said.
The project had uploaded 226 recordings as of the time of the Foundation’s 2023 audit report, with 37 of those being in national parks. The number of recordings is constantly growing, with multiple records of the songs and calls of about 120 bird species across Rwanda.
By December 2024, the Foundation has set a goal of generating 275 recordings, including 75 bird sounds, from existing national parks across Rwanda. The target set for 2025 is 300 species, according to official projections.
“We create music from bird sound and, in the Rwandan context, focus on the community benefits of citizen science, bird sound collection for scientific monitoring, and building the identification skills of tourist guides,” MacBean said.
With this integration of bird sound recordings to protect and preserve these species and their habitats, stakeholders focus on labeling the collected data so that their identification, locational and time data, behavioral data, and habitat data are all recorded. The sounds are then validated by assigned verifiers, processed, and stored for use in science.
Recordings generated by Planet Birdsong’s citizen scientists are stored globally with e-bird, and researchers are collaborating with the Macaulay Library at Cornell University to ensure access to locally recorded bird sounds for both citizen scientists and specialists. For the specific case of Rwanda, data collected in Rwanda is also supplied to the Rwanda Biodiversity Information System for use in local natural science.
Yet these innovations are playing pivotal roles in Rwanda’s bird protection, and some researchers believe that maintaining data availability is essential for effective bird biodiversity conservation.
Professor Beth Kaplin, a prominent conservation scientist based in Rwanda, told IPS that getting local researchers, students, and youth involved in data collection and management is important to developing a sense of ownership and stewardship of the data recording for bird sounds.
Despite current efforts, conservation experts point out that limited funding to support people and pay their fieldwork expenses is another major challenge affecting project implementation since the majority of local residents work mainly on a volunteer basis. Some individuals engaged in the project also have problems with equipment such as phones and PCs, plus the cost of the internet.
Dr Marie Laure Rurangwa, a Rwandan female conservation scientist, told IPS that one of the challenges facing people engaged in this activity is much about processing time with much editing and the skillsets needed in terms of sound recognition for different bird species.
Rurangwa is a co-author of the latest peer review study showing how land use change (modification from primary forest to other land use types) has affected bird communities within Nyungwe forest in Rwanda
“Access to some of these remote birding hotspots has been another challenge for recordists because of limited resources and a lack of appropriate equipment to reach these remote areas,” Rurangwa points out.
But in Gisakura, a remote village nestled on the outskirts of Nyungwe Forest, Ntoyinkima and his team are trying to use affordable means in their field recording by splitting into small groups of five people each.
Before their deployment to various sites inside and outside the forest, each group has to travel several kilometers to reach the selected birding hotspots.
As they walk quietly along a narrow trail and water flows beneath their feet, the team has to stop sometimes to better identify birds through their vocalizations.
Yet most trained people are able to capture data and generate robust, sound recognition results. Expert verifiers are sometimes asked to provide support when some recordists are stuck for identification or to confirm when in doubt.
“These young people are still volunteering here, but in most cases, the majority of them end up being hired as tour guides because they are well trained in bird vocalizations,” Ntoyinkima said.
As part of our “Changing the Game” series, we’re highlighting Sarah Paiji Yoo. She is the co-founder and CEO of Blueland which specializes in eco-friendly cleaning products and is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic.
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BRADENTON, Fla. — Manatee County is building a new outdoor experience that will eventually offer people 25 miles of trails connecting to several counties.
Manatee commissioners are supplementing the start of this expansion with $2.1 million that will aid in the construction and design process.
What You Need To Know
Manatee County commissioners are expanding 25 miles of trails connecting several counties with $2.1 million to aid in the construction process
Charlie Hunsicker has dedicated his career to the trails of Manatee County and hopes this expansion encourages others to enjoy nature
Hunsicker says construction on the first mile will begin in January 2025
For decades, Charlie Hunsicker has dedicated his career to the trails of Manatee County.
“Sometimes, trails can bring you a number of surprises,” he said.
At Perico Preserve, you never know what kind of animals you might see along the way.
“It’s that peace and solitude. You can tell (the animals) are enjoying it, and when you are out here in nature, you can share that experience,” Hunsicker said.
A variety of plants lie near the path.
“As it flowers and sends out its seeds, this becomes a sea of waving beauty,” he said.
It’s walks like these that Hunsicker wants to bring to a whole new level. Twenty-five miles of new trails will be made in Manatee County, expanding the Gateway Greenway Multipurpose Trail System.
“More people are understanding the value of getting outside for exercises, opening up paved trails and hard-packed shell trails to a whole new generation of folks,” he said.
County commissioners recently voted to provide $2.1 million of funding, which Hunsicker says will help build the first mile of these new trails.
“The funding most recently made available will be applied in the area of Lincoln Park in Palmetto and move along 17th Street and other roadway corridors to intercept Florida Power and Light Railroad Track,” he said.
The plan is to eventually create trails that will connect to the Gulf Coast Trail, stretching from Collier to Hernando County.
“We will be doing that cross-country, multi-county trail that moves from Sarasota north, aligning itself eventually with Hillsborough County and beyond,” Hunsicker said.
Hunsicker hopes to provide others with the experiences he had as a kid.
“I grew up in Northern Wisconsin National Forest, Lake Superior, camping with my family, Boy Scouts. I grew up with an appreciation that there is always a balance to seek and experience,” he said.
And the County commission agrees: the new funding proving they understand the value of this project.
“The time is now. Other communities are working hard to expand their trail experience. We are funding our parks at a heavy load,” he said.
It’s a commitment from both Hunsicker and the county to provide more ways to enjoy nature.
Hunsicker says construction on the first mile will begin in January 2025.
TAMPA, Fla. — As climatologists predict more frequent and stronger storms, Florida coastlines face the risk of erosion. But now, there is a bill in the state legislature that aims to help our shores by expanding protections against mangroves.
What You Need To Know
Bill in state legistlature aims to help with mangrove restoration
SB 32 would encourage local governments to replant and restore mangroves
Promoting mangrove growth would help the shorelines and provide ecological benefits
Mangroves are so important to coastline protection that there are laws protecting them. SB 32 calls for the expansion of state statute by encouraging local governments to replant and restore mangroves. It would also implement permitting incentives for local governments to install what are known as “living shorelines,” which are the use of natural elements that protect as they grow.
“Any kind of measures we can do to promote mangrove growth along our shoreline areas really go a long way to help those communities that are built behind the mangroves,” said Peter Clark, president of Tampa Bay Watch.
Clark formed Tampa Bay Watch 30 years ago, and for the past decade, staff and volunteers with the organization have been installing living shorelines in the Tampa Bay region. One of the most recent installments at Lassing Park in St. Petersburg includes oyster reef balls, oyster shell bags, marsh grass and mangroves.
“Once you construct these things, they’re natural. So they can stay there and continue to grow for many, many years,” Clark said. “If you construct living shorelines and other green infrastructure, that not only helps protect those areas but provides ecological benefits back to the bay.”
The bill would also require the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to partner with the state’s Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services to conduct a statewide feasibility study to determine how mangroves and other living shoreline projects could improve a community’s rating with the National Flood Insurance Program and ultimately lower insurance premiums.
Lacandona, the great Mayan jungle that extends through the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, is home to natural wealth and indigenous peoples’ settlements that are once again threatened by the probable reactivation of abandoned oil wells. Image: Ceiba
by Emilio Godoy (mexico city)
Inter Press Service
MEXICO CITY, Jan 19 (IPS) – The Lacandona jungle in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas is home to 769 species of butterflies, 573 species of trees, 464 species of birds, 114 species of mammals, 119 species of amphibians and reptiles, and several abandoned oil wells.
The oil wells have been a source of concern for the communities of the great Mayan jungle and environmental organizations since the 1970s, when oil prospecting began in the area and gradually left at least five wells inactive, whether plugged or not.
Now, Mexico’s policy of increasing oil production, promoted by the federal government, is reviving the threat of reactivating oil industry activity in the jungle ecosystem of some 500,000 hectares located in the east of the state, which has lost 70 percent of its forest in recent decades due to deforestation.
A resident of the Benemérito de las Américas municipality, some 1,100 kilometers south of Mexico City, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told IPS that a Mexican oil services company has contacted some members of the ejidos – communities on formerly public land granted to farm individually or cooperatively – trying to buy land around the inactive wells.
“They say they are offering work. We are concerned that they are trying to restart oil exploration, because it is a natural area that could be damaged and already has problems,” he said.
Adjacent to Benemérito de las Américas, which has 23,603 inhabitants according to the latest records, the area where the inactive wells are located is within the 18,348 square kilometers of the protected Lacandona Jungle Region.
It is one of the seven reserves of the ecosystem that the Mexican government decreed in 2016 and where oil activity in its subsoil is banned.
Between 1903 and 2014, the state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) drilled five wells in the Lacandona jungle, inhabited by some 200,000 people, according to the autonomous governmental National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), in charge of allocating hydrocarbon lots and approving oil and gas exploration plans. At least two of these deposits are now closed, according to the CNH.
The Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, in the Lacandona jungle in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, faces the threat of oil exploration, which would add to phenomena such as deforestation, drought and forest fires that have occurred in recent years. Image: Semarnat
The Lacantun well is located between a small group of houses and the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (RBMA), the most megadiverse in the country, part of Lacandona and near the border with Guatemala. The CNH estimates the well’s proven oil reserves at 15.42 million barrels and gas reserves at 2.62 million cubic feet.
Chole, Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Lacandon Indians inhabit the jungle.
Other inactive deposits in the Benemérito de las Américas area are Cantil-101 and Bonampak-1, whose reserves are unknown.
In the rural areas of the municipality, the local population grows corn, beans and coffee and manages ecotourism sites. But violence has driven people out of Chiapas communities, as has been the case for weeks in the southern mountainous areas of the state due to border disputes and illegal business between criminal groups.
In addition, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), an indigenous organization that staged an uprising on Jan. 1, 1994 against the marginalization and poverty suffered by the native communities, is still present in the region.
Chiapas, where oil was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, is among the five main territories in terms of production of crude oil and gas in this Latin American country, with 10 hydrocarbon blocks in the northern strip of the state.
In November, Mexico extracted 1.64 million barrels of oil and 4.9 billion cubic feet of gas daily. The country currently ranks 20th in the world in terms of proven oil reserves and 41st in gas.
Historically, local communities have suffered water, soil and air pollution from Pemex operations.
As of November, there were 6,933 operational wells in the country, while Pemex has sealed 122 of the wells drilled since 2019, although none in Chiapas, according to a public information request filed by IPS.
Since taking office in December 2018, leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has strengthened Pemex and the also state-owned Federal Electricity Commission by promoting the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, to the detriment of renewable energy.
The state of Chiapas is home to hydroelectric power plants, mining projects, hydrocarbon exploitation blocks and a section of the Mayan Train, the most emblematic megaproject of the current Mexican government. Image: Center for Zoque Language and Culture AC
Territory under siege
The RBMA is one of Mexico’s 225 natural protected areas (NPAs) and its 331,000 hectares are home to 20 percent of the country’s plant species, 30 percent of its birds, 27 percent of its mammals and 17 percent of its freshwater fish.
Like all of the Lacandona rainforest, the RBMA faces deforestation, the expansion of cattle ranching, wildlife trafficking, drought, and forest fires.
Fermín Ledesma, an academic at the public Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, said possible oil exploration could aggravate existing social and environmental conflicts in the state, in addition to growing criminal violence and the historical absence of the State.
“The situation is always complex, due to legal loopholes that do not delimit the jungle, the natural protected areas are not delimited, it has been a historical mess. The search for oil has always been there,” he told IPS from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas.
The researcher said “it is a very complex area, with a 50-year agrarian conflict between indigenous peoples, often generated by the government itself, which created an overlapping of plans and lands.”
Ledesma pointed to a contradiction between the idea of PNAs that are depopulated in order to protect them and the historical presence of native peoples.
From 2001 to 2022, Chiapas lost 748,000 hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 15 percent decrease since 2000, one of the largest sites of deforestation in Mexico, according to the international monitoring platform Global Forest Watch. In 2022 alone, 26,800 hectares of natural forest disappeared.
In addition, this state, one of the most impoverished in the country, has suffered from the presence of mining, the construction of three hydroelectric plants and, now, the Mayan Train, the Mexican government’s most emblematic megaproject inaugurated on Dec. 15, one of the seven sections of which runs through the north of the state.
But there are also stories of local resistance against oil production. In 2017, Zoque indigenous people prevented the auction of two blocks on some 84,000 hectares in nine municipalities that sought to obtain 437.8 million barrels of crude oil equivalent.
The anonymous source expressed hope for a repeat of that victory and highlighted the argument of conducting an indigenous consultation prior to the projects, free of pressure and with the fullest possible information. “With that we can stop the wells, as occurred in 2017. We are not going to let them move forward,” he said.
Ledesma the researcher questioned the argument of local development driven by natural resource extraction and territorial degradation as a pretext.
“They say it’s the only way to do it, but that’s not true. It leaves a trail of environmental damage, damage to human health, present and future damage. It is much easier for the population to accept compensation or give up the land, because they see it is degraded. A narrative is created that they live in an impoverished area and therefore they have to relocate. This has happened in other areas,” he said.
The gardener must at times give plants protection against too intense light and against excessively high temperatures.
Damage from intense light is most likely to occur when naturally shade loving plants are exposed to direct, strong sunshine; when sun loving plants, comparatively soft and tender from being grown in a greenhouse or cold frame, are transferred outdoors; and after plants are transplanted. The trunks of trees that have been growing closely together in woodland or nursery may be damaged by sunscald on their south facing sides following their transference to sunnier locations; by heavy pruning, branches previously shaded by foliage may be exposed to sunshine sufficiently strong to sunscald them. Damage by sun occurs not only in summer; in winter, when the ground is frozen, evergreens, especially, are likely to suffer from this.
The provision of shade is the obvious method of avoiding damage by light that is too intense. Shade needing plants should be grown in naturally shaded areas, such as woodland, under solitary trees or groups of trees, and areas shaded by high walls or buildings or in locations artificially shaded by lath houses, lath or burlap screens or other appropriate means.
The trunks of trees may, with advantage, be wrapped in burlap or in special tree wrapping
paper for a season or two following transplanting. When annuals, vegetables, young biennials and perennials are set out in hot sunny weather they should be shaded for a few days following the transplanting operation.
Not a great deal can be done to lower summer temperatures; but in every garden some locations are noticeably warmer than others. At the base of a south facing wall, for example, the temperature is very noticeably higher than at the base of a north facing wall; it is likely to be cooler near a pool or other body of water than elsewhere; parts of the garden that receive reflected heat from walls and pavements are warmer than those where plants grow alone in more open areas; in enclosed, “pocketed” spaces temperatures are higher than in more open locations through which breezes blow; and in the shade it is always much cooler than in the sun.
In selecting locations for plants known to prefer cool summer conditions, all these factors should be borne in mind. It should also be remembered that moisture has a cooling effect, and so plants should not be permitted to suffer from lack of water during dry weather.
As a temporary measure, shading may be used to offset some of the ill effects of temperatures that are too high. Spraying the foliage lightly with water lowers its temperature somewhat and has a refreshing effect on plants.
Many plants Clematis and Lilies, for example can withstand high atmospheric temperatures, provided the soil is kept reasonably cool and moist. In really hot weather an even temperature at the roots and a steady supply of water go far to ensure success with a great many kinds of plants, especially those that are surface rooters such as Azaleas, Blueberries and Rhododendrons. Summer mulching is an excellent garden practice designed to conserve moisture and keep the soil temperature moderate and even.
They are used to give plastic products their distinctive durability, bendability and sleek, nonstick surface.
Yet some of these chemical additives have been tied to maladies such as breast and prostate cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as problems with children’s brain development and adult fertility.
Of particular concern are a class of additives known as endocrine disruptors — chemicals that mimic and confuse hormone signaling in humans.
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Now, a team of physicians, epidemiologists and endocrinologists have estimated the costs of plastic exposure on the U.S. healthcare system and come to a sobering conclusion.
In 2018, several common endocrine disruptors cost the nation almost $250 billion — just $40 billion shy of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2024 budget for the entire state of California.
“This study is really meant to put a bright, bold line underneath the fact that plastics are a human health issue,” said Leo Trasande, a pediatrician and public policy expert at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and Wagner School of Public Service.
“Fundamentally, we’re talking about effects that run the entire life span study from brain development in young children … to cancer,” he said.
The study was conducted by researchers from NYU, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Defend Our Health — an environmental organization based in Portland, Maine.
Using epidemiological and toxicity data, the researchers itemized the disease burden of a collection of fairly well-studied chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, a class of flame retardants known as PBDEs, and PFOAs — the “forever chemicals” used to make nonstick cookware and which have been found in nearly half of U.S. tap water samples tested by the federal government.
They used previously published cost data on select disease burdens to come up with their estimate, which Trasande described as “conservative.”
Both he and Avi Kar, senior attorney and senior director for the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Health and Food, People & Communities Program, said there are tens of thousands of chemicals used in plastic production and manufacturing that probably also contribute to negative health issues, but for which available data are scarce.
“Even from a health perspective, these are likely underestimates,” said Kar, who was not involved in the research. He noted that “in addition to the costs associated with the chemicals and plastics, there are health costs associated with exposures to the macro and micro plastics, as well as the pollution associated with their production and disposal.”
Kar and Trasande said that while research on the effect of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body is still in its early stages — they’ve been found in our brains, lungs, hearts and blood — there is a large body of research on these chemical additives.
News that we may be ingesting hundreds of thousands of nanoplastic particles every time we drink a liter of water bottled in plastic has researchers concerned — not so much because of the plastic itself, but because these chemicals sit on those particles “like a passenger pigeon,” gaining unfettered entry into our cells and brains, said Trasande.
“Apart from the plastic polymer itself, the chemicals associated with plastic may pose a health risk, if not a greater health risk as they are encapsulated or attracted to these plastic materials,” said Vahitha Abdul Salam, a senior lecturer in vascular pharmacology at Queen Mary University of London.
She noted there are no standard risk assessment measures available for plastics or chemicals associated with plastics, which is why she is working in collaboration with others, such as the U.K.’s WRc Group — a water consultancy firm — “to identify and quantify the amount and types of plastics and their associated chemicals in the water systems and verify the potential harm of the top 10 materials/chemicals to human health using cell-based assays.”
Meanwhile, Trasande and others are hopeful their work will register with lawmakers and spur them to consider the health and financial costs of plastic debris in the environment and humans.
“What this study tries to do is to say” to plastic manufacturers that “‘it’s not just that you’re hurting people’s lives, it’s that you’re costing the economy. … You are profiting as companies off the backs of people’s health and well-being,’” he said.
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Upon learning that Taylor Swift flew to visit Travis Kelce at least 12 times in the past three months, news outlets resurfaced one of the climate movement’s favorite punching bags: a celebrity’s private jet. Yes, Taylor’s jet has a large climate footprint. But this story has been blown way out of proportion.
Last month, Newsweek, the Daily Mail, UNILAD, and others reported that Taylor’s trips produced 138 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, equivalent to the energy used by 17 houses in one year. These articles built upon a snowballing narrative about the pop sensation’s environmental damage, from concerns over the Eras Tour to Taylor being named Yard’s biggest celebrity polluter after racking up 8,293.54 tons of CO2 emissions in her jet in 2022. But fixating this intensely on Taylor’s jet reinforces a misconception that climate action is always a sacrifice, and that Taylor must choose between the planet or her career and love life.
Of course, Taylor’s actions matter. Everyone can do their part. But if slashing CO2 is the ultimate goal, Taylor’s emissions—0.00002 percent of the world’s annual 40 billion tons—are an insignificant and infeasible place to start. By talking about them as much as they do, climate advocates are wasting time and distracting the public from far more exciting climate solutions that would grow economies, cut emissions, and require no personal sacrifices.
While 8,000 tons of CO2 is an enormous amount for one individual, there are better ways to address climate change than Taylor ghosting Travis and canceling her tour. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that out of 38 climate solution categories, 16 actually start out saving money—this includes solar, wind, and nuclear energy; fuel-efficient vehicles; public transportation; bikes and e-bikes; optimized shipping; and curbed fluorinated gas emissions. These solutions are low-hanging fruit. They’re not always perfect or easy to implement, but if done right, they can cut billions of tons of CO2 while offering economically preferable alternatives to the status quo.
Although carbon-free jets remain elusive, there are several existing aviation solutions that bring both environmental and economic benefits. Sustainable aviation fuels are already entering the industry, and hydrogen-powered aircrafts could soon follow. Airlines could try the hub-and-spoke system, which is proven to reduce emissions and lower costs. Reforming or repealing the Jones Act—a U.S. maritime shipping regulation that has created a situation where only 2 percent of U.S. freight is carried by ship—could shift our cargo from planes to boats, substantially reducing pollution and transportation expenses.
Taylor Swift at the 81st Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. John Salangsang/Golden Globes 2024/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images
On the flip side, there exists no economically competitive alternative to jetting Taylor around the world for the Eras Tour. With millions of people spending money on tickets, merchandise, travel, lodging, clothing, food, and drink, the Eras Tour is estimated to have an economic impact of up to $80 billion. This spending has uplifted local businesses, allowed individuals to start friendship bracelet stores, and even generated tax revenue—Cincinnati estimated that it resulted in $3.8 million in new taxes for the city, money which could wind up getting invested into public transit, resilient infrastructure, or other urban climate solutions. Taylor has also donated to food banks at every tour stop, paid unprecedented bonuses to employees, and helped fund climate projects by purchasing carbon credits.
Climate experts often discuss the problem of “hard-to-reach” sectors such as steel or cement, where it is currently financially or technologically infeasible to go carbon-free, but worth pursuing lower-hanging fruit in the meantime. The Eras Tour belongs in that category. Today’s airplanes require fossil fuels, Taylor can’t sensibly or logistically do the tour via boat, and if she instead stayed home and just released the Eras Tour movie, the economic loss would be staggering. In fact, the in-person tour’s economic impact may exceed the annual economic output ($63.8 billion) of the entire U.S. movie theater industry. Taylor could likely improve her personal footprint—perhaps by reducing waste and energy inefficiency on tour, using sustainable fuel blends, and ensuring her carbon credits are reliable (many aren’t)—but any course of action that grounds her jet simply couldn’t generate economic activity comparable to the real thing.
Even Taylor’s Travis visits have brought irreplaceable economic boosts. Travis’ jersey sales spiked 400 percent after the first game the pop star attended, ticket sales for Kansas City Chiefs home games tripled for the rest of the season, and Taylor’s attendance at the Chiefs-Jets game brought two million new viewers.
Beyond the NFL, local Kansas City businesses are generating new sales following visits by the power couple, New Balance saw a 25 percent revenue boost after Taylor wore their sneakers to a game, and Google search inquiries for Heinz jumped 61 percent after it launched a condiment inspired by one of Taylor’s in-stadium snacks. It is hard to fathom a green alternative to Taylor and Travis’ dates that could generate such massive economic activity.
With millions of Swifties admiring Taylor’s lifestyle, it is frustrating to see her air travel’s ballooning climate impact. But unlike most climate solutions, there is no way to ground Taylor’s jet without sacrificing tremendous happiness and economic growth. So let’s shake off the desire to name Taylor Swift the anti-hero, and instead focus our energy on bad-blood-free climate action.
Ethan Brown is a Writer and Commentator for Young Voices with a B.A. in Environmental Analysis & Policy from Boston University. He is the creator and host of The Sweaty Penguin, an award-winning comedy climate program. Follow him on Twitter @ethanbrown5151.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Surviving the flood at Ahoada in Rivers state Nigeria. Credit: Wikicommons
Opinion by Omer Javed, Dan Beeton (washington dc)
Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON DC, Jan 12 (IPS) – The world faces the existential threat of a climate change crisis, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the outcome of the latest UN climate summit, COP28 — hosted as it was by the CEO of one of the world’s largest oil companies, and filled with a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists — is not going to do much to change that.
Even calls to “phase-out” fossil fuels were met with foot-dragging from the COP28 president and Saudi Arabian delegates. Meanwhile, highlighting the gravity of the challenge at hand, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) pointed out that the last decade (2011–2020) was the warmest on record. Along with the COVID pandemic, this likely contributed to an increase in absolute poverty over the same period.
A key question that COP28 was supposed to tackle is how low- and middle-income countries will be able to pay for climate crisis response and adaptation. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been thrust into a key role in this regard, but it should not escape criticism for its own climate hypocrisy.
For the Fund to truly begin to join the fight against the climate crisis, it must first end its pointless, unfair, and damaging surcharge policy. The Biden administration could ensure that the Fund instead plays a crucial role in responding to climate challenges by supporting a major new issuance of IMF reserve assets.
Currently, the IMF’s solution is to offer more debt to already severely debt-burdened countries. An October paper from the United Nations Development Programme Global Policy Network noted: “At least 54 developing economies are suffering from severe debt problems,” of which 28 are among “the world’s top-50 most climate vulnerable countries.”
And more than 70 percent of climate finance for these countries has been in the form of loans, as a recent letter from 141 civil society groups points out.
Moreover, a Development Finance International-led report notes the lopsided spending priorities being forced on developing countries, many of which are highly vulnerable to climate change. Among these, “debt service is 12.5 times higher than the amount spent on climate adaptation,” a number projected to “rise to 13.2 times” in the next year.
Contributions to the “loss and damage” climate fund have also been far from satisfactory. Reports note that the US, the EU, and other rich countries have failed to meet their pledges to provide $100 billion per year.
Meanwhile, high-level UN officials estimate that these countries will actually need to spend about $1 trillion per year on climate response by 2025, and about $2.4 trillion per year by 2030.
These countries face debt distress partly because the IMF demands they follow overly broad austerity policies as conditions to receive the loans. This is an avoidable problem, considering that the IMF possesses a ready and appropriate alternative: Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a reserve asset intended to be issued during times of crisis.
The Fund last allocated $650 billion worth of SDRs in August 2021, in response to the COVID pandemic. But now even countries battered by the climate crisis, such as Pakistan, a third of which was flooded in 2022, are being pushed to take on more debt while the US Treasury Department refuses to green-light a new major SDRs issuance.
This points to the root of the problem: the governance structures of the IMF and World Bank. The US by itself has a veto over decisions, and in practice can control most of what the IMF does, because other high-income countries — mostly in Europe — almost always line up with the United States, giving high-income countries 60 percent of voting power, thereby leaving most of the world without a voice at the IMF.
Critics point out that most of the 2021 SDRs went to rich countries, since they provided the most to the IMF’s resources (their membership quotas); while efforts to rechannel those SDRs have also been wanting both in terms of speed and quantity.
Worse, the IMF’s rechanneling mechanisms turn the SDRs — an international reserve asset that countries receive without any debt or conditions attached — into loans, with conditions attached.
The IMF is contributing to the global debt crisis in other ways. It continues to levy surcharges, essentially, “junk fees” added onto its non-concessional lending. Writing for Eurodad, Daniel Munevar highlighted how climate crisis-ravaged Pakistan faced surcharges of $122 million in 2023, and another $69 million in 2024.
A country that faced catastrophic flooding in 2022, that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, and that was simultaneously facing possible default, should not be forced to pay surcharges. Moreover, many countries in similar circumstances, such as Armenia, Jordan, and even war-torn Ukraine, also face surcharges.
A recent CEPR report noted, “The IMF will charge over $2 billion per year in surcharges through 2025,” which is unnecessary and counterproductive, given the already constrained fiscal space of developing countries.
Time is quickly running out. The IMF must be brought into the twenty-first century if it is to play a constructive role in ending the climate crisis. The IMF should end its punitive, unnecessary, and counterproductive surcharge policy. And there must be a new major allocation of SDRs to enable developing countries to better deal with debt distress and meet their goals for climate-resilient spending.
This will require leadership by President Biden, since the US is the largest contributor to IMF resources and has the greatest say in IMF decisions. The COP meetings could even be used for timing a yearly release of climate-related SDR allocations to highly climate-vulnerable countries, as suggested under Barbados’s “Bridgetown Initiative.”
These steps would at least show that the Fund is addressing the climate crisis with the leadership and seriousness required.
Omer Javed holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at the International Monetary Fund. His contact on ‘X’ (formerly ‘Twitter’) is @omerjaved7.
Dan Beeton is the International Communications Director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research (cepr.net) in Washington, DC. He Tweets at @Dan_Beeton.
Social media users have created a false correlation between the rise of zombie deer disease cases and animal COVID-19 vaccines.
And some are blaming Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic foundation for it.
A Jan. 1 Instagram post caption claimed that “over 100 million American wildlife were vaccinated through a program funded by the Zuckerberg Charity Foundation,” misnaming the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative founded by Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, his wife. “Now, a chilling development known as the zombie deer virus is sweeping across 32 states, affecting deer with disturbing neurological symptoms.”
In November, Yellowstone National Park said a deer that died in the park the previous month had chronic wasting disease, also known as zombie deer disease. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said zombie deer disease has been detected in free-ranging deer, elk or moose in at least 31 states and three Canadian provinces, but it had nothing to do with COVID-19 vaccines.
The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal, progressive, neurodegenerative ailment affecting deer, elk, reindeer and moose. Its symptoms include weight loss and stumbling. The disease is caused by “prions,” transmissible abnormal proteins that trigger other proteins to irregularly fold, causing brain damage , according to the CDC. According to the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the disease’s first case was discovered in 1967 in a deer in Colorado.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has partnerships with 42 organizations to respond to COVID-19. None of the partnerships include a program to vaccinate wildlife. Patricia Condon, a communications manager for the organization, said that it does “not fund such a program” and that all of its grants are publicly disclosed in a database on its website.
An Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services spokesperson told PolitiFact via email that there is no approved COVID-19 vaccine for wildlife.
A Pfizer subsidiary, Zoetis, has made a COVID-19 animal vaccine for zoo animals. Christina Lood, a Zoetis spokesperson, said her company has donated the vaccine to licensed veterinarians but has not provided the vaccine to organizations that vaccinate wildlife.
We rate the claim that the outbreak of zombie deer disease is connected to the vaccination of 100 million American wildlife False.
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Scallop season in Pasco County may be getting another extension this year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is gathering public feedback on proposed changes to the length of season.
What You Need To Know
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hearing from the public on whether to extend scallop season in Pasco County
Last year, a 37-day scallop season was approved to see how sustainability and community interests faired
This year’s proposal would see scallop season extended to 40 days in Pasco County
Some charter captains say the extension, however, could cut in to the longevity of scallops for years to come
A longer trial season was set to 37 days last year to see if extending the season would balance sustainability with community interests.
This time FWC wants to do 40 days. But not everyone is on board.
“I love scallop season. It’s just such a fun time with the family,” Captain Wendy Longman said. “It was beneficial for business, but for me, personally, I’m rather opposed to it.”
Despite a boom at her New Port Richey business, Windsong Charter & Boat Rentals, Longman says it’s education she wants to see emphasized. Knowing the right time to harvest.
“We’ve seen that the third week of July the scallops have time to grow bigger and bigger,” she says. “Having that season start earlier, they’re still a little too small, in my opinion.”
If too many scallops are plucked prematurely, Longman says, there won’t be enough to go around in the years ahead. Which can pose as a troubling outlook.
“They were over-harvested, our grasses weren’t healthy enough,” said Longman. “With more people moving to the area and more boats and more people scalloping- I just think there needs to be that education so that we don’t lose our season for another 24 years.”
The FWC is planning to host more workshop discussions. Hearing public input before deciding whether to extend scallop season once more.
NEW ORLEANS, January 10, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Last month, multiple cities in 5 states across the country including the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland filed suits in the PFAS national litigation. The suits allege significant damages including to the water systems, airports, and other critical areas of these cities and towns from PFAS chemicals, also known as ‘forever chemicals.’ Mike Stag of the national environmental firm Stag Liuzza represents the cities and towns and has stated that “These PFAS and PFOS chemicals are one of the greatest threats to our environment. Our clients need significant money to remediate their water systems and other public areas from these chemicals. We will continue to file suits on behalf of additional municipalities we represent across the country. This issue is too important for our clients not to have aggressive, experienced counsel helping them obtain all money possible.” Stag and his firm also represent municipalities in California, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Ohio, and Stag sits on the Executive Committee of the national suit filed in Federal Court in South Carolina.
In June, national class action settlements totaling over $12 Billion were proposed. These settlements only deal with public water systems and do not include payments for airports, fire training centers or other likely PFAS contaminated public areas. It is expected that public water systems and municipalities which file a proper and valid claim could receive payments as early Summer 2024. “We want our clients to be in the front of the line to receive any payments possible from the national settlement the minute it is approved,” said Stag. The amount a municipality may receive is based on complex formulas and include what is known as ‘baseline’ testing. “During data collection, we are finding that this is a process that takes multiple steps to gather the proper and best evidence for the claims process.”
More information about the national PFAS Public water system settlement, or filing suit to recover money for PFAS contamination, can be obtained by contacting Mike Stag or Ashley Liuzza at Stag Liuzza or by visiting https://www.cleangroundwater.com
