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Tag: Wetlands

  • As Florida Rebuilds From Devastating Hurricanes, Nature Offers Solutions for the Future

    Healthy natural systems can buffer communities from growing threats of climate change 

    As communities recover from back-to-back hurricanes – and as policy leaders look to shield Florida from future disasters – a new study funded by Live Wildly, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the importance of wildlife corridor conservation, finds that conserving the state’s wetlands, forests, and other natural areas can provide cost-effective solutions. 

    Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused billions of dollars in damage across Florida, with insurance claims alone amounting to more than $4.6 billion. That doesn’t include costs of flood damage often not covered by homeowner insurance, lost revenue from businesses hurt by the hurricanes, or the repair of destroyed bridges, roads and other public structures.

    But a recent scientific study gives hope for the future, outlining how protecting Florida’s 18-million-acre Wildlife Corridor – a superhighway of connected lands and waters stretching from the Panhandle to the Everglades – can shield against increasing floods, rising temperatures and other climate threats.

    “Science tells us the threats of climate change are growing,” said Meredith Budd, Director of Strategic Initiatives with the Live Wildly Foundation, which funded the study. “This report offers hope that there are actions we can take to help keep Florida’s communities and economies safe from the worst impacts of climate change.” 

    The study, conducted by scientists at Florida Atlantic University, Archbold Biological Station and other collaborators, found that about two-thirds of the state’s floodplains – covering 10 million acres – lie within the Wildlife Corridor. These floodplains serve as Florida’s natural drainage system, soaking up water during storms and providing billions of dollars of flood hazard protection.

    The study also found that the Wildlife Corridor’s dense forests, grasslands, and other green areas can help mitigate heat waves and droughts driven by climate change, bringing benefits to outdoor workers and recreational visitors as well as providing safe habitat to native wildlife.

    And the Wildlife Corridor can reduce the risk of dangerous wildfires in Florida, the study found. By protecting large areas of open space, fire crews can more effectively conduct controlled burns and other land management practices that keep natural areas healthy and less fire-prone. 

    While the Wildlife Corridor is primarily inland, it does contain areas of coastal mangroves and marshes that can shield communities from storm surges and reduce erosion from waves. The study cited findings that every hectare of healthy mangroves provides an average of $7,500 in risk reduction benefits.

    The Wildlife Corridor was established in 2021 with unanimous support from the Florida state legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis. It not only provides habitat for almost 2,000 different species — including the Florida panther, manatees, and the Gopher tortoise — but also supports at least 114,000 jobs and generates $30 billion in annual revenue through recreation, tourism, agriculture, forestry, and other industries. 

    Only about 10 million acres of the Corridor are currently conserved with another 8 million considered “opportunity areas” in need of protection. But as Florida’s population grows by more than 1,200 people every day, rapidly expanding urban development threatens to forever erase these natural areas and working lands. 

    “State leadership has demonstrated its understanding of the deep link between clean water, healthy lands and a strong economy by supporting the creation of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and ongoing efforts,” said Colin Polsky, Ph.D., lead author of the study and founding director of the Florida Atlantic University School of Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sustainability. “In the three years since its creation, the corridor has already produced economic, social and environmental benefits. Based on findings from our report, we expect future benefits to grow exponentially if we conserve the corridor’s remaining opportunity areas.”

    Other findings of the climate study – titled “Florida’s Wildlife Corridor and Climate Change: Managing Florida’s Natural and Human Landscapes for Prosperity and Resilience” – include:

    • The Wildlife Corridor helps reduce greenhouse gases and offers the potential for carbon markets. 
    • Properties within the Corridor may increase in value due to the various ecosystem services and recreational opportunities that natural areas and working lands provide.
    • Since the Corridor was established in 2021, private property owners, with the support of state funding, have voluntarily placed conservation easements on more than 170,000 acres of their lands within the corridor.  
    • Florida’s Wildlife Corridor can serve as a model for other states experiencing growing populations and climate risks. 

    “The Florida Wildlife Corridor provides a leading example of ambitious landscape conservation planning on a regional scale. Florida has long been a leader in habitat connectivity planning, and the state should be proud that its efforts inspire others around the world,” said Joshua Daskin, Ph.D., project manager and director of conservation at Archbold Biological Station. “The corridor is an example of how public and private partners can come together to achieve mutual economic, social and environmental goals at the local and state levels.” 

    ABOUT LIVE WILDLY FOUNDATION  

    Founded in 2022, the Live Wildly Foundation applies an entrepreneurial approach to protecting wild Florida while seeking to balance smart growth, a robust economy, and a connected, resilient landscape. Through creating diverse coalitions, fostering collaboration, and empowering stakeholders to advance conservation efforts, Live Wildly strives to achieve a harmonious and sustainable future in which economic prosperity coexists with a thriving and resilient ecological landscape. Their first priority is the Florida Wildlife Corridor. This 18-million-acre wildlife superhighway is a model for public-private partnership, citizen advocacy, and grassroots support. Live Wildly encourages people to ‘Join the Movement’ to protect wild Florida. For more information, please visit www.livewildly.com.   

    Source: Live Wildly Foundation

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  • Obedient Plant: Everything You Need to Know About Growing Physostegia

    Obedient Plant: Everything You Need to Know About Growing Physostegia

    Any article about Physostegia begins with the acknowledgement that this plant’s most-common common name, obedient plant, is a misnomer: Physostegia is anything but complying. The name obedient plant refers not to its behavior in the garden, but to the nature of the plant’s stems. “You can move the flowers from side to side, and they stay put—a welcome trait making this a fun cut flower,” explains Christina Koether, a garden and floral designer based in Weston, Connecticut. 

    While obedient plant’s blossoms are snapdragon-like (it’s also known as false dragonhead), it is a member of the mint family, and like mint, it spreads quickly by stolons—hence its reputation for disobedience, something Chris Liloia, the habitat gardens curator and the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) has experience with. While the plant now grows in NCBG’s Piedmont habitat, Liloia says, “It’s actually a remnant of the perennial border that I can’t get rid of. It has just cropped up in different spaces.” 

    But Koether says, “Its disobedience, or toughness, is what I love most.” Marissa Angell, a landscape architect based in Brewster, NY agrees, noting, “When I use Physostegia, it’s because I want a more aggressive plant to fill a space quickly, which is ideal for restoration or seeded meadow settings.”

    Here’s everything you need to know about this tough and beautiful native:

    Photography courtesy of North Carolina Botanical Garden, unless otherwise noted.

    Where should you plant obedient plant?

    Above: P. angustifolia is seen here in Norris’s prairie garden. He grew the plant from seed, which is available through Prairie Moon and Missouri Wildflowers Nursery. Photograph courtesy of Kelly D. Norris.

    All the experts we spoke to say obedient plant does best in a damp, sunny spot in a naturalistic design with other native species. “Like any plant, they require context for maximal appreciation,” says Des Moines-based ecological garden designer Kelly D. Norris, who is the author of New Naturalism. “These plants evolved to compete in grass-dominated environments. You can commonly find P. virginiana in wet ditches growing cheek-to-jowl with cattails, sedges, and tall grasses. Is it any wonder when gardeners remove them from that context that they sprint in every direction?” Place obedient plant in spots with poor drainage, in bioswales, or any place where spongy, absorbent vegetation has value. One place never to use it? In more “curated” gardens where you want plants to stay in one spot, says Angell. 

    Is obedient plant invasive?

    “Tough natives like this are sometimes accidentally called invasive, a term reserved for non-native plants that are monitored by individual states and are bad for biodiversity and pollinators,” says Koether. Physostegia virginiana is, in fact, helpful to pollinators. “Long blooming from summer to frost, the blooms are loved by hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies,” Koether adds. Obedient plant’s thuggishness can also crowd out invasive weeds.

    What are the different varieties of obedient plant?

    Physostegia virginiana at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
    Above: Physostegia virginiana at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.

    There are purple, pink, and white-flowered varieties of Physostegia. Physostegia virginiana is the species most commonly available at nurseries, but Liloia notes that there are actually two subspecies of virginiana, a northern and southern one. There are also a few cultivars, including ‘Miss Manners,’ which is advertised as a less aggressive, compact, and white-flowered version of the plant. Koether hasn’t had much luck growing it and Angell notes “it’s not as delicate or nice but you get some of the same feeling as the native, straight species.” Norris has both Physostegia virginiana and P. angustifolia, which is native to the central United States, in his garden and says, “P. angustifolia has been comparatively less aggressive than P. virginiana in my experience, and its paler flowers add an ethereal quality to the garden.” Koether adds, “The renewed interest in this plant is exciting. I’m hoping to try more cultivars soon.

    What plants are good to grow next to obedient plant?

     Above: Physostegia virginiana grows next to
    Above: Physostegia virginiana grows next to ‘Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ in the Piedmont habitat of North Carolina Botanical Garden. 

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  • Proposed mine outside Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp nears approval despite environment damage concerns

    Proposed mine outside Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp nears approval despite environment damage concerns


    SAVANNAH, Ga. — A company’s plan to mine minerals near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge neared final approval Friday as Georgia regulators released draft permits for the project, which opponents say could irreparably harm a natural treasure.

    The Georgia Environmental Protection Division said it will take public comments on the draft permits for 30 days before working up final versions to send to the agency’s director for approval.

    Twin Pines Minerals of Birmingham, Alabama, has worked since 2019 to obtain government permits to mine titanium dioxide less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the southeastern boundary of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest U.S. refuge east of the Mississippi River.

    Federal scientists have warned that mining near the Okefenokee’s bowl-like rim could damage the swamp’s ability to hold water. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022 declared the proposed mine poses an “unacceptable risk” to the fragile ecosystem at the Georgia-Florida line.

    “This is a dark day in Georgia’s history,” said Josh Marks, an Atlanta environmental attorney and leader of the group Georgians for the Okefenokee. “EPD may have signed a death warrant for the Okefenokee Swamp, our state’s greatest natural treasure.”

    In documents released Friday, state regulators echoed past comments that their analysis shows the proposed 773-acre (312-hectare) mine won’t significantly harm the Okefenokee or lower its water levels.

    “EPD’s models demonstrate that the mine should have a minimal impact” on the Okefenokee refuge, the agency said, “even during drought periods.”

    Twin Pines President Steve Ingle applauded regulators’ decision to move forward after what he called a “thorough evaluation of our application.”

    Ingle has insisted for years that his company can mine without hurting the Okefenokee.

    “We expect stringent government oversight of our mining-to-reclamation project, which will be fully protective of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the region’s environment,” Ingle said in a statement.

    The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge covers nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers) in southeast Georgia and is home to alligators, bald eagles and other protected species. The swamp’s wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw roughly 600,000 visitors each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge.

    In February 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote that the proposed mine could pose “substantial risks” to the swamp, including its ability to hold water. Some impacts, it said, “may not be able to be reversed, repaired, or mitigated for.”

    C. Rhett Jackson, a hydrology professor at the University of Georgia, warned state regulators in a written analysis that the mining pits planned by Twin Pines would siphon off enough groundwater to triple the frequency and duration of severe droughts in the swamp’s southeast corner.

    Georgia regulators have an outsized role in deciding whether to approve the mine because the U.S. government, which normally considers environmental permits in tandem with state agencies, relinquished oversight of the Twin Pines project.

    The Army Corps of Engineers was reviewing a federal permit for Twin Pines when the agency declared in 2020 that it no longer had jurisdiction authority because of regulatory rollbacks under then-President Donald Trump. Despite efforts by President Joe Biden to restore federal oversight, the Army Corps entered a legal agreement with Twin Pines to maintain its hands-off position.

    The mining project is moving forward as the National Park Service seeks designation of the Okefenokee wildlife refuge as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Conservation groups say the rare distinction would boost the Okefenokee’s profile as one of the world’s last intact blackwater swamps and home to more than 400 animal species.

    The draft permits were released barely two weeks after Twin Pines agreed to pay a $20,000 fine ordered by Georgia regulators, who said the company violated state laws while collecting soil samples for its permit application.

    Twin Pines denied wrongdoing, but said it agreed to the fine to avoid further permitting delays.

    “It is inconceivable to anyone who actually values Georgia’s environment to claim that this mine will not harm the critically important wetlands and wildlife of the Okefenokee ecosystem,” Ben Prater, southeast director for the group Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. He added: EPD has one job. It must deny the permits.”

    Some House lawmakers In the Georgia legislature are again pushing a bill that would ban future mining outside the Okefenokee. The proposal got a hearing last year, but has stalled in a House committee. While the measure wouldn’t stop Twin Pines from obtaining permits already pending, it would prohibit expansion of the company’s mining operation if it became law.



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  • ‘Super fog’ made of fog, marsh fire smoke blamed for traffic pileups, road closures

    ‘Super fog’ made of fog, marsh fire smoke blamed for traffic pileups, road closures

    Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is calling for prayers for the dead and injured following a series of multi-car accidents that left sections of Interstate 55 near the community of Manchac resembling a junkyard of mangled cars

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 23, 2023, 1:04 PM

    A vehicle is seen in the water below Interstate 55 near Manchac, La., Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. A “superfog” of smoke from south Louisiana marsh fires and dense morning fog caused multiple traffic crashes involving scores of cars Monday, turning I-55 near New Orleans into a narrow junkyard of mangled cars and trucks, some of them burning. (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

    The Associated Press

    NEW ORLEANS — A “superfog” of smoke from south Louisiana marsh fires and dense morning fog caused multiple traffic crashes involving scores of cars Monday, killing at least one person and turning Interstate 55 near New Orleans into a narrow junkyard of mangled cars and trucks, some of them burning.

    The number of fatalities and the extent of the injuries remained unclear as of Monday afternoon. Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a call for blood donors and asked for prayers “for those hurt and killed.”

    Traffic backed up for miles in both directions on I-55 near the community of Manchac. The lack of visibility also prompted closures of parts of I-10 and the 24-mile (39-kilometer) Lake Pontchartrain Causeway at times.

    School buses were summoned to transport stranded motorists from the accident sites on the elevated I-55, which passes over swamp and open waters between lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas. At midday, state police told reporters at the scene that one vehicle went over the highway guardrail and into the water, but the driver escaped unharmed.

    Clarencia Patterson Reed said she was driving to Manchac with her wife and niece in the car when she saw people waving their hands for her to stop. She said she stopped the car but was hit from behind and on the side by two other vehicles.

    “It was ‘Boom. Boom.’ All you kept hearing was crashing for at least 30 minutes,” Reed told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. She said her wife suffered injuries to her leg and side.

    On social media, the National Weather Service said there were multiple wetland fires in the region. Smoke from the fires mixed with fog to create a “superfog.” Visibility improved as the fog lifted, according to the agency. But it was unclear how long the marsh fires, smoke from which could be seen and smelled in the New Orleans area over the weekend, would be a factor.

    The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported several schools in and near New Orleans announced class cancellations or delayed openings due to the smoke and fog. Smoke from the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge was thick enough that the city announced locations where free masks could be picked up in eastern New Orleans and in the Algiers neighborhood on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

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  • A billion-dollar coastal project begins in Louisiana. Will it work as sea levels rise?

    A billion-dollar coastal project begins in Louisiana. Will it work as sea levels rise?

    NEW ORLEANS — It’s a nearly $3 billion attempt to mimic Mother Nature: Massive gates will be incorporated into a section of a flood protection levee southeast of New Orleans to divert some of the Mississippi River’s sediment-laden water into a new channel that will guide it into southeast Louisiana‘s Barataria Basin.

    If the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project works as intended, the solids in the river water will settle out in the basin and gradually restore land that has been steadily disappearing for decades. State coastal officials call it a first-of-its-kind project they are certain will work, even as climate change-induced rising sea levels threaten the disappearing coast.

    A groundbreaking ceremony with Gov. John Bel Edwards was set for Thursday morning in Plaquemines Parish, where Louisiana’s close associations with commercial seafood harvests, recreational fishing and the offshore oil industry are all on display — as is the vulnerability to land loss.

    Flat, sparsely populated and split lengthwise by the river, the parish juts into the Gulf of Mexico at Louisiana’s southeastern tip. It’s marbled by bayous and bays. Highways paralleling the river as it nears its endpoint at the Gulf pass farmland and fishing camps, shrimp boats, offshore oil rig supply vessels and industrial storage yards.

    “Without question, we are confident that this project will build land within the Barataria Basin,” Bren Haase, chair of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said Tuesday.

    He estimates the diversion will build anywhere from 20 square miles (52 square kilometers) to 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) over the next 30 to 50 years.

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which permitted the project last year, projected creation of as much as 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) by 2070. Subsidence — the natural sinking of land — and sea level rise will diminish the returns, so much so that a net loss of land remains likely. But that can be seen as a factor increasing the importance of the effort.

    “As land loss accelerates due to sea-level rise and subsidence, more of the remaining wetland area would be attributed to diversion operations,” the statement’s executive summary said.

    Coastal experts say south Louisiana was built by sediment deposited as the powerful river continuously altered its own crooked, meandering course over thousands of years.

    Human efforts to constrain the river with flood protection levees and huge flow-control structures safeguarded cities and communities that developed along the banks as the river became a medium of navigation and commerce. But the development also stopped the millennia-old process of building land naturally.

    That is a major reason Louisiana’s marshy coastal wetlands have given way to growing swaths of open water, posing a myriad of environmental concerns. Those concerns include worry about the erosion of land that serves as a natural hurricane buffer for New Orleans.

    Channeling water from the Mississippi into the basin poses environmental and economic problems, too. Even as it granted permits for the project, the Corps noted the environmental costs of introducing non-salty river water into coastal areas where aquatic animals thrive in salty or brackish water. The changes will likely kill bottlenose dolphins and have varying effects on fish and sea turtles. Fishermen have long opposed the project because of its expected effects on shrimp and oysters as well.

    Kerri Callais, a board member for the Save Louisiana Coalition, which opposes the diversion, is among opponents who favor other coast-building methods, including rebuilding barrier islands and using pipelines to pump sediment to land-depleted areas.

    “These are projects that we know will build land, will not take decades, and will not take the livelihoods, culture, and heritage of our citizens away,” Callais, a member of the governing council in neighboring St. Bernard Parish, said in an email.

    Opposition has remained despite state promises of efforts to mitigate harm. On Tuesday, for instance, coastal officials outlined $10 million in planned spending on a variety of projects to aid fishers and oyster harvesters who will have to change the areas where they work or make other adjustments as a result of the project. Millions more in spending is planned to help communities near the river that might see increased flood threats from the project, including elevation of roadways.

    Some environmental groups see the potential benefits. Matt Rota, senior policy director for the nonprofit Healthy Gulf, said the project will use less energy than sediment pumping, and he acknowledged the need to work with the river on its natural ability to build land.

    “This diversion, if it’s successful, is more passive,” Rota said in a phone interview, “which means it can keep going, whether or not we have money or the fuel.”

    Still, Rota said, Healthy Gulf wants to see more done to help locals who depend on fisheries and oysters for their livelihoods. He said state and federal governments must also work harder to limit pollution upriver that flows south.

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  • EPA slashes federally protected waters by more than half after Supreme Court ruling | CNN Politics

    EPA slashes federally protected waters by more than half after Supreme Court ruling | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    The Environmental Protection Agency and US Army on Tuesday released a new rule that slashes federally protected water by more than half, following a Supreme Court decision in May that rolled back protections for US wetlands.

    The rule will invalidate an earlier definition of what constitutes the so-called waters of the United States, after the Supreme Court ruled Clean Water Act protections extend only to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States in their own rights.”

    It could impact up to 63% of US wetlands by acreage and around 1.2 million to 4.9 million miles of ephemeral streams, an EPA spokesperson told CNN. An ephemeral stream is one that typically only has water flowing through it during and immediately after rain events.

    The decision excluded wetlands and smaller tributaries from being protected as they had been for the last 45 years. The new rule will take effect immediately, according to a press release from the agencies.

    EPA Administrator Michael Regan registered his displeasure with the spring SCOTUS decision but said the agency has worked swiftly to finalize it.

    “While I am disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case, EPA and Army have an obligation to apply this decision alongside our state co-regulators, Tribes, and partners,” Regan said in a statement. “We’ve moved quickly to finalize amendments to the definition of ‘waters of the United States’ to provide a clear path forward that adheres to the Supreme Court’s ruling. EPA will never waver from our responsibility to ensure clean water for all.”

    The newly finalized rule from the Biden administration means the US Army Corps of Engineers can resume issuing jurisdictional determinations that had been paused after the Supreme Court decision.

    The decision provoked an outcry among environmental groups and drew a rare rebuke from conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who dissented with the liberal justices. The majority had “rewritten the Clean Water Act” and ignored its text as well as “45 years of consistent agency practice,” Kavanaugh wrote.

    Kavanaugh also wrote that the lands to be regulated did not have to physically touch an adjacent waterway to constitute “waters of the United States,” but that they could include wetlands that are “separated from a covered water only by a man-made dike or barrier, natural river berm, beach dune or the like.” He noted that eight different administrations since 1977 had recognized such wetlands as being protected.

    The statutory text, Kavanaugh wrote, “does not require a continuous surface connection between those wetlands and covered waters.”

    “By narrowing the (Clean Water) Act’s coverage of wetlands to only adjoining wetlands,” Kavanaugh wrote, “the court’s new test will leave some long-regulated adjacent wetlands no longer covered by the Clean Water Act, with significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States.”

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  • As sand miners prosper in Uganda, a vital lake basin suffers

    As sand miners prosper in Uganda, a vital lake basin suffers

    By RODNEY MUHUMUZA

    April 25, 2023 GMT

    LWERA WETLAND, Uganda (AP) — The excavator grunts in the heart of the wetland, baring its teeth. There are trucks waiting to be loaded with sand, and more almost certainly on the way.

    This is how it is here daily in Lwera — a central Ugandan region on the fringes of Lake Victoria: a near-constant demand for sand that’s exerting pressure on a wetland that’s home to locals and animals and feeds into Africa’s largest freshwater lake.

    Lwera is a breeding ground for fish, serves as a stop for migratory birds and can store vast amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide underground. The wetland stretches more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) astride the highway from the Ugandan capital Kampala into the western interior. It has long been worked over by sand miners, both legal and illegal, motivated by demand from the construction industry.

    Now, all known corporate operations within the wetland have authorization to be there, giving them a measure of legitimacy that’s frustrating environmental activists, local officials and others who say the mining activities must be stopped because they degrade the wetland.

    They charge that while the companies are there legally, their activities are in many ways unlawful.

    Locals in Lwera’s farming community say they reap misery, complaining that mining creates few jobs and ruins the land.

    Ronald Ssemanda, a local village chairman, pointed to bushy land fenced off with roofing sheets that he said had been cratered badly by sand miners.

    “There is no way I can even talk to them,” said Ssemanda, referring to owners of mining operations he deems too powerful.

    Ssemanda is no longer so vocal in his criticism. He said the matter “is above us.”

    Sand mining — mostly for use in the construction industry — is big business, with 50 billion tons used globally each year, the United Nations Environment Programme said in a report last year. It warned that the industry is “largely ungoverned,” leading to erosion, flooding, saltier aquifers and the collapse of coastal defenses.

    Healthy wetlands can help control local climate and flood risk, according to UNEP.

    In Uganda, an ongoing construction boom mirrors trends in the wider region. Riverbeds and lake basins — public property — are often the scene of mining operations, although there also are private estates dug up for sand.

    But while all wetlands around Lake Victoria are under threat from sand miners, the eponymously named sand from Lwera is favored among builders for its coarse texture that’s said to perform better in brickwork mortar.

    Some builders are known to turn trucks back, rejecting the sand if they can’t prove by feeling it that it’s Lwera material.

    At least two companies operate formally within Lwera: the Chinese-owned Double Q Co. Ltd. and Seroma Ltd. Both frequently face questions over their allegedly destructive activities there, and members of a parliamentary committee on natural resources threatened to shut them down after an unannounced visit earlier this year.

    Both companies were open for business when The Associated Press visited earlier in April. Double Q officials declined to be interviewed at the site and didn’t respond to questions.

    A representative of Seroma Ltd., production manager Wahab Ssegane, defended their work, saying they have a permit, their operations are 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the lake and that they follow guidelines from the National Environment Management Authority.

    NEMA has banned dredging within Lake Victoria but permits sand mining in the wetlands.

    “Otherwise, you would have to import sand,” said NEMA spokeswoman Naomi K. Namara. Companies caught degrading the environment face stiff financial penalties, she said.

    But activists and some locals say no company should be permitted to operate in Lwera, even if it somehow is able to curb environmental concerns.

    One key concern relates to the equipment used. Companies are permitted to dig 4 meters (13 feet) into the earth, but some dredging vessels are retrofitted at site to be able to dig deeper, according to some officials at the scene.

    “They don’t have permits to use those dredgers,” said one official who’s part of a local government team collecting taxes from miners, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. “The dredgers are going 12 meters (40 feet) underground,” he claimed.

    It’s hard to refill the open spaces when miners dig that deep, leaving depressions in the earth, he said.

    When the pits are not refilled the open spaces naturally fill up with water that then spreads, occasionally flooding people’s gardens and homes, said resident Sandra Buganzi.

    “The sand people came and dug up the sand and brought for us water, which started going into people’s homes,” she said. “I feel very bad, and I feel anger and hatred in my heart.”

    As Buganzi spoke, a neighbor, Fiona Nakacwa, gripped a garden hoe and paved a way for water away from her home.

    She worried she could be forced to leave her neighborhood.

    “Before they started digging sand, there was no water coming here,” Nakacwa said. “This place was dry and there was a garden. I’ve lived here for seven years and there never used to be water.”

    At least 10 of her neighbors have since relocated, pressured by flooding.

    “We are still here because we have nowhere else to go,” Nakacwa said.

    Companies — often with soldiers or police manning the gates — operate virtually under no supervision and local officials have been reduced to mere spectators, according to some officials and residents who spoke to the AP.

    Charles Tamale, mayor of nearby town Lukaya, said they were powerless to do anything when companies presented their papers.

    “It needs some control, but the government licenses these guys,” he said. “But in fact what they are doing you cannot say it’s legal … they are mining and not putting up preventative measures.”

    Namara, the NEMA official, didn’t reveal the names of any other companies licensed to operate in Lwera, but noted that “every effort is being made to ensure that the sand is being mined in a sustainable manner.”

    Then there’s the way the sand is distributed — fluid yet opaque, fueling fears that cartels protected by top Ugandan officials are behind mining operations.

    Chinese-made trucks loaded with sand lumber up and down hills and dump the sand at designated areas along the highway, which middlemen then distribute to building sites. Some sand goes to regional markets across the border.

    It can cost up to $1,000 to have sand deposited anywhere in the Kampala metropolitan area.

    “Not any company can come and do such a thing,” Tamale said of sand mining in Lwera. “They are owned by big people in government, or they have contacts within government, in that whatever they want can be done as they wish, not as it would have been done.”

    He provided no evidence, repeating the widespread belief among locals that powerful government officials are among mining companies’ beneficiaries.

    Jerome Lugumira, the NEMA official whose docket includes looking after wetlands, said he wasn’t available for comment.

    Activist David Kureeba, who tracks mining activities in wetlands, said NEMA was too weak to resist “pressure from the middlemen in government who bring investors” into the country. Lwera should be out of reach to all investors, said Kureeba.

    No matter the economic rewards, “NEMA commits a mistake to allow sand mining in such an important ecosystem,” he said. ”They had better cancel all the leases.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • In Africa’s Okavango, oil drilling disrupts locals, nature

    In Africa’s Okavango, oil drilling disrupts locals, nature

    MOMBASA, Kenya — Gobonamang Kgetho has a deep affection for Africa’s largest inland delta, the Okavango. It is his home.

    The water and wildlife-rich land is fed by rivers in the Angolan highlands that flow into northern Botswana before draining into Namibia’s Kalahari Desert sands. Several Indigenous and local communities and a vast array of species including African elephants, black rhinos and cheetahs live among the vibrant marshlands. Much of the surrounding region is also teeming with wildlife.

    Fisher Kgetho hails from Botswana’s Wayei community and relies on his pole and dug-out canoe to skirt around the marshes looking for fish. But things have changed in recent years — in the delta and across the country.

    “The fish sizes have shrunk, and stocks are declining,” Kgetho, whose life and livelihood depends on the health of the ecosystem, told The Associated Press. “The rivers draining into the delta have less volumes of water.”

    Drilling for oil exploration, as well as human-caused climate change leading to more erratic rainfall patterns and water abstraction and diversion for development and commercial agriculture, has altered the landscape that Kgetho, and so many other people and wildlife species, rely on.

    The delta’s defenders are now hoping to block at least one of those threats — oil exploration.

    A planned hearing by Namibia’s environment ministry will consider revoking the drilling license of Canadian oil and gas firm Reconnaissance Energy. Local communities and environmental groups claimed that land was bulldozed and cut through, damaging lands and polluting water sources, without the permission of local communities.

    Kgetho worries that rivers in his region are drying up because of “overuse by the extractive industries, including oil exploration activities upstream.”

    In a written statement, ReconAfrica, the firm’s African arm, said it safeguards water resources through “regular monitoring and reporting on hydrological data to the appropriate local, regional and national water authorities” and is “applying rigorous safety and environmental protection standards.”

    The statement went on to say that it has held over 700 community consultations in Namibia and will continue to engage with communities in the country and in Botswana.

    The company has been drilling in the area since 2021 but is yet to find a productive well. The hearing was originally scheduled for Monday but has been postponed until further notice. The drilling license is currently set to last until 2025, with ReconAfrica previously having been granted a three-year extension.

    Locals have persisted with legal avenues but have had little luck. In a separate case, Namibia’s high court postponed a decision on whether local communities should pay up for filing a case opposing the company’s actions.

    The court previously threw out the urgent appeal made by local people to stop the Canadian firm’s drilling activities. It’s now deciding whether the government’s legal feels should be covered by the plaintiffs or waived. A new date for the decision is set for May.

    The Namibian energy minister, Tom Alweendo, has maintained the country’s right to explore for oil, saying that European countries and the U.S. do it too. Alweendo supports the African Union’s goal of using both renewable and non-renewable energy to meet growing demand.

    There are similar fears of deterioration across Botswana and the wider region. Much of the country’s diverse ecosystem has been under threat from various development plans. Nearby Chobe National Park, for example, has seen a decline in river quality partly due to its burgeoning tourism industry, a study found.

    In the Cuvette-Centrale basin in Congo, a dense and ecologically thriving forest that’s home to the largest population of lowland gorillas, sections of the peatlands — the continent’s largest — went up for oil and gas auction last year.

    The Congolese government said the auctioning process “is in line” with development plans and government programs and it will stick to stringent international standards.

    Environmentalists are not convinced.

    Wes Sechrest, chief scientist of environmental organization Rewild, said that protecting areas “that have robust and healthy wildlife populations” like the Okavango Delta, “are a big part of the solution to the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises we’re facing.”

    The peatlands also serve as a carbon sink, storing large amounts of the gas that would otherwise heat up the atmosphere.

    Sechrest added that “local communities are going to bear the heaviest costs of oil exploration” and “deserve to be properly consulted about any extractive industry projects, including the many likely environmental damages, and decide if those projects are acceptable to them.”

    Steve Boyes, who led the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project that mapped the delta, said researchers now have even more data to support the need to maintain the wetlands.

    Aided by Kgetho and other locals, whose “traditional wisdom and knowledge” led them through the bogs, Boyes and a team of 57 other scientists were able to detail around 1,600 square kilometers (1,000 square miles) of peatlands.

    “These large-scale systems that have the ability to sequester tons of carbon are our long-term resilience plan,” said Boyes.

    For Kgetho, whose journey with the scientists was made into a documentary released earlier this year, there are more immediate reasons to defend the Okavango.

    “We must protect the delta,” Kgetho said. “It is our livelihood.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Army Corps further delays decision on Great Lakes oil tunnel

    Army Corps further delays decision on Great Lakes oil tunnel

    TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A federal review of plans for a Great Lakes oil pipeline tunnel will take more than a year longer than originally planned, officials said Thursday, likely delaying completion of the project — if approved — until 2030 or later.

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had intended to release a draft report later this year on how the proposed tunnel beneath Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac would affect the environment. Enbridge Energy wants it to house a section of its Line 5 oil pipeline that crosses the bottom of the straits connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

    But under the new timeline, the report won’t be issued until spring 2025. An approval decision would be expected in early 2026.

    The Corps’ Detroit district office said it revised the schedule after receiving more than 17,000 public comments during an initial “scoping” period. The agency in December ordered Enbridge to redo measurement of wetlands that could be damaged from roads and structures for tunnel construction.

    “We greatly appreciate the meaningful input received throughout scoping and will use this information to shape studies and continuing consultations throughout development of our draft environmental impact statement,” District Commander Lt. Col. Brett Boyle said.

    The slowdown is a setback for a project that Enbridge originally planned to complete as early as next year, spending about $500 million. Mike Fernandez, a senior vice president of the Canadian company based in Calgary, Alberta, told The Associated Press the cost has risen but did not have a new estimate. The new timeline could push tunnel completion to 2030.

    “It’s really, really disappointing,” Fernandez said in an interview ahead of the Corps’ announcement, adding that the delay “flies in the face” of the Biden administration’s pledge to quicken environmental permitting for infrastructure projects.

    “To borrow a phrase from the president when he was running, we want to build back better and sooner,” Fernandez said. “But right now, it appears that the federal government, or at least the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has not gotten that message.”

    He said Enbridge remains committed to the tunnel for the underwater segment of Line 5 that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, environmental groups and Native American tribes want shut down.

    They contend the nearly 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) section is vulnerable to a rupture. Line 5 moves about 23 million gallons (87 million liters) of oil and natural gas liquids daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.

    Enbridge insists the nearly 70-year-old dual pipes are in good condition and monitored regularly. But the company agreed in 2018 with Whitmer’s predecessor, Republican Rick Snyder, to drill a tunnel that would encase a new pipeline section in concrete.

    Many Line 5 critics also oppose the tunnel, even though Whitmer’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy granted a permit. Opponents say it would risk water pollution and promote continued reliance on fossil fuels, which generate planet-warming gases.

    The Bay Mills Indian Community, based in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, says construction near the straits would harm sensitive wetlands, rare plants and cultural artifacts. Tribal aquatic biologist Brad Wesolek said he raised concerns with the Corps during a September visit to the area and was convinced Enbridge had undercounted wetlands that would be affected.

    “It’s a very unique site,” Wesolek said. “It has plants and animals that are only found in the Great Lakes.”

    The shorelines host a plant community called limestone bedrock glade, he said, which the Michigan Natural Features Inventory labels imperiled. The plants include the dwarf lake iris and Houghton’s goldenrod, both listed as threatened.

    The proposed construction zone has resources of cultural significance, said Whitney Gravelle, the Bay Mills tribal president.

    “It’s where we went historically for trade,” she said. “It’s where we performed ceremony. It’s where we would have our fishing camps and our hunting camps.”

    Enbridge says its onshore work would damage less than a half-acre of wetlands. But in a Dec. 21 letter, the Army Corps said its September inspection and other evidence showed more work was needed to confirm that.

    Fernandez said the Enbridge will conduct another survey but said the initial one was thorough.

    The tribe recently asked an administrative law judge to invalidate the state tunnel permit, saying it had relied on faulty wetlands information.

    “It needs to be redone or completely thrown away,” said Debbie Chizewer, an attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law firm representing Bay Mills.

    Enbridge also awaits a ruling from the Michigan Public Service Commission on its request to relocate the underwater pipeline segment. The commission last July requested more information about tunnel engineering and hazards.

    “As we continue to delve into this permit process, we’re going to find more evidence of why this tunnel should not be built,” Gravelle said.

    Fernandez said impeding the tunnel project will only lengthen the time that oil flows through the straits pipes. The company has rejected Whitmer’s order to shut down Line 5. Two lawsuits over its future are ongoing.

    Pro-tunnel groups criticized the Corps’ new schedule.

    “Every month the project is delayed pushes this important economic and environmental investment down the line,” said Brian Calley, president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan.

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  • EU warns Spain over expanding irrigation near prized wetland

    EU warns Spain over expanding irrigation near prized wetland

    BARCELONA, Spain — The European Union has warned Spain that it won’t tolerate renewed plans by regional politicians in the country’s south to expand irrigation near the prized Doñana wetlands, which scientists and ecologists say are in danger of drying up.

    In a letter seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Florika Fink-Hooijer, the head of the EU’s Directorate General for the Environment, told Spain’s government that it is “necessary to immediately ensure the strict protection of Doñana’s exceptional natural treasures, especially taking into account that rainfall is increasingly scarce due to climate change.”

    The Doñana wetlands are a UNESCO world heritage site and considered one of Europe’s key biospheres. Sitting on an estuary where the Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean, their 74,000 hectares (182,000 acres) are a wintering site for a half-million waterfowl and a stopover spot for millions of other birds that migrate from Africa to northern Europe.

    But the park’s lagoons and marshes are shrinking under pressure from local farmers, some of whom use illegal wells to tap its underlying aquifer. The situation has worsened because of a drought during a record-hot 2022 for Spain.

    The conservative Popular Party that governs southern Andalusia, however, is again pushing forward a proposed law that would rezone more farmland near the park as irrigable. This comes a year after the party had shelved a similar initiative. Now they have it back on the agenda before municipal elections across Spain on May 28.

    The European Court of Justice condemned Spain for neglecting the wetlands in 2021. That was followed by a first letter from Fink-Hooijer urging Spain to take action. The central government responded with a plan to speed up the closing of illegal wells near the park, a plan to reroute surface water from a nearby river basin, and by pledging 350 million euros ($377 million) to protect the reserve.

    Fink-Hooijer warned in her second letter sent on Monday that Spain could face a fine this time if authorities continue to fail in their duty to safeguard Doñana.

    Regional authorities for Andalusia who want to expand the irrigable lands say that the water for the 650 farmer they estimate would benefit from the plan would come from surface water, instead of wells.

    However, other local farmers who legally use wells in the area have argued that any new water being piped into the area should go to them so that they can stop using wells, and thus help restore the aquifer.

    The WWF said in a statement issued Tuesday that the water authorities “do not foresee any increase of available water” in the area.

    “It is urgent and necessary to adopt measures to reduce the consumption of water and revert the poor status of the aquifer,” the environmental group said.

    ___

    Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • 18 of Asia’s most underrated places | CNN

    18 of Asia’s most underrated places | CNN

    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.



    CNN
     — 

    Comprising more than 40 countries, Asia can’t be summed up easily.

    The classics are classics for a reason – from the awe-inspiring architecture of Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal to the buzzy metropolises of Tokyo and Hong Kong and the beaches of Bali and Phuket, it’s impossible for any traveler to find something not to their liking.

    But for the travelers who are fortunate enough to have time to dig a little bit deeper, there are less-crowded, equally-rewarding treasures to be found.

    CNN Travel tapped into our network of colleagues and contributors to ask them where the locals go. Here’s what they had to say.

    When it comes to great Malaysian food cities, most people think of Penang. But that’s only because they haven’t been to Ipoh.

    The capital city of Perak state, Ipoh’s location between Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown makes it an ideal stop for any Malaysian road trip. It’s also the gateway to Cameron Highlands, a district known for its cool weather and tea plantations.

    Ipoh’s food and world famous white coffee are enough reasons to visit but there are also magnificent limestone hills and caves that are home to unique temples as well as amazing hidden bars.

    Visit the Chinese temples of Perak Tong, Sam Poh Tong and Kek Lok Tong and be blown away by intricate stone carvings and bronze statues of Chinese deities surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites. Ipoh’s colonial legacy is also evident in its architecture: from its Railway Station to the Birch Clock Tower, town hall and the Old Post Office.

    Heather Chen, Asia writer

    As popular as Thailand is among international tourists, the country’s northeast – collectively referred to as Isaan – is usually overlooked.

    But for those in search of a less-traveled destination that includes historic architecture, dramatic landscapes and culinary delights, Isaan ticks all the right boxes, and then some.

    Visitors will find it’s one of the most welcoming destinations in Asia and easily accessible, thanks to excellent infrastructure that includes several domestic airports offering daily flights to Bangkok and a range of upmarket hotels.

    The only challenge is deciding which highlights to experience. Made up of 20 provinces, Isaan shares borders with Laos and Cambodia, and their influences can be found in the region’s cuisine, language, historic sites and festivals.

    Attractions include the ancient Khmer ruins of Phenom Rung in Buriram, mountainous national parks in Loei, the 75 million-year-old “Three Whale Rock” in Bueng Kam and Bronze Age artifacts in the UNESCO-listed Ban Chiang Archeological Site in Udon Thani.

    And then there’s the food. Isaan cuisine, now prevalent on menus in Thai restaurants around the world, includes refreshing som tom (payaya salad), tangy Sai Grok Isaan (northeastern sausage) and larb, a flavorful minced-meat salad.

    – Karla Cripps, senior producer, CNN Travel

    Most people travel to Leshan city for the sole purpose of visiting the Giant Buddha. The world’s biggest and tallest ancient Buddha statue is indeed stunning, but this Sichuan city deserves much more than a side trip from Chengdu.

    The Mount Emei scenic area – home to the Giant Buddha – is also of great spiritual and cultural importance as the birthplace of Buddhism in China. Many ancient temples are scattered and ingeniously built on the cliffs of the pristine dense forest.

    On top of sightseeing, Leshan is a hidden foodie paradise with local Sichuanese saying “eating in Sichuan, tasting in Leshan.” This city is where Chengdu residents come for authentic bites of iconic Sichuan cuisine: chilled bobo chicken, jellied tofu, Qiaojiao beef, steamed meat with rice powder and more.

    – Serenitie Wang, producer, video programming

    Skardu district, in Pakistan’s Gilit Baltistan region, is a land of stark gigantic beauty, with many of the highest mountains on the planet – most famously K2 – concentrated in this one area.

    Deosai National Park sits on the second highest plateau in the world. It is a riot of color, alive with birds and butterflies. With no ambient city lights the stars are exceptionally bright, with the milky way looking so close it could be plucked out from the sky.

    In contrast, there’s the Sarfaranga Desert. The world’s highest cold desert, it’s filled with diamond-white sands and ebony mountains.

    Skardu has been inhabited for centuries and is studded with ancient Buddhist stupas and carvings, beautifully preserved mosques from the Middle Ages and shrines of Sufi saints.

    The Serena hotel chain has transformed the stunning Shigar Fort and Khaplu Palace into two of the country’s best kept hotels. Both are filled with gardens and climate friendly wooden architecture while serving regional food like Mamtu dumplings and grilled trout.

    Sophia Saifi, producer, Pakistan

    Nikko is just 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of Tokyo, but it feels like another world.

    This small city is one of the most important sites in Japan for Shinto culture, with the ornate, gold-dripping Toshogu Shrine – a UNESCO World Heritage site – its centerpiece.

    If peace is what you’re after, Nikko is the place to find it. Nikko National Park comprises 443 square miles across three prefectures, with dramatic waterfalls, groves of fir and cedar trees, finely carved gates and rocky outcroppings among the things to experience.

    The park is also home to some of Japan’s famous natural hot springs, making Nikko an ideal autumn or winter destination.

    While the area has long been popular with Tokyo urbanites looking for a bucolic weekend escape, Nikko is beginning to land on the radar of more international tourists – a Ritz Carlton opened there just before the pandemic.

    Lilit Marcus, digital producer, CNN Travel

    With its fresh mountain air and pine forests in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, Dalat is a popular destination for local Vietnamese that isn’t as well known among international travelers.

    At 1,500 meters above sea level, the city’s cooler weather is a welcome reprieve from the tropical humidity found elsewhere in the Southeast Asian country.

    Centered around the romantic Xuan Huong Lake, Dalat boasts everything from French colonial architecture – a holdover from its days as a hill station – to the “Crazy House,” the Seussian creation of architect Đặng Việt Nga, with its twisting stairwells and whimsical sculptures. Plentiful waterfalls and a vibrant flower industry mean that delights abound in the city for honeymooners and nature lovers.

    Dan Tham, producer, Global Features

    Urban Davao City is beloved for its night market.

    Davao City is more than just a provincial capital of the southernmost part of the Philippines — it’s a true mosaic of Filipino cultures seen nowhere else across the country.

    There’s food for everybody at the Roxas Night Market, which is lined with barbecue and grilled seafood, along with humble yet complex delicacies such as the fresh seaweed salad called lato and hearty law-uy vegetable soup. Nothing represents Davao more than pungent durians, which grow in abundance across the region as well as pineapples, bananas and sugarcane – served in all forms from shakes to pies.

    The city takes pride in its indigenous roots and celebrates the Kadwayan Festival in August to showcase local textiles, woodwork, song and dance from 11 tribes that reign from the mountains and its surrounding sea.

    A ferry ride away from the city will transport you to luxurious Samal Island, best known for its pristine beaches and pearl farms. Take a roadtrip along the palm tree-lined paths that lead to the surfer spot of Mati, or perhaps a detour to Mount Apo, the highest mountain and volcano in the Philippines.

    – Kathleen Magramo, breaking news writer

    The northeast Indian state of Meghalaya, which translates to “abode in the clouds,” boasts some of the country’s most peaceful and lush landscapes. As it requires a permit, it can be challenging to visit. But it’s worth it.

    Meghalaya is home to the towns of Cherrapunji and Mawlynnong. Both hold records for being the wettest places on Earth, having received nearly 12,000 mm (472 inches) of rain a year. The results are verdant, leafy forests with rivers and creeks running through that can be explored through crossing the state’s famous bridges.

    Built by locals out of the roots of ficus trees, some are as old as 500 years and symbolize the self-sufficiency of the Khasi indigenous tribe and their relationship with the forest. The living root bridges, known as “jingkieng jri” in the Khasi language, can be found in over 70 villages and continue to be used and nurtured by locals to keep them alive for future generations.

    In 2022, they were added to UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage sites. The most famous living root bridges are the Umshiang Double Decker root bridge in Nongriat village, south of Cherrapunji, and one in Riwai near Mawlynnong, certified as the “cleanest village in Asia” since 2003 by UNESCO.

    – Manveena Suri, freelance producer

    Palau Ubin is just a short ferry ride away from mainland Singapore.

    Thought Singapore was all about parties and skyscrapers? Think again. Located offshore from its northeast Changi region is Pulau Ubin (Malay for “granite island”), a nature lover’s paradise with jungle trails, mangrove wetlands and majestic quarries.

    Getting around the island is a breeze: In true Singaporean style, everything is well-marked, from jungle trails to concrete footpaths, but the island still remains very untouched.

    Mountain biking is particularly popular, especially on weekdays when crowds are few. But Ubin really comes to life on weekends – when families, couples and nature lovers descend, hoping to catch a glimpse of old Singapore.

    One of the most popular attractions on the island is Chek Jawa, a saltwater mangrove wetland rich in marine life. A well-built wooden boardwalk runs through the mangrove, allowing visitors to observe plant and marine life such as sea sponges, octopuses, starfish and cuttlefish, at close range.

    H.C.

    Indonesia is comprised of several thousand islands – and, in the case of Samosir, an island on a lake within an island.

    Samosir Island is a volcanic island in North Sumatra’s Lake Toba. one of the world’s largest crater lakes.

    The Batak tribe calls this land their home, and you can meet these locals as they sell handicrafts from their villages along the waterfront, where their houses are built from wooden beams lashed to stones and have tall red roofs that resemble a ship’s sails.

    As Samosir is several hours’ drive and ferry ride from the closest airport, opt to spend the night in a homestay and support the community by purchasing ulos, a UNESCO-recognized woven, naturally dyed cloth that is used in every important facet of Betak life.

    – L.M.

    Northern Laos – home to elegant Luang Prabang and adventure-loving Vang Vieng – get the lion’s share of attention. But head south for a different kind of experience in Pakse, where two rivers converge in the country’s second biggest city.

    Pakse is diverse, pulsing and modern. It has buildings left over from the days of French colonialism, but these days Vietnamese and Chinese communities bring their foods, traditions and references alongside the existing Lao presence.

    While in town, head up to the giant gold Buddha at Wat Pho Salao, stroll along the Mekong at sunset, and then go off to the Bolaven Plateau to get deeper into jungle.

    – L.M.

    India casts a long tourism shadow over its neighbors, including Bangladesh. But this smaller nation has outsized offerings many travelers to South Asia might not realize. This is especially true in architecture, history, nature and food.

    In the capital of Dhaka, the Ahsan Manzil is an ornate, stunning vision in pink. Set on the banks of the Buriganga River, it was finished in 1872 during the British colonial era as a palace for the local rulers of the time. It is now a popular museum.

    For a sample of Mughal Empire architectural splendor, check out the incomplete Lalbagh Fort.

    And if you’d like to visit a mosque, consider the exquisite Star Mosque (Tara Masjid), renowned for hundreds of blue stars on its gleaming white domes.

    – Forrest Brown, freelance writer and producer

    Lijiang's old town, in Yunnan province, is popular with Chinese domestic travelers.

    Even though China is still closed to international tourists, Yunnan province has already welcomed about 350 million domestic visitors in the first half of 2022 alone.

    If you’d like to see the historical Yunnan like an experienced local, head to Tengchong.

    Bordering Myanmar in the west of Yunnan, Tengchong has been a critical trading stop on the historic Silk Route and Tea Horse Road in the past.

    Today, many local travelers first visit Heshun, an old town built surrounding a mountain and a lake. The Double Rainbow stone arch bridges, the Laundry Pavilion and the 98-year-old Heshun Library – the biggest rural public library in China – are some of the must-sees when visiting the cozy village.

    Yinxing (Gingko) Village in the northern side of Tengchong is known for its thousands of ginkgo trees, turning the village golden yellow every autumn.

    – Maggie Hiufu Wong, freelance CNN Travel writer

    The Gogunsan islands – meaning “an archipelago of mountains” in Korean – have been a popular summer destination for locals seeking a break from city life.

    A group of 63 islands on South Korea’s west coast, the islands offer a picturesque view of verdant hills scattered amid gentle waters.

    The world’s longest seawall and a series of bridges connect the islands to the mainland, making them an especially attractive destination for those behind wheels. The landscape invites visitors to light hikes and swim afterwards.

    Jake Kwon, newsdesk producer

    Lan Ha Bay is a less-visited waterwat in northeastern Vietnam.

    Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam is no secret – the UNESCO-listed waterway has long been popular with backpackers and luxury travelers alike.

    But visitors who want to ply the waters with a lot fewer neighbors should head to Lan Ha, south of Ha Long Bay. Like its more famous sibling, Lan Ha Bay is a stretch of shimmering water broken up by limestone (karst) islands that can be enjoyed by day trip (kayak, canoe) or overnight (cruise ship, junk boat).

    Most travelers get here by bus or car from Hanoi or Haiphong, and it’s easy to set up door-to-door service with tour companies in advance.

    Leave from Cat Ba Island to explore Lan Ha Bay’s grottoes, caves and white-sand beaches.

    – L.M.

    On the southern tip of Taiwan lies Kenting, a sunny, laid back peninsula known for its white sandy beach, boisterous night market and chill vibe.

    Take a dip at Baishawan (White Sand Bay); scenes from the “Life of Pi” were filmed here on Wanlitong Beach, a hotspot for snorkeling teeming with marine life.

    Take a stroll at the Eluanbi Park, where a towering lighthouse stands – one of the top eight iconic landmarks on the island – and walk down to the southernmost tip of Taiwan, a perfect spot to watch the sunset.

    No visit to Kenting is complete without a stop at Longpan Park. Take in the panoramic view of the rugged coastline, the majestic cliffs and the grassy hills that together form a jaw-dropping landscape. Given the open space and the lack of lighting, the park is also popular with sunset watchers and stargazers.

    – Wayne Chang, China news desk producer

    Nestled under a canopy of trees, the temple ruins of Banteay Chhmar offer a glimpse into the might of the Khmer Empire – without the hordes of tourists.

    Completed in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII, the “Citadel of Cats” is in northwest Cambodia, a few hours’ drive from Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat. Banteay Chhmar is located 20 kilometers from the Thai border and is accessible by taxi from Sisophon, the fourth largest city in Cambodia.

    The massive complex comprises eight temples, featuring stone-faced towers adorned with mysterious smiles. There are also remarkably well-preserved bas-reliefs, depicting religious and military stories. Visitors to this remote, less-traveled part of Cambodia are rewarded with a sense of adventure and quiet.

    D.T.

    Most foreign tourists head to Sri Lanka’s beautiful south coast or into its central tea country, both of which are fairly easy to reach from the main city of Colombo and beloved by Instagrammers who come to ride the famous rails.

    But the northern patch of the island is worth the sometimes-challenging car or bus trip to get there.

    Jaffna is the primary home of the country’s Tamil-speaking population and still has glimmers of its Indian and Dutch colonial past, resulting in a fascinating, complex culture.

    Start with architecture: the ornate, bright gold Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil Hindu temple and sprawling white Colonial-era Jaffna Library are both exceptional.

    Then, indulge in the food: bananas and mangoes fresh off the trees combine with curries, pickles and rice dishes for filling, inexpensive meals.

    – L.M.

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  • Clean Water Act at 50: environmental gains, challenges unmet

    Clean Water Act at 50: environmental gains, challenges unmet

    Lifelong Cleveland resident Steve Gove recalls when the Cuyahoga River symbolized shame — fetid, lifeless, notorious for catching fire when sparks from overhead rail cars ignited the oil-slicked surface.

    “It was pretty grungy,” said the 73-year-old, an avid canoeist in his youth who sometimes braved the filthy stretch through the steelmaking city. “When you went under those bridges where the trains were hauling coke from the blast furnaces, you had to watch for cinders and debris falling off.”

    It wasn’t the only polluted U.S. river. But outrage over a 1969 Cuyahoga fire — the latest in a series of environmental disasters including a 3-million-gallon oil spill off California’s Santa Barbara months earlier — is widely credited with inspiring the Clean Water Act of 1972.

    As officials and community leaders prepared to celebrate the law’s 50th anniversary Tuesday near the river mouth at Lake Erie, the Cuyahoga again is emblematic. This time, it represents progress toward restoring abused waterways — and challenges that remain after the act’s crackdown on industrial and municipal sewage discharges and years of cleanup work.

    A 1967 survey found not a single fish in the river between Akron and Cleveland. Now, there are more than 70 species including smallmouth bass, northern pike and muskellunge. Limits on eating them have been lifted. The Cuyahoga is popular with boaters. Parks and restaurants line its banks.

    “I have folks come into my office routinely from other states and around the world, wanting to see the Cuyahoga River,” said Kurt Princic, a district chief for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. “They want to know how we got from where it was in the ’60s to where it is today. It starts with the Clean Water Act, partnerships and hard work.”

    Yet the river remains on a U.S.-Canada list of degraded “hot spots” in the Great Lakes region; it’s plagued by erosion, historic contamination, storm water runoff and sewage overflows. Toxic algae blooms appear on Lake Erie in summer, caused primarily by farm fertilizer and manure.

    HALF EMPTY, HALF FULL

    The Clean Water Act established ambitious goals: making the nation’s waters “fishable and swimmable” and restoring their “chemical, physical and biological integrity.” It gave the newly established U.S. Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to set and enforce regulations.

    “We’ve made tremendous progress,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in an Associated Press interview Friday. “By passing the Clean Water Act, Congress solidified the importance of protecting our lakes, rivers and streams for generations to come.”

    Experts and activists agree many waterways are healthier than they were, and cleanups continue. The Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure package includes $50 billion to upgrade drinking water and wastewater treatment systems, replace lead pipes and cleanse drinking water of toxic PFAS, known as “forever chemicals.”

    But the law’s aims have been only “halfway met,” said Oday Salim, director of the University of Michigan’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic. ”If you spoke to most clean water policy advocates today, they’d be pretty disappointed in how long it has taken to get halfway.”

    The measure’s crowning achievement, Salim said, is a program that requires polluting industries and sewage treatment plans to get permits limiting their releases into waters. EPA also set pollution standards for 50 industries.

    Yet the agency is far behind on strengthening those requirements to reflect pollution control technology improvements, said Eric Schaeffer, a former EPA enforcement chief and executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, which has sued the agency over the delays.

    Two-thirds of the requirements haven’t been updated in more than 30 years, the group said in a March report that blamed the outdated ones for “more pollution from oil refineries, chemical plants, slaughterhouses and other industries pouring into waterways.” Pollution control plans for large watersheds and regulatory enforcement are weak, it said, while EPA and state environmental agencies have endured repeated budget cuts.

    One result, Schaeffer said, is that more than 50% of lake, river and stream miles periodically assessed are still classified as impaired.

    Regan acknowledged EPA has “some more work to do” but had an “aggressive agenda to curtail pollution and upgrade standards and enforcement policies at a pace that science allows us to do.”

    “We can’t ignore that the previous administration did not take action,” he said. “We also can’t ignore that we have the same staffing levels that we had in the late ‘80s. I think we’re doing a really good job of beginning to make up for lost time.”

    RUNOFF LEFT OUT

    The Clean Water Act prompted many states to prohibit laundry detergents containing phosphorus. Some had labeled Lake Erie “dead” as the soaps fueled algae blooms that sapped oxygen and killed fish.

    The bans caused a turnaround in the 1980s. Erie was blue once more instead of brown.

    Yet the algae blooms were back within a couple of decades — this time because of a problem the Clean Water Act had sidestepped.

    Its emission limits and permitting requirements apply to wastes released into waters through pipes or ditches from identifiable sources, such as factories. But it doesn’t regulate runoff pollution from indirect sources — fertilizers and pesticides from farm fields and lawns; oil and toxic chemicals from city streets and parking lots — that flow into waterways when it rains.

    Such runoff pollution is now the leading cause of U.S. waterway impairments.

    Scientific studies say manure and fertilizer from livestock operations spread on crop fields are largely to blame for sprawling summer algae in western Lake Erie and the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, which receives massive heartland runoff from the Mississippi River. They’re also the top pollutant in Chesapeake Bay.

    Environmental groups who have long argued the law allows regulation of large livestock farm pollution sued EPA this month, demanding a tougher approach. But federal and state agencies rely mostly on voluntary programs that provide financial assistance to farms for using practices such as planting cover crops that hold soil during off-seasons and buffer strips between croplands and streams. Farm groups resist making such practices mandatory.

    “Agriculture politics are the third rail,” said the Environmental Integrity Project’s Schaeffer. “The farm lobby is powerful.”

    Stan Meiburg, director of the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University and a former EPA deputy administrator, favors requiring farms and other runoff sources to bear costs of environmental damage they cause if a workable system could be found.

    “But it’s not clear to me that such a thing exists in the real world,” he said. “I find it unlikely that any legislation any time soon is going to impose wide-scale restrictions on how farmers conduct their activities.”

    A more practical approach, he said, is convincing farmers that anti-runoff practices are in their economic interest.

    WETLAND WARS

    A case argued this month before the U.S. Supreme Court involved one of the longest-running debates about the Clean Water Act: Which waters does it legally protect?

    Lakes, rivers and streams are covered, as are adjacent wetlands. But 40 years of court battles and regulatory rewrites have left unsettled the status of wetlands not directly connected to a larger water body — and of rain-dependent “ephemeral” streams that flow only part of the year.

    “We want to preserve and protect our ability and statutory authority to regulate in this area,” EPA’s Regan said, describing wetlands as crucial for filtering out pollutants that otherwise would flow downstream. They also store floodwaters and provide habitat for a multitude of plants and animals.

    His agency is rewriting rules for those disputed waters, even as the Supreme Court prepares to provide its own interpretation from the case of an Idaho couple who wants to build a house on land with swampy areas near a lake.

    “What’s at stake here is at least half the waterways in this country,” said Jon Devine of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

    The National Association of Homebuilders, which supports the Idaho couple’s challenge of an EPA order to stop work on their house, says states are better suited to oversee isolated wetlands and ephemeral streams than EPA or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which handles some cases.

    “The federal government doesn’t have the bandwidth to regulate every single tiny wetland away from anything that would be considered navigable,” said Tom Ward, the group’s vice president for legal advocacy. State regulation was lax 50 years ago but has improved and “they know their waters,” he said.

    JUSTICE FOR ALL

    Environmental justice — the quest for environmental policies that treat everyone fairly, including communities of color — is a high-profile issue nowadays, although it began with early 1980s protests over a hazardous waste landfill in an impoverished, majority-black community in Warren County, North Carolina.

    But for Crystal M.C. Davis, the movement began the day after the infamous 1969 Cuyahoga fire, when Carl Stokes, Cleveland’s first Black mayor, called a news conference and filed a complaint with the state seeking help in cleaning up the river. His brother, U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, asked Congress for help — another step toward the Clean Water Act.

    “The renaissance of the Cuyahoga River is personal to us,” said Davis, who is Black and a vice president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “That’s why we have to stop and celebrate, even though there’s still room for improvement.”

    Regan, EPA’s first Black administrator, said funding provided by the infrastructure package will help the agency apply the law in keeping with science and in partnerships with state and local agencies.

    “So no matter the color of your skin … or your ZIP code, you can enjoy safe, reliable water,” he said.

    ———

    Follow John Flesher on Twitter: @JohnFlesher.

    ———

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Advanced Innovative Recovery Technologies, Inc. Launches Coastal Clean-Up Campaign, Donates Supplies to Save Local Animals

    Advanced Innovative Recovery Technologies, Inc. Launches Coastal Clean-Up Campaign, Donates Supplies to Save Local Animals

    Efforts underway to assist local, state and federal agencies and organizations with oil spill clean-up

    Press Release


    Oct 7, 2021

    An Orange County company that formed in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is now leveraging their unique foam technology to assist in local oil spill clean-up efforts. Advanced Innovative Recovery Technologies, Inc. (AIRTech) began outreach today to local, state and federal agencies to offer donated supplies to clean affected animals, as well as to offer demonstrations of how their products have been successfully employed in numerous clean-up efforts across the country.

    AIRTech manufactures EPA, and California Fish & Wildlife Approved, non-toxic foam that soaks up 14 times its own weight in oil. These foam towels are perfect for removing oil from oiled animals and birds. 

    “This is a safe way to clean oil off the animals, rather than subjecting them to soaps that strip them of their natural oils and prolong their safe return to the wild,” said Blake Ward, Chairman of the Board and founder of AIRTech. “Current clean-up efforts including the use of paper towels and dish soap are archaic and ineffective. We hope to get our foam pads, towels, sponges and degreasers in action cleaning up birds, wildlife and beaches as soon as possible.”

    Captured materials can be wrung out of the foam, and contained, allowing for the re-use of both the oil and the foam pads, towels, booms, or sponges.  This also eliminates the need to deal with hazardous waste.

    AIRTech also manufactures the only USDA Certified 100% Bio-Content cleaner/degreaser there is. These two materials were designed to work great together and are far superior methods for cleaning up oiled wildlife. The company, which has created custom projects for cleanups in various industries and for companies including Disney, demonstrated the clean-up ability of their booms in Los Alamitos Bay and the Los Cerritos Wetlands.

    “We need to clean up this mess quickly and efficiently, not with one paper towel at a time, ” Ward said. “Current spill response techniques actually make more of a mess – we hope to see our technology employed rapidly to start helping the birds, wildlife and beaches in Orange County.”

    For more information, contact Amanda Olson by email at amandakellycrater@gmail.com or by phone at (714) 580-5671. Visit www.airtechinnovation.com for more information about AIRTech.

    ###

    To speak with the company:

    Contact: Blake Ward

    Advanced Innovative Recovery Technologies, Inc. (AIRTech)

    The Earth Conscious® Company

    Phone (949) 648-9612

    Email: blake.w@airtechfoam.com

    Source: Advanced Innovative Recovery Technologies, Inc.

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