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Liz Truss ‘will approve more oil drilling if she becomes PM’ | Tory leadership candidate criticised by campaigners after reports her team have met energy firms
Politics live – latest updates
| ['Rob Davies', '@ByRobDavies'] | Liz Truss will sign off on a push for more oil drilling in the North Sea if she wins the Conservative leadership election, according to reports, drawing criticism from environmental campaigners.Amid mounting public dismay about soaring energy bills, Truss’s policy advisers are thought to be discussing proposals to issue up to 130 new drilling licences, which typically take nearly three decades to produce any oil and gas.The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the Brexit opportunities minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, have been meeting oil and gas firms to discuss how to secure energy supplies this winter, the Times reported.Truss’s plans to slash VAT are ‘regressive and flawed’, says Sunak’s teamRead moreThe discussions reportedly involve importing more gas from Norway in the short term, while ramping up domestic production. The climate change committee has previously said it takes an average of 28 years for an exploration licence to lead to oil and gas production.The Greenpeace chief UK scientist, Dr Doug Parr, said intensifying North Sea drilling would do little to bring down energy bills.“Unleashing a North Sea drilling frenzy isn’t a plan to help bill payers but a gift to the fossil fuel giants already making billions from this crisis,” he said.“New oil and gas could take a quarter of a century to pump out, will be eventually sold at global prices, and have no real impact on energy bills yet still fuel the climate crisis.”He said the UK’s dependence on gas was among the factors driving up bills and called for faster action to promote new wind and solar projects, as well as improving energy efficiency by insulating UK homes, which are among the leakiest in Europe.Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDeskHe added: “If Liz Truss really wants to help cash-strapped households, she should bring in an energy bill freeze alongside extra financial support for the poorest households, partly funded by properly taxing the astronomical profits of oil and gas companies.”Truss’s North Sea plan comes against the backdrop of a continent-wide scramble to secure gas supplies before the winter, after Vladimir Putin began choking off pipeline flows amid a geopolitical standoff over his invasion of Ukraine.The UK relies more heavily on gas than most European countries and has very little storage after the closure of the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast in 2017. Labour has previously called on Truss to explain her part in the government’s acquiescence to the closure of Rough. | 2022-08-30 |
Renewed Highland golf course plan has environmentalists crying 'Fore!' | Scottish government rejected a new links at Coul to protect the complex dune system but investors have revived the scheme | ['Ewan Murray', '@mrewanmurray'] | It is an area so tranquil that the notion of bitter dispute is hugely anomalous. The serenity of Coul - in east Sutherland, north of Dornoch – is in fact fundamental to a backdrop of unrest.When the Scottish government rejected a plan for a golf course at Coul early last year, it appeared those with grand plans had nowhere else to turn. This marked a victory for environmentalists who argued one of the most complex dune systems in Scotland and a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) should not be compromised. “The harmful impacts to protected habitats and species would outweigh the potential socio-economic benefits,” said Kevin Stewart, then planning minister. Anne McCall, the director of RSPB Scotland, said: “These damaging proposals threatened a site of global importance for nature and should never have made it this far.”The rich v the very, very rich: the rebellion at Wentworth golf clubRead moreWith American investors key to the project, comparisons were not unreasonably – if unhelpfully to those pursuing a golf course – drawn with Donald Trump’s controversial development in Aberdeenshire. One glance across social media illustrates the depth of feeling attached to Coul and acrimony as attached. One golfer’s paradise is someone else’s idea of vandalism on sacred land.Unbowed, a group of individuals want to bring Coul Links back before the planners. Edward Abel Smith, a London-based landowner, is working in conjunction with the newly formed Communities for Coul. He now wants to build an eco-friendly hotel and will, should planning be granted, hand over his territory for 18 holes at a long-term peppercorn rent. The multimillion dollar question, though, is why this scheme will succeed now when the previous one in early 2020 so publicly failed?“I wouldn’t say we are confident but we feel strongly about the overall benefits that the development would bring,” says Communities for Coul’s Gordon Sutherland. “We want this golf course as a catalyst for economic development. The number of jobs forecast are calculated by businesses prepared to invest; there is almost £50m of private investment lined up and 180 jobs, 108 of which would be full-time.“It would be such an important thing for this area, which had a decreasing population and ageing demographic even before Covid. It’s even more important now to create jobs in this area. We are prepared to fail but we will do everything we can to succeed.”Several developers are interested in this scheme but, once again, it hinges on planning consent. It will be several months before a new application is submitted. Abel Smith admits he is currently presiding over a “loss-making farm”. The issue is, protected links land adjacent to the farm is fundamental for a renowned golf course. “The land has been in my family for a long time,” he says. “I genuinely believe the course is the best option for the area, whilst admitting my vested interest by way of the hotel. I will go as far as the community take this. I don’t see there being other options to benefit the land, the area or the environment in any comparable way.”Highland councillors have previously offered heavy backing. The appetite within Sutherland for the golf course appears strong. “Of the 90,000 or so who signed the online petition against the [rejected] development, less than 0.15% live within the IV25 postcode,” say Communities for Coul. Sutherland adds: “We feel the vast majority of people who live locally support this.” Politically, the prominence or otherwise of the Scottish Greens after upcoming elections could be significant.That Tom Dargie, an ecologist and the chair of Not Coul sits in the opposite camp to Sutherland and Abel Smith feels like gross understatement. Dargie had previously estimated the loss of 48 hectares of dune habitat, should the course go ahead.“As before, sound economics with decent science and respect for protected land are awol from the Coul golf revival plan,” Dargie insists. “Not Coul individuals, possibly with new objectives under a new name, want to campaign for community-led management of all protected wildlife and habitats at Coul Links. We want to enable a vibrant, dynamic, golf-free and self-functioning dune ecosystem, with community initiatives involving many nearby, outside designated land. In short we seek respectful change and living-wage jobs approved by the majority in our community whilst doing no damage to our local supposedly protected environment.”Dargie believes precious little has changed between the rejection of the previous plan and the arrival of Communities for Coul. He adds: “Much is being made in the press of damage to the local economy from Covid-19 lockdown and Brexit but those claims lack substance and are without proven information on local severe effects which are worse than elsewhere in Scotland. Instead, based on the local business results from the restricted 2020 staycation summer, other unquoted local business people feel our economy here will likely boom in staycation 2021 because it is already geared to family tourism, couples and golf on really excellent courses.” True though that may be, it of course ignores the longer term.Where Dargie and Abel Smith do agree is on the poor and overgrown condition of a protected site due to no management plan being in place with NatureScot, previously Scottish Natural Heritage. “I have a productive relationship with NatureScot,” adds Abel Smith. “But they are incredibly stretched.“I haven’t deliberately neglected the land. I would love to see it protected and looked after properly. In my view a golf course is the best way to do that; it takes up a small area and would provide capital to maintain the rest of the SSSI.”Sign up to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks.In nearby Royal Dornoch, Sutherland houses one of the finest golf venues in the world. Its vice-captain, the professor of economics David Bell, has sent a letter to the local MP, Jamie Stone, regarding golf and the post-pandemic scene. “The golf courses around the Dornoch Firth can play a vital role in recovery from what has been the most devastating economic collapse to affect this area, possibly since the Clearances [eviction of Highland tenants in the 18th and 19th centuries],” says Bell. “The golf industry provides vital employment, allowing younger people to stay in the area. This is particularly important in Sutherland, which faces serious demographic decline. By 2040, its population is likely to be around half of what it was at the time of the Clearances. Highland Council’s own estimates show Sutherland’s population declining by 10.7% between 2021 and 2041.”Dornoch, just like the neighbouring and excellent courses at Golspie, Tain and Brora would benefit from increased footfall. In short, the economic argument here is compelling. Whether that is sufficient to circumvent lingering and deep environmental concerns remains to be seen. | 2021-03-22 |
Visiting green spaces deters mental health drug use, researchers find | Positive effects were stronger among those reporting the lowest annual household income, says Finnish study | ['Damien Gayle', '@damiengayle'] | Visits to parks, community gardens and other urban green spaces may lower city dwellers’ use of drugs for anxiety, insomnia, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma, research has found.Researchers in Finland found that visiting such areas three to four times a week cuts people’s chances of turning to drugs for mental health problems or high blood pressure by a third, and for asthma by about a quarter.Moreover, the positive effects of visiting green spaces were stronger among those reporting the lowest annual household income, the researchers found.Scientist enlists pupils to see how hedges can make greener schoolsRead moreThe findings correlate with a growing body of evidence that a lack of access to green spaces is linked to a range of health problems. Access tends to be unequal, with poorer communities having fewer opportunities to be in nature.To investigate the link, researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare drew on the responses of 16,000 randomly selected residents of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa – three cities that make up the largest urban area in Finland – to the Helsinki capital region environmental health survey in 2015-16.The survey gathered information on how city dwellers aged at least 25 experienced residential green and blue spaces within a 1km (0.62-mile) radius of their homes. Green areas included forests, gardens, parks, castle parks, cemeteries, zoos, natural grasslands, moors and wetlands; and blue areas included sea, lakes, and rivers.Respondents were asked to report their use of prescribed drugs for anxiety, insomnia and depression, and for high blood pressure and asthma. They were then asked how often they spent time or exercised outdoors in green spaces, during May and September, with options ranging from never to five or more times a week.The researchers chose prescription drugs as a proxy for ill health. They picked those for anxiety, insomnia and depression, and high blood pressure and asthma in particular because they are used to treat common but potentially serious health issues.They found a strong correlation between visits to green spaces and lower odds of using such drugs. Compared with less than one weekly visit, visiting three to four times weekly was associated with 33% lower odds of using mental health drugs, 36% lower odds of using blood pressure drugs, and 26% lower odds of using asthma drugs.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to First EditionFree daily newsletterOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionCuriously, however, those who visited green spaces at least five times a week were only 22% less likely to be using mental health drugs, and 24% less likely to be using asthma medications. Increased frequency did however correlate to lower odds of needing blood pressure drugs, with 41% lower probability than someone visiting less than once a week.“Mounting scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of nature exposure is likely to increase the supply of high-quality green spaces in urban environments and promote their active use,” the researchers wrote. “This might be one way to improve health and welfare in cities.”Their research is published online in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine. | 2023-01-17 |
Bought too much red cabbage? Turn it into a festive nut roast – recipe | This fantastic vegan centrepiece makes full use of those outer cabbage leaves that all too often just get thrown away | ['Tom Hunt'] | I devised today’s nut roast for Oddbox, a veg box outfit that supports farmers by buying wonky fruit and veg that they might otherwise find hard to shift. It’s moist, flavourful and a fun use for outer cabbage leaves, which often get thrown away; it’s also a wonderful vegan centrepiece for a celebratory table.Chest-nut roastThe outer leaves from a cabbage, which are all too often pulled off and discarded, are the ideal tool for wrapping a nut roast, and help keep the filling moist. Nut roast can sometimes be a little dry and unsatisfying, but this version, featuring chestnuts, has a lovely, moist texture and tastes meaty and satisfying because of thesage, nutmeg and Marmite; inspired by recipes for vegan haggis, I’ve also added barley and lentils.Although delicious when fresh, I think it’s even better if made a couple of days in advance, giving it time to set firmly and for the flavours to develop as they mingle. Once baked, it will keep in the fridge for up to five days, or freeze indefinitely (defrost in the fridge overnight). Reheat at 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 for 30 minutes, until piping hot right through.If you have any leftovers, turn them into a rich soup: finely chop the red cabbage casing, then add to a pan with the crumbled up filling and enough boiling water to create a thick soup. Return to a boil, then serve.Prep 1 hrCook 1 hr 35 minServes 4-62 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing2 shallots, peeled and finely diced (about 140g)1 rainbow carrot, grated with the skin on (about 140g)180g cooked and peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed40g sunflower seeds1 tsp thyme leaves½ tbsp chopped sage leaves1 tsp ground coriander¼ tsp nutmeg50g black or green lentils50g pearl barley, or rice2 tsp Marmite40g pinhead oats, or rolled oats40g ground almondsSea salt and black pepper4-5 outer red cabbage leavesPut the olive oil in a pan on medium heat, then saute the shallots and grated carrot for 10 minutes. Stir in the chestnuts, garlic, sunflower seeds, thyme, sage, ground coriander and nutmeg, then add the lentils and pearl barley. Stir in the Marmite and 350ml water, cover, bring up to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes, or until the barley and lentils are very tender and the texture is like a dry risotto. Stir in the oats and almonds, then season generously.Meanwhile, in a large pan of boiling water, blanch the red cabbage leaves for five minutes, then drain.Grease a 1kg bread tin or enamel dish with olive oil, then line it with the cabbage leaves, making sure they overlap. Tightly pack the chestnut mixture into the cabbage-lined vessel, then fold the overhanging leaves over the top, so sealing the filling inside. Bake in a 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 oven for 45 minutes, then remove and leave to settle and rest for at least five minutes. Carefully turn out on to a serving board, then take to the table, slice and serve with all the Christmas trimmings. | 2023-12-22 |
‘This year has been very good’: readers’ UK butterfly sightings | Readers share their favourite sightings over the summer, after news that numbers have risen since last year
UK butterfly numbers bounce back after last year’s all-time low
| ['Guardian readers'] | ‘Constant companions to our gardening’A peacock butterfly perched on a yellow ragwort, pictured on 9 August. Photograph: Guardian communityWe try to encourage as many pollinators as possible to visit our allotment. As well as growing lots of fruit and veg we have planted many different flowers. Across the summer we saw some unusual moths, such as the ghost moth, and then from August onwards the butterflies started to appear. We mostly spotted red admiral, peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies. They particularly liked the cosmos and the corn marigolds. They also liked the ragwort, which later had cinnabar moth caterpillars. On sunny days they were constant companions to our gardening. Although we have seen large white butterflies, too, we don’t seem to have had any problems with caterpillars eating our veg. This may be beginner’s luck. Jess and Ian, Scottish Borders ‘I was delighted by the numbers of butterflies’A brown argus butterfly, pictured on 17 July. Photograph: Allan Ferguson/Guardian communityI allowed the grass on the lawn to the front of my house to grow and I planted some wild flowers into it, field scabious, knapweed, bird’s foot trefoil and meadow cranesbill among others. I was delighted by the numbers of butterflies that came to nectar on the flowers, there were lots of meadow browns, gatekeepers, common blues, large and small whites – but I was especially pleased to see about a dozen brown argus, which took up home here for most of July and August. I have been searching for their eggs or caterpillars on the cranesbills, so far without success, but I shall keep looking as it would be nice to know whether they are breeding here. Allan Ferguson, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire ‘I was lucky enough to see 11 different species’Marie’s sightings at RSPB Minsmere on 16 July. Photograph: Marie Baynham-Davies/Guardian communityOver the summer I went to RSPB Minsmere, mainly to look for rare bird species, but on one visit on 16 July I was lucky enough to see 11 different species of butterfly. I sadly didn’t see a small tortoiseshell all summer, though, which used to be one of the most common to spot. Most of the butterflies were on or near nettles and brambles, showing the importance of leaving wild parts in gardens.The rarest of those 11 species is probably the white admiral (top right, circled in red). It’s only the second time I’ve seen one, so I was really happy. I believe the silver-washed fritillary is fairly common, if you know where to look, but I’ve never had one in my garden so it was exciting to see it, too. My favourite is the peacock, bottom right. It’s one of the more common butterflies but so beautiful; it looks tropical and exotic. Marie Baynham-Davies, Halesworth, Suffolk ‘At least a dozen red admirals at one time’A red admiral spotted on Sean’s fig tree on 11 September. Photograph: Sean O’Sullivan/Guardian communityA comma butterfly, pictured on 8 September 2023. Photograph: Sean O’Sullivan/Guardian communityOur fig tree has had a bumper crop this year. We were away for a week visiting family and found that quite a lot of the ripe fruit had gone beyond the ideal picking stage, and insects such as tiny flies and wood lice had begun to feast on them. Most notable, though, was the profusion of wasps and red admiral butterflies gorging themselves on the very overripe fruits. They were often sharing the same single fruit, and from time to time flying around before settling back on that same one or elsewhere in the tree.We’ve still been able to pick more than enough for ourselves and to give to friends, so it’s been a real treat to share so much with the insects this year. There must have been at least a dozen red admirals at one time, and a few speckled woods trying to chase them away. I also saw one comma. Sean O’Sullivan, Banbury, Oxfordshire ‘It has certainly been a good year’A painted lady on Verbena bonariensis, pictured on 12 September. Photograph: Sally Twiss/Guardian communityIt has certainly been a good year for butterflies in our south-facing garden: we’ve seen red admiral, peacock, gatekeeper and various whites in numbers. Comma, small tortoiseshell, brimstone, speckled wood, orange tip and dark green fritillary (also hummingbird hawk moths) were also present. They were attracted by plenty of nectar-rich flowers and food plants, such as nettles and hedge garlic. Sally Twiss, the Blackdown Hills, south-west England ‘A very rare sighting’The Camberwell beauty, photographed on 18 July.We saw a Camberwell beauty in our garden on 18 July at 11.58am. We took it at a distance so as not to disturb it. We reported the sighting to the Dorset Butterfly Conservation organisation and the photograph was published on their gallery. It is my understanding that a Camberwell beauty is a very rare sighting as there is no evidence that it breeds in this country. Geoff Pike, 70, Dorset ‘They are plentiful in our area’A marbled white butterfly on Ventnor Down on 8 July 2023. Photograph: Guardian communityThis photo of a marbled white butterfly was taken on Ventnor Down on 8 July 2023. On the same day I also saw a small copper, common blue and a six-spot burnet moth. In my view, this year has been very good for butterflies as they are plentiful in our area. We live adjacent to downland so we are well placed to observe wildlife. Vanessa Verey, Ventnor, Isle of Wight | 2023-12-19 |
Country diary: Willow tits are here, but good luck with seeing one | Tittesworth Reservoir, Staffordshire: It’s easy to see why these wonderful but maddeningly elusive birds have inspired great poetry | ['Mark Cocker'] | The numerous bird feeders here are permanently stocked and flocked around by garden birds. Long-tailed, blue, coal and great tits pop up every second or so; and sparrows come and go with goldfinches, while reed buntings and nuthatches slip in and out among the gaps. But the briefest, most maddening, if most wonderful of all, are the willow tits.I see them usually not as they arrive, but as they leave. They zip in, but intermittently and invariably when you’ve dropped your guard. Again! All they gift you is a mean, hard, visiting call – the driest avian sound in Britain – an invertebrate Zi zi taah taah, like the small complaint of an angry insect.Despite willow tits retaining wide breeding presence through middle England, most people never see them, partly because this verve-filled fidget is so elusive, but also because it has an identical twin – the marsh tit. Almost all features said to be diagnostic of one or the other I have recorded on the wrong species. They’re so alike that not a single Briton twigged there were two black-capped, caramel-backed tits here, until two German ornithologists put us all straight in 1911.Alas for us, this never-you-see-me bird is going again. Willow tits have declined by 94% since 1970 and half of its old range is now blank. Yet continental willow tits recur throughout Eurasia’s woodlands from Amsterdam to Vladivostok. So does it matter? It matters to the poet Steve Ely, who dedicated the slenderest volume to the willow tit with his wonderful pamphlet Zi-zi Taah Taah Taah. Few British birds, except Ted Hughes’ mythopoeic Crow perhaps, are so honoured with poetry that is so densely allusive yet of such thematic grandeur. It is a sort of Waste Land for the willow tit.Try to see the beast and you’ll know why Ely wrote with such passion and why willow tits so deserve a place in our poetry and our land. But the best spot I know to do it is here, where the strange, disconcerting context makes it seem like meeting a small beloved god – say, Vincent van Gogh – in the queue at McDonald’s. Country Diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | 2022-04-05 |
Scaly stowaway: lizard makes an appearance at Chelsea flower show | Gardeners at the Yeo Valley Organic display were delighted to find the common brown lizard in a pile of logs | ['Helena Horton'] | Visitors to Chelsea flower show come from all over the country, and range from senior royals to interested gardeners looking for some new plants.This year, however, there has been a rather special guest – a common brown lizard. Gardeners at the Yeo Valley Organic display were delighted to find him in a pile of logs.In the past, Chelsea was known as a showcase of perfectly manicured lawns and prize-winning blooms in symmetrical flower beds. But there is now a clear trend towards nature-friendly gardening. This has been somewhat controversial, with veteran gardeners including the Royal Horticultural Society rose expert Charles Quest-Ritson arguing that people do not attend flower shows to see piles of logs and patches of nettles. He believes prizes should not be given for “weeds”.But Quest-Ritson is in the minority, and this year’s show features multitudes of nature and eco-friendly gardens including a Cop26 garden and a woodland planting supported by Prince Charles, which urges visitors to “plant a tree for the Queen”.Late flowering: the Chelsea flower show is finally back – but what will it look like in autumn?Read moreYeo Valley Organic’s garden is built to attract amphibians and reptiles, as well as pollinators and insects. It seems to have achieved that aim, with the lizard making himself at home in the log pile.Sarah Mead, who created the Yeo Valley Organic garden, which is a permanent fixture at the company’s farm in Somerset, said there had been a discussion about whether the lizard had hitchhiked from the farm, where materials from the original garden were transported for the mini Chelsea version, or whether had it crawled in as a rare example of a London lizard.She said: “It’s definitely a common brown lizard – there are lots of them in the West Country so we are sure it came down from Yeo Valley in Somerset among the stone that was transported from the farm, but it’s made itself quite at home here.“As lizards are cold-blooded, they like the stone – it’s Mendip stone they’ve brought up from the dry stone walls on the farm, so a perfect environment for lizards, cool with lots of nooks and crannies. Lizards are just one example of the rich biodiversity at Yeo Valley, where they do everything to encourage wildlife.”Common lizards are found across the country, but their numbers are declining because of habitat loss. They thrive in grassland and moorland, as well as the edges of woodlands.The gardeners have enlisted experts from the Wildlife Trusts to help them keep the lizard comfortable at the busy show and teach them more about it.Features of the Somerset garden recreated at Chelsea include an open perennial meadow with flowering plants and a glade of silver birch. The design also features charred logs used as garden markers and rammed earth walls as boundaries, both highlighting the importance of soil health. The garden is designed to show how to create a beautiful and peaceful space that encourages nature and has soil health in mind. Tom Massey, who with the help of Mead designed the show garden, said: “The soil plays a pivotal role in our fight to reverse climate change but the world of microscopic activity under our feet is often overlooked. Carbon is the building block of all life and as gardeners we need to be reminded of the role we play in locking carbon into the soil, where it can help sustain life for generations to come. We want to create a beautiful garden that inspires visitors to think about using more sustainable gardening practices.” This article was amended on 29 September 2021 to remove a mistaken reference in a quote to lizards liking “cool” stone; as they are cold-blooded, it is the relative warmth of the stone that attracts them. | 2019-12-01 |
Climate crisis could lead to rise of smaller bees, study finds | Danger looms for larger species such as bumblebees, which have lower heat tolerance, leading to ‘cascading effects’ on ecosystems | ['Agence France-Presse'] | The climate crisis could lead to more small-bodied bees but fewer bumblebees, according to research warning of potential “cascading” effects on plant pollination and across whole ecosystems.Scientists in the US trapped and studied more than 20,000 bees over eight years in an area of the Rocky Mountains to find out how different types reacted to changing climatic conditions.In research published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the authors said that while environmental conditions varied from year to year, the sub-alpine region from which they took samples was “particularly vulnerable to climate change”, with generally warming spring temperatures and earlier snow melt.Fears for bees as US set to extend use of toxic pesticides that paralyse insectsRead moreThey found that larger-bodied bees and comb-building cavity nesters declined in abundance as temperatures increased, while smaller, soil-nesting bees increased.“Our research suggests that climate-induced changes in temperature, snowpack and summer precipitation may drastically reshape bee communities,” the authors said.Researchers said the findings suggested a reduction of bigger bees, including in the families of bumblebee, leafcutters and mason bees, with higher temperatures.Declines were particularly marked for bumblebees, which the researchers said suggested “this group is more threatened under climate warming than other bees in our system”. That tallies with other studies showing that bumblebees, the dominant pollinators in many ecosystems, have a lower heat tolerance than other bees and move to cooler regions at higher altitudes as temperatures warm.Researchers said their findings suggested both bumblebees’ body size and nest behaviour could also make them more vulnerable in a warming world.More broadly, the authors said climate-driven changes to pollinator communities “could have cascading effects on pollination and ecosystem functioning”. For example, they said losing bigger bees, which tend to fly further for food, may mean a reduction in longer-distance pollination.The study was specifically focused on mountainous areas, but the researchers said other research across the US showed declines in larger bees in response to environmental changes.Insects are the world’s top pollinators: 75% of 115 top global food crops depend on animal pollination, including cocoa, coffee, almonds and cherries, according to the UN.In a landmark 2019 report, scientists concluded that nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in decline and a third could disappear altogether by century’s end. One in six species of bees have gone regionally extinct somewhere in the world.The main drivers of extinction are thought to be habitat loss and pesticide use. | 2022-04-21 |
UK energy industry urges ministers to stick with net zero plan | Some rightwingers claim renewables have increased costs, but Energy UK blames over-reliance on gas | ['Fiona Harvey', ' Environment correspondent'] | Energy companies want the government to implement policies to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the industry’s leader has said, despite claims from some on the political right that high energy prices should spark a rethink.Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of Energy UK, which represents the industry, said: “The government should press on with net zero policies. That’s something they still need to do. We are missing the carbon budgets.”She called on ministers to “tighten energy efficiency”, by insulating more homes, and changing planning and construction rules, while developing a strategy for decarbonising the UK’s fleet of gas-fired power stations.She rejected claims that renewable energy had increased costs, saying the problem was clearly an over-reliance on gas, especially for heating. She told a meeting hosted by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit: “The UK is exposed to gas because we have a huge amount of gas burned in our homes, and so helping people get off gas boilers on to other forms of heating technology is critical over the next decades to reduce our reliance on places like Russia.”She added: “But [it’s also necessary] to make our building stock much more energy-efficient. The reason we have high rates of fuel poverty in the UK isn’t just about the commodity we burn, it’s the volume of it we burn because our energy efficiency rates here are much lower than other countries.”Britain’s leaky homes make the energy crisis worse. Why have governments not fixed them? | Max WakefieldRead moreHouseholds are facing an energy price cap rise this April, likely to amount to £2,000 for the average bill, and possibly a further rise to £2,400 in October. The cost-of-living crisis has embroiled the government in calls from its own backbenches to scale back or abandon measures to promote renewable energy and pay for home insulation for poor households, even though renewable energy is many times cheaper than gas and improving home insulation would cut bills for the most vulnerable.Bim Afolami, Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, called on his fellow Tories to get behind net zero policies, saying only “a very small number” of MPs were questioning them.“Let’s be clear, in terms of delivering net zero, there is no real option other than what the government has set out. It’s a shame that it needs saying, but everyone should rest assured that the bulk of the Conservative party and the government is four-square behind this, and committed to getting it done,” he said.Q&AWhat is net zero?ShowNet zero is the commitment to reducing emissions by 100% so that the UK is producing no more carbon than it removes from the atmosphere. This will have to be achieved by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases created by activities such as industrial processes, power generation, transport and intensive agriculture, while removing emissions at the same time by capturing carbon or planting more trees.It is considered the minimum necessary to stop dangerous climate breakdown increasing the world’s temperature by more than 1.5 degrees celsius. However, there is a debate about how to get there, and how quickly, and how the costs will be spread. The current UK government wants to meet net zero by 2050, which will necessarily involve replacing gas boilers, moving to electric cars, improving insulation and lowering high-carbon consumption such as flights and meat-eating.Was this helpful?Thank you for your feedback.Michael Grubb, professor of energy and climate change at University College London, said consumers were paying unnecessarily high prices for their electricity, as well as their gas, because of the way the UK energy market works. Electricity prices are set by the gas price, even though gas makes up only about 40% of electricity generation and renewable energy prices are far lower.He said the government could ease this by changing the way the UK energy market is structured, allowing for a “pool” of green energy contracts.Ministers should levy a windfall tax on fossil fuel producers, which have seen bumper profits from the global rise in gas prices and Russia’s constraint on European supplies, added Tessa Khan, founder of campaigning organisation Uplift. Taxes on fossil fuels in the UK were far too low, and tiny compared with those of other countries, at about $2 (£1.47) a barrel in the UK compared with more than $20 a barrel for Norway.Even at such low rates, thanks to favourable rules, some fossil fuels had received payouts from the government in recent years, rather than pay tax, she said. Oil and gas producers faced no extra costs but were reaping “windfall profits” from the gas price. “These profits are being privatised. The UK tax regime has made this the most profitable country in the world for oil and gas companies,” she said. | 2022-01-20 |
The bear truth: why happy pandas can’t be bothered to find a partner | Researchers now think pandas’ notoriously low libido is because they are too comfortable to make the effort to search for a mate | null | Name: Panda sex.Age: 18m years old.Frequency: Famously rare.Yes, why is that? If I were a panda, I’d be at it all the time. I think from this we can determine two things: first that you are a pervert, and second that you are unhappy.Hey, I’m not unhappy! Maybe you have more in common with pandas than you thought. Researchers have posited that the notoriously low panda libido might be down to simple contentment.How so? Well, a study published in Conservation Biology has suggested that if pandas find the perfect habitat – in this instance a cool, moderately low-lying area rich with bamboo and far from humans – then they will just happily settle down and not go anywhere.Who can blame them? That sounds perfect. Well, the worry is that by staying in the same area, they aren’t going out to search for food or mates, which reduces their genetic diversity, which will eventually lead to their extinction.So you’re saying that pandas prefer comfortable solitude to sex? Yes.And it’s possible to be so comfortable that you might take down your entire species? Yes.Am … am I a panda? If you are, I have to commend your ability to type so accurately with your great big paws.Do scientists want to make pandas less comfortable? To some extent, yes. The researchers have found that the ideal level of comfort to keep the pandas alive is 80%.Why 80%? Because then they are comfortable enough to thrive, but there’s still enough dissatisfaction to make them leave home, bump into a sexy panda stranger and get it on.Great! Job sorted. Well, that’s only step one. Even if two pandas were to clap eyes on each other and instantly fall in love, it doesn’t mean that we would hear the pitter patter of tiny paws any time soon. Remember the story of Tian Tian?Tian Tian? Yes, one of the UK’s only two giant pandas, leased to Edinburgh zoo a decade ago by the Bifengxia breeding centre in Sichuan, China. The lease runs out in December, and Tian Tian has failed to give birth.Why? Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. She had cubs in China, only to endure a number of failed pregnancies – some initiated by artificial insemination – in Edinburgh. Things went further downhill when her partner, Yang Guang, had his testicles removed, after a tumour was discovered.God, that’s sad. Is it? Or is she just so happy that she has rejected sex as a concept?There’s a moral here, isn’t there? Yes. It’s that it’s OK if personal contentment is more important to you than romantic love. And also that pandas are seemingly determined to make themselves extinct.Do say: “Happy pandas don’t have sex.”Don’t say: “Quick, someone invent Panda Instagram to make them all feel ugly and insecure.” | 2021-03-12 |
Shell chief vows to bolster emissions strategy after court ruling | Ben van Beurden pledges to ‘rise to challenge’ after court ordered oil firm to cut global carbon emissions by 45% | ['Joanna Partridge'] | Royal Dutch Shell has vowed to accelerate its strategy towards becoming a net zero emissions business, two weeks after a Dutch court ruling ordered the company to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels.Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, promised to “rise to the challenge” in helping to create a low-carbon energy system, but came out fighting for the Anglo-Dutch oil company he runs, insisting it has been leading the industry in taking responsibility for its carbon emissions.In a statement on his LinkedIn page, Van Beurden said he was surprised by the court’s verdict and was “disappointed that Shell is being singled out by a ruling that I believe does not help reduce global CO2 emissions”.He added: “A court ordering one energy company to reduce its emissions – and the emissions of its customers – is not the answer.”The transition to low-carbon energy, which remained necessary to battle the climate emergency, was “far too big a challenge for one company to tackle”, he wrote, calling for clearer regulations and policies from global governments.It’s time to nationalize Shell. Private oil companies are no longer fit for purpose | Johanna Bozuwa and Olúfẹ́mi O TáíwòRead moreShell said it was reviewing the ruling handed down last month by a court in The Hague and expected to appeal. But the court has said its decision is immediately applicable and should not be suspended before an appeal.Shell’s oil production had probably peaked in 2019, Van Beurden said, adding that he believed the firm’s total absolute carbon emissions would decline from 2018 levels. Instead, he said Shell should work with its customers to help them find their own way to achieving net zero emissions.The oil firm said it would continue to produce oil and gas products “for a long time to come” in order to meet customer demand and retain the company’s financial strength, while also attracting investment.“Imagine Shell decided to stop selling petrol and diesel today. This would certainly cut Shell’s carbon emissions. But it would not help the world one bit,” Van Beurden wrote. “Demand for fuel would not change. People would fill up their cars and delivery trucks at other service stations.”The company said it had “rigorous, short-term reduction targets” on the way to its goal of becoming a net zero emissions business by 2050. The chief executive added that Shell had taken responsibility for reducing the carbon emissions it produced, as well as those produced when customers used its products.The landmark Dutch case was brought by the environmental group Friends of the Earth and more than 17,000 co-plaintiffs, who successfully argued that Shell had been aware of the dangerous consequences of CO2 emissions for decades, and that and its targets remained insufficiently robust.The company was told by the court that its emission reductions, along with those of its suppliers and buyers, should be brought into line with the Paris climate agreement.Although it intended to appeal against the ruling, Shell said it would “seek ways to reduce emissions even further in a way that remains purposeful and profitable”.As part of its energy transition strategy, Shell said it had in recent years invested “billions of dollars” in lower-carbon energy, including wind and solar power, hydrogen and biofuels.Shell has vowed to give investors a chance to vote on the progress of its transition strategy at every annual shareholder meeting. Van Beurden complained that the court hearing took place several months before the publication of the strategy.Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk Shell faced a significant investor rebellion at its most recent AGM, when a shareholder resolution coordinated by Follow This, a Dutch climate activist group, calling for the company to set binding carbon emissions targets received 30% of votes.Mark van Baal, the founder of Follow This, said Van Beurden had “failed to have his epiphany moment, and still thinks that committing to the Paris agreement is an unfair ask. More stakeholders than ever are pushing for Paris-alignment and there comes a time when Shell will have to listen and act. Butvan Beurden can take comfort that Shell is not alone in this challenge.”Rachel Kennerley, an international climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said Shell’s promises did not far enough.She added: “If Mr van Beurden was as serious about this as he claims, he’d stop dismissing his company’s role in driving this devastating situation and would use the court ruling as an intervention to do the right thing, rather than appealing it with all of Shell’s corporate might.” | null |
Country Diary: Down on the floor with the solitary bees | Holywell, Flintshire: In my attempts to make my garden more suitable for Mediterranean herbs, I created the conditions for these fascinating insects | ['Jan Miller'] | I’m lying on my front on the moist, mossy lawn, the sun warming my back. Around me swallows are swooping in and out of the barn while dandelions, lady’s smock and cowslips attract the butterflies and bees. But down here, my attention is focused under the box hedges of my herb garden. I am watching volcanoes form. Not the sort that spew hot lava, but small cones of the gritty soil with a vent in the top about the size of my little fingernail.A tawny mining bee: ‘The 240 species of solitary bees in Britain … are just as important for pollination as the one species of honeybee.’ Photograph: Jan MillerThese are the entrances to the breeding burrows of the tawny mining bee, Andrena fulva. They are just one of the 240 species of solitary bees in Britain, and are just as important for pollination as the one species of honeybee. Each has different shaped mouthparts, which have evolved alongside flowers with different access routes to their nectar so that the plants are more likely to be pollinated from the same species. And you don’t have to farm the solitaries. This type needs only fine, sandy soil so they can dig deep burrows (and surprisingly quickly too with their tiny legs). They make side chambers and lay one egg in each, with a small supply of nectar and pollen. Then they’re sealed up and the larvae left to hibernate over winter, until they dig their way out the next spring.I could never grow Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, sage, oregano, orpine or lavender in my damp garden until a few years ago, when I had this square dug out and filled with limestone hardcore. Unwittingly, I had also made the perfect place for these mining bees to breed. It also helped that this was under the bit of lawn where we once had the kids’ sandpit.Meanwhile, the osmia mining bees – the red mason and the leafcutter bees you can buy nesting houses for in garden shops – are a different species. I was puzzled to see an osmia scrabbling against the mud-sealed doors once, as I thought it couldn’t be a predator of its own kind. A quick post on the Facebook page of the specialist Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society got me an answer in 10 minutes – it was the male who could “smell” the virgin female inside and was desperate to mate with her before any other. Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | 2023-06-02 |
Monday briefing: The dramatic, agonising, crucial talks that will decide Cop27’s success | In today’s newsletter: For the next two weeks, ministers, negotiators from countries large and small will gather in Egypt. Can they get anything done? | ['Archie Bland'] | Good morning. Last year, the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow kept alive the target of holding global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels; but, conference president Alok Sharma said, “its pulse is weak”. The vital question for the Cop27 summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt, which began yesterday, is whether it will prove to be an emergency room or a hospice.If Cop27 is to have any chance of renewing global commitments after a year of extremely limited progress, the work of the negotiators who will take over once world leaders have departed at the end of today will be crucial. I spoke to the Guardian’s environment correspondent Fiona Harvey about the fascinating, byzantine, surprisingly dramatic and extremely nerdy process of climate diplomacy – and why, as deeply frustrating as it might be, it matters so much.That’s after the headlines. And a quick note to say that I’m off the rest of this week – Nimo and recurring guest star Dan Milmo will be in your inbox.Five big stories
Economy | Jeremy Hunt will announce £25bn worth of tax rises and £35bn in spending cuts at the autumn statement, the Guardian understands. The scale of the measures has grown significantly after the Bank of England’s dire forecasts last week of the longest recession since the 1930s.
Ukraine | The Biden administration has reportedly warned Kyiv that allies’ “Ukraine fatigue” could worsen if Volodymyr Zelenskiy continues to be closed to negotiations with Russia.
Climate crisis | An assessment by Carbon Brief has found the US, UK and Canada have fallen billions of dollars short of their “fair share” of climate funding for low-income countries. This comes after the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the past eight years were the eight hottest ever recorded, putting the internationally agreed 1.5C limit for global heating “barely within reach”.
Politics | Rishi Sunak is facing further questions over his political judgment after it emerged he was made aware of a complaint against his political ally Gavin Williamson before appointing him. Sunak was said to have been unaware of the contents of hostlile texts sent to former chief whip Wendy Morton.
Housing | More than 138,000 properties in England and Wales are owned by offshore companies. In London the offshore holdings are worth as much as £55bn.
In depth: ‘It’s awful and frustrating – but you can’t solve the climate crisis without Cop’A worker prepares the entrance to the “Green Zone” ahead of Cop27. Photograph: Thomas Hartwell/APThere are “periods of intense activity and huge longueurs” at climate summits, says Fiona Harvey in Sharm-el-Sheikh; happily, I reach her during one of the longueurs.She emphasises that this is not a “decision summit” like Glasgow. Instead, the focus will be on holding countries accountable for their commitments last year against the backdrop of the global energy crisis brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this piece from May, UN climate adviser Rachel Kyte describes the task as “implementation, implementation, implementation”.“We won’t get an agreement or a new treaty at the end of it,” Fiona said. “But it’s incredibly important we see progress.” This piece explains why it’s looking so tough, while this one sets out the vital importance of “loss and damage” financing for developing nations – which was finally confirmed as part of the agenda for the talks after “fractious” discussions that dragged late into the night and delayed the opening of the conference proper.In the Guardian’s Down to Earth newsletter (sign up here for twice-weekly updates throughout Cop27), Fiona writes: “This year’s Cop will be arguably the hardest yet.” The only path to success is through the endless minutiae of negotiation – “a lot of horrible absurdity”, Fiona said. “People arguing in rooms for hours.” Here’s how it works.What is the framework for the summit?“The first two days are about world leaders being there and having their photos taken and talking,” Fiona said. “After that, the negotiators get on with it. In the second week, next Tuesday, we get the ‘high-level segment’ – that’s when ministers join the talks.”All Cop summits take place under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a treaty agreed almost 30 years ago. Everything that happens in Sharm-el-Sheikh – “the fact of the meeting, setting the agenda, the texts agreed at the end of it” – is a product of the UNFCCC.“It was a massive achievement,” Fiona said. “It is full of frustrations, but you can’t redraw it now – you just wouldn’t get people to sign up to it. The important thing is that it means that once things are agreed, countries have a legal obligation to see them through.”Who are the negotiators?Countries are represented individually, but blocs of nations with common interests – like the Africa Group, the Least Developed Countries, and the Small Island Developing States – seek to increase their negotiating power by clubbing together.“The big countries have teams of negotiators who do nothing all year round but these talks,” Fiona said. “They will have someone in every workstream, in every room. The poorer ones can’t do that – they will send one country to one event, another to another, and compare notes.”For a sense of what it’s like negotiating on behalf of those most vulnerable to the impact of the climate crisis, see this riveting fly-on-the-wall account of the work of Giza Gaspar-Martins, chair of the Least Developed Countries group at the Paris summit in 2015. He dashes from meeting to meeting across the impractically vast site, pausing only to “talk to my wife” (smoke a cigarette) and “do the things I cannot delegate” (go to the loo).What do they negotiate over?“It’s hilarious on one level, awful on another,” Fiona said. “It just sounds incomprehensible to anyone outside of this bizarre bubble. There are non-papers, ‘informal informals’, acres of square brackets, rows about the placements of semicolons. They sit for hours hammering it all out.”But these arcane points really matter. As Giza Gaspar-Martins says of a draft of the final Paris agreement: “We need to do some detective work. Some good brains have been working hard to hide things in here.”Also in Paris, a last-minute row over whether a “shall” ought to have been a “should” was only resolved with the dubious claim that a “typographical error” had been made, allowing the US to overlook a stronger commitment than it wanted on mitigation efforts in the final text. (Here’s a terrific account of that drama by the Guardian’s then-environment editor John Vidal.)In Glasgow, Alok Sharma fought back tears as he apologised to delegates over a late change, forced by China and India, changed a commitment to “phase out” coal to the looser promise to “phase down” its use. “Did I appreciate we had to adjust one thing tonight in a very unusual way?” John Kerry said afterwards. “No. But if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have a deal.”How do these agreements get reached?The country holding the presidency – Egypt this year – will assign countries responsibility for managing negotiations over particular areas. “There’s an ‘ad hoc working group’ for every key part of the process that will meet in their own little rooms,” Fiona said. “So the Cop president will say on climate finance, for example, let’s have one developed and one developing country go away and convene other countries for talks.”Also helpful, Fiona added, is the way the summit allows for accidental interactions of key players. “This is the only forum which puts the developing countries on a somewhat level playing field,” she said. “They can catch a minister from an EU nation in a corridor, and say, with moral authority, ‘come on, mate’. That’s important.”None of this is very glamorous. Pictures abound from previous Cops of windowless shoeboxes with uncomfortable looking chairs shoehorned around a table covered in cold pizza and heavily annotated drafts. But it’s necessary work ahead of the final stage of discussions in the plenary session, which all countries attend.How does the text get finally agreed?One criticism of the consensus model of the Cop summits – which sees the text agreed in a final session involving every country – is that it enforces the “will of the laggards”: the argument is that is easy for countries that are reluctant to adopt crucial climate change measures to put a spanner in the works.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to First EditionFree daily newsletterOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion“That’s not really fair,” said Fiona. “They don’t get their own way all the time – they didn’t in Glasgow or Paris. Saudi Arabia and Russia are happy to be the people in closed rooms making criticisms, but they don’t want to put themselves out there like that. So the process of consensus can force the laggards to catch up, and it outs those who won’t agree.”She points to the example of Durban 2011, where the treaty that became the Paris agreement was born. “Everyone was on board except China and India, and the EU forced a showdown – the talks went on for days, and in the end the EU called out China and India, and said, are you going to stand up? And they didn’t.”Does all of this add up to a process that meets the vast crisis already under way? Hardly. “You sit there and you talk about five-year review processes – we haven’t got five bloody years,” Fiona said. “But while Cop won’t solve the climate crisis, you can’t solve the climate crisis without Cop. It’s awful and inadequate and frustrating, but it’s still essential. These discussions are incredibly important because they’re the only discussions we’ve got.”What else we’ve been reading
Aaron Carter, the teen heartthrob of the noughties, was just 34 when he died this Saturday. Emma Garland explores how the dysfunctional 90s Hollywood culture of hedonism and excess is still impacting people’s lives. Nimo
Joe Stone had never eaten cucumber, mushrooms, eggs, onions... the list goes on. His account of taking on his fussy eating is a joy. As are the pictures. Archie
It’s been over a week since a man perpetrated a firebomb attack on a migrant centre. Counter-terrorism police concluded that the attack was an act of terrorism motivated by the far right. Miqdaad Versi asks: why has this crime been met with relative silence? Nimo
Michael Hogan interviewed comedian Tom Allen. They talk Bake-Off, the complexity of grief and his new book Too Much. Nimo
Azadeh Moaveni’s LRB diary of two weeks of protest in Tehran is a superb piece of reportage, and is especially interesting on whether sympathetic Iranians yet to take to the streets will ultimately do so. Archie
SportFootball | Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 to further dent Spurs’ title hopes, after Arsenal returned to the top of the table with a 1-0 win at Chelsea.Gymnastics | Great Britain’s Jessica Gadirova won floor gold on the final day of the Gymnastics World Championships making her world champion for the first time.World Cup 2022 | Ben Fisher casts an eye over Wales’s chances in Qatar, with the latest of the Guardian’s team guides.For more, sign up for the Fiver, our daily football newsletterThe front pages Photograph: Guardian“Revealed: UK and US fail to pay ‘fair share of $100bn climate fund” is the lead story in the Guardian print edition this Monday morning. In answer the Daily Mail has “Red Ed: UK must pay climate change damages” – the red one being Ed Miliband. The Telegraph says “Britain opens door to climate reparations”. “Billions more spent in UK will count as foreign aid” – that’s the Times today, while the Financial Times has “US hatches plan for companies to pay for switch from fossil fuel energy”. The Daily Express says “Keeping triple lock is ‘matter of Tory principle’”, which is what senior Tories are telling Rishi Sunak. The i’s top story is “Biggest-ever nurses strike ‘would hit A&E patients’”. The Metro has “Bonfire night of mayhem” after the fifth of November saw a boy killed by fireworks and “gangs of yobs run riot”. The Daily Mirror’s front page is a glorious bolt from the blue: “Pic of Aussie OAP EXACT match for Lucan” – but the pensioner’s face is “blurred for legal reasons”, next to the familiar moustachioed fugitive ex-peer. The Sun covers what matters: “Rishi raps celeb Hancock”.Today in Focus Photograph: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty ImagesWho is robbing Lebanon’s banks?A spate of bank robberies has hit Beirut in recent weeks but they are heists with a twist: people are demanding – at gunpoint – that staff hand them their own money. Michael Safi reportsCartoon of the day | Edith PritchettEdith Pritchett / The GuardianThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad.Mich Momodu, left, recently completed a training course run by Islington council. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianIslington council and the NHS have invested £1.6m in a programme designed to support young black men and boys with their mental health and to improve their aspirations and chances in life. Barbershops have always been a place of solace and community for many black men and boys, so one part of the Young Black Men and Mental Health program has been launching a course that trains barbers on how to speak with customers about mental health and point those who might be struggling towards professional support. “The barbershop has always been a hub for black men,” said Mitch Momod, a British-Nigerian barber.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
Quick crossword
Cryptic crossword
| 2022-11-07 |
Egg prices could rise for UK consumers as farmers cut flock numbers | Fewer laying birds are being placed on farms as producers respond to poor retail profit margins | ['Supported by', 'About this content', 'Tom Levitt'] | Consumers could be hit with higher egg prices as UK farmers reduce their flock numbers, in response to escalating costs and insufficient profit margins.The numbers of chicks being placed by egg producers in April was down 15% year on year, according to the latest government figures.Egg farmers have been warning for months that a “tidal wave” of rising costs in feed, energy, labour and packaging was not being reflected in retail prices.They have criticised supermarkets for ignoring industry warnings, with a leading producer telling delegates at the British Pig and Poultry Fair last week he expected a shortage of eggs later this year given the cuts in chick placings.The government data, published on Thursday, confirms a decline in producers restocking their flocks with new birds. The number of eggs being set by hatcheries fell even further in April, down 35% on the previous year.The number of chicks being placed by egg producers indicates the number of eggs that will be available to consumers in the months ahead.Hen eggs take about 21 days to hatch, but chicks do not start laying until they are aged about 20 weeks. Any reduction in chicks now will not affect the availability of eggs until the autumn.The existing hens on farms will continue producing eggs until they are 70 to 80 weeks old, but the overall flock population will fall as hens are not replaced.Free-range eggs unavailable in Britain from MondayRead more“It’s showing what we were predicting, that there will be a shortage unless retailers respond by raising prices,” said Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British FreeRange Egg Producers Association.Gooch says producers need a 3p per egg price increase to forestall a much bigger price rise when supplies fall later this year. Retail egg prices in May were up by about 8%, or 15p, per half dozen from last year, according to Trolley.co.uk, a supermarket price tracker.“If you were making money you wouldn’t do it [not restock]. You only do it because you can’t make a profit. It’s a crisis for producers and it will translate into a crisis for consumers later this year,” said Gooch.Andrew Opie, from the British Retail Consortium, said supermarkets sourced most of their food from the UK and “know they need to pay a sustainable price to farmers to ensure British eggs remain on the shelves”.A spokesperson for the British Egg Industry Council said chick placements did historically rise and fall depending on factors such as how long producers decide to keep their existing hens before replacing them. “However, with the current cost crisis, some producers are choosing not to repopulate their houses.” A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We recognise the challenges faced by the egg industry, including the ongoing impact of Avian Influenza and increased input costs – and are continuing to monitor the situation, working closely with stakeholders.” Sign up for the Animals Farmed monthly update to get a roundup of the biggest farming and food stories across the world and keep up with our investigations. You can send us your stories and thoughts at animalsfarmed@theguardian.com | 2022-05-19 |
Here in British Columbia, we have spent the summer running from cruel wildfires Mary Stockdale | Blazes are destroying whole communities. The Canadian government must act now to tackle this existential threat | null | Small fires crackle into life on the hills around us at the slightest provocation. Creeks swell with flash floods, as upland snow melts at record speed. Our town’s beloved colony of great blue herons fall stunned out of the trees in their dozens. Animals, from cougars to rattlesnakes, leave their hidden places to seek water. The temperature has risen, and stalled, at a nearly unbearable 45C.This is what a heat dome feels like in Vernon, a community in the British Columbian interior in Canada.It’s been quite the summer in British Columbia (BC), where a brutal heatwave has given way to wildfires. At 49.6C, the village of Lytton set a hotter record than there’s ever been in Las Vegas. The fires have burned nearly 8,582 sq km of forest since the spring and caused evacuation orders to be issued across the province. Lytton and another nearby community, Monte Lake, have been destroyed by the vengeful climate.Our fire, here in Vernon, announced itself with a wave of thick smoke and a glowing red horizon that made us think of JRR Tolkien’s Mordor. At midnight, an evacuation order was issued for the west side of the Okanagan Lake, where members of the Okanagan Indian Band live among enclaves of retirees, ranchers and back-to-the-landers. Soon after, two exhausted evacuees arrived at our door with their dogs, cats and belongings; they are friends of ours, to whom we had promised refuge.As the fire grew across the lake over the next few days, we found ourselves talking with hushed voices. Unable to ignore the red glare on the horizon, we felt awestruck by the ash floating from the sky, covering our decks, outdoor tables and car windshields. We shared photos of the piles of burnt forest debris, mainly small black twigs and needles, that had washed ashore on the lake’s beaches. We spoke obsessively of the air quality index, which I estimated had reached 45 times the World Health Organization exposure recommendation, ranking it as one of the worst on the planet.Mary Stockdale’s son, pictured far right, with other firefighters near Vernon, British Columbia. Photograph: Justin RobertsonSometimes it was not ash, but still-glowing embers that floated over to our side of the lake. Although the water provided a natural barrier to the front of the fire, it was being breached by these small missiles, and all of us had to look lively for any fires that started up under these tinder-dry conditions.As the situation worsened, an evacuation alert for Vernon was announced, stirring us all into action. My husband and I started packing. What do we need to live on? What don’t we want to lose to the fire? My mother was trying to do the same next door, but she was hampered by my bewildered father who has dementia. My daughter ran over to help.Eventually, we assembled a convoy of vehicles, packed to the brim and ready to move our three-generation family, our twice-evacuated friends and our assortment of pets. We worried about what it would be like if the people of greater Vernon got the order to evacuate, and all 66,000 of us tried to move out at once.Later that day, the cultural centre across the street decided to go ahead with its live outdoor concert. Like passengers on the Titanic, we sat on our ashy front steps and listened to the music. To our delight, the first rainstorm in weeks blew in to rescue us, and we jumped up to dance in the raindrops, accompanied by the happy whoops of the musicians over the loudspeakers.As a result of the rain, the evacuation alert was rescinded, at least for most of Vernon. However, the west side remained evacuated, with dozens of homes burned to the ground. I joined many other community members in volunteering to help with the registration of several thousand evacuees and their referral to emergency services.It’s good that the BC government looks after people’s basic needs: shelter, food, clothing, incidentals, but this doesn’t alleviate their misery. These were emotionally exhausted people: an elderly woman who longed for her home and garden; a man who had put his back out with the effort of moving house; a family who, in rescuing their grandmother with her oxygen tank, were forced to jettison most of their belongings. Saddest of all was a young family who broke down telling us about the mother dog with puppies that they had to abandon to the flames when fleeing the fire.In the cadet barracks on the south side of town, 250 soldiers were brought in to help us, and a camp was set up on the north side for 330 firefighters. A small group of locals have gathered at a spot on the highway to cheer them home each evening.How can Britain be committed to net zero when it’s about to drill for millions more barrels of oil? | Greg MuttittRead moreMy son, a 21-year-old firefighter, called. Since he was new to this, we had hoped they would put him to work digging ditches, but he was sent straight to the front, where he said it was like a war zone: helicopters buzzing, smoke thick, trees suddenly candling.My brother called. A fire researcher, he’s been making predictive models from satellite imagery for the firefighters. He was feeling anxious for us, as he could see that a second heatwave was on its way, to be followed by gusting winds that might stir up our fire again.Once again, we have been thrust into a period of uncertainty. What will happen to us and to other endangered communities to the north and east of our fire?A federal election has just been called in Canada. We desperately hope our region’s voters, given all that we have gone through, will send a strong protest vote to Ottawa, saying they must take the climate crisis seriously. The land around us is burning, the air is unbreathable, people in our community have become climate refugees. This is an existential threat. If not now, when?
Mary Stockdale is an adjunct professor in the Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies at the University of British Columbia
| 2021-08-31 |
This article is more than 5 months oldSunak’s plan for carbon capture is good news: he shouldn’t muddy it with party politicsThis article is more than 5 months oldSimon Jenkins | Consensus on tackling the climate crisis is what’s needed now – and direct action against CO2 must be the next move | null | For as long as the United Kingdom needs to use oil and gas, we should be making an effort to capture any resulting CO2 and store it. That clearly makes sense. It also makes sense to produce our own oil and gas, so we are less beholden to exporters (though of course ours, too, would be sold on the international markets).So far, so good for Rishi Sunak’s twofold announcement today in Scotland. But it would be helpful if he did not muddy these waters by using them to score political points against Labour in the run-up to an election campaign. What we desperately need now, as we confront the climate crisis, is agreement on a way forward. Bringing party politics into it will only hinder progress.Of course, critics are right to say that where we buy our energy should not deflect attention from the urgent need to reduce demand for fossil fuels. But that issue is one of constraining overall demand, not arguing over the source of supply. Preferring to use only ship-borne oil to avoid the supposed taint of dirtying our hands in the North Sea would be hypocrisy.Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a separate issue. Like power from nuclear fusion, it is one of those solutions to the climate crisis that has always been just over the horizon. But as academics such as Oxford’s Myles Allen and Edinburgh’s Stuart Haszeldine have long argued, unlike fusion, the issue is not one of science and technology. It is one of politics and money. Norway’s carbon capture operations in the North Sea have been running since 1996, and now store close to a million tonnes of CO2 every year. Denmark’s first full-scale carbon capture and storage project was launched this summer, also in the North Sea. There is nothing new in Sunak’s project other than it is British.Rishi Sunak says approving new licences for oil and gas drilling ‘entirely consistent’ with net zero plan – UK politics liveRead moreThis issue now is one of politics. Existing CCS currently reduces CO2 emissions by 0.1%. To meet net zero, it needs to rise to 10%. This requires a massive uplift of investment. At present, Sunak’s commitment to the current Acorn project appears to be minimal, particularly in comparison to the reportedly “unachievable” and energy-guzzling HS2. But CCS has one advantage: that it could be largely financed through the marketplace by imposing the cost not on taxpayers, but on polluters direct. According to Haszeldine, all emitters of CO2 should themselves fund the capture and storage of one tonne of the gas for every tonne they emit. He estimates this would add probably 15p a litre to the price of petrol. Everyone – producers and consumers – would play their part.It is known in the energy world that the big corporations are waiting to be ordered to embark on CCS by a government with the guts to do it. That is perhaps why they have been building up cash reserves to obscene levels. It has to be right that those who produce pollutants should also dispose of them. There is no pretending that this will be cheap. But efforts to reduce global emissions piecemeal are reportedly failing even to approach net zero. There are clearly limits to how far the rich world will transform its lifestyle. The next great battle has to be direct action against CO2. That this would cost money can hardly be an objection: this is a crisis, after all.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
| 2023-07-31 |
This article is more than 11 months oldFood, feed and fuel: global seaweed industry could reduce land needed for farming by 110m hectares, study findsThis article is more than 11 months old | Scientists identify parts of ocean suitable for seaweed cultivation and suggest it could constitute 10% of human diet to reduce impact of agriculture | ['Graham Readfearn', '@readfearn'] | An area of ocean almost the size of Australia could support commercial seaweed farming around the world, providing food for humans, feed supplements for cattle, and alternative fuels, according to new research.Seaweed farming is a nascent industry globally but the research says if it could grow to constitute 10% of human diets by 2050 it could reduce the amount of land needed for food by 110m hectares (272m acres) – an area twice the size of France.But the authors of the research said there are a range of potential negative impacts on marine life that will need to be balanced with the benefits of a global seaweed farming industry.The study looked at 34 seaweed species and where they could feasibly grow and then narrowed this down to places with calm enough waters and close enough to populations where farms could be established.Have we reached ‘peak meat’? Why one country is trying to limit its number of livestockRead moreAbout 650m hectares (1,606m acres) was identified as plausible for seaweed farming, with the largest areas in Indonesia and Australia which both have large ocean regions under their economic control.“Cultivating seaweeds for food, feed and fuel within even a fraction of the 650m hectares of suitable ocean could have profound benefits to land use, emissions reduction, water and fertiliser use,” the authors wrote.Scott Spillias, a researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia who led the study published in Nature Sustainability, said: “People around the world are looking at the ocean as this big ‘untapped’ resource and asking if we should be using more of it.”One of the biggest benefits, the study said, would be the cultivation and use of red Asparagopsis as a cattle feed supplement that has been shown to result in drastically lower methane emissions from cows. One supplement based on the seaweed reportedly went on commercial sale to farmers in Australia last year.The study suggested cuts to methane emissions from using Asparagopsis could save 2.6bn tonnes of CO2-equivalent a year by 2050 – about the same as the current greenhouse gas footprint of India.Spillias said introducing more seaweed into human diets could also deliver benefits. In parts of Asia, seaweed makes up 2% of diets, but scaling this up to 10% globally could spare 110m hectares of land currently used for growing food.“Basically this is just people eating more vegetables,” he said. “If we grow seaweed, the best thing to do is for people to eat it rather than feed it to livestock, but that’s going to need some big cultural shifts.”skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Afternoon UpdateFree daily newsletterOur Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThe hidden underwater forests that could help tackle the climate crisisRead moreThe nine authors, from Australia and Austria, said more work is needed to understand the costs and benefits of any boom in seaweed farming, but “the magnitude of potential benefits supports the notion that seaweed farming in the ocean can play a pivotal role in our response to global sustainability challenges.”A review in 2019 of the risks of expanding seaweed farming in Europe highlighted concerns farms could upset the balance of marine ecosystems and could alter the way water around coastlines moves.“Converting even a few million hectares means a huge amount of development,” Spillias said. “We are modifying habitats and introducing materials to places where we haven’t before.“A lot of seaweed farming now is using plastic ropes and nets and we know the impacts of plastic on the ocean. If this is done on a large scale we need to find better materials.”He said if there was a widescale push globally for seaweed farming, there could be social implications.“Marine industries do not have a great reputation on human rights and if we’re farming seaweed largely out of sight, then we need to think of the people in these industries and make sure they’re being fairly treated,” he said. | 2023-01-27 |
This article is more than 4 months oldUS behind more than a third of global oil and gas expansion plans, report findsThis article is more than 4 months old | Study highlights conflict between Washington’s claims of climate leadership and its fossil fuel growth plans | ['Fiona Harvey', ' Environment editor'] | The US accounts for more than a third of the expansion of global oil and gas production planned by mid-century, despite its claims of climate leadership, research has found.Canada and Russia have the next biggest expansion plans, calculated based on how much carbon dioxide is likely to be produced from new developments, followed by Iran, China and Brazil. The United Arab Emirates, which is to host the annual UN climate summit this year, Cop28 in Dubai in November, is seventh on the list.The data, in a report from the campaign group Oil Change International, also showed that five “global north countries” – the US, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK – will be responsible for just over half of all the planned expansion from new oil and gas fields to 2050.Greenhouse gas emissions from all of the oil and gas expansion that is planned in the next three decades would be more than enough to drive global temperatures well beyond the limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels that countries agreed in 2021 at Cop26 in Glasgow, the report found.The International Energy Agency warned in 2021 that no new oil and gas exploration and development could take place if the world was to stay within the 1.5C limit. But only a handful of countries with oil and gas reserves are forswearing new exploration and drilling.Romain Ioualalen, the global policy lead at Oil Change International and co-author of the report, said countries must call a halt to fossil fuel expansion. “It’s simple: when you are in a hole, the first step is to stop digging,” he said. “The climate crisis is global in nature, but is atrociously unjust. A handful of the world’s richest nations are risking our future by willingly ignoring the calls to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.”The report, titled Planet wreckers: how 20 countries’ oil and gas extraction plans risk locking in climate chaos, published on Tuesday, found that 20 countries were responsible for plans for new oil and gas developments by 2050 that would add about 173bn tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. That amount is the same as the lifetime emissions of 1,100 coal-fired power plants, or more than 30 years of the US’s annual emissions.By contrast, if countries were to forego bringing new oil and gas fields into production, the decline of existing fields would mean global oil and gas production would slow by about 2% a year from now to 2030, and 5% a year from 2030 to 2050.The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has stepped up calls for countries to get out of fossil fuels, warning of “moral and economic madness”, and has said fossil fuel interests have “humanity by the throat”. He will convene a conference of world leaders later this month in New York to try to elicit fresh commitments to tackle the climate crisis.He has told world leaders they will be allowed to participate in the summit, on the sidelines of the annual UN general assembly, only if they can show that they have clear implementation plans to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.The Guardian revealed at the weekend that Rishi Sunak, the UK prime minister, had been warned of the UN’s strict policy on whether leaders could participate before he took the highly unusual decision not to attend the UN general assembly.Sunak promised over the summer to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas operations in the North Sea, with scores of potential new licences.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Down to EarthFree weekly newsletterThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionTessa Khan, the executive director at the UK campaigning organisation Uplift, said: “We’re often told that the UK is a climate leader, but this research confirms that we’re now part of a tiny club of countries that are having an outsized role in driving the climate crisis. We know we cannot keep opening up new oil and gas fields if we want a habitable world, yet that is exactly what this government is doing.”She added: “Rishi Sunak needs to stop bowing to the demands of the fossil fuel companies, who continue to rake in obscene profits while millions of us cannot afford to heat our homes.”A spokesperson for the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “This report ignores the great strides we have taken in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Between 1990 and 2021, we cut emissions by 48% while growing our economy by 65% – decarbonising faster than any other G7 country.“Even in 2050, when we have reached net zero, it is estimated the UK may still be using a quarter of the gas we do now and, as well as strengthening our energy security, independent research has shown domestically produced gas is on average four times cleaner than imports.” | 2023-09-12 |
The Guardian view on switching off: in an always-on culture, we need time to thinkEditorial | Midwinter is for hibernation and the chance to make different kinds of connections | null | “Disconnect from the internet for at least two hours a day and treat your own thoughts like a garden through which you are strolling,” was the advice offered by the novelist Ian McEwan to younger writers after being made a Companion of Honour in December. The capacity to be curious about mental processes – while simultaneously experiencing them – is an important one for an author seeking to describe the human condition. But anyone who values self-awareness will be used to noticing how their mind works and wondering why.“Only connect” was the maxim of another famous novelist, EM Forster. Forster used the characters in his novels to put flesh on his arguments against the emotionally repressive code of the time. But McEwan’s recommendation to disconnect should not be understood as a repudiation of Forster’s humanism. He was not warning writers off paying attention to other people’s minds and ideas – but drawing attention to the need to spend time with our own. In a world of permanent connection, in which attention has been commodified, switching off and away from the outside world is arguably harder than ever before.Many of us are so attached to our phones and other devices that even a temporary separation provokes anxiety (though less so for those whose jobs are not screen-based, and whose communications are arguably better balanced as a result). The Guardian’s new series Reclaim Your Brain is a response to the growing frustration that many feel at the hold that smartphones have on our minds and happiness, and explores ways of resetting that relationship.But tuning out, whether for two hours or two weeks, is not only about defying the masters of the digital universe – or turning back the clock to a time before news was 24/7 and phones were video cameras. What is turned towards also counts. The long evenings of January, with a new year stretching ahead of us, can be a good time for introspection as well as the self-improvement that traditionally takes the form of resolutions such as diets and exercise plans.John Keats set out his theory of “negative capability” in a letter written in the middle of winter, after an evening walk with a friend. We cannot say whether the shortness of the day inspired the direction that the poet’s thoughts took that evening in 1817. But the state of not knowing that Keats believed artists should aspire to – the ability to be “in uncertainties, Mysteries and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact or reason” – seems more fitted to gloomy candlelight than blazing sunshine.Doing nothing can be boring. Being alone can be miserable. Far too many people in the UK this winter are experiencing severe material or social deprivation. To those whose lives are otherwise full – of activities, appointments, responsibilities, pleasures – a few weeks’ hibernation may be welcome. For many others, it is a more stimulating life, rather than a quieter, more secluded one, that is desired.But for others, this time of year is valuable for the sense of slowing down it brings; the chance to take stock either on one’s own or through talking with others. Looking ahead is one aspect of this. Another is looking back and inward; or not looking at all, but being in the moment with our hopes, mysteries and doubts. | 2024-01-06 |
Britain arrives at Cop27 in disarray over the climate – and the world’s leaders know itLucy Sherriff | After Johnson’s weak energy plan and Truss’s scepticism, we have Rishi Sunak, who didn’t even want to attend | null | “Unless we take urgent action, we will get 3C hotter,” Boris Johnson told the UN climate talks in 2020. “As a country … we must now act.” The former prime minister’s words were a rallying cry to galvanise the government into taking action on global heating.Johnson’s administration had been under heavy fire for its lacklustre approach to the climate crisis. But fast forward a year to Cop26, and not much had changed. Johnson’s appearance was criticised as much as his policies; he was described as “a clown” after comparing the climate emergency to James Bond wrestling with a ticking bomb. His comments were in keeping with the travelling circus act that he has been performing ever since he first entered politics – even the future of the world was a joke.The government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050 and its plan to phase out petrol-powered vehicles by 2035 were certainly a steer in the right direction. But Johnson’s pledges – and his words – proved meaningless.Long before he was ousted as Conservative leader, his energy security strategy fell flat; originally promised for March this year, it was delayed by weeks. The final product failed to deliver on the government’s original promises to confront rocketing energy bills and transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, Johnson promised investment in offshore windfarms and new nuclear plants, the benefits of which won’t be felt for years.In September, the UK missed its deadline to pay nearly $300m to the developing countries hit hardest by the climate crisis, from Honduras to Afghanistan to Ethiopia. The money was pledged at Cop26, where poorer nations, gripped by floods, droughts and rising sea levels, had called for $100bn of financial aid. The global south has been plagued by climate-induced disasters, the likes of which the western world has yet to experience. India, for example, has witnessed a climate-induced disaster almost every day so far this year.00:04:00Cop27: the climate carnage we've faced this year – videoBut it is these beleaguered countries that have been urged to halt their industrial development and switch to greener means in order to curb climate change, despite western powers’ prolific use of fossil fuels. After years of lecturing India, China, Indonesia and other members of the developing world about coal dependence, the UK – and Europe – is now turning to coal-powered generation to see it through the impending energy crisis caused by the Ukraine-Russia war. A blistering, shameful irony that only betrays how ill-prepared we really are for a clean energy future. And to add insult to injury, the government recently offered new licences to drill in the North Sea.The UK’s dire lack of action on the impending climate catastrophe has been compounded by a revolving door of prime ministers. Many breathed a sigh of relief when Liz Truss – who expressed scepticism about the ambitious action needed to meet net zero goals, wanted to suspend green levies and moved to overturn a ban on fracking, among various other climate faux pas – handed in her notice.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Down to EarthFree weekly newsletterThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionRishi Sunak badly misread the national mood, and now a Cop27 U-turn is looming | Gaby HinsliffRead moreAnd, perhaps most egregious of all, were the reports that Truss advised Prince Charles, a veteran campaigner on environmental issues so committed to the cause that he was once dismissed as a plant-talking oddball, to stay away from Cop27.Heading into Cop27, a new leader for the country could have heralded a fresh start. But Rishi Sunak’s initial decision not to attend this year’s talks because he was too focused on the domestic economy exposed exactly where the new government’s priorities lie. An insular approach to climate change is absolutely the wrong one. Turning inwards and focusing on self-interests is what got us here in the first place.Sadly, Sunak’s U-turn comes too late. We have already glimpsed behind the veil, along with the rest of the world. “It seems as if they are washing their hands of leadership,” remarked Belize’s ambassador to the UN, Carlos Fuller.The world will not forget the prime minister so publicly prioritising his home turf over the world’s most pressing issues. What the UK needs – what the world needs – is to turn ambition into action, and to pursue a global approach to tackling the crisis.It is now abundantly clear that we are not going to meet the 1.5C target for global heating agreed by western leaders with such conviction at the historic Paris climate talks in 2015. And, as David Attenborough said during his Cop26 speech, we have now reached a stage of “desperate hope”. Lucy Sherriff is a freelance journalist | 2022-11-06 |
Taronga and Melbourne zoos move to protect animals from foot-and-mouth disease | New biosecurity measures include suspension of walkthroughs in some enclosures and a request that recent travellers to Indonesia wait 48 hours before visiting
What is foot-and-mouth disease and what happens if it enters Australia?
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| ['Mostafa Rachwani', '@Rachwani91'] | Taronga and Melbourne zoos have introduced measures to protect their animals from the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that is threatening Australia.Although there have been no domestic cases reported yet, both zoos have implemented added biosecurity restrictions as precautionary measures amid the outbreak in Indonesia.The Taronga Conservation Society Australia, which runs Taronga Zoo and the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, said they have stopped allowing visitors to walk through the enclosures of animals which are at higher risk of exposure and visitors are wearing footwear covers in some areas.They said they are also reviewing their FMD plan to ensure it is aligned with the plan established by Ausvet, the national body for animal epidemiologists.“Across our two zoos Taronga has enacted stricter measures including the cessation of animal walkthroughs with animals at higher risk such as the deer and goat walkthroughs at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,” the Taronga Conservation Society said in a statement.“The wearing of footwear covers in some animal encounters will also be implemented. We are currently in the process of communicating this with our community.”Zoos Victoria said the risk of transmission to their animals was extremely low, but in an email to members they announced a series of protocol changes.People who have recently visited Indonesia are being asked to wait 48 hours before visiting the zoo, while those who live with any livestock – except horses – have been requested to avoid visiting altogether.
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A public pathway along a trail used by critically endangered Asian elephants to walk between paddocks has been blocked off to ensure the animals are not stepping in soil that could have been brought in from outside the zoo.Additionally, visitor encounters with giraffes, kangaroos, and elephants are temporarily unavailable.Foot-and-mouth disease: ‘biosecurity response zones’ set up at airports in Australian firstRead more“We have put in place some containment protocols to help ensure our animals are safe and that this risk remains low,” the email to zoo members said.Zoos Victoria said staff are also taking precautions to ensure animals are protected, and will be following the Department of Agriculture and Chief Veterinary Officer’s advice in the event of an outbreak.The federal opposition has intensified its calls to shut the border with Indonesia, but agriculture minister Murray Watt said such a move would damage Australia’s agricultural reputation, especially as evidence suggests existing biosecurity measures are doing their job.On Monday, opposition leader Peter Dutton said the government was “playing with a loaded gun”, suggesting that if the virus were to reach Australia, hundreds of thousands of livestock would be slaughtered, forcing the price of meat “through the roof.”There have been no detections of the live virus in Australia, but viral fragments have been detected. Biosecurity response zones were set up Australian airports last week.The government has also ordered the checking of parcels arriving from China and Indonesia as part of the response to the virus.While the disease is not dangerous to humans, if an outbreak were to occur, a 72-hour stand still for all livestock movements in Australia would have to be implemented, amid a significant biosecurity containment response. | 2022-07-26 |
Are debt-for-nature swaps the way forward for conservation? | Agreements to reduce developing countries’ debt burden in exchange for spending on nature will be on the agenda at a finance summit in Paris this week | ['The age of extinction is supported by', 'About this content', 'Patrick Greenfield', '@pgreenfielduk'] | After decades in the wilderness, and familiar to only those in the know, “debt-for-nature swaps” are becoming one of the hottest things in conservation finance. Last month, Ecuador struck the biggest deal of its kind: refinancing $1.6bn (£1.3bn) of its commercial debt at a discount in exchange for a consistent revenue stream for conservation around the Galápagos Islands.Other nature-rich countries that are struggling to pay their debts have taken notice and deals are rumoured in Gabon and Sri Lanka. The market for debt-for-nature swaps is poised to exceed $800bn, according to Bloomberg, prompting fierce competition between banks as demand for green investments increases.The ‘father of biodiversity’ Dr Thomas Lovejoy, in 2005. He had the original idea behind debt-for-nature swaps. Photograph: Dallas Kilponen/SMH/Getty ImagesDebt-for-nature swaps mean reducing a developing country’s debt burden in exchange for guaranteed finance for nature. Supporters of the concept – which has its roots in the 1980s debt crisis and an idea from the late “father of biodiversity”, Thomas Lovejoy – say it is a win-win for financiers, countries and conservationists.This week, the subject will be on the agenda at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, spearheaded by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. Barbados entered into its own $150m debt-for-nature deal in 2021.“The world is facing a biodiversity, climate and debt crisis, which is even more pronounced in the developing world,” says Slav Gatchev, managing director of sustainable debt for the Nature Conservancy (TNC), which is often involved in facilitating deals.“There is an overlap between biodiversity hotspots in the tropics and excessive levels of debt,” he says. “Typically, countries approach us because they’ve seen that these deals can be done at scale.As debtor nations cut back on government spending, programmes for protecting natural resources are among the first to goThomas Lovejoy“You can move the needle in terms of financial pinch points, resolving liquidity constraints before they become solvency problems and, because of our role as a conservation organisation, we can be an honest broker when it comes to implementing these programmes on the ground.”But detractors of the deals warn of greenwashing, and have criticised agreements in which banks often take large fees with comparatively small amounts going to conservation.In a note to investors in January, Barclays questioned the green credentials of debt-for-nature swaps – often sold as ESG (environmental, social and governance) investments – because only a small fraction of the deal size ends up with conservation. This claim is strongly disputed by the banks involved.Separately, Daniel Ortega Pacheco, a former Ecuadorian environment minister, is concerned about the potential implications of the agreements for sovereignty. Last month’s Galápagos agreement requires Ecuador to provide about $18m a year to conserve waters near the islands, mostly for a new Hermandad marine reserve that hosts whale sharks, blue whales and leatherback turtles.“When you take a closer look at nature-for-debt swaps, Moody’s actually says they count as a default. [A deal] might prejudice developing countries in the long term and there are restrictions on how the money can be spent. Even after the second world war, Germany was free to decide where to invest,” he says.The concerns are echoed by Katie Kedward, a UCL research fellow, who says the agreements do not go far enough. “The pandemic has brought debt restructuring back into the conversation. In terms of sovereign debt burdens, those constraints are preventing countries from investing in conservation and adaptation to the increased risks of climate change.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Global DispatchFree newsletterGet a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development teamEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionA hawksbill sea turtle on the Belize barrier reef. Photograph: Minden Pictures/Alamy“I would argue that we need to go further and look at debt forgiveness. I am hugely sceptical about how debt-for-nature swaps are being implemented in practice,” she says.Gatchev says these concerns are unfounded, pointing to case studies by TNC of deals in Belize and Barbados, which he says show that the benefit accrues to the countries. The deals are specific to the requirements of each country and try to anticipate potential problems. The Belize agreement includes natural disaster insurance, intended to avoid the scenario where the country is forced to pay for conservation instead of rebuilding after a hurricane.The reasons for entering the agreements bear striking parallels to the arguments of Lovejoy in 1984, when the idea was first developed.Experts call for ‘loss and damage’ fund for nature in developing worldRead more“As debtor nations cut back on government spending, programmes for protecting natural resources are among the first to go,” Lovejoy wrote in the New York Times at the time. “Costa Rica’s superb national park system cannot be staffed or enlarged without private donations from outside the country.“Brazil’s equivalent of the Environmental Protection Agency can do little more than pay the salaries of its employees; when fires recently broke out in its national park system, there were few guards around to fight them,” he said.In Paris, Mia Mottley’s Bridgetown agenda will attempt to reform global finance for the environmental crises of the modern age. For some, the nature-for-debt swap is part of the answer.Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | 2023-06-21 |
Climate protesters gather in person and online for Fridays for Future | Campaigners target Standard Chartered, urging bank to stop funding coal in emerging markets | ['Robyn Vinter', '@robynvinter'] | Climate protesters from as many as 60 countries have gathered in person and online for Fridays for Future, a movement created by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.Campaigners raised local issues alongside the globally co-ordinated campaign #cleanupStandardChartered, which calls on the London-headquartered Standard Chartered to divest from coal in emerging markets.Activist dives for global climate strike in first underwater protest for the planet – videoThe action follows a letter activists wrote last month to the Standard Chartered chief executive, Bill Winters, calling for the FTSE100 bank to stop funding coal.It said: “Standard Chartered is still one of the world’s largest coal-financing banks, fuelling the climate crisis.“Mr Winters, funding destruction, killing the planet, and contributing to the death of its inhabitants must stop.”Thunberg also tweeted a link to the campaign, claiming the bank had lent $24bn to coal, oil, and gas businesses since the Paris agreement on climate was signed in 2016.In the Philippines, where Standard Chartered is the biggest funder of the coal industry, activists stood outside the bank’s headquarters with banners and placards.Maths graduate and full-time activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan was part of a group that handed over a giant cheque to symbolise the amount of money the bank had lent to the coal industry in the country, which they said was $674m.She said: “Put simply, we need immediate action because the climate crisis is here and it’s only going to get worse. And we need to choose the people and the planet over profits.“That’s all we’re asking for that we listen to the science that we prioritise people because this is a matter of life and death. The climate crisis is already here.”In the UK, student activist Dominique Palmer was part of a group that protested outside the University of Birmingham and Birmingham city council calling for divestment from fossil fuels. She also took part in online activism as part of the #cleanupStandardChartered campaign, using social platforms to boost the voices of people in other parts of the world who are more directly affected by the climate crisis.Activist on hunger strike in Canada calls on government to halt loggingRead morePalmer said: “It’s so important that on this side of the world we’re also getting involved in helping pressure, and you know also helping platform, the voices of people who have already been directly impacted by it, so that’s why we’re taking action over here.”Climate activists are increasingly targeting banks. Environmental campaigners put Barclays and HSBC under pressure last year and both banks have agreed to discuss divesting from fossil fuels.A Standard Chartered spokesperson said: “We have made major strides in our coal policy over the past few years. We continue to review our positions in light of stakeholder feedback and intend to remain leaders in articulating a path to net zero by 2050. We are committed to detailed transparency on our transition strategy and plan to put it to a shareholder advisory vote in 2022.“Our position regarding coal is that we will not provide financial services directly toward new coal-fired power plant projects in any location. We will not provide financial services directly toward any coal-fired power plant expansions, retrofits or dedicated infrastructure.” | 2018-03-09 |
There's a simple way to make our cities greener – without a wrecking ballPhineas Harper | Architecture’s top prize has been awarded to a design duo who could show Britain how to bring its emissions under control | null | This week the highest honour in the architecture world was awarded to a pair of Parisian designers better known for revitalising existing buildings than creating new ones. The Pritzker prize, which includes a $100,000 jackpot, went to Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, whose most impressive projects – the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, upgrading three social housing blocks in Bordeaux, and the extension of a Dunkirk warehouse to form an arts complex – are all refurbishments.It’s the first time in the award’s 46-year history that retrofitting, the practice of upgrading buildings rather than knocking them down to start again, has triumphed. Lacaton & Vassal’s victory has shaken up the architectural profession and signals a remarkable shift in priorities among the world’s best city-makers. If embraced more widely, this could transform how buildings everywhere are regenerated.Architecture is typically obsessed with newness. A seemingly endless parade of industry awards shower gleaming new buildings with plaudits and praise. Like contemporary art, architecture thrives on the idea of originality, devaluing work that seems derivative. This thirst for novelty produces some innovative buildings, but it also results in numerous shiny baubles that appear principally designed for Instagram feeds.The humble and unphotogenic work of refurbishing, repairing, maintaining and upgrading existing buildings is rarely celebrated among city-making professionals. Despite campaigns to foreground refurbishment from the Architects’ Journal and others, awards routinely go to new buildings of questionable merit, even while older outstanding estates and community facilities are neglected.Far too often, precious buildings that serve valuable community roles have been demolished, such as Sheffield’s Hyde Park estate realised under city architect John Lewis Womersley, and Owen Luder and Rodney Gordon’s 1966 Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth, both of which lost battles against demolition proposals with disastrous environmental consequences.Building is one of the most polluting activities in the UK economy. The vast majority of the emissions it causes come from a combination of heating existing buildings and the energy expended in demolitions and new construction. At present, the sector emits the equivalent of 186 megatons of carbon dioxide a year. According to the UK Green Building Council, to meet Britain’s obligations under the 2008 Climate Change Act that level needs to more than halve by 2025, and halve again by 2050 – an enormous challenge for a notoriously slow-moving industry.Part of what makes this particularly difficult is that constructing almost anything requires vast amounts of energy. While new buildings can now be made very energy-efficient, the materials and processes required to construct them in the first place generate such high emissions that the net impact of new buildings is often arguably worse than building nothing at all. It’s a carbon catch-22 – existing British buildings are not energy-efficient enough to be sustainable, but knocking them down and erecting new ones will also emit more carbon than we can afford.Lacaton & Vassal’s Pritzker win hints at a solution. The key to bringing the environmental impact of architecture in line with planetary limits is to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings while radically reducing new construction. In other words: less demolition, more refurbishment.Yet despite the ecological merits of refurbishment, many British local authorities consistently back demolition-led strategies (bizarrely, new construction is VAT exempt, while retrofitting is not). Councils often favour knocking down entire neighbourhoods and rebuilding them from scratch, rather than upgrading existing architecture. In Liverpool, for instance, the controversial housing market renewal initiative famously saw hundreds of good-quality terrace houses flattened to make way for development.Although it is endemic in the UK, this enormously inefficient and highly polluting model is exactly the kind of shortsighted practice that Lacaton & Vassal, with fellow French architect Frédéric Druot, attacked in their 2007 manifesto, Plus. In Plus, the designers condemned demolition-led architecture, declaring “Never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform, and reuse!”.This rallying cry is diametrically opposed to most British regeneration projects. For instance, rather than transforming and reusing its 1974 Central Library, Birmingham city council spent £200m building a new library and knocking down the adjacent original in 2013. The project was so costly that two years later, the city’s glamorous new library was forced to cut its opening hours and staff by almost half.The central case study of Plus is Lacaton & Vassal’s own refurbishment of a 1960s residential tower on Boulevard du Bois le Prêtre in Paris. The 96-apartment building had been badly reclad in the 1990s, and the municipality was poised to knock the tower down. The architects proposed keeping the building and using the money that would have been spent to fund its demolition and reconstruction on bolting prefabricated winter gardens to its facades instead.The resulting building provided every resident with more indoor space, huge new windows and generous balconies. It cost 62% less than a demolition-led approach would have done. The revitalised tower now runs on 60% less energy; overall, the refurbishment required 74% less energy than what would have been used in demolishing and rebuilding the block.Embracing Lacaton & Vassal’s anti-demolition tactics wouldn’t just cut emissions, it would safeguard communities and heritage too. The making of new buildings is often called “regeneration” but frequently couldn’t be further from it. Demolishing existing buildings often splits up communities that have taken generations to form. Frequently, the new facilities regeneration brings simply replace older facilities that degenerated through underfunding or were closed or relocated in preceding decades.Far better would be a Lacaton & Vassal-style strategy of maintaining and enhancing buildings. Imagine, for instance, if in the London borough of Lambeth, where the council is planning to knock down Rosemary Stjernstedt’s 450-home Central Hill Estate (one of Britain’s few modern masterpieces designed by a female architect), a refurbishment-led approach were chosen instead of outright demolition. Families wouldn’t be displaced, buildings could be upgraded efficiently, carbon emissions would fall dramatically.Lacaton & Vassal’s generous green refurbishments, now venerated by the profession’s highest award, are a lesson in how we could bring British architecture’s carbon emissions under control and protect communities from the wrecking ball. Less demolition. Less new construction. Epic world-class retrofitting instead.
Phineas Harper is director of charity Open City whose new Stewardship Awards celebrate urban care of buildings, infrastructure and open spaces
This article was amended on 24 March 2021 to correctly refer to obligations “under the 2008 Climate Change Act”, rather than “under the 2008 Paris agreement” as an earlier version said. | 2018-07-18 |
Can we enjoy fast fashion without destroying the planet? | The global fashion industry is in desperate need of an ecological plan, but London fashion week proved there still isn’t one – yet
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| ['Lucy Siegle'] | This piece first appeared in Down to Earth, the Guardian’s climate crisis newsletter. Sign up here to read more exclusive pieces like this and for a digest of the week’s biggest environment stories every ThursdaySign up to Down to Earth, our exclusive weekly newsletter from our top climate crisis correspondents.How do you solve a problem like the global fashion industry? From the declining lifespan of clothes to the lightning metabolism of fashion consumerism and the increased reliance on petroleum-based synthetic fibres, this is one industry desperate for an ecological plan.London fashion week – which ended this week – showed there still isn’t one. Coverage was dominated by the launch of a new collection from one of the fastest models of production and e-retail, Pretty Little Thing, owned by the Boohoo group. It didn’t seem to matter that this show was not officially part of fashion week – it had all the ingredients of a smash hit, including a social media superstar turned creative director, Molly-Mae Hague. And, in something of a plot twist, alongside the brand’s runway show came the announcement that it will launch a pre-owned resale marketplace later this year “in a bid to encourage its shoppers to embrace sustainability”.Of course reselling, reusing and extending the lifespan of garments is critical in the fight to bring some sanity into the fashion cycle. But to push out more fast fashion and then recirculate it later seems like the fashion equivalent of carbon capture storage. It may help soothe investors, but it is unlikely to decarbonise fashion.Room for rentMeanwhile, around the same time as PLT’s announcement a genuinely important fashion industry innovator – rental platform Onloan – announced that it was pressing pause, leaving a gap in the sustainable fashion ecosystem.Fashion rental platforms all have slightly different business models. Byrotation is a peer to peer lending app, charging a borrower per loan and taking a percentage from lender and renter. There’s MyWardrobe – from former Whistles CEO Jane Shepherdson, who has said she wants renting clothes to be as commonplace as renting a car; HURR, who have teamed up with Selfridges and Hirestreet, which aims to take things mainstream, providing rental for M&S.Onloan, meanwhile, offered a subscription model. Users could rent two or four pieces a month for £69 or £99. Unusually, the company bought and held stock. For co-founder Tamsin Chislett, who has a background running a fairtrade cotton project in Uganda, this is key to re-engineering the industry. “The fashion supply chain is riven with underpayment. For us it was important to pay for actual, finished garments to allow the manufacturing part of the supply chain to work,” she says.Onloan was prepared to invest in buying wholesale, offering a royalty fee every time the piece was rented and winning the trust and partnership of prestigious yet traditional designers, such as Joseph. The theory is that getting access to these brands at a fraction of the cost is part of the alchemy that can turn consumers to renters and take the heat (and carbon) out of the system.‘Risky’ businessNot everyone is convinced, though. In particular, a report published in May 2021 by respected Finnish academics put the boot in, concluding that renting clothes was less green than other options, including throwing them away. It got a lot of coverage, including in the Guardian. Not a good day for rental.But there were flaws in that study, beginning with the fact that researchers assessed the impact of renting a pair of jeans, which are rarely borrowed from such platforms. Moreover, assumptions made on logistics and garment care (the study factors in high use of dry cleaning) were not representative of the way the business works either, with many companies using new, low-impact technology.Fashion rental entrepreneurs believe they are getting to the point when they’ll soon have the data to prove that renting is the more sustainable option. But blunt analysis also fails to recognise the really big win that platforms like Onloan have achieved. They have changed the way people think about pre-worn clothes. The stigma is disappearing (something brands like PLT are no doubt fully aware of and keen to capitalise on).But, in the end, it wasn’t an unfavourable study or even the global pandemic that did for Onloan. It was a quirk of HMRC’s tax breaks for investors in ‘risky’ startups. In effect, these exclude models that hold stock, deterring investors from Onloan’s models. (As Chislett puts it, “you want to disrupt the fashion system to make it sustainable, not to fit in with HMRC’s plans to have investors pay less tax”).And so we must say goodbye to Onloan: we shall miss you from the sustainable fashion ecosystem, but we should not forget you. | 2022-02-25 |
Anti-logging protest becomes Canada’s biggest ever act of civil disobedience | At least 866 arrested since April, as police condemned for violence against protesters defending Vancouver Island’s ancient forests | ['Supported by', 'About this content', 'Jen Osborne in Fairy Creek and ', 'Leyland Cecco', ' in Toronto'] | A string of protests against old-growth logging in western Canada have become the biggest act of civil disobedience in the country’s history, with the arrest of least 866 people since April.The bitter fight over the future of Vancouver Island’s diminishing ancient forests – in which activists used guerrilla methods of resistance such as locking their bodies to the logging road and police responded by beating, dragging and pepper-spraying demonstrators – has surpassed the previous record of arrests set in the 1990s at the anti-logging protests dubbed the “War in the Woods”.‘War in the woods’: hundreds of anti-logging protesters arrested in CanadaRead moreFor months, hundreds of activists with the Rainforest Flying Squad have camped out in the remote Fairy Creek watershed in a desperate attempt to shift the course of logging in the region.They have chained themselves to tripods crafted from logs, suspended themselves in trees and even locked their arms inside devices called “sleeping dragons” cemented into the ground.“We have experts in rigging, we have climbers, we have carpenters – we have all these people getting together to build amazing, beautiful things,” said Jean-François Savard, who has been at the camp since the injunction was granted to a logging company in April. “The [police] are getting very frustrated by our tenacity because we’re constantly rebuilding and coming up with new ideas. People aren’t giving up.”Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been tasked with enforcing the injunction, but have increasingly faced sharp criticism for their tactics and use of force, including ripping off protesters masks to pepper-spray them and dragging them by their hair.Police have also come under fire for wearing “thin blue line” patches, obscuring their faces, not wearing name badges – and for their attempts to bar media from reporting on the long-running protests. Last month, a British Columbia supreme court judge ruled that the police force’s expulsions zones – set up to prevent media from entering certain areas of the injunction area to monitor police action – were unlawful.The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment, but Sgt Chris Manseau has previously told reporters that while police action is dictated by the actions of demonstrators and social media doesn’t show the entirety of events, a review of police action is likely.“The more violent the RCMP are, the more it radicalizes younger people. We have teenagers who are getting arrested, who are risking their lives,” said Pia Massie, who was also present at the blockages at Clayoquot Sound in 1993. “As mom, it’s very, very scary. And that’s why I keep coming back – to try to counsel people, to try to protect people.”Other veterans of the War in the Woods say the current police conduct has been “utterly disgusting”.“At Clayoquot, the relationship between us and the RCMP was almost cordial. They did their job, we did ours,” said Warren Kimmit. “That was the way policing should happen. There’s no question there’s nothing to be gained by the violence that’s happening here. And that violence is just increasing as they become frustrated with our ability to lock the road down.”At stake for the activists are swaths of old growth forest on the south-western watersheds of Vancouver Island. These trees – towering western red cedar, Douglas fir and Sitka spruce – are often hundreds of years old, and are the few remaining pockets of original old growth forest. Most have been logged.Activists have camped out in the Fairy Creek watershed in an attempt to shift the course of logging in the region. Photograph: Jen OsborneWhile the blockades have made headlines and figured into the country’s national election, they have also exposed both the legacy of old growth logging in a vulnerable ecosystem and the complex politics of the region, where a number of local First Nations receive royalties from logging operations.The Pacheedaht elected council has a revenue sharing agreement with the logging company Teal-Jones Group and have repeatedly asked demonstrators to leave the area and to respect the sovereignty of the nation.“We do not welcome or support unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our Territory, including third-party activism,” hereditary chief Frank Queesto Jones said in a letter from April.Queesto Jones and fellow chief councillor Jeff Jones say the nation has grown worried about the “increasing polarization” over forestry activities and the anti-old growth logging movement.But Pacheedaht elder Bill Jones, who has previously alleged that Frank Jones was not a true hereditary chief and did not represent the will of the nation, has become a key figure in the blockades.“We’re surprised at the RCMP’s determination to crush us. We all come to the conclusion that it’s not just us they’re wanting to crush – they want to protect the economic and regulatory process that the Canadian government uses to get what they want off the land, under the directions of the large corporations,” said Jones.Photography campaign shows the grim aftermath of logging in Canada's fragile forestsRead moreIn June, the province of British Columbia and Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations announced a two-year moratorium on cutting, a deal that protesters rejected, pointing out that other areas – the Caycuse and Walbran valleys – are slated for logging.But those at the camps believe the confrontations at the blockades only underscore the stakes and the need for swift action to protect the few remaining stands of forest.“The civil disobedience movement is very simple. We put our bodies on the line, we almost expect to be injured, we expect to be in a very uncomfortable situation,” said Warren Kimmit. “Our willingness to do that is what causes the public to see our commitment to a cause, to rally them and to put pressure on the government to act.” | 2021-09-10 |
This article is more than 3 months oldThreats to Germany’s climate campaigners fuelled by politicians’ rhetoric, says activistThis article is more than 3 months old | Luisa Neubauer, of Fridays for Future, cites language used by the chancellor amid protest crackdown
Human rights experts warn against European crackdown on climate protesters
How criminalisation is being used to silence climate activists across the world
| ['Ajit Niranjan'] | Severe policing and “scary” political rhetoric is fuelling abuse against climate activists, Germany’s best-known environmentalist has said.“It’s not a shift any more, it’s a slide,” said Luisa Neubauer, from the German branch of Fridays for Future, the protest movement that grew out of Greta Thunberg’s school strikes. “There’s an increase in hate language, there’s an increase in threats, and the threats are getting more concrete. So they’re not saying any more ‘I hate you’ but they’re saying ‘We should come to your place, we should go get you.’”Germany has increasingly cracked down on climate protests as they have grown more disruptive, with police using laws designed to fight organised crime to tap phones, raid homes, freeze bank accounts and place activists in preventive detention. In September, the human rights group Amnesty International added Germany to a list of countries where the state was restricting the public’s right to protest.“The shift that we’re seeing – the sliding of societal normality – that is not just something that has to do with laws and police presence,” said Neubauer. “This is something to do with rhetoric that has been taken over in almost the entire democratic party spectrum in Germany.”A government spokesperson said Amnesty was wrong to include Germany in its map and that protest was always possible, but must be within the framework of the law. They said: “From our point of view, engagement in climate protection should unite us as a society, not divide us.”Activists argue it is the increasingly extreme rhetoric from mainstream political parties that is doing just that.Senior politicians in Germany have compared Last Generation, a nonviolent protest group that has blockaded motorways and thrown paint on glass-covered artworks, to terrorist organisations such as the Red Army Faction, a far-left group that killed dozens of people in the 1970s and 80s. Earlier this year, in tweets that have since been deleted, politicians from the centre-left and centre-right parties drew links between Last Generation and the Taliban.The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has described the protests as “completely idiotic”, appeared to compare climate activists to Nazis last year after two people disrupted a panel at which he was speaking in Stuttgart. “Let me say frankly, these black-clad spectacles at different events, always by the same people, remind me of a time that lies long in the past – and thank God for that,” he said, to loud applause.Scholz and his team denied he was referring to the Nazis in interviews and press conferences over the days that followed, but refused to say which other black-clad group from history he could have meant. When asked again by the Guardian whom Scholz had meant, the government spokesperson referred to a previous statement from a colleague who had said “the chancellor’s comments stand for themselves”.Neubauer, who criticised Scholz’s comparison at the time, said his language had changed the way people saw activists. “He is the leader of the country. People read his remarks … and suddenly feel a complete new ownership, accusing me and making threats against activists like me and others,” she said.A member of Neubauer’s security detail agreed with her assessment that threats against her had grown more common and concrete. The security guard shared an internal report compiled the week after the event in Stuttgart that documented “very many hate comments”, some violent and threatening, in particular under articles about Scholz. “There were often comments that Scholz was right and they [climate activists] were like the ‘Sturmabteilung’, ‘fascists’ or ‘climate terrorists’,” the report found.The threats have grown to a point where Neubauer, a 27-year-old geography student, goes to lectures with a bodyguard. She said she had to decline a recent request to sign an open letter in support of asylum seekers “because I knew that weekend my security guards were on a break”.The hate is “99.9% from men”, she added. “They had websites open where people would fantasise about how best to rape me.”Climate activists at a Fridays for Future demonstration last month at the, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. Photograph: Marten Ronneburg/NurPhoto/ShutterstockThere was a broad swell of support in Germany for the climate movement in 2019 as Fridays for Future protests sprang up across the country. But public opinion has soured as protesters from Last Generation, who want to raise the level of urgency and put more pressure on politicians, have turned to disruptive stunts that are more likely to grab headlines and get people talking about the climate crisis.A study from More in Common, a nonprofit pushing for social cohesion, found that general support for the climate movement in Germany has fallen from 68% to 34% in the last two years. The share of people who agreed that the climate movement has “the wellbeing of all of society in mind” fell from 60% to 25%.Neubauer said there were initially lively debates within Fridays for Future about how closely to align with Last Generation, “but now after one and a half years with nothing but a political backlash this is really changing. People are worried there’s no strategy to counter the backlash.”skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Headlines EuropeFree newsletterA digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week dayEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionActivists from both groups say they have grown frustrated with the slow pace of change and the government’s lack of respect for its own climate legislation.In 2021, Germany’s top court declared the country’s climate law “partly unconstitutional” after Neubauer and other activists argued it violated their human rights. The government strengthened the law with tougher targets for each sector of the economy. Ministers were ordered to come up with an “immediate action plan” if they failed to meet their targets.How Germany, France and Italy compare on net zero emission targetsRead moreBut since then, sectors such as transport and buildings have seen little consequence for failing to cut pollution as fast as the law requires. The government’s scientific watchdog declared the transport minister’s latest action plan too weak to qualify for a full analysis, while the environment agency said its planned measures would “barely” narrow the gap between projected emissions and targets.In June, after pressure from the Free Democrat party that controls the transport ministry, the cabinet agreed to scrap the sectoral targets from its climate law altogether.Neubauer said: “I think we will look back and they will look back and we’re going to be deeply ashamed about what is happening right now – and how we see democracies under fire from the right, but also from the climate crisis.”The government spokesperson said climate protection was a top priority for the federal government, and the goal of climate neutrality by 2045 was more important than ever. “Climate protection efforts are successful when society and the state work together. We all bear responsibility for our environment. The young generation in particular has high expectations of politics for good reasons.”The spokesperson listed several measures the government was taking to cut emissions, but did not address its failure to meet targets set out in its climate law.“Honestly, right now, I don’t know where this is going to end,” said Neubauer. “Because activists are getting more frustrated, for all the good reasons, society is getting more aggressive for their reasons, and the police are standing inbetween, but clearly taking the side of those who are attacking activists … And our politicians pretend they have nothing to do with that. That’s so cruel.” | 2023-10-12 |
This article is more than 5 months old‘Misunderstood’ red-bellied piranhas go on display at Chester zooThis article is more than 5 months old | Despite fearsome reputation, fish prefers scavenging to hunting and swims in shoals for protection, say experts | ['Morgan Ofori'] | Forty red-bellied piranhas have made their debut at Chester zoo in a move aquarists say they hope will help to rehabilitate the fish's name away from its fearsome reputation.People associate piranhas with viciously attacking unsuspecting prey, as depicted in numerous blockbuster movies, but experts say they prefer to scavenge for food rather than hunt.It is the first time fish specialists have cared for the species at the zoo in more than 30 years.The aquarium team manager, Hannah Thomas, said piranhas were “very much misunderstood”.“They are meat-eaters with sharp teeth that sometimes nip the fins and tails of other fish,” she said. “But a good portion of their diet comes from hoovering up bits of dead flesh and dead fish found in rivers, as well as insects and various plant materials.”She said they played an important role in maintaining the balance of aquatic ecosystems and that other species would be unable to thrive without them.“Red-bellied piranhas can often be seen swimming in shoals, but this has little to do with coordinated hunting and is a lot more to do with self-defence. Piranhas often fall victim to larger fish, birds, caimans and Amazon river dolphins so, like many animals, they huddle together for protection,” Thomas said.The piranhas, which are native to South America, can now be found inside the zoo’s Spirit of the Jaguar habitat in a special Latin American tank, connecting visitors with the underwater world of the Amazon.The move is part of the zoo’s commitment to a 10-year conservation plan, which by 2031 aims to reverse the decline of 200 threatened populations of species in the wild.Chester zoo is home to 3,000 species globally, including 140 international animal conservation breeding programmes, which are ensuring the survival of species on the brink of extinction.It works with a range of partners in more than 20 countries to recover threatened wildlife and restore habitats, including orangutans in Bornean rainforests, elephants and tigers in Indian grasslands, lemurs and frogs in Malagasy forests, rare fish in Mexican lakes and a host of UK species.It is hoped that closer monitoring of the piranhas will sustain them in their role as natural balancers in the wild.“They’re a very special species and we as a team are feeling privileged to be able to start caring for them here in Chester and discovering more about them,” Thomas said. | 2023-07-28 |
This article is more than 8 months old‘Like a dam breaking’: experts hail decision to let US climate lawsuits advanceThis article is more than 8 months old | Cities bringing climate litigation against oil majors welcome US supreme court’s decision to rebuff appeal to move cases to federal courts | ['Hilary Beaumont'] | The decision, climate experts and advocates said, felt “like a dam breaking” after years of legal delays to the growing wave of climate lawsuits facing major oil companies.Without weighing in on the merits of the cases, the supreme court on Monday rebuffed an appeal by major oil companies that want to face the litigation in federal courts, rather than in state courts, which are seen as more favorable to plaintiffs.ExxonMobil Corp, Suncor Energy Inc and Chevron Corp had asked for the change of venue in lawsuits by the state of Rhode Island and municipalities in Colorado, Maryland, California and Hawaii.‘Appalling’ Earth Day greenwashing must not detract from message, says protest founderRead moreSix years have passed since the first climate cases were filed in the US, and courts have not yet heard the merits of the cases as fossil fuel companies have succeeded in delaying them. In March, the Biden administration had argued that the cases belonged in state court, marking a reversal of the position taken by the Trump administration when the supreme court last considered the issue.The Rhode Island attorney general, Peter Neronha, said his state was now finally preparing for trial after “nearly half a decade of delay tactics” by the industry. A joint statement from the California cities of Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Richmond and Marin county said the oil companies knew the dangers of fossil fuels but “deceived and failed to warn consumers about it even as they carried on pocketing trillions of dollars in profits”.The cases have been compared to tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s that resulted in a settlement of more than $200bn and changed how cigarettes are advertised and sold in the US.“It was a really amazing feeling to see that the supreme court was ruling in a very logical way by continuing with the unanimous decisions that have been made in the previous courts to not [grant petitions for review] and to allow these cases to move forward,” said Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation.“It removes this dam that industry has been building to prevent these cases from being heard on their merits,” she said. “We can finally have the real conversations about what the industry knew and what their actions were despite that knowledge.”She hopes communities will have the chance to speak in court about the climate emergencies they are experiencing as a result of the industry’s actions.As jurisdictional battles have dragged on, climate emergencies have added up.The Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City, Colorado. Photograph: Ted Wood/The GuardianThe Colorado case was filed in 2018. In 2021, the state saw the Marshall fire, the most destructive wildfire in its history, which killed two people, destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and businesses, contaminated drinking water and amounted to billions in damages.“There’s real impacts that are happening now, and that’s why it’s so important for these cases to have the opportunity to be heard, and have a chance for justice,” Merner said.The cases allege fossil fuel companies exacerbated climate change by concealing and misrepresenting the dangers associated with burning fossil fuels. The lawsuits say the companies created a public and private nuisance and violated state consumer protection laws by producing and selling fossil fuels despite knowing the products would cause devastating climate emergencies, including melting ice caps, dramatic sea level rise, and extreme precipitation and drought. Local governments are seeking damages for the billions of dollars they have paid for climate mitigation and adaptation.The oil companies have denied the allegations.Financial accountability“We were all pretty excited. It feels like justice might be possible,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said after reading the decision on Monday.“There’s clearly trillions of dollars of damages in the US alone from climate change that has to be dealt with.”skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Down to EarthFree weekly newsletterThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialEnter your email address Enter your email address Sign upPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThe plaintiffs aren’t suing the companies to put them out of business, but the cases could ultimately affect the industry’s bottom line.If the lawsuits are successful, they could limit the fossil fuel industry’s ability to greenwash and lie to consumers, Merner said. Rulings against the companies could also reinforce banking industry concerns that fossil fuels are a risky investment.In state court, fossil fuel companies will attempt to have the cases dismissed.The Chevron attorney Theodore Boutrous said in a statement he was confident the cases would be dismissed, arguing that climate change requires a coordinated federal response, “not a disjointed patchwork” of actions from numerous state courts. “These wasteful lawsuits in state courts will do nothing to advance global climate solutions, nothing to reduce emissions and nothing to address climate-related impacts,” he said.“I don’t think there’s any reason for that confidence yet,” said Korey Silverman-Roati, climate law fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, in response to Boutrous.There’s a growing number of lawsuits. And I imagine after today, that will continueDelta Merner of the Science Hub for Climate LitigationIt’s unclear what will happen in state courts, but Silverman-Roati pointed to the Hawaii case, in which a state court denied the industry’s motion to dismiss.If plaintiffs clear motions to dismiss, the cases move to discovery. The plaintiffs will use the process to try to gather more evidence of what the companies knew and when they knew it. Internal company documents will probably become public when the trials get under way.Recent studies have shown that Exxon accurately predicted that its products would cause climate change.Attribution science will play a key role in connecting local climate disasters to the industry’s responsibility. “Studies can explain how much hotter a heatwave is, or how much greater the intensity of a downpour is during a hurricane event due to climate change. And they can look to see where those emissions came from, and what percentage of those emissions tie into those direct climate impacts,” Merner said.With each decision in favor of plaintiffs, the cases are snowballing and more local governments are filing new cases. “There’s a growing number of lawsuits. And I imagine after today, that will continue,” Merner said. | 2023-04-25 |
This article is more than 10 months oldUS justice department sues two companies over pollution in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’This article is more than 10 months old | Japanese company Denka, along with US chemicals giant DuPont, have operated the plant that produces cancer-causing chloroprene | ['Oliver Laughland', ' in New Orleans', '@oliverlaughland'] | The US justice department has sued the two petrochemical giants behind a facility in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” responsible for the highest cancer risk rates caused by air pollution in the US in a major federal lawsuit that seeks to substantially curb the plant’s emissions.Unveiled on Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges emissions at the Pontchartrain Works facility in Reserve, Louisiana, violate the Clean Air Act and “present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and welfare”.Cancer and chemicals in Reserve, Louisiana: the science explainedRead moreThe move marks a significant escalation of the Biden administration’s enforcement action in the Cancer Alley region, and was instantly hailed by members of the predominantly Black community around the plant as a major victory in their ongoing campaign for clean air.Suing on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the justice department is now seeking a federal court order to compel Denka (DPE), the Japanese chemical giant operating the facility, to “immediately take all necessary measures” to curb emissions of the compound chloroprene, labeled by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen.The facility is the only site in the US to emit the compound, which is a primary constituent of the synthetic rubber neoprene. EPA air monitoring around the facility has consistently shown readings well in excess of the recommended lifetime exposure limit of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter.“This will have a tremendous impact on our struggle here,” said Robert Taylor, a founder of Concerned Citizens of St John Parish. “Over the six years we have been fighting this fight we haven’t had anything as great as this to happen in terms of getting concrete action on emissions.”Speaking to the Guardian, Taylor added: “The state government has totally ignored us – marches on the capitol, rallying – they wouldn’t even give us an audience. And for the administration to come in and do this, it just validates our efforts.”EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a statement that he had promised “strong action” for community members during a site visit to Reserve in November 2021.“This complaint filed against Denka delivers on that promise,” Regan said. “The company has not moved far enough or fast enough to reduce emissions or ensure the safety of the surrounding community. This action is not the first step we have taken to reduce risks to the people living in St John the Baptist Parish, and it will not be the last.”The Fifth Ward elementary school and residential neighborhoods sit near the Denka plant, back left, in Reserve, Louisiana. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/APA statement issued by Denka on Tuesday said the company “strongly disagrees” with the legal action and urged the EPA to re-evaluate its findings on chloroprene exposure. The company has been lobbying the federal government for years, claiming the compound’s peer-reviewed classification is based on outdated science.“DPE is in compliance with its air permits and applicable law. EPA is taking an unprecedented step – deviating from its permitting and rulemaking authorities – to allege an ‘emergency’ based on outdated and erroneous science the agency released over 12 years ago,” the statement said.The lawsuit also names a subsidiary of the US chemicals giant DuPont, which constructed the Pontchartrain Works facility as a neoprene plant and operated it for over half a century.DuPont sold the plant to Denka in 2015 in a secretive deal, which the Guardian later revealed was motivated by concerns from DuPont that it would face heavier regulation after the EPA’s decision to classify chloroprene as a likely human carcinogen. The revelations were part of a years-long Guardian series examining air pollution in Reserve and throughout Cancer Alley.DuPont remains the owner of the land beneath Denka’s facility and acts as a landlord, according to the complaint, meaning DuPont may need to grant permissions in order for emissions to be reduced.DuPont did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In a statement, associate attorney general Vanita Gupta said: “The justice department’s environmental justice efforts require ensuring that every community, no matter its demographics, can breathe clean air and drink clean water. Our suit aims to stop Denka’s dangerous pollution.”The lawsuit contains further details of the plant’s recent chloroprene emissions, which fell after Denka constructed emissions offset technology after its purchase of the plant, but still remains dangerously high and in some locations 14 times over the recommended exposure limit.According to EPA calculations in the suit, current chloroprene emissions present a risk “that is especially grave for infants and children under the age of 16”. The suit claims that emissions remain so high that a child breathing air near certain monitors around the facility’s fence line would exceed their lifetime excess cancer risk within two years.Either they use their money and do it right or face the power of the EPAMary Hampton of Concerned Citizens of St John Parish“In the aggregate, the thousands of people breathing this air are incurring a significantly higher cancer risk than would be typically allowed, and they are being exposed to a much greater cancer risk from Denka’s air pollution than the majority of United States residents face,” the suit states.The justice department complaint does not directly specify that Denka should reduce its emissions to the 0.2 micrograms lifetime exposure recommendation, but cites the guidance throughout the complaint.Mary Hampton, another founder of Concerned Citizens of St John Parish, said the lawsuit was the culmination of years of advocacy from community members and represented that “finally we have a little hope”.“This makes me feel like we have something to look forward to, not five or 10 years from now – we need it to happen now.”Hampton urged both Denka and DuPont to comply with the federal government’s demands set forth in the lawsuit.“They know they can comply,” Hampton said. “And either they use their money and do it right or face the power of the EPA.” | 2023-03-01 |
‘It’s a struggle for survival’: why Kenya – and its wildlife – need tourists to return | Covid dealt a blow to tourism and the conservation funds it provides. But as visitors slowly return, the sector is looking for new ways to thrive | ['Supported by', 'About this content', 'Peter Muiruri'] | Every day, for the past 20 years, Joyce Naserian has laid out her handmade curios near an entrance to the Masai Mara park to sell to passing tourists. Her earnings have helped the 46-year-old feed and educate all four of her children.In northern Kenya, about 1,200 semi-nomadic women earned more than 9m Kenyan shillings (£62,000) selling beadwork to visitors at 43 community wildlife conservancies in 2020. Just as it was Naserian in the Mara, selling the beadwork was a solid money earner for these women. But that was before Covid.The collapse of eco-tourism during the pandemic has spelled disaster for conservation initiatives and livelihoods in Kenya and beyond. Cuts to budgets and staff, reduced salaries and stalled development and education projects have plunged communities into poverty, leading to a rise in poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.Reuters reported that in the first three months of 2020, the African continent lost $55bn (£44bn) in travel and tourism revenues – funds that go towards running conservation programmes that benefit local communities.A Maasai woman with her display of decorative beads and other traditional items for tourists. Since the pandemic international visitors have been slow to return to Kenya. Photograph: Kathy Hancock/AlamyKenya’s government has relaxed a raft of travel restrictions, but the return of international tourists has been slow, while concerns about carbon emissions from long-haul air travel may be putting people off flying into conservation areas.“It is a real struggle for survival,” says Daniel Sopia, head of Masai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association. “Women who relied solely on beadwork were badly affected as there was not a single tourist coming to the Mara at the height of Covid-19 restrictions. Household income dropped significantly and they had to rely on food from well-wishers.”The 15 wildlife conservancies that Sopia heads comprise individual blocks of land owned by Maasai people. The landowners lease the land, covering 14,0426 hectares (347,000 acres), to safari camps and lodges, which pay fees that fund projects providing water, healthcare and education, as well as setting up small businesses.In return, the 14,500 landowners protect biodiversity within the Mara ecosystem while preserving their traditional lifestyle.Four years before the pandemic, the conservancies contributed almost 120m Kenyan shillings to social programmes in the region. Two years ago, payments to landowners fell by 50%, forcing conservancies to scale back operations and focus on priorities such as allowances to wildlife rangers. Sopia and his team had to scramble to prevent the total collapse of conservation programmes.“Conservancies remained operational throughout the pandemic despite the lack in tourism income,” says Sopia. “We were fortunate to mobilise some resources from development partners and private foundations. These helped to cover rangers’ salaries, food rations, fuel, and vehicle maintenance.“We hope the arrangement will be in place till June 2022 as we slowly wean the conservancies off such aid,” he says.A Maasai man wears traditional beaded bracelets. Photograph: Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis/Getty ImagesSome foreign organisations are now making a comeback after a two-year hiatus. In March 2022, UK charity Tusk brought together conservation professionals from across Africa for a symposium in Masai Mara to help organisations diversify fundraising and build resilient units.Since 1990, Tusk has raised more than £80m towards conservation projects across more than 20 African countries and helped to protect more than 40 threatened species. Tusk’s upcoming Wildlife Ranger Challenge seeks to raise money for rangers whose pay was slashed in the pandemic.“The last two years have been extremely tough for everyone. The conservation sector in particular has had to endure huge losses, dramatic cutbacks in operating budgets, and, sadly, redundancies,” says Charlie Mayhew, Tusk Trust chief executive.Wanjiku Kinuthia, strategyhead at Maliasili, hopes the renewed interest in broadening discussions about African conservation will boost small organisations that are often left out of big decisions, despite being closest to the vulnerable communities bearing the brunt of a collapsing environment.Africa’s park tourism crash is a wake-up call. Can we find new ways to finance conservation? | Peter MuiruriRead more“They often miss out on global dialogues,” says Kinuthia, whose group supports about 20 other organisations in seven countries, including smaller ones that lack the networks to make their voices heard. “They do not understand how the media works or how to tell their stories. We can be catalysts of change for such grassroots organisations.”Involving communities in conservation would safeguard the 65% of wildlife that lives outside protected areas, she says. “All people need are tools to help them coexist with animals in the 21st century while benefiting from conservation.”However, some conservationists say the only way to sustain conservation programmes and avoid disruption is by governments increasing budgets to the sector, a challenge considering the current low levels of state investment.Dickson Kaelo, who heads the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, says African countries depend on foreign donors to fund development and conservation is no exception.“There is no single answer to cutting off foreign aid,” says Kaelo. “There are no government incentives for setting up a conservancy to protect an elephant that walks all over destroying life and property.“If you are in the farming sector, you can get a loan to buy a tractor, but there is no institution that gives loans for those who want to invest in protecting wildlife, and while a person buying a vehicle to ferry tourists gets some tax rebates, we get no such benefits when buying a truck for wildlife rangers.”He adds: “Through a private member’s bill, parliament might create laws that hamper conservation including the Natural Resources (Benefits Sharing) Bill, with a formula that will see those in conservation give 80% of their proceeds to government and a paltry 12.8% to local communities.In addition, the government requires that you come up with a management plan, a strategic and environmental study, multiple registration procedures and other permits before setting up a private conservancy. If you want to lease land you have to pay 2% stamp duty for the entire period, say for 20 years, and pay that upfront. Why don’t we see such laws when someone wants to cut down a tree?”Kaddu Sebunya, chief executive at the African Wildlife Foundation says Africans must be exposed to the benefits of wildlife and wild lands so they can lead on conservation. A starting point would be to make tourism more accessible, he says, “as it is easier for someone in New York or Sydney to book a tour to Africa than someone living in Harare or Lagos.”.“Building our domestic and regional tourism market will be a stepping stone to increasing the African voice for conservation. While millions of Africans traverse the continent to travel for business, how can these numbers be translated to nature tourists?“Data from Unctad [UN Conference on Trade and Development] indicates that four out of 10 international tourists in Africa come from the continent, and this begs the question, ‘is our product marketing catering to the four Africans?’It is high time for a shift in mindset,” says Sebunya.Sign up for a different view with our Global Dispatch newsletter – a roundup of our top stories from around the world, recommended reads, and thoughts from our team on key development and human rights issues, delivered to your inbox every two weeks:Sign up for Global Dispatch – please check your spam folder for the confirmation email | 2022-10-19 |
‘Extinct’ parrots make a flying comeback in Brazil | The Spix macaw, a bird that had once vanished in the wild, is now thriving in its South American homeland after a successful breeding programme | ['Robin McKie'] | Twenty years ago, the future of the Spix’s macaw could not have looked bleaker. The last member of this distinctive parrot species disappeared from the wild, leaving only a few dozen birds in collectors’ cages across the globe. The prospects for Cyanopsitta spixii were grim, to say the least.But thanks to a remarkable international rescue project, Spix’s macaws – with their grey heads and vivid blue plumage – have made a stunning comeback. A flock now soars freely over its old homeland in Brazil after being released there a month ago. Later this year, conservationists plan to release more birds, and hope the parrots will start breeding in the wild next spring.A macaw wildlife refuge has been established in the north-eastern state of Bahia in Brazil“The project is going extremely well,” said biologist Tom White, of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and a technical adviser to the rescue project. “It’s almost a month since we released the birds and all of them have survived.“They are acting as a flock; they are staying in the vicinity of their release and they are beginning to sample local vegetation. It’s going as well as it possibly could.”The Spix’s macaw – named in honour of the German biologist Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix, who first collected a specimen in 1819 – became the victim of a double environmental whammy that began in the 19th century. As farming spread across South America, the parrot’s homeland – in an area of shrubland and thorn forest known as the Caatinga in north-east Brazil – was overgrazed by goats and other livestock. The land was severely eroded, and macaw numbers dropped as their habitat was destroyed.“That loss in numbers had a very unfortunate secondary effect,” said White. “As soon as an animal becomes endangered, collectors want to have one. And that is what happened to the Spix’s macaw. They became rare and, as a result, unscrupulous individuals decided to try to take the few that remained in the wild for their private collections.”The future for the species looked dismal until the bird’s fortunes were revived by, of all things, an animated film. Rio, the story of a domesticated male Spix’s macaw called Blu, who is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free-spirited female, Jewel, was released in 2011. The film, and its sequel, Rio 2, earned almost $1bn. Crucially, the films revealed the threat facing the species to a global audience.The 2011 animation Rio, the story of a domesticated Spix’s macaw, revealed the predicament of the species to a global audience. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Sportsphoto/AllstarLater, in 2018, Michel Temer, then president of Brazil, signed a decree that established a macaw wildlife refuge in the north-eastern state of Bahia, while a breeding programme, using parrots from private collections, was established at various centres across the world. A key player in this collaboration was the German-based organisation the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots.The growing sophistication of modern genetics also played an important role in saving the Spix’s macaw, said White.“When you are trying to build up numbers of animals from a very small surviving population, inbreeding can be a real problem. However, the techniques used to check the genetic status of these birds were very, very sophisticated and allowed breeders to match birds very carefully.“Artificial insemination has also made it easier to produce offspring from birds.”As a result, several hundred Spix’s macaws have now been bred in captivity, and eight of these were taken in June to Bahia for release. And they had company: along with the Spix’s macaws, eight Illiger’s macaws were also let loose on 11 June.White said: “The Spix’s macaws that we now possess are the end result of generations of captive breeding, and that will have taken the edge off some of their instinctive survival skills.“However, by mixing them with Illiger’s macaws – who were basically just wild birds brought briefly into captivity – the Spix’s benefit by associating with a native species that is sharp and alert, and can show them where they get food and alert them to potential predators.”The birds, each tagged with radio transmitters, are now being monitored carefully. “We will release another 12 Spix’s macaws in December if everything goes well,” added White.“These birds will all be of reproductive age. We have also ensured there are several nest cavities, some natural and artificial, in the area to encourage the birds to begin mating next year and eventually establish breeding territories in the area.“It’s ambitious but so far things are going well.” | 2022-07-10 |
NT government rejects Glencore bid to build toxic dump near sacred site | Mining company’s proposed rock dump at McArthur River zinc and lead mine would have been largest built structure in the territory
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| ['Royce Kurmelovs', ' and ', 'Lorena Allam'] | An application by mining company Glencore to build a massive toxic tailings dump on the edge of a sacred site has been rejected by the Northern Territory government.The controversial McArthur River mine, which is one of world’s largest zinc and lead mines, is roughly 900km south-east of Darwin and borders the Barramundi Dreaming sacred site, near Borroloola.On Tuesday, NT heritage minister, Chansey Paech, tabled a decision in parliament to reject an application to build the rock dump – which would stand as the largest built structure in the Northern Territory – to within 35 metres of the site.Josie Davey, a Gudanji woman and traditional owner of the mine site, and her husband, Jack Green, a senior Garawa lawman, welcomed the decision saying the company would now have to negotiate properly with traditional owners.“It was the best thing,” Green said. “It should have happened before, properly, if they were to come and sit down and talk to the traditional owners of the area. All of us are happy now, it took us a long time to come to an agreement like this.”They described the proposal as a “new mountain” and Davey said significant damage had already been done by the company over the past two decades.“I feel sad at what they have done. Because this is my great, great-grandfather’s country. And for our people,” Davey said.‘Legacy of sadness’: Glencore says sorry to traditional owners over NT mine as it seeks expansionRead moreUnder its expansion plans, Glencore – which took over the mine in 2006 – sought to expand its tailings dump to within 35 metres of the Barramundi Dreaming sacred site, which rises to a height of 80 metres, and is one of 24 sacred sites on the mine lease.The dump would stand at a height of 140 metres, with a 6km square footprint, making it taller than the Sydney Harbour Bridge at 134 metres with an area larger than Uluru, which measures roughly 3.33km square.
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The weight of the structure would have likely altered the groundwater table and would need to be monitored for 1,000 years due to the high acid content of the waste rock. The highly combustible rock dissolves easily and the chemical runoff can seep into groundwater and nearby river systems.There is also another valuable archaeological site in the area, an ancient stone quarry that is part of local songlines and where local Aboriginal people mass produced stone tools, axe heads, knives and spear tips.This site is not covered in Tuesday’s decision and Glencore has made a separate application with Paech to demolish it. The company continues to widen the tailings dump while it waits for approval to build higher.In making its application, the company claimed it had consulted with traditional owners but when the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) reviewed the matter, they determined the agreement was invalid.None of the site’s 180 custodians had been consulted while the six signatories who had did not necessarily understand what they agreed to or were not given copies of the contract.AAPA CEO Dr Benedict Scambary said Tuesday’s decision demonstrated that negotiation with traditional owners was “not a box to be ticked”.‘It should have happened before’: Gudanji woman and traditional owner Josie Davey and her husband Jack Green, a senior Garawa lawman, on the McArthur River crossing bridge. Photograph: Rebecca Parker“One of the things this decision will do is put other proponents of development in the Northern Territory on notice that murky deals done without representation, that are designed to disempower Aboriginal people in the protection of the sacred sites and cultural heritage, won’t pass muster,” he said.Co-director of the Environment Centre NT, Kirsty Howey, also said the decision was a “watershed” moment in the history of an “extraordinarily damaging mine authorised in extraordinary circumstances”.“We’ve never seen a Labor government minister in the NT back traditional owners on this mine which has been enormously destructive and damaging to traditional owners for years,” Howey said.“Minister Paech should be applauded for having the backbone to stand up to Glencore.”The NT Environment Centre is currently involved in legal action against the territory government over approvals given by Nicole Manison in 2020 for its expansion.A spokesperson for McArthur River mine said in a statement the company is in negotiations with the Northern Land Council, acting on behalf of traditional owners, but “remains committed to further developments at our mine site”.Cost to rehabilitate Kakadu uranium mine site could blow out by $1.2bnRead more“We remain committed to these negotiations and broad consultation with traditional owners on a variety of matters, including sacred sites and cultural heritage protection, to ensure the benefits of our operations are shared with TOs and the wider community.”The McArthur River mine has been subject to several current and historical litigations, and was a suspected source of lead contamination in drinking water used by the Borroloola’s Aboriginal community until an investigation found there was no indication the contamination was related to the mine.An effort to keep the company from diverting the river in order to allow it to mine the riverbed was successful in court but ultimately overridden by the NT Government to allow work to proceed.The company apologised for its treatment of Aboriginal people and traditional owners in 2021, and specifically for the river diversion. | 2022-02-16 |
null | One of the world’s great natural spectacles is under way in the eastern US, stretching from the deep south to upstate New York | null | At first, the noise pulsing from the drooping elm tree boughs seemed to be coming from the power lines erected nearby. Like a surging electrical current, the sound fizzed to a crescendo on the ears before receding slightly, only to build up again to a loud, vibrating whirr.It was only on the approach to the tree, as desiccated bodies crunched underfoot and small but sturdy creatures sporting wings and orange eyes suddenly clung on to our calf muscles, that it became apparent what was causing such a huge racket: millions of cicadas had just erupted from the earth.One of the world’s great natural spectacles is under way in the eastern US, stretching from the deep south to upstate New York. Trillions of periodic cicadas are emerging en masse from a 17-year dormancy underground to clamber up trees, let out calls that rattle the eardrums, furiously mate and hand off the next leg of an extraordinary evolutionary cycle to their offspring.“This is a spectacular chorus, just incredible” said Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland who happily lets one of the insects crawl up his cheek. We are beside a small stand of trees in Columbia, Maryland, a leafy commuter suburb near Washington. It’s swelteringly hot, a pleasing temperature for the screeching cicadas.cicadas on michaelLeft: Cicadas crawl up the face of entomologist Michael Raupp in Columbia, Maryland, on 21 May. Right: A cicada on a leaf. Photographs by Gabriella Demczuk/The GuardianCicadas swarm the trees of a home in Columbia, Maryland, on 21 May. Photograph: Gabriella Demczuk/The GuardianThe scene is not only raucous – a swarm of cicadas can produce a sound that reaches around 100 decibels, louder than a revving motorcycle – but also grisly. Cicadas flail around in a stupor on their backs, some lie squashed, others are picked off by a red-shouldered hawk that is shoveling insects into the gaping maws of two ravenous chicks in a nearby nest. The amber-colored exoskeletons shed by the cicadas litter the seething ground and pockmark the trunk and branches of the elm tree.Millions, perhaps billions, of the insects don’t even make it to this point. In the past 17 years, much of the ground containing cicadas has been paved over for roads and driveways and shopping malls. Their foot-deep refuges became tombs, even before the cicadas could run the gauntlet of the overland.Raupp scrabbled in the dirt to show the small holes where more fortunate cicadas managed to tunnel to daylight using their shovel-like front legs. At first, the nymphs are a ghostly white before shedding their skins and developing a hardened exoskeleton. The task is to then ascend a tree, with the males creating what Raupp calls a “big boy band” of noise to attract females for mating.Some broods emerge in 13-year cycles and others in 17-year periods and while there is no definitive explanation for this phenomenon, many entomologists believe the cicadas have developed this as a defensive move against predators. No foe – squirrel, hawk or raccoon – will live the 17 years to lie in wait, with the massed synchronized numbers always allowing enough survivors to breed and kickstart the next generation. Underground, the cicadas either track the passing years from the burst in plant activity each spring or rely upon some sort of internal clock, their own circadian rhythm.Cicadas swarm in a box at the home of entomologist Michael Raupp in Columbia, Maryland. Photograph: Gabriella Demczuk/The GuardianBoth males and females are drawn to the males with the loudest calls, again to build strength in numbers. One of the elm trees is dominated by cassinii, the cicada species that produces the juddering electrical circuit noise that, when up close, sounds like the clicking of a million tiny castanets. But amid the heaving mass of bodies there is also a stray septendecim, a different type of cicada that makes a more ethereal “woo-hoo” call.We hunt for the stray noise until Raupp finds the caller and squeezes him gently between thumb and forefinger, causing the cicada to let out a squeak similar to the sound of shoes on a basketball court. Visible on the cicada is its tymbal, a membrane on the drum-like abdomen that is vibrated to make its distinctive noise. “The males are singing their brains out to bring as many people to the party as they can,” said Raupp, as he looked at the rogue septendecim. “But if you want to hook up, you better be in the right bar.”If a female takes a shine to a male’s call, she will flick her wings to signal mating can occur. Females will then cut a slit into a branch to deposit a clutch of 20 to 30 eggs via their ovipositors, a tubular egg-laying organ. Once hatched, these nymphs will then drop to the soil to bury themselves to begin the next stanza in the cicadas’ story.But even the carnal stage is fraught with danger. We spot one cicada slowly ambling up the tree trunk with a noticeably white rear end – a sign it has been infected by a psychedelic fungus called Massospora, which produces an amphetamine in the insects that causes their bottoms to fall off before they mate uncontrollably with both male and female cicadas, spreading the fungus further.Left: The sturdy creatures sport wings and orange eyes. Right: The amber-colored exoskeletons shed by the cicadas litter the ground.Left: The sturdy creatures sport wings and orange eyes. Right: The amber-colored exoskeletons shed by the cicadas litter the ground. Entomologist Michael Raupp holds a female cicada, left, and a male, right, cicada. Photograph: Gabriella Demczuk/The GuardianRaupp, who is wearing a T-shirt with a giant cicada emblazoned upon it, is a vocal proponent of the species, once seasoning a few cicadas, placing them on a skewer and smuggling them into his carry-on baggage in order to travel to California and appear on Jay Leno’s late night talkshow. The host gamely ate the crunchy delicacy but Russell Crowe, a guest on the TV show, demurred. “He whispered to me ‘there’s no way I’m eating that, mate’,” Raupp recalled. “I like them, they’ve got a nutty sort of flavor. Leno said they tasted better than Cheetos.”Many people share Crowe’s antipathy, however. Raupp said a friend quizzed him on when the cicadas were emerging so that he could book a lengthy holiday to Idaho to escape their arrival. A woman in Ohio has created a body shield made of shower curtains to avoid any contact with them. Police in Georgia have begged people to stop calling 911 to report the loud noise the cicadas make. A CNN newsreader, reporting how a Maryland company was selling cicadas dipped in chocolate, broke off to admit “I’m so sick to my stomach reading this.”This reaction can be understandable when dealing with a creature measuring two inches long that resembles a cockroach with the startling addition of orange eyes. “They don’t bite or sting you, there’s nothing to fear from them,” said Raupp, as a cadre of cicadas crawled up his leg. “But some people are phobic and I take that seriously. To have thousands of cicadas emerge at once around you can be traumatic.”The cicadas would have more well-founded fears of us, however. The insects typically wait for soils to reach 64F to emerge, a level of warmth that is arriving several weeks earlier in the year than it was in the 1970s due to global heating, climate scientists have said. Their range is also edging northwards as their environment heats up, pushing them to an unknown fate.The rapid development of their habitat, meanwhile, has already wiped out several broods in the US. Even if all of these risks are avoided, cicadas’ stars are destined to burn brightly but quickly – once free from their 17-year dormancy, they will all be dead within a month once their reproductive goals are met.“It’s a changing planet and it will affect cicadas like everything else,” said Raupp. “But their lineage goes back several million years and perhaps they will adapt. They really are amazing things.” | 2019-09-21 |
Iguanas with chips: Florida seeks solution to invasive reptile problem | ‘Tag day’ initiative opposed by some owners of exotic petsState official ‘proud that Florida is looked at as a leader’ | ['Richard Luscombe', ' in Miami', '@richlusc'] | From Key West’s high-summer Hemingway Days, in which bearded hopefuls vie for the title of best Papa lookalike, to the annual hunt for the elusive (and imaginary) skunk ape, Florida is renowned for its calendar of curiosities.Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in FloridaRead moreNow another bizarre date has been added to the list: tag your reptile day.Owners of tegus, a non-native species of giant central and south American lizard, and green iguanas, another prolific invader, must get their reptiles microchipped like any conventional pet.Seeking compliance with a regulation passed in February to protect against invasive species and which came into effect this weekend, the Florida fish and wildlife commission (FWC) has established tag day, actually a series of dates in the coming weeks at venues around the state.“Just as with cats and dogs, microchipping your green iguana or tegu is one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep them safe while also protecting Florida’s native wildlife,” said Kristen Sommers, FWC head of wildlife impacts management.The microchipping days, sure to raise eyebrows in the waiting rooms of veterinarians’ offices, are part of a 90-day grace period. After that, tegus and green iguanas must be permitted and chipped.A further three-month period will allow owners time to comply with new requirements for outdoor caging, which also apply to the other 14 non-native species covered by the new regulation, including Burmese and other species of pythons, green anacondas and Nile monitors.“These animals are creating enormous issues for our state,” said the FWC chairman, Rodney Barreto, of regulations meant to reduce the release of nuisance species into the wild.“I have always been proud that Florida is looked at as a leader. Let’s take a bold stance. We have to put our foot down. The time has come, and we hope other states will follow.”Florida has about 500 non-native species, many of which have caused massive damage to a sensitive ecosystem. Among the worst offenders are Burmese pythons, which have run rampant in the Everglades and other waterways, depleting stocks of deer, rodents and wading birds.A woman holds an Argentine black and white tegu. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Argentinian black and white tegu, which can grow to the size of a dog, has become problematic particularly in the south of the state. Since 2012, at least 7,800 have been found dead or removed from the wild by FWC staff or hunters.Green iguanas can grow to more than 5ft and weigh up to 17lb. According to the FWC, they cause damage by digging burrows that erode and collapse sidewalks, foundations, seawalls, berms and canal banks.The agency encourages the humane killing and removal of both species in the wild.Some who keep the creatures as pets are not so welcoming of the new regulations.“This is absolutely ridiculous,” one owner, Marie Lewis, posted on the Hernando Reptile and Exotics Rescue Facebook page. “We are all being punished for idiot caretakers. I understand the possibility of invasive species but some of us actually care for our reptiles.” | 2020-01-27 |
Push for post-Brexit trade deals may threaten UK pledges on deforestation | Government criticised over ‘indefensible’ proposal that could undermine climate efforts while yielding benefit of only £1.38m | ['Fiona Harvey', ' Environment correspondent'] | The UK government may be undermining its commitments to end deforestation overseas because of conflicts over trade policy, the Guardian has learned.A war of words is raging within the government over deforestation and trade, with green campaigners warning that a proposed policy could have dire consequences for efforts to stop illegal logging.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, is believed to want to relax tariffs for goods including palm oil from Malaysia, a country of top concern over deforestation. The relaxation would be part of a broader push for trade deals with developing countries that the government is pursuing in the wake of Brexit.The UK wants to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes Malaysia, by dropping generic trade tariffs. Negotiations began under the former trade secretary Liz Truss, who is running as a Tory leadership candidate.However, the removal of tariffs without any green strings attached would undercut the UK’s parallel efforts to end illegal deforestation overseas, one of the centrepieces of the deal that ministers forged at the UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year.Sam Lawson, the director of the UK campaign group Earthsight, who has spent many years investigating deforestation for palm oil in Malaysia, said: “This proposal to slash tariffs on Malaysian palm oil without any conditions regarding the devastating deforestation those imports are known to cause is utter madness. Instead of addressing the cost of living crisis, this government is using it as a hollow excuse for ditching its own climate goals in a craven effort to get another trade agreement under its belt.”The UK’s Environment Act, which was passed last year, makes provision for due diligence when companies import goods, including palm oil, from overseas countries where deforestation is rife. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is currently consulting on the exact form this due diligence will take in practice.Fury as government waters down post-Brexit food standardsRead moreIf import regulations are relaxed for Malaysia without due diligence safeguards in place, it could give countries where deforestation is happening the hope of avoiding any of the sanctions provided for in the Environment Act, rendering the government’s green pledges toothless. Countries such as Indonesia and Brazil would be likely to press for similar deals, according to campaigners.The Guardian has seen a strongly worded letter to Trevelyan from Zac Goldsmith, an environment minister and member of the House of Lords, querying her stance. He cited research showing that liberalising trade in the way the Department for International Trade (DIT) is considering for Malaysia would yield an economic benefit of only about £1.38m for the whole of the UK.“If we go for the full liberalisation, we are choosing to U-turn on the very core of our Cop26 messaging on the importance of forests,” he wrote. “We obviously cannot continue leading global efforts to break the link between commodities and deforestation if in our own trade policy we are encouraging the opposite.”In the letter, dated 28 June, he added: “It is clear this isn’t an authentic ‘cost of living’ decision; it is a values decision. And I am struggling to understand who we are trying to appeal to with these appalling values? Or how we are supposed to defend this entirely indefensible position, for example in Lib Dem target seats?”Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BSTThe DIT said it could not comment on live negotiations. A spokesperson told the Guardian: “We are firmly committed to maintaining our high domestic standards of environmental protection in trade agreements, and CPTPP includes environmental provisions to support these objectives. The UK has convened over 25 major trading countries to agree action to protect forests through the forest, agriculture and commodity trade dialogue, and is taking forward measures under the Environment Act to make it illegal for businesses to use key commodities if they have not been produced in line with local laws protecting forests and other natural ecosystems.”The production of palm oil, which is widely used in an array of supermarket goods, from cosmetics to bread, is a major cause of deforestation in many countries in south-east Asia. Attempts to encourage more sustainable production of palm oil have so far made little progress.Lawson said: “UK consumers don’t want to be associated with destroying orangutan habitat or human rights abuses overseas. The giant agricultural firms and supermarket chains involved in the trade in goods from Malaysia can easily absorb the tiny cost of ensuring this out of their own profits.”Current UK tariffs for Malaysian palm oil vary from 2% for crude palm oil to 12% for the more processed versions. | 2022-07-19 |
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