Europe faces the social cost of energy transition

Fighting climate change while keeping economic promises – it is proving to be a difficult balancing act. Within its “just transition” policy, the EU has multiplied initiatives, funding and innovations in order to achieve its environmental goals without harming the most vulnerable. But these good intentions are clashing with the economic reality of industries and jobs that are ill-equipped for change.

Published on 1 October 2022 
Peggy Corlin
Translated by André van der Hoven
 

Tjeerd Royaards | Cartoon Movement

August 2018. Each Saturday, men and women dressed in yellow vests gather at intersections across France to protest the rise in carbon tax. This tax has been in place since 2014 to encourage consumers of fossil fuel (diesel, fuel oil and gas) to change their polluting habits. In Paris, a stone’s throw from the presidential palace, the anger among the protesters is growing.

Having been caught completely off-guard by the gilets jaunes movement, Europe realised it was time to focus on reconciling “the end of the world and the end of the month”. In other words, how can climate change be addressed without hurting the most disadvantaged?
More : A charter for a journalism worthy of today’s ecological emergency

The social component of the energy transition only came to preoccupy the European Commission with the arrival of President Ursula von der Leyen and the launch of the European Green Deal. This programme of initiatives aims to help the EU achieve its goal of reducing 55% of greenhouse gases by 2030.

Plans for the transition include banning combustion engines in all new cars by 2035. However, t measures are disrupting millions of jobs often concentrated in a few regions. As is recalled in a policy brief of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), 90% of coal-related jobs are found in only 10 European regions, four of which are in Poland. As for the car industry, which employs 5% of Europeans, transitioning towards electric cars will mean the loss of 500,000 jobs and the transformation of millions of others. New skills will need to be acquired.

The disruption will be severe in Italy and countries in Central and Eastern Europe, where a large part of the EU’s car production takes place. To help the transition, the EU has created the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM). This fund, endowed with €17.5 billion over 7 years, will finance job-search assistance and retraining programmes for the workers most affected by the transition.
Decent jobs

However, trade-unionist Ludovic Voet considers the JTM, which was hard-won by trade unions, to be inadequate: “There are many sectors to transform and many investments to be made to create quality jobs with decent salaries. By comparison, Germany has put 40 billion on the table just to get rid of coal.” Furthermore, and going beyond the financial support, he believes the required skills for the new green jobs are poorly described and that the impact on the affected regions has been underestimated.

“With the closure of lignite mines in Maritsa, Bulgaria, 12,000 jobs are now at stake, thereby impacting 120,000 people in the region”, Voet continues. To soften the blow, policies must be extended to the whole area. In Ireland, which has been allocated €84 million through the Just Transition Fund, a bridging programme is being run in its peat-dependent Midlands region. The programme includes policies on energy efficiency, bog rehabilitation and a fund to train workers and support businesses and communities.
More : Que font les pays européens pour lutter contre l’inflation ?

“In this scarcely populated region, it was necessary to relocate the workers and their families,” explains Jorge Cabrita from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. “A group of local authorities, trade unions, NGOs and experts was created to accompany the transition and identify the needs of workers and businesses.”

For this researcher, wide-ranging consultation is the key to a just transition. However, there is a lack of funds at EU level. Another European innovation can attest to this: the Social Climate Fund. Still under negotiation between the EU Parliament Council, this fund faims to support the energy transition in the construction industry and in mobility among poorer Europeans. But it will only compensate for – and receive its funding from – another innovation that will itself weigh on low-income households: the new carbon market (ETS2).
In Europe, social justice is a long-term priority – one that will need to be accommodated by the climate transition

ETS2, also still under negotiation in Brussels, follows the first carbon market (ETS1). This was intended for industries and electricity providers, and allowed businesses to trade CO2 emission quotas if they exceed a certain limit, thereby setting the price of CO2 per tonne through supply and demand. Within the framework of ETS2, a carbon price will have to be set in this way for road transport and space heating, which translates into a new burden for households.

“This carbon market was driven by frugal member states such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, which are in a market logic of environmental transition”, explains Camille Défard from the Jacques Delors Institute. She continues: “In the face of these member states, eastern and southern countries are defending the Social Climate Fund as a system of European solidarity.”

In France, the new carbon market might replace – or be added to – the carbon tax. This would cause a steep rise in electricity bills, even if current subsidies related to the energy price crisis cancel out the carbon tax. Either way, the Social Climate Fund will struggle to soften the blow.
Structural change of the system

Camille Défard says: “This fund will only be financed by a quarter of the ETS2 revenue, which is insufficient to compensate for all the vulnerable households impacted by the new carbon price. Green investments are necessary to move away from fossil fuels and to allow for a structural change of the system. The fund is therefore completely undersized in relation to the stakes at play”. Défard believes the member states are short-sighted. In Germany, the €9 ticket, put in place for three months for all regional trains and public transport, was certainly a success. But what about long-term investments in an understaffed German railway system in need of maintenance?

In Europe, social justice is a long-term priority – one that will need to be accommodated by the climate transition.

SOUTH AFRICA
Water outages in parts of Joburg due to Rand Water purification plant power trips

Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph hospitals are said to be without water, but Johannesburg Water says it has provided water tankers

01 October 2022 -
Belinda Pheto

Reporter

Parts of Johannesburg could experience low water pressure to no water at all due to a power trip at a Rand Water purification plant. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/MARINOS KARAFYLLIDIS

Johannesburg Water has warned residents in high-lying areas of the city of possible water outages due to power trips at a Rand Water purification plant.

Residents in areas such as Weltevreden Park, Soweto and Johannesburg Central could experience water supply issues.

The Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph hospitals are already experiencing water outages.

In a statement on Saturday, Johannesburg Water said it had sent water tanks to the hospitals to help sustain their water supplies.

“Alternate water supply is also being provided to other affected areas through stationary water tanks and mobile tankers. Systems are being monitored, and further updates will be provided to residents.”

The water utility has urged residents to reduce their water consumption as it grapples with low water levels at its reservoirs.

According to Johannesburg Water, the power trips have affected various Rand Water pump stations and reservoirs, leading to reduced supplies at the Commando Road meter.

The Commando Road meter directly feeds Roodepoort, Johannesburg Central and Soweto.

“The reduction in flow has seen several Johannesburg Water reservoirs and towers with critically low to empty water levels.”

The utility said water supply in Crosby, Brixton, Hursthill, Honeydew and parts of Weltevreden Park, Randpark Ridge and Allensnek had been affected by the trips.

The utility's systems in Soweto which were affected were the Eagle Nest and Naturena reservoirs, which are at low levels, and the Crown Gardens tower which is “critically low to empty”.

TimesLIVE

REALITY TV SERIES; COUP DETAT

Army officers appear on TV to declare a new coup in Burkina Faso

By Sam Mednick and Arsene K
October 1, 2022 —

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: More than a dozen soldiers seized control of Burkina Faso’s state television late on Friday, declaring the country’s coup leader-turned-president, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after only nine months in power.

A statement read by a junta spokesman said Captain Ibrahim Traore is the new military leader of Burkina Faso, a volatile West African country that is battling a mounting Islamic insurgency.


Coup spokesman Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho reads a statement in a studio in Ougadougou on Friday.

CREDIT:AP

Burkina Faso’s new military leaders said the country’s borders had been closed and a curfew would be in effect from 9pm to 5am. The transitional government and national assembly were ordered dissolved.

Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president, coming to power with promises of making the country more secure. However, violence has continued unabated and frustration with his leadership has grown in recent months.

“Faced by the continually worsening security situation, we the officers and junior officers of the national armed forces were motivated to take action with the desire to protect the security and integrity of our country,” said the statement read by the junta spokesman, Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho.

The soldiers promised the international community they would respect their commitments and urged Burkinabes “to go about their business in peace”.


Young men chant slogans against the power of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, against France and pro-Russia, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Friday.CREDIT:AP

“A meeting will be convened to adopt a new transitional constitution charter and to select a new Burkina Faso president be it civilian or military,” Sorgho added.

Damiba had just returned from addressing the UN General Assembly in New York as Burkina Faso’s head of state. Tensions, though, had been mounting for months. In his speech, Damiba defended his January coup as “an issue of survival for our nation”, even if it was “perhaps reprehensible” to the international community.

Constantin Gouvy, Burkina Faso researcher at Clingendael, said Friday night’s events “follow escalating tensions within the ruling MPSR junta and the wider army about strategic and operational decisions to tackle spiraling insecurity”.

“Members of the MPSR increasingly felt Damiba was isolating himself and casting aside those who helped him seize power,” Gouvy told the Associated Press.


Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, Burkina Faso’s ousted president, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23.CREDIT:BLOOMBERG

Gunfire had erupted in the capital, Ouagadougou, early on Friday and hours passed without any public appearance by Damiba. Late in the afternoon, his spokesman posted a statement on the presidency’s Facebook page saying that “negotiations are under way to bring back calm and serenity”.

Friday’s developments felt all too familiar in West Africa, where a coup in Mali in August 2020 set off a series of military power grabs in the region. Mali also saw a second coup nine months after the August 2020 overthrow of its president, when the junta’s leader sidelined his civilian transition counterparts and put himself alone in charge.

On the streets of Ouagadougou, some people already were showing support on Friday for the change in leadership even before the putschists took to the state airwaves.

Francois Beogo, a political activist from the Movement for the Refounding of Burkina Faso, said Damiba “has showed his limits”.

“People were expecting a real change,” he said of the January coup d’etat.

Some demonstrators voiced support for Russian involvement in order to stem the violence, and shouted slogans against France, Burkina Faso’s former coloniser. In neighbouring Mali, the junta invited Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help secure the country, though their deployment has drawn international criticism.

Many in Burkina Faso initially supported the military takeover last January, frustrated with the previous government’s inability to stem Islamic extremist violence that has killed thousands and displaced at least 2 million.

Yet the violence has failed to wane in the months since Damiba took over. Earlier this month, he also took on the position of defence minister after dismissing a brigadier general from the post.

“It’s hard for the Burkinabe junta to claim that it has delivered on its promise of improving the security situation, which was its pretext for the January coup,” said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

Earlier this week, at least 11 soldiers were killed and 50 civilians went missing after a supply convoy was attacked by gunmen in Gaskinde commune in Soum province in the Sahel. That attack was “a low point” for Damiba’s government and “likely played a role in inspiring what we’ve seen so far today”, added Humphery-Smith.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that nearly one-fifth of Burkina Faso’s population “urgently needs humanitarian aid”.

“Burkina Faso needs peace, it needs stability, and it needs unity in order to fight terrorist groups and criminal networks operating in parts of the country,” Dujarric said.

Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, called Friday’s developments “very regrettable”, saying the instability would not help in the fight against the Islamic extremist violence.

“How can we hope to unite people and the army if the latter is characterised by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said. “It is time for these reactionary and political military factions to stop leading Burkina Faso adrift.”

AP

Burkina Faso coup: Ecowas condemns military takeover

By Natasha Booty & George Wright
BBC News

PublishedShare

IMAGE SOURCE,RADIO TÉLÉVISION DU BURKINA

Image caption,

West Africa's regional bloc, Ecowas, says it condemns the putchists (pictured)

Burkina Faso's neighbours have condemned Friday's apparent coup, saying it was "inappropriate" for army rebels to seize power when the country was working towards civilian rule.

Regional group Ecowas described the ousting of leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba as "unconstitutional".

This is the second time this year the country's army has seized power.

Both times, the coups' leaders said they had to step in because national security was so dire.

Burkina Faso controls as little as 60% of its territory, experts say, and Islamist violence is worsening.

Flanked by rebel soldiers in fatigues and black facemasks, an army captain announced on national TV on Friday evening that they were kicking out junta leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba, dissolving the government and suspending the constitution.

Ibrahim Traoré said Lt Col Damiba's inability to deal with an Islamist insurgency was to blame.

"Our people have suffered enough, and are still suffering", he said.

He also announced that borders were closed indefinitely, a nightly curfew was now in place from 21:00 to 05:00, and all political activities were suspended.

"Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question," said the statement signed by Traoré.

"Damiba's actions gradually convinced us that his ambitions were diverting away from what we set out to do. We decided this day to remove Damiba," it said.

Since the takeover there has been no word on the whereabouts of the ousted leader.

• Who is Lt-Col Damiba?

Lt Col Damiba's junta overthrew an elected government in January citing a failure to halt Islamist attacks, and he himself told citizens "we have more than what it takes to win this war."

But his administration has also not been able to quell the jihadist violence. Analysts told the BBC recently that Islamist insurgents were encroaching on territory, and military leaders had failed in their attempts to bring the military under a single unit of command.

On Monday, 11 soldiers were killed when they were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles in Djibo in the north of the country.

Earlier on Friday, Lt Col Damiba urged the population to remain calm after heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the capital.

A spokesman for the ousted government, Lionel Bilgo, told AFP news agency on Friday that the "crisis" was in essence an army pay dispute, and that Lt Col Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

But since Friday evening Lt Col Damiba's whereabouts are unknown. France is a traditional ally, but French diplomatic sources have told RFI radio that Lt Col Damiba is not with them nor is he under their protection.

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by events in Burkina Faso and encouraged its citizens to limit movements in the country.

"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has condemned the move, stating it "reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any taking or maintaining of the power by unconstitutional means".

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS

Image caption,

Lt Col Damiba urged the population to remain calm after heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the capital on Friday

In January, Lt Col Damiba ousted President Roch Kaboré, saying that he had failed to deal with growing militant Islamist violence.

But many citizens do not feel any safer and there have been protests in different parts of the country this week.

On Friday afternoon, some protesters took to the capital's streets calling for the removal of Lt Col Damiba.

The Islamist insurgency broke out in Burkina Faso in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.

The country has experienced eight successful coups since independence in 1960.

DIY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%89tat:_A_Practical_Handbook

Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook - Wikipedia 

Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, first published in 1968, is a history book by Edward Luttwak examining the conditions, strategy, planning, and execution of ...

Students in Uganda stay away from schools following an outbreak of Ebola

Ebola virus spreads in Uganda -

Copyright © africanewsBADRU KATUMBA/AFP 
By Philip Andrew Churm


The Madudu Church of Uganda Primary School is eerily quiet following an outbreak of Ebola which is keeping children away.

The subcounty in Mubende District iis the epicentre of a recently announced outbreak of the disease.

There have already been several deaths and parents are keeping their children at home rather than take any risks.

Robert Kasirye is the deputy headteacher at Mubende Church of Uganda Primary School and says the impact on student numbers has been huge.

"The school enrolment is 692 pupils, now we have only 16. It is due to Ebola. Parents fear their pupils to be affected by this, we can say it is a pandemic disease."

Even some teachers are opting to stay home in fear of catching the virus, which appears to be spreading. That is despite government advice for schools to stay open.

David Ssali is a teacher at Madudu CoU Primary School and says: "We have sensitised them and showed them some of the materials, which were available to us but still they have that fear because of seeing the way children and other old people are dying."

But there are concerns students in Madudu will be at a disadvantage compared to other parts of the country as they miss classes and even exams.

The Uganda National Examinations Board, the body mandated to set exams for all schools in the country, recently released its examination roadmap for 2022.

Rosemary Byabashaija, head of Mubende District Ebola Task Force, is keen to ensure children do not miss out on their education.

"The curriculum in the entire country is one; the other schools are going on," she says. "This is the last term in the year. They will all sit for their exams, they will not say Mubende will sit another time they are going to sit at the same time.

"So, I would propose and appeal to our teachers and leaders to see that we just need to step up the measures of, seeing that people are not getting in direct contact with each other, but the classes and schools should continue."

Authorities are encouraging schools to put extra measures in place to reassure parents.

The latest outbreak of Ebola was announced on 20 September. Since then, there have been over 35 positive cases, with many unaccounted for deaths.

VIDEO REPORT Students in Uganda stay away from schools following an outbreak of Ebola | Africanews

Worry and Fear': Incessant Israeli Drones Heighten Gaza Anxiety

Saturday, 1 October, 2022 -

Children react following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on August 6, 2022. 

(AFP)

Asharq Al-Awsat

Gaza teenager Bissam says she has trouble sleeping and concentrating as the buzzing sound of Israeli military drones above the crowded Palestinian enclave drives her to distraction.

When she is at home in the cramped family apartment, the 18-year-old said she feels that "the drone is constantly with me in my bedroom -- worry and fear don't leave our homes.

"Sometimes I have to put the pillow on my head so I don't hear its buzz," she said, adding that the drone noise gives her headaches.

Unmanned surveillance aircraft have become an integral part of Israel's 15-year-old blockade of the impoverished enclave, and 2.3 million Palestinians endure their incessant hum, AFP said.

Bissam, whose family requested their surname be withheld for security reasons, said that together with the street noise, the drones create an unbearable cacophony.

"At night I try to review the lessons for my exams, but I can't read because of this annoying racket," she said from the cramped Gaza City apartment she shares with her parents and five siblings.

Each month, Israel uses drones above Gaza for 4,000 flying hours -- the equivalent of deploying five of the unmanned aircraft permanently in the sky -- the military told AFP.

The drones "collect intelligence data 24 hours a day", said Omri Dror, a commander from Israel's Palmachim airbase where the aircraft take off.

- 'I'm scared like my children' -

During an 11-day war in May 2021 between Israel and Gaza fighters, the Israeli army deployed 25 drones for 6,000 flight hours to constantly monitor the territory, according to army data.

It intensified that presence during a three-day conflict in August this year, using 30 drones for a total of more than 2,000 flight hours.

Bissam's mother Rim said she struggles to calm her children when the drones fly overhead, fearing an Israeli air strike could follow even if there is no active conflict.

"I'm basically scared like them. How can I reassure my children?" the 42-year-old said.

The din above the family home is particularly acute due to its proximity to a base of the Al-Qassam Brigades -- the armed wing of Gaza rulers Hamas -- but drones are also heard above busy shopping streets.

"The kids sleep intermittently. We wake up, we sleep, then we wake up" again, Rim said.

- 'Always the drone is there' -

In Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, psychiatrist Iman Hijjo treats Palestinians whose conflict trauma is triggered by the sound of Israeli drones.

Israel and Hamas have fought four wars over the past 15 years.

"When an insect moves around you, you can hit it, but not the drone," Hijjo said, adding that the situation leads to a "sense of powerlessness".

"The drones keep Gaza's skies closed, without a horizon or hope," she said.

Children suffer "fear and anxiety" as a direct result of the drones, Hijjo said, lamenting a lack of scientific research to determine longer-term impacts.

"Children need to feel safe in order to develop," fellow psychiatrist Sami Oweida said. "But with the presence of drones in the sky, these feelings cannot flourish."

The unmanned aircraft are so omnipresent that artists have even referenced them in their works.

The "sound of drones flying above my family and friends stops the games, the chatting and the laughter", Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wrote in his recent English-language collection "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear".

He told AFP that "the buzzing of the drones and the intermittent raids of the F16 (warplanes) have become an integral part of our lives".

"I write about the sky, the sea, the clouds, the setting sun, my children, my neighbors," he added. "But always, the drone is there. It fails to leave us."

Booking.com issues warning on West Bank



AFP
Published: 01 October ,2022: 

Online travel agency Booking.com has added warning banners to both Israeli and Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank, under a new policy on conflict zones, the company said Saturday.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“Please review any travel advisories provided by your government to make an informed decision about your stay in this area, which may be considered conflict-affected,” the company’s website now says, in searches for accommodation in Jewish settlements or Palestinian locales.

The update comes as tensions see near-daily arrests and clashes in the West Bank, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians, many of them armed militants.

The warning, which went live on Friday, does not appear on properties in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem or Golan Heights, both territories which like the West Bank, were seized in the 1967 Six-Day War.

According to Booking.com, similar messages have appeared for months on properties in breakaway northern Cyprus, while Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia were included in the latest update, with plans to “roll out banner notifications in more than 30 regions over the next few months.”

The warnings are “to ensure that customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about destinations they are considering, which may be categorized as conflict-affected areas and which may pose risks to travelers,” Bookings.com said in a statement.

The West Bank warning was lauded by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as a “welcome step towards informing consumers that they are renting homes in occupied territories.”

But Omar Shakir, its Israel and Palestine director, said the fact that Booking.com operated at all in the West Bank constituted a “contribution to serious rights abuses.”

“The company should stop brokering rentals in illegal settlements in places like the occupied West Bank,” he said in a statement.

HRW has been pressuring international companies to cease their West Bank operations.

In 2019, online accommodation booking platform Airbnb announced it would remove listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but it reversed the decision as it battled lawsuits in Israel and the United States.

Read more:

Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces during clash in West Bank

US calls for probe of 7-year-old Palestinian boy’s death during Israeli raids

In West Bank, soldiers raid, seize money, clash with residents, make arrests, and in Gaza attack fishermen

01/October/2022 

Israeli army jeeps raiding towns in the West Bank.

RAMALLAH/GAZA, Saturday, October 1, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers raided and seized money, clashed with residents and made arrests in the West Bank while in Gaza, the Israeli navy attacked fishermen’s boats with shells and machine gunfire, according to various sources.

Soldiers raided Jalazon refugee camp, north of Ramallah, early this morning, broke into homes and seized a large sum of money, according to Palestinian security sources.

Residents clashed with the invading soldiers, who fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas at the Palestinians causing one injury by a rubber bullet, who was admitted to hospital and reported in stable condition.

Confrontations were also reported near the village of Arraba, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, said local sources, after the army had set up a checkpoint today near the town and stopped and checked papers of Palestinians on the road. There were no reports of injuries in the confrontations despite the soldiers firing tear gas and sound bombs at the Palestinians.

At the same time, soldiers this morning blocked an access road to Jenin city and prevented people from using that road, forcing them to look for alternative routes to move around.

Similarly, soldiers this morning set up a checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Deir Abu Mishaal, northwest of Ramallah, stopped vehicles and checked papers causing serious traffic jams and a long line of cars waiting to leave or enter the village.

Meanwhile, soldiers today detained Palestinians in the south of the West Bank after raiding their homes, three from various areas of the city of Hebron, and four others, including a 13-yar-old child detained in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, according to Palestinian security sources.

In the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli navy ships today fired shells and machine gunfire at Palestinian fishermen’s boats sailing in the northern coast of the Strip, reported WAFA correspondent.

He said the navy fired several shells and shot several rounds of machine gunfire and tear gas at the fishermen forcing them to return to shore without any reports of injuries.

Israel, as part of its 16-year-old air, sea and land blockade on the Gaza Strip, allows fishermen to sail for only three nautical miles in the northern coast and six in the southern coast.

M.K.

Israel forces, settlers attacked 15 mosques in West Bank since start of year

September 30, 2022 

Palestinians stage a protest against Jewish settlers' raid at Al-Aqsa Mosque

 in Gaza City, Gaza on September 25, 2022 [Mustafa Hassona - Anadolu Agency]

September 30, 202
Israeli occupation forces and right-wing Jewish settlers have attacked 15 mosques since the beginning of the year, Palestinian Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Hatem Al-Bakri said in a statement yesterday.

Bakri explained that these violations come as part of the occupation's policy aimed at allowing settlers to carry out aggression without restriction, which could push the region into a religious war.

In 2021, the Palestinian Authority documented attacks on more than ten mosques in the West Bank, in addition to dozens of others that resulted from Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Receding ice leaves Canada's polar bears at rising risk

If female bears go more than 117 days without adequate food, they struggle to nurse their young.

PUBLISHED
SEP 29, 2022

CHURCHILL, Canada - Sprawled on rocky ground far from sea ice, a lone Canadian polar bear sits under a dazzling sun, his white fur utterly useless as camouflage.

It's mid-summer on the shores of Hudson Bay, and life for the enormous male has been moving in slow motion, far from the prey that keeps him alive: seals.

This is a critical time for the region's polar bears. Every year from late June, when the bay ice disappears - shrinking until it dots the blue vastness like scattered confetti - they must move onto shore to begin a period of forced fasting.

But that period is lasting longer and longer as temperatures rise - putting them in danger's way.

Once on solid ground, the bears "typically have very few options for food", explains Mr Geoff York, a biologist with Polar Bear International (PBI).

Mr York, an American, spends several weeks each year in Churchill, a small town on the edge of the Arctic in the northern Canadian province of Manitoba. There, he follows the fortunes of the endangered animals.

This is one of the best spots from which to study life on Hudson Bay, though transportation generally requires either an all-terrain vehicle adapted to the rugged tundra, or an inflatable boat for navigating the bay's waters.

Mr York invited an AFP team to join him on an expedition in early August.

Near the impressively large male bear lazing in the sun is a pile of fishbones - nowhere near enough to sustain this 3.5m, 600kg beast.

"There could be a beluga whale carcass they might be able to find, (or a) naive seal near shore, but generally they're just fasting," Mr York said. "They lose nearly a kilogram of body weight every day that they're on land."

Climate warming is affecting the Arctic three times as fast as other parts of the world - even four times, according to some recent studies. So sea ice, the habitat of the polar bear, is gradually disappearing.

A report published two years ago in the journal Nature Climate Change suggested that this trend could lead to the near-extinction of these majestic animals: 1,200 of them were counted on the western shores of Hudson Bay in the 1980s. Today, the best estimate is 800.

Summer scarcity

Each summer, sea ice begins melting earlier and earlier, while the first hard freeze of winter comes later and later. Climate change thus threatens the polar bears' very cycle of life. They have fewer opportunities to build up their reserves of fat and calories before the period of summer scarcity.

The polar bear - technically known as the Ursus maritimus - is a meticulous carnivore that feeds principally on the white fat that envelops and insulates a seal's body.

But these days, this superpredator of the Arctic sometimes has to feed on seaweed - as a mother and her baby were seen doing not far from the port of Churchill, the self-declared "Polar Bear Capital".

Today, these enormous beasts live a precarious existence.

If female bears go more than 117 days without adequate food, they struggle to nurse their young, said Dr Steve Amstrup, an American who is PBI's lead scientist.

Males, he adds, can go 180 days.

As a result, births have declined, and it has become much rarer for a female to give birth to three cubs, once a common occurrence.

It is a whole ecosystem in decline, and one that 54-year-old Mr York - with his short hair and rectangular glasses - knows by heart after spending more than 20 years roaming the Arctic, first for the ecology organisation WWF and now for PBI.

During a capture in Alaska, a bear sunk its fangs into his leg. Another time, while entering what he thought was an abandoned den, he came nose-to-snout with a female.

Mr York, normally a quiet man, said he "yelled as loud as I ever have in my life".

Today, these enormous beasts live a precarious existence.

"Here in Hudson Bay, in the western and southern parts, polar bears are spending up to a month longer on shore than their parents or grandparents did," Mr York said.

As their physical condition declines, he said, their tolerance for risk rises, and "that might bring them into interaction with people (which) can lead to conflict instead of co-existence".

Patrolling the town

Provincial Polar Bear Patrol Officer Ian Van Nest at the shoreline of the Hudson Bay outside Churchill on Aug 7, 2022. 

Binoculars in hand, Mr Ian Van Nest, a provincial conservation officer, keeps an eye out through the day on the rocks surrounding Churchill, where the bears like to hide.

In this town of 800 inhabitants, which is only accessible by air and train but not by any roads, the bears have begun frequenting the local dump, a source of easy - but potentially harmful - food for them. They could be seen ripping open trash bags, eating plastic or getting their snouts trapped in food tins amid piles of burning waste.

Since then, the town has taken precautions: The dump is now guarded by cameras, fences and patrols.

Across Churchill, people leave cars and houses unlocked in case someone needs to find urgent shelter after an unpleasant encounter with this large land-based carnivore.

Posted on walls around town are the emergency phone numbers to reach Mr Van Nest or his colleagues. When they get an urgent call, they hop in their pickup truck armed with a rifle and a spray can of repellent, wearing protective flak jackets.

Mr Van Nest, who is bearded and in his 30s, takes the job seriously, given the rising number of polar bears in the area.

Sometimes they can be scared off with just "the horn on your vehicle", he said. But other times "we might have to get on foot and grab our shotguns and cracker shells", which issue an explosive sound designed to frighten the animal, "and head onto the rocks and pursue that bear".

Some areas are watched more closely than others - notably around schools as children are arriving in the morning "to ensure that the kids are going to be safe".

There have been some close calls, like the time in 2013 when a woman was grievously injured by a bear in front of her house, before a neighbour - clad in pyjamas and slippers - ran out wielding only his snow shovel to scare the animal away.

Sometimes, the animals have to be sedated, then winched up by a helicopter to be transported to the north, or kept in a cage until winter, when they can again feed on the bay.

Churchill's only "prison" is inhabited entirely by bears, a hangar whose 28 cells can fill up in the autumn as the creatures maraud in mass around town while waiting for the ice to re-form in November.

Planet's air conditioning

A female polar bear and her cub look for something to eat on the shoreline of the Hudson Bay near Churchill on Aug 5, 2022. 

The fate of the polar bear should alarm everyone, said Dr Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist at Cornell University who was part of the expedition, because the Arctic is a good "barometer" of the planet's health.

Since the 1980s, the ice pack in the bay has decreased by nearly 50 per cent in summer, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

"We see the more - the faster - changes here, because it is warming particularly fast," said Dr Lehner, who is Swiss.

The region is essential to the health of the global climate because the Arctic, he said, effectively provides the planet's "air conditioning".

"There's this important feedback mechanism of sea ice and snow in general," he said, with frozen areas reflecting 80 per cent of the sun's rays, providing a cooling effect.

When the Arctic loses its capacity to reflect those rays, he said, there will be consequences for temperatures around the globe. Thus, when sea ice melts, the much darker ocean's surface absorbs 80 per cent of the sun's rays, accelerating the warming trend.

A few years ago, scientists feared that the Arctic's summer ice pack was rapidly reaching a climatic "tipping point" and, above a certain temperature, would disappear for good.

But more recent studies show the phenomenon could be reversible, Dr Lehner said.

"Should we ever be able to bring temperatures down again, sea ice will come back," he said. That said, the impact for now is pervasive.

"In the Arctic, climate change is impacting all species," said Dr Jane Waterman, a biologist at the University of Manitoba. "Every single thing is being affected by climate change."

Permafrost - defined as land that is permanently frozen for two successive years - has begun to melt, and in Churchill the very contours of the land have shifted, damaging rail lines and the habitat of wild species.

The entire food chain is under threat, with some non-native species, like certain foxes and wolves, appearing for the first time, endangering Arctic species. Nothing is safe, said Waterman, from the tiniest bacteria to enormous whales.

A summer refuge

A polar bear swims to catch a beluga whale along the coast of Hudson Bay near Churchill on Aug 9, 2022.

That includes the beluga whales that migrate each summer - by the tens of thousands - from Arctic waters to the refuge of the Hudson Bay.

These small white whales are often spotted in the bay's vast blue waters. Swimming in small groups, they like to follow the boats of scientists who have come to study them, seemingly taking pleasure in showing off their large round heads and spouting just feet from captivated observers.

The smallest ones, grey in colour, cling to their mothers' backs in this estuary, with its relatively warm waters, where they find protection from killer whales and plentiful nourishment.

But there has been "a shift in prey availability for beluga whales in some areas of the Arctic", said Ms Valeria Vergara, an Argentine researcher who has spent her life studying the beluga.

As the ice cover shrinks, "there's less under the surface of the ice for the phytoplankton that in turn will feed the zooplankton that in turn will feed big fish", said Ms Vergara, who is with the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

The beluga has to dive deeper to find food, and that uses up precious energy.

And another danger lurks: Some climate models suggest that as early as 2030, with the ice fast melting, boats will be able to navigate the Hudson Bay year-round.

Sound pollution is a major problem for the species - known as the "canary of the seas" - whose communication depends on the clicking and whistling sounds it makes.

The beluga depends on sound-based communication to determine its location, find its way and to locate food, Ms Vergara said.

Raincoast Conservation Foundation's Senior Research Scientist Valeria Vergara poses in Churchill, northern Canada. 

Thanks to a hydrophone on the "Beluga Boat" that Ms Vergara uses, humans can monitor the "conversations" of whales far below the surface.

Ms Vergara, 53, describes their communications as "very complex", and she can distinguish between the cries made by mother whales keeping in contact with their youngsters.

To the untrained ear, the sound is a cacophony, but clearly that of an animated community.

Scientists wonder, however, how much longer such communities will last?

Far from the Arctic ice, one lonely beluga became lost in the waters of France's Seine river before dying in August. And in May a polar bear meandered its way deep into Canada's south, shocking those who discovered it along the Saint Lawrence River. 

PHOTOS AFP

PATRIARCHY IS EVERYWHERE

Women working at Australia’s Antarctica camps were sexually harassed, report finds


‘Women have to work in the field with their abusers for weeks at a time’

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Australian women working at research stations in Antarctica have endured a widespread and predatory culture of sexual harassment in the male-dominated field, a new report has found.

Women experienced sexual harassment in the form of requests for sex, uninvited touching, displays of offensive or pornographic material and sex-based insults, according to the report, based on the external review of culture at Antarctic research stations.

The women also described “a homophobic culture” on stations.

Some women claimed they felt compelled to hide their menstruation while on field missions because of the fear of being judged as incompetent by their male counterparts.

They were also forced to ration menstrual products such as tampons and at times improvise due to lack of availability, revealed the report, commissioned by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).

Recommended

Women in western Australia’s mining industry face rampant sexual harassment, parliament inquiry hears

The AAD runs four permanent research stations akin to “small towns” in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic.

Meredith Nash, who wrote the report, said some women feel unsafe at the Antarctic stations and it would be unethical to continue sending women until their safety can be assured.

“Women have to work in the field with their abusers for weeks at a time because they simply can’t leave,” Ms Nash told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC).

The Nash inquiry was initiated after several women raised harassment complaints.

Australia’s environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she was “gobsmacked” by the findings of the report. “As a minister, I take a zero-tolerance response to sexual harassment in any workplace I am responsible for,” she said.

“I have been very clear with the department. We need to make sure that every person working either at head office or in the Antarctic feels safe and if they make a complaint, they can make that complaint without any fear of victimisation,” she told ABC.

“I hope the report will be a catalyst for further change.”

Following the damning findings, Kim Ellis, the director of AAD, said in a statement to staff members that the behaviours needed to improve and urged people to report concerns.

“I am deeply concerned by the experiences it describes at our workplaces where people have been sexually harassed, discriminated against and excluded,” Mr Ellis said.

“It doesn’t matter how many people may have experienced this behaviour – we know that under-reporting is almost certainly a factor – the fact that anyone at all experiences this treatment is not OK,” he added.

‘Predatory,’ widespread sexual harassment on Australia’s Antarctic research bases, report finds

By Martin Goillandeau and Tara Subramaniam, CNN
Sat October 1, 2022

Mawson Station, Australian Antarctic Territory, Antarctica.Auscape/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
CNN —

Australian women working on research bases in Antarctica have been plagued by a widespread culture of sexual harassment, a recently released report found.

The report, commissioned by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), notes that the women reported unwelcome requests for sex, inappropriate sexual comments and displays of offensive or pornographic material.

“Given the underrepresentation of women in the AAP (Australian Antarctica Program) (especially during winter) some women also described the culture as ‘predatory’ and objectifying,” the report said, while other participants described a homophobic culture on stations.

The report, conducted by associate professor Meredith Nash from the University of Tasmania, also revealed female expeditioners feel they “must go to great lengths to make their menstruation invisible” and go through “additional psychological and physical labor to manage” menstruation, including changing their menstrual products without privacy or adequate sanitation.

Australia’s Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said in an interview with Australian public broadcaster ABC she was “gobsmacked” to read the report.

“Let me be absolutely clear: there is no place for sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior in any workplace,” Plibersek said in a statement Thursday, calling the treatment described in the report as “unacceptable.”

The report made recommendations on how to change the culture at the stations, including the creation of an “equity and inclusion task force.”

Plibersek said Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is working through the recommendations.

Australia is not alone in combating these issues.

The report on the Australian research bases in Antarctica comes a month after the US National Science Foundation (NSF) released an assessment of the US Antarctic Program which found that “sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault are ongoing, continuing problems in the USAP community.”

UK
Striking rail and postal workers to demonstrate in demand for fair pay

Lauren Gilmour - 16h ago

Passengers have been warned to expect “significant disruption” as rail workers across several companies walk out this weekend in an ongoing row over pay.


RMT, Aslef and CWU members will gather at Edinburgh Waverley on Saturday for a demonstration as they take further strike action

 (Andrew Milligan/PA)© PA Wire

Unions Aslef and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) have voted “resoundingly” to take strike action against the companies they say have failed to give rail workers a pay rise matching inflation.

Network Rail workers who are members of the RMT are staging two 24-hour stoppages on Saturday October 1 and Saturday October 8, as part of a dispute over pay.

ScotRail has warned passengers that “significant disruption” will be expected on the network as signallers and safety critical staff walk out as part of the RMT strikes.

A handful of services are expected to run on key routes, with the rail operator urging travellers to check the app and website ahead of travelling.

While the rail operator usually runs about 2,150 services per day, over the next two Saturdays it will only run trains on 11 routes across the central belt, Fife, and the borders.

On October 1 and October 8, ScotRail will run 379 trains – one more than it was able to put on during strike action in August.

While ScotRail drivers are not striking, drivers across other companies such as LNER and the TransPennine Express will walk out on Saturday.

Services will resume on Sunday, but these may face disruption as signal boxes are restarted.

Postal workers from the Communication Workers Union will also take strike action on Saturday in an ongoing dispute over changes in working terms and conditions.

Rail and postal workers will gather at Edinburgh Waverley on Saturday morning to show their “mutual solidarity” for each other and demand a fair wage from their employers.

Aslef Regional Organiser Kevin Lindsay said: “Workers have had enough of bosses paying themselves huge dividends and salaries whilst expecting workers to take real terms wage cuts.

“We are delighted to be standing shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in the RMT and CWU who are also facing the same fight and struggle as our members.

“We will also stand together and show our solidarity with other workers in struggle.”

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said the knock-on effects of the industrial action would impact on services on both Sunday October 2 and Sunday October 9 as well.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “Despite our best efforts to compromise and find a breakthrough in talks, rail unions remain intent on continuing and co-ordinating their strike action.

“This serves only to ensure our staff forgo even more of their pay unnecessarily, as well as causing even more disruption for our passengers and further damaging the railway’s recovery from the pandemic.

“Passengers who want to travel this Saturday, and indeed next Wednesday and next Saturday, are asked only to do so if absolutely necessary. Those who must travel should expect disruption and make sure they check when their last train will depart.”

Further industrial action will take place later in the month, when RMT members working for ScotRail will walk out on strike on Monday October 10.