What next for Moldova after pro-Europe president's win?

Keno Verseck

DW

Moldova's pro-European President Maia Sandu was the clear winner in Sunday's runoff election amid ongoing allegations of Russian interference. She now pledges to accelerate reform and consolidate democratization.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu (pictured here with a large bouquet of white roses) won Sunday's presidential election runoff

Image: Vadim Ghirda/AP/dpa/picture alliance


It was an election day like no other in Europe's recent history.

While turnout for the presidential election runoff in the Republic of Moldova on Sunday broke records — especially among Moldovan voters living abroad — the day was overshadowed by widespread attempts to interfere in the election and disrupt voting.

For one thing, there were systematic bomb threats against polling stations, which had to be temporarily closed.

Moreover, Moldovan police are investigating allegations that Russia organized numerous flights to bring voters from Russia to Turkey and other countries so they could cast their vote in embassies and consulates there.
Nerve-wracking vote count

After a nail-biting 90-minute count, the unofficial result was announced shortly after midnight.

In the end, the outcome was crystal clear: Moldova's incumbent president, Maia Sandu, who would like to see her country join the EU and is pushing for radical reforms, won the election with about 55% of the vote.

Turnout in Sunday's presidential election runoff reached record levels by Moldovan standards

Image: Vladislav Culiomza/REUTERS

Her challenger, Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor-general who was removed from office because of corruption allegations and who had the backing of the country's pro-Russian parties, bagged about 45% of the vote.

Turnout on Sunday stood at about 52% — a record for the Republic of Moldova, especially when one considers how difficult it is for many voters to cast their vote: Some of the country's estimated 2.8 million inhabitants live in the separatist pro-Russian region of Transnistria, while hundreds of thousands live elsewhere in Europe.

Manipulation failed despite massive interference

In short, Russia's widespread attempts in recent weeks and months to interfere in polls in Moldova and shape their outcomes failed. The country's pro-European path is secure for the time being.

However, it is likely that without Russia's hybrid attack on the recent elections and referendum, the result for Maia Sandu would have been even more decisive.

The EU referendum two weeks ago, when voters were asked whether the country's ambition to join the EU should be anchored in the Moldovan constitution, passed with a wafer-thin majority of about 10,000 votes.

Police have said that a massive amount of votes were bought in the referendum and first round of the presidential election two weeks ago.
'Today, you have saved Moldova!'

Before midnight, Maia Sandu appeared before her supporters at the headquarters of the party she herself founded, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). She was cheered and celebrated as the winner.

The relief and joy was written all over Maia Sandu's face on Sunday evening after it became clear that she had won the election

Image: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP

After midnight, already completely hoarse, Sandu spoke to the country and the press. Her acceptance speech was very emotional.

"Today, dear Moldovans, you have given a lesson in democracy, worthy of being written in history books," she declared. "Freedom, truth and justice have prevailed."

Sandu also addressed Moldovans living abroad: "You are incredible," she said. "You have shown that your heart is in our country."

Self-critical remarks

Several times in her speech, the reelected president said that she had heard the critical voices and "the voice of those who voted differently."

At one point, she switched from Romanian, the official language of Moldova, to Russian, and said that regardless of their ethnicity and language, all citizens in the country want to "live in peace, prosperity and in a democracy and united society."

Sandu repeated her serious allegations of fraud from the first round of the election and the campaign of the past two weeks. She said that there had been an "unprecedented assault" on the country, an attempt to buy votes with dirty money and "interference by foreign forces and criminal groups."

'Thieves want to buy our votes and our country, but the power of the people is infinitely stronger than all their machinations,' Sandu told local media after casting her vote on SundayImage: Vladislav Culiomza/REUTERS

She was also critical of herself, noting that the speed of reform had so far been inadequate and saying: "We must speed up the implementation of reforms and consolidate our democracy."
Cabinet reshuffle expected very soon

Both the president and the government she supports are under enormous pressure to deliver. Expectations across the country are very high.

Despite the fact that Sandu has long had a reputation for being incorruptible, a woman of integrity and a determined reformer, as president, she has limited power.

Parliamentary elections are due to take place in Moldova in 2025. If the government of Prime Minister Dorin Recean, a Sandu ally, does not come up with better social policies and more judicial and anti-corruption reforms, the country's pro-European path could be at risk.

A cabinet reshuffle is expected in the near future. It is likely that a number of ministers will be replaced.
Geopolitical election

Commentators on Moldovan public television all agreed that Sunday's election had been a geopolitical one in which Moldova had to decide between Russia and the prospect of a future in a democratic Europe.

The other candidate in Sunday's runoff was former prosecutor-general Alexandr Stoianoglo (pictured here)Image: Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo/picture alliance

Most also agreed that there had been "unprecedented criminal activities" against the country.

"Russia and Ilan Shor's criminal group invested a sum equivalent to 1% of our gross domestic product to influence this election. There was phenomenal pressure and an enormous amount of disinformation and manipulation," said Valeriu Pasa, chairman of the civil society organization Watchdog.

Pasa went on to say that "our government and our country now have many lessons to learn [...] in the judiciary, in the fight against corruption, and in the way we deal with society and above all pensioners — a particularly large number of whom are susceptible to disinformation."

He insisted that "kid gloves cannot be used in the fight against con men like Shor. Vigorous action is needed."
A stark warning to Moldova's European partners

Israeli-born Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor is seen as one of the ringleaders in what is known in Moldova as the "theft of the century," when about a billion euros was stolen from three Moldovan banks between 2012 and 2014. Shor fled to Israel before he was due to begin his 15-year prison sentence. He now lives in Russia.

Police accuse convicted fugitive Israeli-born Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor (pictured here) of being heavily involved in an alleged Russian-backed vote-buying schemeImage: Alexey Filippov/SNA/IMAGO

The Moldovan Police suspect him of working with the Russian secret services to run a large-scale sophisticated vote-buying scheme in the run-up to the recent polls. It is estimated that up to 300,000 votes were bought.

Writer Nicolae Negru said that Russia had used Moldova to test such experimental methods of manipulation, stressing that it is now important to ask how a fraud on this scale was not prevented by the authorities, despite the fact that they had long been aware of it.

Political scientist Iulian Groza of the Moldovan Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) said that the scale of the manipulation and "Russia's sophisticated tools" must not be underestimated.

"Russia will not stop, neither in our country nor elsewhere in Europe," said Groza. "The recent practices and experience in our country must give all our European partners food for thought."

This article was originally published in German and adapted by Aingeal Flanagan.

N. Macedonia: Europe's most endangered butterfly sold online

Florian Schmitz

October 10, 2024

Although the Macedonian Grayling is a critically endangered species of butterfly, it is legally available for sale online. The threat not only to this butterfly but to the ecosystem in North Macedonia is growing.



https://p.dw.com/p/4ldtC

The Macedonian Grayling is a "critically endangered" species of butterfly found only in North Macedonia

Image: Velijan Jagev

The Macedonian Grayling is one of Europe's most endangered butterflies. It can only be found in one place in the entire world: the hills around the village of Pletvar in North Macedonia.

Its habitat measures no more than about 1.5 sq. kilometers (about half a sq. mile) and consists mainly of rocks and certain types of grass on which the Grayling feeds while a caterpillar.

The Macedonian Grayling is a pollinator, which means that it carries pollen from one plant to another. By doing so, it ensures the survival and propagation of a number of flowers that provide nectar not only for the Macedonian Grayling, but for other insects, too.

Entomologist Vladimir Krpac worries that the Macedonian Grayling might become extinctImage: DOMA

Each of these insects is a crucial part of a complex and fragile ecosystem, and their survival depends on the functioning of the system as a whole. The greatest threat to this ecosystem is human activity.
Insufficient protection

For example, five out of seven privately run marble quarries in the region are located directly within the Grayling's habitat, further reducing its already small size and making it harder for the butterfly to survive.

"I am worried, because human activity in this area — right where it lives — is increasing every day," says entomologist Vladimir Krpac, who is an expert on the Macedonian Grayling. "It would be no surprise, if nothing significant is done, to lose this species that only lives in North Macedonia."

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has declared the butterfly "critically endangered," declines in distribution or population size of between 6% and 30% have been recorded. Despite these alarming figures, no special measures are being taken to protect the butterfly.

Prof. Andreas Segerer says that collecting rare butterflies for the sake of owning something rare can harm that butterfly's population

Image: Yellow Sunshine

That being said, the Macedonian Grayling has been protected by Macedonian law since 2011. As a result, special permits are required to collect it. These permits are only available to scientists.

But that doesn't stop poachers. Due to the lack of protective measures and because the law is not properly enforced, collecting this critically endangered butterfly is child's play: Poachers simply have to stroll through the Pletvar hills and gather the Grayling. The specimens they collect are then sold to collectors online.
Just a few clicks away

It's not hard to find samples of the Macedonian Grayling online. For less than €30 (just under $33), collectors can purchase an illegally poached specimen without fear of any legal consequences.

"Banning hunting won't solve anything," a seller, who prefers to remain anonymous, told DW. "Amateur collectors will not be affected. This has been going on for decades, and there are still plenty of butterflies here. It's like a fruit tree. Every year you harvest all the fruits, and next year there will be more."

The Macedonian Grayling's habitat extends over an area measuring just 1.5 sq. kilometers

Image: Velijan Jagev

Prof. Andreas Segerer, entomologist at the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich, Germany, confirms that poaching is not necessarily a problem when it comes to insects. Unlike amphibians or mammals, insects reproduce in their millions to secure their survival.

Even though entomologists like Segerer need dead specimens for their scientific work, he disapproves of collecting butterflies for anything but scientific purposes.

"Some collectors are motivated by the desire to possess a rare object," he says. "I do not think that is a good motive for collecting, and in individual cases — such as perhaps with this species, which is still very rare — this can harm its population."

Legal loopholes

The reason why the Macedonian Grayling can be legally purchased within the European Union has to do with the way protection works internationally.

While poaching, selling and exporting the butterfly is illegal in North Macedonia, distribution within the European Union is in fact legal.

The EU bases the legality of trade in animals and plants on CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The treaty was signed in 1973 in Washington D.C. and contains lists of species that are internationally recognized as endangered.

Audrey Chambaudet feels that a revision of the EU's Environmental Crime Directive would help combat illegal wildlife tradeImage: EMG

Any trade in animals or plants on this list is illegal in the EU and enforced by the Wildlife Directive. However, the Macedonian Grayling is not yet on this list. Although it has a good chance of becoming so in the future, a number of obstacles still have to be overcome before that happens.

Although the Macedonian Grayling is on the IUCN red list, which is a necessary requirement to be internationally protected by CITES, CITES has not yet made a final decision on the case of this endangered butterfly.
A blind spot for insects?

Despite the fact that pollinating insects are crucial for the food supply of most living creatures on the planet, they are not on the radar of many environmentalists.

"I think there is a blind spot for insects at the moment, probably because they are not very charismatic," says Audrey Chambaudet, who deals with questions of wildlife trade at the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) in Brussels.

Although Chambaudet considers the current legal framework for wildlife trade sufficient, she does feel it needs to be updated.

Ilaria Di Silvestre feels that trade in a species should automatically be illegal if that species is protected in its country of originImage: EMG

"I think from a legislative perspective, the biggest improvement we need is a revision of the [EU's] Environmental Crime Directive," she says. Chambaudet hopes that by strengthening the system, prosecution of illegal wildlife trade can be made more efficient.
A change in European legislation would help

Ilaria Di Silvestre of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) agrees that the Environmental Crime Directive needs to be strengthened. But instead of regulating the import of animals on the basis of CITES alone, she would prefer to see a system that is aligned with the US's Lacey Act.

"This is legislation that makes it a criminal offence to trade in species that are protected in the country of origin," she says. In the case of the Macedonian Grayling, that would mean that trade in this butterfly would automatically be illegal in the EU, without the need for meeting any further criteria.

All stakeholders agree that the loss of biodiversity has the potential to cause even greater damage than climate change. The loss of species within ecosystems — even if it is just the loss of something as apparently tiny as an insect — can have a major impact on the ecosystem as a whole, which in turn can have serious implications for all life on Earth — including humans.

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan

This report was funded by journalismfund.eu. The investigation was a collaboration between DW and the Institute of Communication Studies in Skopje. A film was also produced as part of this project

Pope urged at LGBTQ meeting to reverse church ban on gender-affirming care

Pope Francis poses for a photo with Michael Sennett, Cynthia Herrick, Nicole Santamaria, Francis DeBernardo, Matthew Myers, Michael Sennett, Laurie Dever, Deacon Raymond Dever, Robert Shine and Brian Flanagan during his meeting with transgender Catholics and supporters at the Vatican, Italy, Oct 12, 2024.

PHOTO: New Ways Ministry/Handout via Reuters

PUBLISHED ON October 12, 2024 


VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis faced calls to overturn the Catholic Church's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender people on Saturday (Oct 12) when he held talks with LGBTQ activists at the Vatican.

The 80-minute meeting, held privately at the guesthouse where the pope lives, included a Catholic sister who works with LGBTQ people, a member of the transgender community, and a US medical doctor who helps run a clinic providing gender-affirming hormonal care for adults.

"I really wanted to share with Pope Francis about the joy that I have being a transgender Catholic person," Michael Sennett, who took part in the meeting, told Reuters.

Sennett, a transgender man from Boston, said he told the pontiff about "the joy that I get from hormone replacement therapy and the surgeries that I've had that make me feel comfortable in my body".

The unusual encounter was not listed on the Vatican's official agenda of the pope's meetings for the day.

The meeting with around a dozen LGBT activists comes six months after the Vatican's doctrinal office firmly rejected gender-affirming care, saying it "risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception".


LGBTQ groups sharply criticised the Vatican document and said the doctrinal office did not seek input from transgender people about their experiences before rejecting gender-affirming care.

"We expressed that as the church makes policies in this area that it's very important to speak with transgender individuals," said Cynthia Herrick, an endocrinologist at a St. Louis, Missouri, clinic who took part in the papal meeting.

"The pope was very receptive," said Herrick. "He listened very empathetically. He also shared that he always wants to focus on the person, the well-being of the person."

Francis, who is 87, has been credited with leading the Catholic Church into taking a more welcoming approach towards the LGBTQ community, and has allowed priests to bless same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis.

But earlier this year he also used a highly derogatory Italian term about LGBTQ people, for which the Vatican apologised on his behalf.

New Ways Ministry, a US-based advocacy group for LGBTQ Catholics, organised Saturday's event.

"The message really is that we need to listen to the experiences of transgender people," said Sister Jeannine Gramick, the group's co-founder, who asked Francis for the encounter. The meeting "means that the church is coming along, the church is joining the modern era," she said.

Gramick's work with LGBTQ Catholics has attracted the ire of Vatican and US Catholic officials for decades, including Pope Benedict XVI. But she has developed a correspondence with Francis, who first welcomed her for a meeting at the Vatican last year.

The Vatican's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Saturday's meeting.

Harris-Walz campaign hits the ground running in Arizona

Daniel Herrera Carbajal
Wed, October 9, 2024
ICT

GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY — In a meeting with more than a dozen tribal leaders in the battleground state of Arizona, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz vowed that a Kamala Harris administration would keep a seat at the table for tribal nations in Washington, D.C.

In a unifying message that touched on the importance of the Native vote, he said the Harris-Walz campaign would build on the gains made by tribal nations over the last four years.

“We are not going back to the way it was,” Walz said, hitting a common theme in the Democratic campaign against former Republican President Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee, JD Vance.

“I feel it across the Indian Country that people know this is an opportunity to keep this momentum going forward,” he said. “This is an opportunity that many of us have waited lifetimes for, to finally see that we're seeing sovereignty as absolute truth.”

As early in-person voting began Wednesday, Oct. 9, in Arizona, Walz touched on the importance of the so-called “Native Wall” of voters who could help swing the tight race in a state where President Joe Biden beat Trump by a margin of just about 10,500 votes in the 2020 election.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz met with a group of tribal leaders on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, at the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, Arizona. He told the group a "Native Wall" of votes could help determine the election. (Photo by Daniel Herrera Carbajal/ICT)

Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis joined Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose and Navajo Nation Vice President Richelle Montoya in greeting Walz, who is currently the governor of Minnesota. Walz then shook hands and spoke with the other tribal leaders and their guests.

Lewis said the “Native Wall” in key battleground states such as Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan could determine the outcome of the election.

“They could be the margin in a lot of these razor-thin races here, up and down the ballot, including the presidency as well,” Lewis said.

Walz also touted the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration in working with tribal nations, including the reestablishment of the White House Council on Native American Issues and what he called “the largest investments in tribes that we’ve seen in American history.”

“We work hand-in-hand in that vote that we want to earn,” said Walz, who is currently the governor of Minnesota. “You earn that by policies you put in place.”


Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz talks with Mary Kim Titla, executive director of United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc., at Walz's meeting with tribal leaders on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, at the Gila River Indian Community, as Gila River Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, left, looks on. (Photo by Daniel Herrera Carbajal/ICT)More

The gathering Wednesday came amid campaign swings by both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates through Arizona. Walz continued on from the Gila River community to Tucson, where later Wednesday he and Vance held dueling campaign events.

Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is scheduled to hold a rally in Phoenix Thursday, while Trump is set to hold a rally Sunday in the Republican stronghold of Prescott Valley, about 90 miles north of Phoenix.

Campaign officials said the Arizona campaign will be among the most expansive tribal organizing efforts, with events scheduled throughout the state.

Walz reminded tribal leaders Wednesday of the work that has been done across Indian Country by the Biden-Harris administration.

Many of the projects funded over the last four years are already coming to fruition, including the Casa Blanca solar panel project by the Gila River Indian Community, which aims to battle water loss and boost tribal sovereignty by producing its own power.

Walz shifted to his home state of Minnesota, saying he and Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, have worked closely with tribal communities. Flanagan would become the nation’s first female Native governor if the Harris-Walz ticket wins election to the White House.

Flanagan and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, have been campaigning in Arizona for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Walz emphasized the importance of having Native voices at the table and establishing connections with tribal nations.

“If the children of our tribal nations are doing well, everyone's doing well,” Walz said.

Many of the tribal nations represented at the meeting are small nations that often have had little-to-no say in political and economic matters in Indian Country.

Roland Maldonado, chairman of the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, a small nation in northern Arizona, spoke with Walz about rural communities and the indifference historically shown to them.

“It was encouraging, continuing to build on the government-to-government relations, and really understanding the needs of rural communities. and understanding and accepting things that are, you know, historically missing,” Maldonado said. “And he understands the negative impact of that missing component of our history as a country and as individual Native communities.”

Ervin Jackson, president of the Nal-NiSHii Federation of Labor, issued a statement saying the Walz meeting with tribal leaders “once again highlighted the stark contrast” between the presidential tickets.

“Throughout their careers and on the campaign trail, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz have demonstrated deep respect for Indigenous peoples, championing our rights, our sovereignty and our cultural heritage,” said Jackson, who is Áshįįhí (Salt People) born for the Tódích’íi’nii (Bitter Water Clan).

“Trump’s presidency brought land loss, worsened health disparities, and challenges to our sovereignty,” he said in the statement. “Another term under Trump would be devastating.”

Jackson said the union would be reaching out to Indigenous members to spread the word about the Harris-Walz campaign.

The Nal-NiSHii Federation is the only AFL-CIO federated body in the U.S. representing Indigenous families in the Navajo Nation region, including miners, power plant workers and construction workers.

This article contains material from The Associated Press.


Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.

US House Republicans launch probe into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s China ties amid vice-presidential candidacy

Office of Governor Walz & Lt. Governor Flanagan, 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Joshua Villanueva | UC Law San Francisco, US
AUGUST 18, 2024 
THE JURIST

The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee led by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) launched an investigation on Friday into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s alleged connections to China.

Rep. Comer sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding information on Chinese entities and individuals connected to Governor Walz. Comer is seeking any documents and communications between Walz’s office and the FBI, specifically regarding warnings or guidance about government officials engaging with Chinese government representatives or their proxies.

In a statement on Friday, Comer said:

Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, has a long-standing and cozy relationship with China, Mr. Walz has visited China dozens of times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders.

Governor Walz first went to China in 1989, participating in a Harvard University teach-abroad program where he spent a year teaching English and American history. Later, he founded Educational Travel Adventures, organizing trips to China. In 2007, Governor Walz was a fellow at Macao Polytechnic University. Despite these ties, he has been a vocal critic of China, meeting with the Dalai Lama and a Hong Kong democracy activist, and supporting the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the House when he served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The latest investigation marks a continuation of House Republicans’ efforts to scrutinize their top political rivals. As the 19-month impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings wraps up, Republicans are now directing their investigatory focus toward the Harris-Walz ticket. Friday’s new probe comes on the heels of Comer launching an investigation last week into Harris’s involvement in immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, casting her as Biden’s “border czar” as Republicans try to connect her to the rise in migrant numbers.

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee Democrats stated that Comer’s new investigation into Walz “is nothing more than a political stunt to aid the former president.”

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), currently running for Senate, has also voiced concerns about Governor Walz’s trips to China. In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week, Rep. Banks questioned whether Walz adhered to foreign travel reporting requirements for his security clearance during his visits to China while serving in the National Guard.

I’ve turned oysters from a delicacy into a barrier to stop rising seas

Artificial oyster reefs are being created as living breakwaters to limit the damage to vulnerable coastal regions from climate change

An oyster reef off the Netherlands (Photo: nioz.nl)

By Padraic Flanagan

August 11, 2024 

Diners slurping oysters in the haute cuisine hangouts of Amsterdam may be unaware, but colonies of their beloved bivalves clumping on reefs a few miles down the coast may be the key to protecting the Netherlands from rising sea levels.

Artificial oyster reefs have been created by Dutch researchers as living breakwaters in an effort to limit the damage to vulnerable coastal regions by calming waves before they reach the shore.

The ability of the molluscs to adapt to their marine environment is seen as a vital tool in tackling a changing climate.

The extraordinary purification capabilities of oysters – a single adult can filter 180 litres of water a day – is also helping revitalise the ecosystem in the salt waters of Oosterschelde in the island-dense province of Zeeland by reducing water pollution from fertilisers and other nitrates so that other species may thrive.

Jim van Belzen, a coastal and estuarine ecologist at Wageningen Marine Research and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, is one of a small team of experts engaged in developing this “green infrastructure” alongside stationary measures like storm surge barriers and seawalls to ensure maximum protection for coastal and marine life.

“If we’re able to rely more and more on natural processes that are working by themselves, such as an oyster reef that is developing on its own, then I think we can end up with a much more robust coastal protection system than we have now,” Dr Van Belzen told i.

“And it brings other benefits too,” he added. “There is also a huge need for biodiversity restoration. So these oysters are not only wave breakers, at the same time they are also breeding grounds for all kinds of marine species. So in that respect, they have an added value over just being a part of coastal protection.”

Dr Jim van Belzen is a a coastal and estuarine ecologist at Wageningen Marine Research and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (Photo: Jim van Belzen)

The North Sea, in common with many other parts of the world, once boasted huge populations of oysters in beds and reefs but overexploitation, disease and pollution have driven a 95 per cent decline in numbers since the 1800s. In the last century alone, four fifths of the world’s oyster reefs have disappeared.

Reefs are formed when oyster larvae attach to and grow on other oysters’ shells. The young oysters are known as spat and the resulting structures, comprising living and dead oysters, can grow to hundreds of metres. The first big reef built in Oosterschelde, in 2010, grew to 50 metres long by 10 metres wide.

In their early trials in ecological engineering, Wageningen researchers used the European flat oyster, or Ostrea edulis, a native species that was once very common in the North Sea. Later self-sustaining reefs that proved effective at erosion control were dominated by Pacific or Japanese oysters, or Crassostrea gigas.

“Ideally you want to build an oyster reef and then, hopefully, nature takes over and the reef starts developing on its own,” said Dr Van Belzen.

“In the beginning it didn’t work that well. Some of the reefs were placed too high or too low. And the natural recruitment of oysters was not really taking shape. But thanks to these pilots, we learned better approaches and so the later oyster reefs are doing much better than the first ones we tried.”

The Dutch experts have used the lessons from their trials in the Oosterschelde to grow oyster reefs in Kutubdia Island, one of the most vulnerable spots on the flood-prone south-east coast of Bangladesh. It was the first time the idea had been tested in a sub-tropical, monsoon climate.

The oyster reefs are living breakwaters (Photo: Jim van Belzen)

As sea levels rise and storms become more extreme, protecting coastlines from erosion and flooding becomes ever more important – especially in Bangladesh, where an estimated sixth of the country’s land could be submerged by 2050, displacing 20 million people.

At Kutubdia, the reefs not only break up the waves but also trap sediment between it and the shoreline. This can enable the planting of mangroves, which further help to protect shorelines from wave damage. The researchers found that the artificial reefs reduced erosion by over half compared to control sites, and were effective in dissipating energy from waves.

Now oyster reef projects are under way all around the world – from the Solent in the UK to New South Wales in Australia. In the US, a Billion Oyster Project is hoping to engage a million people in the effort to restore one billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2035.

The important work being done in Oosterschelde has been noted by the US State Department’s Bureau of Oceans International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, which praised the researchers and said their groundbreaking advances in eco-engineering will be “invaluable” in the international effort to tackle climate change.

Read Next

World

This is how I'm trying to save one of the world’s smallest countries from the sea

Read More

For Danielle Brigida, of the World Wildlife Fund, oysters are “the quiet climate heroes, working in places we don’t see, making a difference for our planet” as coastal protection guardians. “By safeguarding coastal areas, oyster reefs help protect human communities and vital coastal ecosystems from the devastating impacts of climate-related events,” she said.

Dr Van Belzen, whose current work involves calculating the optimal locations to site new oyster reefs, is optimistic that there is a greater public appetite to tackle climate change, including support for green solutions such as artificial oyster reefs, than is generally reflected in discussions about the crisis.

“If you ask people, there are so many that want a sustainable life and environment,” said Dr Van Belzen. “A lot of people want to do something about climate change but somehow there is also a general impression that other people don’t want to change. There’s a mismatch there but if we can challenge that idea, maybe the change we urgently need can go much faster than we think.”

Surprise as Czechia picks S. Korea to power nuclear drive

Tim Gosling (in Prague)

DW

JULY 23,2024

The Czech government surprised many last week by picking South Korean company KHNP over France's EDF to build at least two new nuclear reactors. DW takes a look at the background and possible consequences of the move.

The Czech government has announced that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power will build two new reactors at the Dukovany power plant in the center of the country Zoonar.com/www.artushfoto.eu/picture alliance


The Czech Republic surprised many last week when it announced on July 17 that it will award South Korea the country's biggest-ever contract to build up to four new nuclear reactors.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) beat France's EDF in a tender launched in 2022 to build a new reactor at the Dukovany power plant in the center of the country.

"The Korean bid was better in all criteria assessed," Fiala told reporters, adding that Prague has decided to build two units at Dukovany "for now."

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced on July 17 that the government has decided to commission the Korean company KHNP with building at least two — and possibly four — nuclear reactorsImage: Michal Krumphanzl/CTK/IMAGO

Construction of the first unit is expected to start in 2029, with the reactor to go online by 2036.
Cost a key factor

Officials have stressed that the price of the Korean offer, which Fiala said amounts to around €8 billion per unit, helped tip the balance in KHNP's favor.

The cost of expanding the Czech Republic's fleet of nuclear power plants and the key question as to who should pick up the tab, has for over a decade delayed progress on what is the main plank of the country's long-term energy strategy to increase to 50% nuclear energy's contribution to the country's total power output.

Dukovany's four Soviet-era units, alongside a pair at Temelin near the Austrian border, currently produce around 30% of the country's output, but they are all getting on in years.

Yet despite broad support across the political spectrum for the policy to increase nuclear power, finances and geopolitics have so far stood in the way.

The Temelin nuclear power plant is Czechia's largest electricity producer, covering about a fifth of domestic consumption. The Czech government will discuss the construction of two units there with KHNP

Image: Vaclav Pancer/picture alliance

The objections of state-controlled energy company CEZ's minority shareholders to the company taking on such a massive and risky investment, and conflicting approaches among political players, stopped a tender to add two reactors at Temelin in 2014.

This time, CEZ will take on the investment, albeit with significant state support.

Other obstacles to nuclear progress

More recently, a tussle over whether nuclear power should qualify as a sustainable energy source under EU environmental regulations has clouded the issue.

But Fiala has upped the ante since Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked an energy crunch two years ago. Last year he announced that his government wants to add up to four new reactors to the six currently serving the country.

Fiala said when announcing the result of the Dukovany tender that an option for adding a further two units at Temelin will be discussed with KHNP.

Russia and China not included in tender

Ten years ago, Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom looked like a shoo-in for the contract to expand Temelin thanks to residual support for Moscow among Prague's political power brokers. However, relations with Russia have since broken down almost completely.

The construction of two new reactors at the Dukovany power plant will be KHNP's debut project in the EU. Pictured here: Alois Mika, KHNP adviser in the Czech Republic, presenting the Dukovany projectImage: Roman Vondrous/CTK/picture allianc

The discovery in 2021 that Russian intelligence had blown up an arms depot at Vrbetice in the east of the country in 2014, killing two, sparked fury in the Czech Republic. The ensuing diplomatic tit-for-tat saw embassies in Prague and Moscow all but emptied.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Czechia's keen support for Kyiv have only deepened the freeze in relations.

But even before that, Czech lawmakers backed legislation blocking Russia from taking part in the nuclear tender due to national security concerns.

China, which had also spent years lobbying for the job, was also excluded.
Why did the South Koreans win the bid?

Given Prague's financing concerns, the exclusion of Moscow and Beijing — whose nuclear exports are highly competitive on cost — may have given the South Koreans a distinct advantage.

KHNP enjoys a strong track record of efficiency in meeting delivery and cost parameters, and the announced pricing of its offer looks extremely competitive.

The main plank of the Czech Republic's long-term energy strategy is to increase the contribution of nuclear power to the country's total power output to 50%

Image: Lubos Pavlicek/dpa/picture alliance

The Korean company is thought likely to have had extra motivation to make the price tempting for Prague. The Czech contract is a route for KHNP to a debut project in the EU, a market that is potentially lucrative but also challenging in terms of regulations.

Why did the French not get the deal?

The fact that France's EDF has a poor reputation on meeting delivery and cost parameters is also likely to have weighed on minds in Prague.

Nevertheless, the decision to go with South Korea was still unexpected by many because the French bid had long been considered the clear favorite.

"It was a surprise. Not from a technical or cost point of view, but from the geopolitical angle," Martin Jirusek, an assistant professor at Brno's Masaryk University, who specializes in energy geopolitics, told DW. "It was assumed that France was the natural choice because it's such a key state in the EU and potentially valuable partner for Czechia in those terms."

Nuclear power as a sustainable energy source for the EU?

Alongside a raft of (mostly Central and Eastern European) member states, the Czechs have spent recent years pushing the EU into accepting that nuclear power should have a role in decoupling from Russian energy and driving the energy transition.

But it was France's political heft that was key in securing a classification for nuclear power as a sustainable investment under the EU's Green Deal two years ago.

That allowed Prague to submit to Brussels a plan to supply a 30-year state loan to fund the first unit at Dukovany, as well as a contract for difference that would guarantee CEZ a minimum price for the electricity produced.

The Czech decision in favor of South Korea was unexpected because the French bid had long been considered the clear favorite. Pictured here: French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the Czech-French Nuclear Forum in March

Image: Michal Kamaryt/CTK/AP/picture alliance

However, the debate remains lively, with Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, and Greece forming a strong anti-nuclear block.

Will the decision impact relations with France?

The Czechs will need to work their way past such obstacles as they launch a bid to secure agreement on funding and support for the second unit at Dukovany that KHNP has agreed to build.

But having snubbed Paris, the nuclear lobby's leading voice, Prague could find itself more isolated in that fight than it might have been.

"The snub seems likely to impact relations with France for now," Jirusek suggests.
The bottom line

Still, it seems that for Fiala, domestic politics trumped the international angle.

Having seen his government's support drained by the austerity drive he instituted in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis, the Czech PM will find it far easier to sell the savings offered by the South Korean bid to taxpayers than the uncertain and unquantifiable advantages of French friendship.

But at the same time, many suspect that the price announced by Fiala may be pie in the sky.

"It will be interesting to see what price is actually on the contract when it's signed next year," says Jirusek, who suggests that €12 billion — and not €8 billion — per unit is probably more realistic.

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan

Tim Gosling Journalist covering politics, economics and social issues across Central and Eastern Europe

Serbia: Protests on the cards if lithium mining goes ahead

Sanja Kljajic

DW

As Olaf Scholz travels to Serbia for a summit on critical raw materials on Friday, Serbian activists have labeled their government's decision to greenlight lithium mining "an epic crime against people and nature."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in June that Serbia could begin mining lithium as early as 2028 following new guarantees from Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto

In the villages of the Jadar Valley in western Serbia, even recent scorchingly high temperatures haven't stopped farmers from working in the fields. About 18,000 people live in this area, mostly young families with children who rely on the valley's fertile land.

In the last five years, their lives have been turned upside down by the plans of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto to open a lithium mine in the area.

The family of vet and farmer Zlatko Kokanovic has lived here for generations. He knows the area like the back of his hand and is certain that the mine and the community cannot exist side by side.

"The plan is that the main processing plant will be here — just a few hundred meters away from our church. Between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of rock material will be crushed there daily, treated with 1,000 tons of sulfuric acid, and washed with huge amounts of water, which will then end up in the River Jadar," Kokanovic told DW.
Fierce local opposition to mining plans

Kokanovic's home is often used as a "crisis HQ" for the association Ne damo Jadar, which means "We won't give up Jadar" and was set up by residents of the Jadar Valley who want to stop the opening of the mine.

The association argues that if locals have to leave their properties, they will not only lose their homes but also their primary source of income, and that the mine will devastate the environment.

The association Ne damo Jadar was set up by Jadar Valley residents opposed to Rio Tinto's lithium mining plans. Pictured here: An activist in the village of Gornje Nedeljice wearing a Ne damo Jadar T-shirtImage: Jelena Djukic Pejic/DW

"Cars for Europe, batteries for the Chinese, and landfills, diseases, cancers and who knows what else for us Serbs. It's better to mine in Serbia than in Germany or France," Dragan Karajcic of the association Ne damo Jadar told DW.
Divided opinions

There has been heated debate about the future of the region's vast lithium deposits for five years now.

For locals and many Serbian citizens, the project poses a significant environmental threat. For others, it constitutes a path to economic prosperity and a development opportunity for Serbia.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Loznica, western Serbia, on June 28, 2024, to protest against lithium mining in the region

Image: VLADIMIR ZIVOJINOVIC/AFP via Getty Images

After mass protests across the country, the Serbian government decided in 2022 to halt the lithium mining project. "With this, as far as the Jadar and Rio Tinto project is concerned, everything is finished. It's over," declared then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Serbian government U-turn

Earlier this month, however, Serbia's Constitutional Court annulled the government's decision, stating it was "not in accordance with the Constitution or the law." The government has now decided to proceed with the project.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic indicated in June that lithium extraction could begin as early as 2028, having received new guarantees from mining giant Rio Tinto.

"We believe that the mine will not endanger anyone or anything," said Vucic, "But first, we have to get guarantees from Europe that the environment and the lives of ordinary citizens will be preserved and improved with new jobs and better salaries."

\

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left, pictured here with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in 2022) plans to travel to Belgrade for a summit on critical raw materials — including lithium — on FridayImage: picture alliance/dpa

Rio Tinto has praised the government's decision, promising compliance with the highest standards of environmental protection and the creation of thousands of jobs.
EU supports lithium mining in Serbia

The European Union has repeatedly expressed its interest in Serbia's lithium deposits. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission Vice President for Energy Marosh Shevchovich will visit Belgrade on Friday, July 19, to attend the "Critical Raw Materials Summit," during which Serbia and the EU will sign a strategic partnership memorandum that includes provisions for lithium mining.

For opposition MP Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta, the current situation is "an epic crime against people and nature." He called Scholz a "little American puppet" and says the German chancellor has taken the liberty of displacing people who "feed Serbia" from Gornje Nedeljice, one of the villages that will be most affected by the Rio Tinto mine.

This roadside sign in the village of Gornje Nedeljice, which is near the planned site of the mine, reads 'No mine. Yes life'Image: Jelena Djukic Pejic/DW

"Let Scholz and Shevchovich come to Zlatko Kokanovic and tell him: 'Look, Zlatko, I want lithium. The condition for that is you and your 100,000 liters of milk production disappear, and you move from your field.' Could he say that to a German farmer?" Jovanovic Cuta said to DW. He warns that there will be "a rebellion" in the coming weeks and months.

'Mine your lithium in Germany, Mr. Scholz'

For Zlatko Kokanovic, the current situation does not come as a surprise. Ne damo Jadar repeatedly warned the public that even after the government decided to stop the project, Rio Tinto did not leave the Jadar Valley, but merely reduced its activities.

"There is three times more lithium in Germany, Mr. Scholz, and it is found in underground thermal waters where it is much simpler to exploit and where there would be much less impact on the environment. Go ahead, mine your lithium in Germany," Kokanovic said in a video on the association's Facebook page addressing the German chancellor.

As the largest carmaker in the EU, Germany is highly interested in securing access to lithium, one of the raw materials needed to build electric vehicles. Sourcing lithium from Serbia would allow Germany to reduce its dependence on ChinaImage: John Walton/PA Wire/picture alliance

Kokanovic said that the group is not planning a protest for the arrival of the European delegation, but is focusing on other activities instead.

"We will not chase them around Belgrade and have no intention of wasting our strength and energy because it is clearly the plan and goal of this government to arrest us and put us behind bars. We will not allow them to do that," he said.
Protests and arrests

At the last major protest at the end of June, Ne damo Jadar gave the Serbian government until August 10 to adopt a law permanently banning geological research and the exploitation of lithium and boron in Serbia. Otherwise, members of the association warned, they would block railways and roads again, as protesters have done in the past.

MP Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta is convinced that Vucic will "break his teeth" on this topic. "We are dealing with a company that no normal country would welcome, but that's why they found Aleksandar Vucic, a great brave fighter, who does not have the courage to defend his people but put himself in the service of Rio Tinto," he told DW.

Abandoned and roofless houses bought by Rio Tinto in the village of Gornje NedeljiceImage: Jelena Djukic Pejic/DW

Meanwhile, Rio Tinto continues its activities. They have already bought 161 hectares of the 854 hectares of land they are planning to buy in the Jadar Valley. Just over 50 households have been displaced so far. Of the 250 that remain, many homeowners say that no amount of money will persuade them to leave their properties.

But the company has also used rather an unusual tactic to persuade residents otherwise: Locals say that the company has offered homeowners an additional 5% on the purchase price if they remove the roof of their house.

These roofless houses create a grim atmosphere in the village: "They are killing us psychologically," says resident Dragan Karajcic, "It is a psychological war."

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan

Sanja Kljajic Correspondent for DW's Serbian Service based in Novi Sad, Serbia@SSnajaKljajic

Ethel Brooks: The first Roma professor in the US

Nadine Mena Michollek in Washington

DW

July 8, 2024

As a child, Ethel Brooks was told, "Gypsy, go to the back of the class," but despite the racism she experienced growing up, she became America's first Roma professor.

Ethel Brooks is a professor and chair of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers University, New Jersey

 Nils Huenerfuerst/DW

News about Ethel Brooks' success spread quickly within the Roma community in Europe: "Have you heard?" people would say, "We have a Roma professor in the US!"

There are perhaps a handful of Roma professors in the world, and one of them is Ethel Brooks, the first in the United States.

Any Roma person who makes it to the top is well known in the Roma community: Livia Jaroka, the first Romani woman in the European Parliament, for example, or Nizaqete Bislimi-Hoso, a successful lawyer in Germany or Esma Redzepova, who is often called the queen of Roma music.

Racism is a barrier

These Roma are well known within the community because racism against Roma often makes it impossible to rise through the ranks. Ethel experienced this racism herself firsthand.

Roma often face discrimination on various levels — not only in the US, but throughout Europe, too

Omer Messinger/Getty Images

"There were many times my fellow schoolmates would say, 'oh, Gypsy, go to the back of the class,'" she says, adding that back then, although it made her feel angry and hurt inside, she never expressed these feelings out loud.

When Ethel speaks, there is no anger in her warm voice. Yet despite the warmth, the sadness is evident.

From trailer to one of the US's top universities

It's one of those hot, cloudy, humid summer days at Rutgers University in New Jersey, an old college campus that gives off Gilmore Girls, Yale and Ivy League vibes. The rain has just stopped. It's quiet. There are no students. The summer break has just begun.

Ethel Brooks has come a long way: The woman who grew up in a trailer is now standing smiling in front of an old black-and-red metal gate at the US university where she works.

Ethel's mother, aunts and uncles weren't even allowed to go to school. Back then, she says, the municipality said "those gypsy children" were not going to school anymore.
200 years in the US

Ethel's home office is flooded with light. There are large, colorfully patterned cushions on window seats. Her home is as picturesque as an Airbnb commercial or a house in an Instagram reel. Black and white pictures of tall, muscular horses hang on the walls.

'I want to create critical knowledge that not only supports us Romani people, but marginalized people everywhere,' says Ethel Brooks

Nils Huenerfuerst/DW

Ethel's family is from Massachusetts. They have been in the US for 200 years and used to trade horses between the US and Europe. Today, her family lives in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where Ethel grew up.

Racism still present

There are an estimated one million Roma in the US. Many US Americans don't know much about Roma people. Some don't even know that Roma people actually exist and are a real community.

Nevertheless, many American sitcoms and movies reproduce Roma stereotypes, often in jokes, saying that Roma people steal, do fortune-telling and are witches.

Ethel says that there is racism, especially where larger communities live. "There's a whole kind of thing about 'don't get your car fixed by these guys because they're gypsies and they'll screw you over,'" she says.
From India to Europe

Racism against Roma has been around for hundreds of years. Experts say that Roma originally migrated from India — probably fleeing violence and for economic reasons — and arrived in Europe sometime around the year AD 1000. Linguists support this theory because the old Indian language Sanskrit is the basis of the Roma language "Romanes."

It is estimated that there are about 12 million Roma in Europe today.

Ethel Brooks is the USA's first Roma professor  05:11

The Roma community is diverse. Its members can be found all over the world, with different traditions and religions and speaking different dialects.

But despite these differences, Ethel feels that the global Roma community is united by one thing: "The ways in which we respect and care for our elders and the ways in which we adore our children," she tells DW.

She stresses that it is all about caring for each other, providing mutual support and, as she says, "really feeling like all of us are in this together, sometimes against the world, because we know what it means as Romani people to experience racism and discrimination and marginalization."

Support from her family

Ethel also got this kind of unconditional support from her family. She leafs through a pile of old documents that includes papers, photo albums full of black-and-white pictures and local newspaper articles from her high school years. Her parents collected all these things because they are a record of Ethel's achievements: spelling bees, competitions, speeches and prizes.

Her parents took her to the local library and wanted her to do well in school. As a university student, Ethel's father even went without medicine so the family would have money to buy her books. She didn't know this until after he died.

Ensuring accurate knowledge about Romani people

The walls of Ethel's office are lined with bookshelves. Here and there are small picture frames with old family photos of grandmothers, aunts and uncles.

Ethel Brooks is a professor and chair of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Rutgers. She researches on topics such as critical political economy, globalization, feminist theory, nationalism and post-colonialism.

Fighting Sinti and Roma stereotypes with art  04:36

She told DW that she got her PhD and became a professor to create a pool of accurate knowledge because when she started out as a university student, she couldn't find such information about the Roma community.

Books full of racism

"The first fall holiday, I brought home stacks of books about Roma to my family," she says. Ethel sat down with her aunt and mother, and they began to read together. "I said to them: We are doing it wrong. We don't know how to be Romani, because look, these books are saying you're supposed to do it this way."

Her aunt looked at her and said: "If I don't know how to be Romani, nobody does. These books are wrong." The books were full of racism and stereotypes.

As a professor, Ethel wants to change that. "I want to create critical knowledge that not only supports us Romani people, but marginalized people everywhere," she says.
Appointed by President Obama

Racism against Roma reached its peak during the Nazi genocide of World War II. Germany only recognized the genocide of the Sinti and Roma in the 1980s.

Former US President Barack Obama appointed Ethel to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Stone at the Sinti and Roma Memorial in Berlin engraved with the words 'Lublin Majdanek' — a former concentration and death camp near Lublin in Poland, where many Roma and Sinti were killed

Juergen Raible/akg-images/picture alliance

Ethel says this was important not only for her, but for Romani people in the US and for Sinti and Roma worldwide. She says that this appointment was a way of saying: "Here we are, and we're finally able to recognize the kinds of losses that our people suffered under National Socialism, in the Holocaust, at the hands of the Nazis."

Ethel works at a university attended by many students from marginalized groups. She knows what that feels like and wants to empower these students to claim their place in the world.

"Understanding who we are, can make us so powerful," she says. "Survival for us is something that defies the logic of history, the trajectories that are understood by history. It's resistance. Resistance is something we can carry on, that we take from our ancestors and that we give to our children."

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan