Iran's economy is crumbling after years of U.S. sanctions — and Tehran insists Washington must suspend those restrictions before the two sides can return to nuclear talks.

Both sides have indicated interest in returning to the negotiating table, but neither the U.S. nor Iran wants to give in to the other.

CNBC takes a look at the state of Iran's economy through six charts.

Iran's economy is crumbling after years of U.S. sanctions — and Tehran insists Washington must suspend those restrictions before the two sides can return to nuclear talks.

Both countries have indicated interest in returning to the negotiating table, but neither the U.S. nor Iran wants to give in to the other.

Iran signed the nuclear deal — officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — with the U.S., China, France, Russia, the U.K. and Germany in 2015.

But former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed sanctions under a "maximum pressure" policy to force the regime back to negotiations.

Here are six charts that show how Iran's economy is struggling.

Iran's economy shrinks© Provided by CNBC

Iran's economy contracted an estimated 4.99% in 2020, steadily shrinking since 2017.

In comparison, the Islamic Republic enjoyed a sharp economic growth of 12.5% in 2016 after the nuclear deal was signed. However, that reprieve was short-lived.

"It's impossible to know precisely what the numbers would be had there been no sanctions," said Abrams, former U.S. special representative for Iran during the Trump administration who is nowa senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). "But I think it's pretty clear that the sanctions have had an impact on the Iranian economy and on the government budget."

The International Monetary Fund sees Iran's gross domestic product growing 3% in 2021.

Oil production and exports hurt© Provided by CNBC

The sanctions lowered Iran's ability to sell oil and prevented them from repatriating money from energy sales, Abrams said.

"There are billions of dollars sitting in banks in Iraq and China and South Korea … that Iran cannot get its hands on due to the sanctions," he said.

According to IMF estimates, the Islamic Republic's oil exports are expected to continue falling in 2021.

World trade with Iran falls© Provided by CNBC

Exports and imports both fell sharply after the sanctions were reimposed. Besides oil, Iran's industrial metals, a large source of the country's export revenue, were also sanctioned.

IMF estimates suggest Iran fell into a trade deficit of $3.45 billion in 2020. The country had a trade surplus of $6.11 billion in 2019, according to the IMF.
Inflation spikes© Provided by CNBC

The Iranian currency has dropped steadily since early 2018, but Matthew Bey, a senior global analyst at Stratfor, said the rial has "somewhat stabilized."

Still, its value on the unofficial market stands at more than 250,000 rials per dollar — that's far from the central bank's official rate of 42,000 rials per dollar that's used for most imported goods.

A weaker currency makes imports more expensive for locals, and high inflation means the cost of living is rising at a time when the people are already struggling with a weak economy and job market.

Weak job market© Provided by CNBC

High unemployment rates are set to increase even further given Iran's economic struggles.

An estimated 12.4% of the population is expected to be out of work in 2021, according to IMF projections.

Widening fiscal deficit© Provided by CNBC

Iran's government is spending beyond its means, and has seen a widening fiscal deficit. While this is not always a bad thing, it could restrict the country's ability to improve economic activity and recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'm sure that the national budget is of some interest (to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) because he would want money for the Revolutionary Guards, for Hezbollah, for the Shia militias in Iraq and for various other expenses that they have," said Abrams from CFR.

However, he pointed out that the usual concerns of a civil government — such as national income, average family income, rate of inflation, or jobless rate — may not be important to the religious leaders.

Road to a U.S.-Iran deal?

An agreement between the U.S. and Iran is not impossible — but only if each side softens its current stance, according to Bey.

The United States, Bey said, would have to accept that sanctions relief is a necessary step toward getting Iran to comply with the JCPOA. On the other hand, Iran has to recognize that if it doesn't take "substantial steps," the Biden administration cannot fully suspend sanctions.

Abrams, on the other hand, said there's a "very significant problem" in the Biden administration's Iran policy, which is to revive the nuclear deal before negotiating a broader agreement that includes Iran's missile program and its support for militias in the region.

"But once you've gone back to the JCPOA, you have lifted most of the significant economic sanctions," he said. "Therefore, you have eliminated most of your leverage to get Iran to agree to these additional things that it does not want … to agree to and I don't see why it would agree at that point," he added.

Stratfor's Bey pointed out that Tehran has insisted on sanctions being lifted before talks begin.

"Iran appears to have calculated that it can withstand the economic pressure that accumulates as it takes a harder position against the Biden administration," Bey said.

UPDATED

Freighter blocking Suez Canal could have ‘critical impact’ on global trade: experts

IT ALREADY IS, $400M AN HOUR

Twinkle Ghosh and David Lao

GLOBAL NEWS 

3/27/2021

© (Credit Image: © Ahmed Gomaa/Xinhua via ZUMA Press) CAIRO, March 26, 2021 Rescue vessels work at the site of a container ship trapped on the Suez Canal of Egypt on March 26, 2021.

Friday's maritime traffic on the Suez Canal has now grown to over 200 backlogged ships — 30 of which are oil tankers — ever since the major shipping passage was first blocked by a container vessel that ran aground earlier this week.

According to data firm Refinitiv, another 100 ships are still en route towards the waterway. The blockage, which could take weeks to clear up, is now concerning industry experts — with one saying the incident could have a 'critical impact' on global trade.

"Already, we have seen an increase in price of oil," and that's kind of a "critical impact," Opher Baron, an economist at the University of Toronto, told Global News on Friday.

Read more: Satellite images show how one ship stuck in Suez Canal is causing so much disruption

Perishable commodity trades could also suffer setbacks.

Food that's travelling in containers also presents a "concern," Baron said, since those could possibly rot and incur business losses.

The "secondary impact," as Baron said, is the backlog of ships and containers.

Video: Biden says U.S. has capacity, equipment to help with vessel stuck in Suez Canal

With so many vessels suddenly stuck, they "can't be used to ship anything else," he said.



Suez Canal blockage could drive up gas prices

The outfit most prone to suffer the impact of this jam are the manufacturers of toilet paper and similar house-bound products, like appliances, sofas, televisions and backyards.

"One of the issues with toilet paper" and other such consumer products is that they require stronger containers, according to Baron.

Read more: Massive ship stuck in Suez Canal continues to harm global shipping

"So, if these are stuck and cannot be offloaded, there can be a bottleneck in the supply chain," he noted.

The Ever Given first ran aground Tuesday about six kilometers north of its southern entrance. The ship measures nearly 400 metres and can carry more than 20,000 cargo containers.

The salvage company overseeing the rescue effort has warned it could take weeks to dislodge the beached Ever Given.

"Ships, containers and goods are all in the wrong places," Douglas Kent, an executive vice at the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), told Reuters.

IKEA, one of the world's largest furniture sellers, and London-based electronics seller Dixons Carphone are among the retailers with goods on the stranded Ever Given, according to the news website.

Video: Massive cargo ship blocking Suez Canal continues to cause major disruptions

IKEA has nearly 110 containers on the ship wedged in the canal and is inspecting how many boxes of products are on other vessels waiting to enter the channel.

"Depending on how this work proceeds and how long it takes to finish the operation, it may create constraints on our supply chain," said Hannes Mård, spokesman for IKEA brand owner and franchiser Inter IKEA.

According to Lloyd's list, roughly US$9.6 billion in containerized goods — including exercise equipment, appliances, apparel and consumer electronics — pass through the Suez Canal each day.

Read more: Vessel blocking Suez Canal causes oil tanker shipping rates to nearly double

Analysts expect a larger upward impact on smaller tankers and oil products, like naphtha and fuel oil exports from Europe to Asia if the canal remains blocked for several weeks.

“Around 20 per cent of Asia’s naphtha is supplied by the Mediterranean and Black Sea via the Suez Canal,” said Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at FGE, noting that re-routing ships around the Cape of Good Hope could mean over 800 tonnes of fuel consumption for tankers.

The blockage could cost global trade US$6 billion to US$10 billion a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.

Video: Market and Business Report Mar 26 2021

Industry experts and shipping companies have since warned that the ship's grounding could potentially have implications for deliveries to Canadian ports in Montreal and Halifax.

"If it's a short shutdown, it wouldn't be that much different than a major weather event,'' Lane Farguson, a spokesman for the Port of Halifax, first told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

According to Ferguson, Halifax's port is a major recipient of goods from Asia and the longer the delay is caused by the Ever Given, "the more things back up."

Read more: Hopes and memes rest on ‘tiny’ excavator digging out Suez Canal ship

Despite the majority of cargo from Asia travelling to Canada via the Pacific Ocean, a portion still comes through the Suez Canal according to Johanna Stroex, a spokesperson for container ship operator Hapag-Lloyd AG.

Stroex told The Canadian Press that goods en route to Canada via the canal were mainly retail and consumer goods.

Ferguson however said that it was too soon to tell if operations in Canada would be impacted by the canal’s shutdown, but that they would monitoring the situation there.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, which looks over the waterway between the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, also that they also expected minimal impact from the ship's grounding.

— With files from Global News' Eric Sorenson, Reuters, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press

No timeline given for extracting wedged ship from Suez Canal

SUEZ, Egypt — A giant container ship remained stuck sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal for a fifth day Saturday, as authorities made new attempts to free the vessel and reopen a crucial waterway whose blockage is disrupting global shipping and trade.  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Meanwhile, the head of the Suez Canal Authority said strong winds were “not the only cause” for the Ever Given running aground on Tuesday, appearing to push back against conflicting assessments offered by others. Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei told a news conference Saturday that an investigation was ongoing but did not rule out human or technical error.

The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about six kilometres (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.

Rabei said he could not predict when the ship might be dislodged. A Dutch salvage firm is attempting to refloat the vessel with tugboats and dredgers, taking advantage of high tides.

Rabei said he remained hopeful that dredging could free the ship without having to resort to removing its cargo, but added that “we are in a difficult situation, it’s a bad incident.”

Asked about when they expected to free the vessel and reopen the canal, he said: "I can’t say because I do not know.”

Shoei Kisen, the company that owns the vessel, said it was considering removing containers if other refloating efforts failed.

Two attempts to free the vessel failed Saturday, according to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the ship's management company, and a canal services provider, Leth agencies, despite hopes that a high tide might give the vesslela boost.

Bernhard Schulte had said earlier that “significant progress” was made late Friday at the ship’s stern where its rudder was released from sediment.

It said around a dozen tugboats were working Saturday alongside dredging operations that were removing sand and mud from around the left side of the vessel’s bow.

Some 9,000 tons of ballast water had been already removed from the vessel, the canal chairman said.

Since the blockage began, a maritime traffic jam had grown to more than 320 vessels waiting on both ends of the Suez Canal and in the Great Bitter Lake in the middle of the waterway.

Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis, the salvage firm hired to extract the Ever Given said Friday said the company hoped to pull the container ship free within days using a combination of heavy tugboats, dredging and high tides.

He told the Dutch current affairs show Nieuwsuur on Friday night that the front of the ship is stuck in sandy clay, but the rear “has not been completely pushed into the clay and that is positive because you can use the rear end to pull it free.”

“The combination of the (tug) boats we will have there, more ground dredged away and the high tide, we hope that will be enough to get the ship free somewhere early next week,” he said.

If that doesn’t work, the company will remove hundreds of containers from the front of the ship to lighten it, effectively lifting the ship to make it easier to pull free, Berdowski said.

A crane was already on its way that can lift the containers off the ship, he said. Bernhard Schulte also confirmed that a Dutch and an Italian tugboat were scheduled to arrive in Egypt on Sunday.

Egypt Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly called the ship's predicament "a very extraordinary incident,” in his first public comments on the blockage.

The Suez Canal Authority organized the first media trip Saturday to the site where the vessel was stuck. From a distance, a flotilla of tugboats and other salvage equipment appeared minuscule compared to the vessel, a reminder of the scale of effort needed to reopen the canal.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said Friday that its initial investigation showed the vessel ran aground due to strong winds and ruled out mechanical or engine failure. However, Rabei seemed to be pushing back against that assessment Saturday, saying that all possibilities, including human and technical errors, were being investigated.

A prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global shipment chain. Some 19,000 vessels passed through the canal last year, according to official figures. About 10% of world trade flows through the canal. The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East.

Some vessels began changing course and dozens of ships were still en route to the waterway, according to the data firm Refinitiv.

It remained unclear how long the blockage would last. Even after reopening the canal that links factories in Asia to consumers in Europe, the waiting containers are likely to arrive at busy ports, forcing them to face additional delays before offloading.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Corder at The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Trade union calls for Deliveroo UK riders strike to highlight IPO risks

© Reuters/YVES HERMAN FILE PHOTO

A courier for food delivery service Deliveroo rides a bike in central Brussels

LONDON (Reuters) - A trade union called for Deliveroo's UK riders to strike when the meal delivery service floats on the stock market next month, saying on Sunday the action would highlight dissatisfaction with the company's business model and approach to workers' rights.


Deliveroo, whose turquoise-uniformed couriers delivering chicken kormas and American hot pizzas are a common sight in many British suburbs, is set for Britain’s biggest stock market debut in nearly a decade after setting a share price range that values it at up to $12 billion.

But some investment firms have said they will not participate in the initial public offering (IPO). Insurer Aviva for instance highlighted a lack of rights for riders as an investment risk as the company might be forced to change its business model.

Deliveroo said investor demand had continued to build since its roadshow began on Monday, and said the views of the union which announced the strike, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), did not represent the vast majority of riders.

The IWGB previously lost a legal challenge to Deliveroo in 2018. The case sought to secure rights such as the UK minimum wage for riders, but the court ruled riders were self-employed.

"Investing in Deliveroo means associating yourself with the exploitative and unstable business model," IWGB President Alex Marshall said in a statement, adding the strike was planned for April 7, to coincide with the IPO.

The rights of people who work in the so-called "gig economy" have been an increasing focus in Britain. Ride-hailing app Uber gave its workers more entitlements earlier this month after losing a Supreme Court case.

Deliveroo said job satisfaction levels among its 50,000 self-employed riders in Britain was at an all-time high, and that the flexibility they had was a big attraction.

"Thousands apply to work with us every week, reflecting the strong demand for our on-demand model," a company spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by David Holme

 British Columbia is the first province in Canada to set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for major sectors of the provincial economy, including the oil and gas industry, says the environment and climate change minister

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

George Heyman said Friday that setting emission reduction targets are good for both the environment and the economy.

"We think they're achievable," said Heyman about the emissions targets in four sectors of the economy.

"We're going to partner with industry, with the oil and gas sector, with the transportation sector, with people in communities and people who build, own and maintain buildings to reach those targets," he said in an interview.

The emission reduction targets range from 33 per cent to 38 per cent in oil and gas, up to 32 per cent for transportation and from 38 per cent to 43 per cent for industry, Heyman said.

The reduction targets for communities and buildings go as high as 64 per cent, and would include making homes more energy efficient, retrofitting buildings and improving landfills, he said.

The targets are expected to be reached by 2030 and are based on pollution levels from 2007, the minister said.

A collection of environmental groups said Friday they supported setting reduction targets for industry, but some wanted tougher measures placed on the oil and gas sector.

"Setting the target, while important, is not enough," said Andrew Radzik, a spokesman for the Georgia Strait Alliance, in a statement that called for an end to subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

"Without ending subsidies to this climate destabilizing industry, B.C. will miss yet another in a long string of unmet climate targets," he said.

The Pembina Institute, a think tank that advocates for a clean-energy future, called the B.C. targets a model for Canada.

Michael McSweeney, Cement Association of Canada president, said in a statement the industry has been working with the government to transition to low-carbon fuels to produce cleaner cement.

No one from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers was immediately available to comment on the targets set for its industry.

Heyman said setting emission reduction targets for sectors of the economy helps to position B.C. in front of other jurisdictions.

"When companies get ahead of the game here, they attract investment," Heyman said. "I think here in B.C., we can demonstrate that we can fight climate change and it's a real economic opportunity. It positions us for low-carbon exports around the globe as well as on the continent."

He said B.C.'s carbon tax, which has been collected since 2008, also shows investors the province is committed to building a low-carbon economy, he said.

"If we want to leave a planet that's more sustainable, that's healthier for our children and grandchildren, we need to account for the costs of doing that," Heyman said. "Our plan is in place to move steadily toward our targets and to partner with individuals, families and businesses to do just that."

He said investments by the province and industry totalling $84 million will eliminate more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next decade.

B.C.'s emission reduction targets were set in December to be 16 per cent below 2007 levels by 2025.

Heyman said B.C. applauded Thursday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling that the federal government has the authority to impose a minimum price on carbon across Canada.

"We clearly see climate change and carbon emissions not just as a provincial issue," he said. "It's a national issue."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2021.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

CANADA
Mapping project illuminates links between poor environment, historical racism


A new tool that measures the environmental quality of any urban street in Canada — and maps it out in colour — illustrates vividly the many neighbourhoods in the country that have poor environment scores, neighbourhoods that are often home to racialized communities.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

GoodScore assesses air quality, street greenness, amenities, transit and recreation on a scale of 1 to 100. The prototype tool was made for the public and policy-makers alike “so people can create evidence and stories that will illustrate inequity,” says Eleanor Setton, the Victoria-based managing director of the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium.

"Bad" neighbourhoods have hazards that are linked to poor mental health, cancer, asthma, diabetes, and low birth weights.

Homes in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve, nestled in the midst of petrochemical plants in southwestern Ontario, most often record scores under 10 and appear in blazing red on the map. The neighbouring city of Sarnia shows scores of 50 and above and is presented in less alarming colours of tan and blue.

“This is systemic racism,” says Scott Grant, the air-quality expert at Aamjiwnaang First Nation, as he looks at the red-covered map of the community. “It’s a sensitive topic too, because the community doesn’t want to be seen as a horrible place, and it isn’t, it’s a wonderful community, friendly people. It’s just patently unfair what they’ve had to endure.”

Pollution has been harming people in the community for decades, “and people don’t even think about it. This would not be allowed in Oakville, Ont. It would not be allowed in Montreal. There’s no way, and yet it’s happening here,” says Grant.

Setton and her team have found that Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver all have more impoverished households in neighbourhoods with lower walkability, lower streetscape greenness and worse traffic-related air pollution. They note the health impacts of these features are linked to diabetes, lower physical activity and poorer birth outcomes.

Poor people living in poor-quality neighbourhoods experiencing poor health isn’t revelatory, but when it intersects with race, those impacts can be exacerbated, says Ingrid Waldron in her book "There’s Something in the Water." She explores the long history of environmental racism, such as Africville in Nova Scotia, a Black community that experienced years of industrialization and marginalization.

Waldron explains that socioeconomic status is a key driver for environmental racism: poverty stops people from being able to move out of poor-quality environments, but sociopolitical factors also contribute. These communities can have less political clout in anything from local city planning — such as where the new sports facility will be built — to decisions on large-scale projects.

Waldron points out examples where public hearings are held in places community members can’t easily get to and only in English, or require technology and internet access.

Actor Elliot Page eventually turned Waldron’s book into a documentary, which premièred at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and now is available on Netflix.

John Williams, a member of the WSÁNEĆ Nation on Vancouver Island, has lived both on reserve in Tsawout and within the nearby cities of Victoria and Sidney, and was curious how they would compare in GoodScore. His reserve address has a score of 49, while his current address in Sidney scores 55.

“That’s not a huge difference,” he says, but he and his family did decide to move out of Tsawout into the city. “Here in Sidney, I live in between two schools within walking distance, but in Tsawout there isn’t a school.” Says Williams, who has a school-aged daughter, “We spent a lot of time on the bus getting to places.”

Tsawout is an example of a relatively well-resourced First Nations community, though it wasn’t always that way. Williams says its health centre, recreation facility, and several playgrounds were all built within the past 10 years or so.

Lenore Zann, a Nova Scotia Liberal MP, has made it a goal to tackle environmental racism, introducing a private member’s bill that would require the environment minister to produce a plan to redress it.

With support from the Liberals and New Democrats, the bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday and is headed to a committee for close study.

“Like systemic racism, environmental racism has been ignored for far too many years. The time has come for us to redress the past and make sure they don’t continue,” Zann says.

Waldron and Zann worked together on Bill C-230, hoping an executive order from U.S. President Joe Biden that includes efforts to curb environmental racism south of the border will bolster support in Canada.

Canada needs a national strategy using “data that looks at the links among race, gender, education, employment, income, health and environmental harms, as well as other factors,” Zann says.

Setton and her team have been doing just that. GoodScore is a prototype they will continue to develop over the next three years with a grant from the federal government.

“What can public health people learn from using these data? Visualizing them, intersecting them with low socioeconomic indicators and seeing where we need to change, where we need to prioritize our efforts,” Setton says. “It's really about setting priorities using mapping.”

———

Paleah Moher is an environmental health scientist and journalist. She is currently a fellow in global journalism at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Paleah Moher, The Canadian Press

MPs unite to call for total ban on ‘wicked’ foie gras

 in the UK

James Tapper 

THE GUARDIAN

3/28/2021

Foie gras has been served in one form or another at the banquets of the pharaohs and the court of Louis XIV.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images

But present-day fans are losing the battle to keep foie gras on the menu in Britain, after years of campaigning by opponents appalled at its production by force-feeding ducks and geese.

The latest attack comes from a cross-party group of MPs who have written to ministers urging them to make good on a pledge to ban sales of foie gras in the UK.

MPs from all political parties in Great Britain have signed the letter, coordinated by the campaign group Animal Equality, to George Eustice, the environment secretary, and Lord Goldsmith, the animal welfare minister.© Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images A flock of grey geese being reared for foie gras near Sarlat, in the Perigord region of the Dordogne, France.

This month, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that it was “exploring further restrictions” to the delicacy following reports that Lord Goldsmith was determined to ban sales in the UK.

It came after Fortnum & Mason finally decided to stop stocking foie gras after more than a decade of lobbying by animal welfare groups, celebrities and, in 2013, Lord Goldsmith as the then editor of the Ecologist.

“Although we are thrilled to see this recent development, the longer we wait, the more these animals will suffer. Over the coming months, thousands more ducks and geese will endure torturous treatment for this cruel product,” the letter states. “We … urge you to confirm specifically when and how you plan to write this legislation into law.”

Foie gras is made by force-feeding ducks or geese, a process known as gavage, where grain is poured into a funnel or tube that has been thrust down the bird’s neck. After two weeks, the liver has swollen to many times its normal size.

Foie gras gourmands enjoy the liver’s resulting buttery texture. Campaigners say the process is barbaric and painful for the birds, who experience great suffering.

Two figures who back the letter will be familiar to Lord Goldsmith: Conservative MPs Sir David Amess and Henry Smith, who, like the minister and the prime minister’s fiancee Carrie Symonds, are patrons of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation.

© Provided by The Guardian Foie gras gourmands enjoy the buttery texture that results from force feeding. Photograph: Getty Images

Other MPs signing the letter are Labour’s Hilary Benn, the SNP’s Lisa Cameron, Lib Dem Wera Hobhouse, Ben Lake of Plaid Cymru, Green MP Caroline Lucas and Jim Shannon of the DUP.

Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: “It’s a travesty that these birds are confined in filthy cages and painfully force-fed until their livers become diseased. Their brief existence makes for a real-life horror film.

“Foie gras is the definition of animal cruelty and people are clearly united in their hatred for this wicked product. We simply cannot tolerate this any longer. A ban can’t come soon enough.”

Cameron said: “Foie gras is an immensely cruel product which causes a huge amount of animal suffering. We cannot rightly think of ourselves as a nation of animal lovers while still selling foie gras.”

British farmers have been forbidden from producing foie gras under animal welfare legislation since 2006, but the UK continues to import the product.

An outright ban was impossible under EU single-market rules, even though countries within the bloc have been able to restrict sales of some foods – Marmite cannot be marketed in Denmark without permission since it is considered to be a fortified food.

Related: Post-Brexit deals must not compromise UK food standards, says trade body

Being outside the EU will make it easier to introduce a ban, although there may still be some challenges at the World Trade Organization if that were to happen, according to some trade experts.

David Henig, director of the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Centre for International Political Economy, said that a foie gras ban would be similar to restrictions on chlorinated chicken.

“You need to have a good non-discriminatory reason for the ban, and it can be challenged [at the WTO],” he said. “It would have to be a policy to ban products produced in that way, not just to ban French foie gras.”

Quite how popular foie gras is in the UK is uncertain. Most estimates suggest Britons import 180 tonnes a year, much of it from France, but the French trade body Cifog said that in 2019 only 94 tonnes of raw and processed foie gras was exported here.

Restaurants have become reluctant to stock foie gras in the face of pressure and campaigns, although some chefs have spoken out against the prospect of a ban.

Richard Corrigan, who runs several Mayfair restaurants, has said that a ban was “nanny state territory” while George Pell, the co-owner of L’Escargot, said there was a “paradox between people happily eating industrially farmed food products and advocating the ban”.

Foie gras is banned already in many places, including India and New York.

Britain’s ‘brutal’ cuts to overseas aid put African science projects in peril

For two years, the Rwandan-born scientist Anita Etale has been leading efforts to develop cheap methods to clean contaminated water supplies, a widespread problem in Africa.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Based at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, Etale had a £300,000 grant from Britain’s Royal Society in 2019 to build a team of researchers, who went on to develop cleaning filters using maize and sugarcane stubble. “Finding cheap source materials is crucial to make affordable filters,” Etale said

They published several papers about the technology and were preparing to make prototype filters with a further £450,000 pledged by the Royal Society. But two weeks ago, Etale was told abruptly that all future funding had been cancelled. “My reaction was one of bitter disappointment, grief and disbelief that Britain could do something this brutal,” Etale told the Observer.

Nor was she alone. A host of other researchers working in Africa – on projects aimed at helping the continent battle the climate emergency, develop renewable energy sources and fight biodiversity loss – were also told, without warning, that their promised funding had been cancelled. This was a direct result of Britain’s decision this month to slash overseas aid, leading to a 70% cut in foreign research grants provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and distributed by the Royal Society. One of the first victims was the society’s Future Leaders – African Independent Research (Flair) scheme, which funds scientists like Etale.© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Children in northern Kenya dig a hole in a river bed to retrieve water. A Rwandan scientist has found a cheap way to make it safe to drink.

The funding cutback has shocked scientists across Africa and dismayed Royal Society officials. “The cuts we were forced to make have been brutal,” said Richard Catlow, the society’s foreign secretary. “We have seriously damaged our reputation as trusted partners in future collaborations. The relationships that we have built up have been badly and, I fear, permanently weakened.”

The business department’s abrupt action means that Flair fellows – who were expecting three years of support – will have their funding halted with only two weeks’ notice, obliging the Royal Society to use its own funds to pay for another three months to soften the blow.

The impact of cuts was also highlighted by Gift Mehlana of Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Flair funds had allowed him to find promising ways to exploit porous materials which could absorb carbon dioxide from the air and help convert it into formic acid. Mehlana and his colleagues hoped this would help to provide developing nations with new, clean sources of fuel and chemicals while also tackling global heating.

“We were beginning to see light. Then we were told there would be no more money and our dreams were shattered,” said Mehlana.

“There are very few sources for funding research in Africa, and this scheme not only provided funds but also allowed us to link up with researchers in Britain,” he told the Observer. Now he and his colleagues are struggling to continue. “At best, our work will be slowed down significantly – and that is serious. Time is the one thing we don’t have when it comes to climate change,” he added.

Researchers also point to growing Chinese influence in Africa and warn that when scientists seek funds for promising research in future they will remember Britain’s behaviour and look elsewhere for international collaborators, a point stressed by Royal Society president Sir Adrian Smith.

The cuts “will be noted by other ­science powers seeking to reinforce their research relationship with sub-Saharan Africa”, Smith argued in a letter to Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary.

For its part, the BEIS said the UK remained a world-leading aid donor. “This year alone, we will spend more than £10bn to address poverty, tackle climate change, fight Covid and improve global health, and we are working with our delivery partners, including UK Research and Innovation, to implement a new research and development settlement for 2021/22,” said a spokesman.

However, researchers point out that the population of Africa is expected to double by 2050, growing faster than on any other continent, while some of the worst impacts of climate change will be felt there – from droughts to heatwaves and intense storms.

One scientist directly involved in this work is Chris Trisos, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Armed with a Flair grant, his team has developed ways to track how climate change will affect different species each year for the rest of this century. Results were published in the journal Nature.

Related: Leak reveals UK Foreign Office discussing aid cuts of more than 50%

“We were about to start a new project to forecast how climate change will affect wild harvested food plants,” Trisos said. “In Africa, millions of people rely on picking wild fruits and berries, but we know very little about how climate change might affect this essential nutrition source. We were going to study that. Then our grant was axed. I felt it like a physical blow when I was told. My group’s future now looks very uncertain.”

The cuts could have implications for the whole world, said Etale. “I am trying to find ways to provide clean drinking water for people because that is basic requirement of life. And if people cannot get that, then don’t be surprised when you see refugees and migrants arriving on your shores.”

Canadian firm's proposed gold mine in Amazon rainforest a step closer to reality, CEO says
Chris Arsenault 

CBC 3/28/2021

© Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters Sunlight is seen over the lake of Samuel Hydroelectric Dam in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, in 2019. A Canadian mining company is one step closer to building a gold mine in Brazil's…

A Canadian company is one step closer to building a controversial gold mine in the Amazon rainforest, after its study on how the development would impact remote Indigenous people was approved by Brazilian officials, the CEO of Belo Sun Mining told CBC News.

FUNAI, the Brazilian government body responsible for handling issues related to Indigenous people and their land rights, has approved the company's consultation plans for the Volta Grande gold project, said CEO Peter Tagliamonte.

The approval is the most recent salvo in a series of long-running disputes between different Brazilian authorities and the Toronto-based company over what Belo Sun calls the largest undeveloped gold project in Brazil.

The proposed project in one of Earth's most biodiverse regions has long been a flash point for environmentalists.

They say the proposed mine in northeastern Para state is likely to contaminate the rainforest with cyanide and other toxic chemicals from its tailings dam — a problem that has ravaged other Brazilian mining regions in recent years, killing hundreds of people.

"We have the risk of contamination of the river with heavy metals and cyanide," Rosana Miranda, a Sao Paulo-based campaigner with the environmental group Amazon Watch, said in an interview.

She said the company could be "prompting the last stages of ecocide" in the Xingu River, a tributary in the world's largest rainforest.

Belo Sun maintains it will operate to high environmental standards, pay more than $170 million in taxes and create hundreds of good paying jobs for local people in the traditionally poor region.

"The Volta Grande Project will be a very positive economic driver," Tagliamonte said via email. "I have been involved with building and operating a number of mines and have seen first-hand how well-paying jobs positively impact a region."

© Ricardo Moraes/Reuters Residents look down on their homes, covered in mud and tailings, after a tailings dam burst at an iron mine in central Brazil in 2015.

The project is "fully permitted," Tagliamonte said, and the company is in the process of consulting with local Indigenous groups. In-person meetings won't recommence until it's safe to do so, given Brazil's dire COVID-19 situation, he added.
Consultations suspended for COVID

Last month, FUNAI said consultations with local residents about the project could go ahead, after the agency approved the company's study on how the mine would impact Indigenous people living nearby.

FUNAI's initial approval for consultations came despite protests from other Brazilian government agencies, including the federal Public Defender's Office, who said in-person meetings aren't safe given the pandemic.

More than 300,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19, the second highest death count globally after the U.S., and hospitals across the Amazon have faced oxygen shortages. Morgues have filled beyond capacity.

"There are so many red flags here I can't even count them," said James Bosworth, a political risk consultant with the firm Hxagon, who advises companies doing business in Latin America.

That FUNAI authorized a company to conduct public consultations with remote Indigenous communities in the middle of a pandemic is "not a good sign," Bosworth said in a phone interview.

The approval shows how regulators responsible for safeguarding Indigenous rights and the environment have been undermined by Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, he added.

© Andre Penner/The Associated Press Cemetery workers carry a coffin that contains the remains of a person who died from complications related to COVID-19, as a bulldozer moves earth to prepare more burial sites at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 11.

Bolsonaro is keen to open the Amazon to more farming, mining and other business interests. Bosworth said FUNAI is run by one of the president's supporters.

Tagliamonte stressed Belo Sun will only hold consultations in Indigenous communities where residents have been fully vaccinated and meetings will only happen when they can be conducted "safely following best-practice health-and-safety protocols."

The company has a good relationship with local Indigenous communities, he said.

If Belo Sun's consultations are approved, Tagliamonte said, it will take about two years to build the mine. He could not give a timeline on how long the consultations are expected to last.

© Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro reacts during a ceremony to expand the ability of the government to purchase vaccines against COVID-19, in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 10.

The proposed mine site contains proven and probable reserves of 3.8 million ounces of gold, according to Belo Sun, worth more than $8 billion at current prices.

The company's stock is traded for less than a dollar on the Toronto exchange, indicating that a decade since it was first proposed some investors aren't convinced the project will be viable.

Water contamination fears

Biviany Rojas Garzon, a lawyer working with the Brazilian campaign group Instituto Socioambiental, said environmental impact studies of the proposed mine have shown plans for the tailings dam to store waste don't take into account seismic activity in the region.

"The dam is very likely to fail and tailings can reach the Xingu River in just seven minutes," Garzon said via email.

The proposed dam would be 44 meters high, according to a technical analysis of the project commissioned by environmentalists. It would contain more than 35 million cubic meters of mine tailings, including cyanide used to extract the gold — enough toxic material to fill 14,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

"A leak of that magnitude would mean the death of the river," said Miranda from Amazon Watch.

© Leo Correa/Associated Press Firefighters are resupplied as they search for victims of a dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil, in 2019. Hundreds of people died in the disaster.

Even if the dam does not leak, Miranda asked, "What will happen to all the waste after two decades," when the mine ceases operations?

Collapsed tailings dams containing waste from mining have been deadly in recent years in Brazil. In 2019, at least 240 people were killed when a tailings dam operated by miner Vale SA burst in central Brazil, washing away homes and covering swaths of land in sludge.

In 2015, another larger tailings dam collapsed in the same region, killing 19 and creating an environmental disaster.

"The situation around tailings dams in Brazil is far more sensitive after the recent accidents," said Bosworth, the risk consultant. "Any company that wants to operate a tailings dam at this point needs to be prepared to have extra scrutiny on their operations."

Belo Sun said no water will be taken or discharged into the Xingu River and its operations will be conducted in a safe, sustainable manner.

"Belo Sun's approach is to always proceed in a low-key, responsible, and thoughtful manner and to develop the Volta Grande Project by listening to all stakeholders and adhering to local and international regulation," the company's CEO said.

Mining company Teck Coal fined $60M for contaminating B.C. rivers

FERNIE, B.C. — A Canadian coal-mining company faces the largest fine imposed under the Fisheries Act after pleading guilty to contaminating waterways in southeastern British Columbia

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Teck Coal, a subsidiary of Teck Resources, is to pay $60 million after a judge on Friday agreed to a joint submission from Environment Canada and the company.

"Teck did not exercise all due diligence to prevent the deposit of coal mine waste rock leachate into the Fording River from settling ponds," federal prosecutor Alexander Clarkson, reading from an agreed statement of facts, said in B.C. provincial court.

Coal has been mined in B.C.'s Elk Valley for decades. Teck Coal purchased the mines in 2008.

By then, court heard, there was already 2.2 billion cubic metres of associated waste rock in piles as high as 100 metres.

The rocks leach selenium and calcite.

Essential to life in small doses, the element selenium in large amounts can cause fish deformities and reproductive failures. Calcite is a mineral that destroys the habitat that trout need to reproduce by coating stream bottoms.

"Prior to 2009, Teck Coal was aware selenium and calcite could be environmentally harmful," Clarkson said. "Teck Coal did not have a comprehensive plan to address the deposit of coal mine waste."

Environment Canada investigators found in 2012 that selenium concentrations were as high as 90 micrograms per litre in the Fording River and up to 177 micrograms in settling ponds at the mines. Both figures are many times higher than levels considered to be safe for river ecosystems.

Upstream of the mines, selenium concentrations were about one microgram per litre.

In 2020, investigators concluded Teck hadn't done enough to fix the problem and issued charges in October.

The Fording River and other streams in the area are home to westslope cutthroat trout, a native species considered endangered. By 2020, Teck's own research showed those fish populations had almost collapsed.

Vickie Thomas of the local Ktunaxa First Nation said her people continue to use and value the area. But the contamination has taken a toll.

"Knowing that fish habitat is impacted by these polluted waters leads to concern for the safety of all the fish as well as for Ktunaxa," she said in court. "The result is an alienation of our people from our lands and waters.

"Fish and fish habitat are critical to the maintenance of Ktunaxa rights. The ability to drink confidently from a mountain stream is an aspect of Ktunaxa rights that all future generations should enjoy."

Teck Coal told court it has spent nearly $1 billion since 2011 in an effort to bring selenium under control and plans another $655 million in spending over the next four years.

It said it has expanded and upgraded water treatment facilities that can handle up to 20 million litres of water a day and remove 95 per cent of the selenium.

"To the Ktunaxa First Nation ... and to our communities in the Elk Valley, we deeply regret these impacts and we apologize," said an open letter from Teck Resources president Don Lindsay.

"You have my commitment that we will not waver in our focus on addressing this challenge and working to ensure that the environment is protected."

Almost all of the fine, $58 million, is to go to the federal Environmental Damages Fund to support projects that benefit the environment. The remaining $2 million is to go to general revenues.

Teck Coal must also remove selenium before it reaches the Fording River and follow requirements on water diversions, mine planning, fish monitoring and calcite prevention.

Lars Sanders-Green of Wildsight, an environmental group that has been following the issue, pointed out that Teck Coal has taken billions of dollars out of the Elk Valley.

"What Teck and other mining companies have learned is not to worry about Environment Canada," he said.

"This is a problem that's been known since 1995. Now it's 2021 and the problem's getting worse."

Sanders-Green said most of the water that flows through the mines is untreated and passes through old piles of waste rock that aren't part of the new system. He noted that Americans are growing increasingly impatient with Canadian regulators allowing selenium to enter water that flows into the United States.

Sander-Green wonders what will happen when coal mining ends.

"We're putting a Band-Aid over it with water treatment. If Teck's spending a lot of money every year to operate a water treatment plant, there's no way they're going to continue doing that once the coal's gone."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2021.

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow him on Twitter at @row1960.

The Canadian Press

Violence breaks out in fresh Bangladesh protests

AFP 20 mins ago

At least a dozen people were reported injured in clashes between police and Islamist demonstrators in Bangladesh on Sunday, the third day of protests against the visit of India's Hindu-nationalist leader.

© Munir Uz zaman Human rights groups have criticised the government for growing authoritarianism, including forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings

Five people died on Friday, and another six the next day, after police shot at demonstrators in several major districts across the Muslim-majority nation of 168 million people.

The protesters -- mostly from the hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam -- were angry at the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Bangladesh marked 50 years of independence, accusing him of stoking communal violence against Muslims in his country.

© Munir Uz zaman Protesters are demonstrating against police violence and a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

At one new protest in Narayanganj just outside the capital Dhaka, Hefazat supporters chanted "action, action, direct action" as they blocked the key highway linking Dhaka with the port city of Chittagong.

© Munir Uz zaman The protesters are mostly from the hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam

Hundreds of demonstrators burnt furniture and tyres on the roads as they chanted anti-Modi slogans and called on authorities to investigate the shootings.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets after the protesters barricaded parts of the highway. A police spokesman told AFP they had since left the road.

© Munir Uz zaman After a third day of protests, Islamists and police clashed in Bangladesh, with at least a dozen people reported injured

Prothom Alo, the country's biggest Bengali-language daily, said at least 15 people were injured in the Narayanganj clashes.

Hefazat spokesman Jakaria Noman Foyezi told AFP thousands of its supporters joined demonstrations at its headquarters at Hathazari outside Chittagong, which is home to a top Islamic seminary.

The Islamist group has a nationwide network, and it has held large protests in the past demanding that Bangladesh introduce blasphemy laws.

Protests were also held in the northeastern city of Sylhet, the eastern district of Brahmanbaria and in Bosila, a Dhaka suburb, but there were no reports of violence, local media reported.

As Bangladesh celebrated independence, human rights groups criticised the government for what they described as growing authoritarianism, including forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Other groups -- including students, leftists and other Islamist outfits -- had also staged protests against Modi's visit on Friday and Saturday.

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