Huge Revenues Push Houthis to Tighten Grip Over Yemeni Institutions

Saturday, 3 December, 2022 -

Hodeidah port on the Red Sea, west of Yemen (AFP)
Aden - Waddah al-Jalil

The huge revenues of several Yemeni institutions prompted the Houthi militia to implement new administrative and financial measures to control and manage the profit in their favor.

The new measures introduced e-accounting systems and complex administrative control procedures, dismissed the head of these institutions, and replaced them with group members.

Sources in Sanaa stated that the group assigned several affiliated companies, specialized in technology, to prepare new accounting systems for institutions, such as the Red Sea Ports Authority, the Oil Corporation, the Kamaran Company, the Public Telecommunication Corporation, the Economic Corporation, the Post, the Tax Authority, the Tax Authority Customs, and the capital's secretariat revenues.

The militia sought to establish a supervisory body to oversee all revenue institutions and monitor their activities, profits collection, and disbursement mechanism.

According to the sources, this procedure was established after the militia discovered it was difficult to launch alternative revenue institutions similar to other institutions it created.

The militias lack qualified technical cadres loyal to them to replace the personnel working in institutions such as the Red Sea Ports Authority, the tax and customs authorities, the Public Telecommunication Corporation, the oil companies, Kamaran, and others.

Houthis aimed to appoint their leaders at the top of these institutions to gain the support of technical staff and employ several of their members in various departments as informants to monitor the progress of accounting and administrative activities and procedures.

The militia began using the "Code of Ethics and Conduct," which it recently announced, and it includes rules for public servants, including accepting Houthis' right to rule and participating in their sectarian activities.

The sources stated that the militias have started implementing new accounting procedures in Hodeidah port after it achieved huge revenues during the past eight months, during the UN-sponsored truce, which Houthis refused to extend.

They said the militias noticed it was possible to obtain data and information about Hodeidah port revenues and several other institutions, given the nature of the administrative and accounting procedures of the institutions under Houthi control since Sept. 2014.

In October, the Yemeni government revealed that the militias had achieved more than YR203 billion after Hodeidah port received 54 shipments of oil and its derivatives during the humanitarian truce that began on Apr 2 and ended on Oct 2. One of its most important provisions was to allow the port to operate and permit fuel shipments fully.

Hodeidah port continues to receive fuel shipments despite the end of the armistice more than two months ago after Iran's arm stipulated that the salaries of employees in its areas of control are paid from oil and gas revenues in the liberated governorates only, and its refusal to include the Hodeidah revenues in the salary disbursement.

Algeria to Host New Palestinian Reconciliation Meeting at End of December

Sunday, 4 December, 2022 - 

Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune hosted a meeting between Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Algiers after years of rivalry. (AFP)
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat

Hamas announced on Saturday that Palestinian factions will hold a new round of talks in Algeria at the end of December to discuss the Palestinian reconciliation process.

Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy chief of the movement in the Gaza Strip, said Algeria will invite Palestinian factions for a new session of the national dialogue that is aimed at achieving reconciliation and ending internal division.

The Fatah movement also spoke of a possibility of a new meeting being held.

Fatah spokesperson Hussein Hamayel told the Anadolu Agency said factions may hold a meeting to build on the agreements reached during the first round of meetings held in Algeria in October.

Hamayel reiterated his movement’s commitment to all items of the “Algiers Declaration” that was signed by the factions in October.

The declaration stressed the importance of national unity and confronting and resisting the Israeli occupation.

It called for achieving the legitimate goals of the Palestinian people, and for adopting dialogue and consultations to resolve differences.

It stressed the need to hold presidential and National Council elections.

An Algerian-Arab team would supervise and follow up the implementation of the terms of the agreement in cooperation with the Palestinians.

MINING IS NOT SUSTAINABLE

Push for Gold Leaves a Toxic Legacy

Mercury exposure can be deadly. So why are gold miners in Zimbabwe using the dangerous chemical — and risking their lives and the health of their communities in the process?

David Mauta, left, and Wisdom Nyakurima, both 18, mine for gold along the Odzi River in ARDA Transau, Mutare, in Manicaland province, Zimbabwe, July 13, 2022. They use mercury, a chemical element that causes long-term side effects.
Photo Credit: Linda Mujuru, Global Press Journal Zimbabwe.

Linda Mujuru, Global Press Journal Zimbabwe.
4.12.2022
by Global Press Journal
This story was originally published by Global Press Journal.

MUTARE, ZIMBABWE – The young men brace for the first shock of cold water as they enter the river, easing their way into another day of illegal gold mining.

David Mauta and Wisdom Nyakurima, both 18, stand knee-deep in the Odzi River near the eastern Zimbabwe mining city of Mutare and shovel gravel onto a woven mat. They hinge their hopes on finding flakes of shiny gold. But it’s another metal whose dangers they don’t recognize that may have a more lasting impact.

Every day, they touch and breathe mercury, a silverly chemical element that carries deadly implications. The toxic liquid metal is key to their gold-mining efforts, as is the government, which purchases their gold even as officials vow to eliminate mercury’s use. The young men are unregistered artisanal miners, freelance workers who don’t have a license to operate. They sift through rocks in the river and dump beads of mercury over the sediment, which clings to gold. Then they light a match, using the flame to separate the mercury from the gold, a process that shoots toxic vapors into the air.

Inhaling these fumes or regular contact with mercury can each have devastating effects on the nervous system and prove fatal, according to the World Health Organization. The chemical quietly invades the body and leads to brain damage, developmental disorders in infants and young children, and irreparable kidney damage. Elemental mercury, the liquid form, can travel through the air and settle on land or in water, making it a pernicious threat to people and animals.

Miners from Indonesia to Peru have turned to mercury for decades to extract prized gold. So much so that the United Nations Environment Programme says artisanal and small-scale gold miners make up the biggest source of mercury pollution in the world. It’s one of the few chemicals considered so detrimental that more than 100 countries have agreed to end its use.

Zimbabwe joined them last year by ratifying the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury, an international treaty adopted in 2013 that seeks to phase out the metal to protect human health and the environment. The government also passed a law last year that bans mercury use in or near rivers, which carries a heavy fine and up to 12 months in jail. But the practice continues unabated here as workers like Mauta and Nyakurima remain unaware of the law and the health risks — and the government continues buying gold from artisanal miners at an increasing pace.

“Government is happy with the rise in gold output from artisanal and small-scale miners, and yet this gold is produced through the use of mercury,” says Farai Maguwu, executive director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, a Mutare-based nonprofit that recently released a report documenting how officials buy gold without regard to its production. “Benefitting from economic activities that use mercury is illegal.”

Global Press Journal first documented the widespread use of mercury among Zimbabwe’s artisanal miners in 2017, before the country ratified the treaty.

Today, about 500,000 artisanal miners operate without a license, according to official figures. The majority live in poverty as the country’s economy is marked by inflation and raging unemployment.

Zimbabwe’s mining officials claim they aren’t violating the treaty or the law and insist they are balancing economic needs with health concerns. “The convention does not say that you must eliminate use of mercury; because if we did that, these miners will now have to find some other source of livelihood,” says Danmore Nhukarume, director of metallurgy in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. “We cannot prescribe them to stop. We have livelihoods that depend on the [mining] sector. We must ensure that they are protected and we move with them as we transform from mercury use [to] mercury reduction to mercury elimination.”

The Minamata Convention doesn’t give a set timeline to reduce the use of mercury among artisanal miners, although it does require countries to develop an action plan within three years and to work toward its elimination. Nhukarume says Zimbabwe is on track to do so; a report on its progress is due to the U.N. at the end of the year. He calls the plan “our guiding document toward making mercury history.”

Zimbabwe also has received technical and financial support from the Minamata Convention and others to strengthen the adoption of mercury-free technologies, says Amkela Sidange, environmental education and publicity manager at Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency.

Anesu Freddy, a spokesperson with the United Nations Development Programme, which is leading the organization’s mercury elimination efforts, referred questions about Zimbabwe’s adherence to the convention to the government.

THOSE INVOLVED IN MUTARE’S MINING INDUSTRY say they haven’t seen any government effort to stop its use. 

“It does not make sense to ratify international conventions without change on the ground or even informing the miners of these dangers or giving them alternatives,” says Lloyd Sesemani, the director of Zivai Community Empowerment Trust, an organization focused on transparency in the mining sector.

Gold, as the country’s largest export, is vital to its economy. Zimbabwe sold $2.14 billion worth of gold in 2020, ranking it 35th among the world’s gold exporters. The main importers of Zimbabwe’s gold were the United Arab Emirates, Uganda, South Africa, Hong Kong and Ukraine.

Artisanal miners, often lone workers who mine illegally or without adequate machinery, are key to its success. They deliver more than 60% of the gold produced in the country, according to Zimbabwe’s 2022 national budget, up from 43% in 2016.

Peter Magaramombe, the general manager at Fidelity Gold Refinery, the government’s only official buyer of gold, insists a mining license is a prerequisite to sell gold to the agency. But Clemence Tembo, a gold-buying agent for the agency and gold miner, says he only needs to see a person’s identification to make a purchase. “We buy gold, no questions asked,” he says. Tembo’s statement matches transactions witnessed by Global Press Journal in Mutare. (Magaramombe didn’t respond to follow-up requests for comment.)

Nyakurima is among the unregistered artisanal miners who sell gold to a middleman. From what he mines, he’s able to take care of himself and his three siblings, whom he’s raising after his parents passed away. When he recently learned about the dangers that mercury presents, he decided to take his chances. He needs the income.

MERCURY COSTS ABOUT $120 PER KILOGRAM (2.2 pounds) — roughly the cost of 120 loaves of bread in Zimbabwe. Much of it is smuggled in through the country’s porous borders.

And for most miners, it’s easy to access. Nyakurima gets it from middlemen who buy his gold and then sell it for a profit to other bulk buyers or the government subsidiary. Their buying prices are usually low, but they go to the miners’ location and provide the mercury for free.

Other times, it’s even easier to find. Nyakurima and Mauta say they discover mercury in the same water used for drinking and bathing by the nearby community. Mauta says he often sees gold combined with mercury wash up on his plastic mat. “It’s already there in the water from upstream,” he says. “It’s all over in the water.”

A short walk from where Mauta, Nyakurima and a dozen other miners work, Cecelia Kambeni fetches water for drinking and bathing with her two grandchildren. The 65-year-old and her family moved to the region from the southern diamond fields of Chiadzwa, where they’d also worked in the mines. “We don’t know about mercury use in mining or any dangers,” she says. “This is the only source of water that we have.”

That worries experts because mercury is most commonly consumed by eating fish, says Dr. Josephat Chiripanyanga, who has experience treating patients with mercury poisoning. But just as concerning, he says, is that “most of our people being affected by mercury [are] because of illegal things like gold panning.”

Global Press Journal reviewed data from water samples collected earlier this year by the local district council from Lake Alexander, which feeds into the Odzi and Mutare rivers. The samples revealed that mercury levels were nearly 150 times above the World Health Organization’s drinking water guidelines.

Tembo, the gold-buying agent who also mines, knows the toll mercury can take. The 37-year-old was sick for more than a year and diagnosed with mercury poisoning. “At times l would wake up with a rash, tasteless mouth, slowness in speaking and loss of memory,” he says. He couldn’t get answers in Zimbabwe due to its deteriorating health care system, so he had his blood tests sent to South Africa. They revealed the presence of the toxic chemical. “The doctor told me that I was very lucky to have survived this,” he says.

SOME MINING COUNTRIES HAVE MADE PROGRESS on eliminating the chemical’s use. 

A Clean Tech Mine site in Mozambique has used a magnet to separate gold from fragments. In Burkina Faso and Senegal, a Canadian nonprofit known as the Artisanal Gold Council worked with small-scale miners to pay back the cost of new mercury-free equipment and training through gold found using these new methods. And in Ghana, Solidaridad Network, a nonprofit focused on small-scale farmers and miners, says efforts to end mercury use have centered on public health campaigns.

The few Zimbabwean miners who do know about mercury’s effects want officials to move more quickly to find alternatives. The government “should be at the forefront to eradicate the use of mercury; so far they are not,” says Lovemore Kasha, an advisor at Manicaland Miners Association, an association of small-scale and aspiring miners in Mutare. He uses mercury, he says, because he doesn’t have any other alternatives.

Miners on the Odzi River agree. Mauta finishes his day in the cool water by separating mercury from gold. He kneels on the banks of the river and burns the intertwined substances. The smoke floats up and he’s left with a piece of gold worth between $8 and $10. He’ll split that with Nyakurima.

“Mercury allows us to catch the money,” Mauta says with a grin as he inhales the fumes.

Linda Mujuru is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Harare, Zimbabwe.Post published in: Business

World Cup 2022 has a winner, say women football fans: safety

From Brazil to Colombia, Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia, female fans say they’re enjoying late-night games, safe and secure.

Khadija Suleiman from Ethiopia with her three children at Lusail Stadium

 for a recent late night game 

(Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera)

By Hafsa Adil
Published On 4 Dec 2022

Doha, Qatar – When Andrea M set off from New York to follow Team USA’s journey at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, she reassured her friends and family that she would not do anything risky during the tournament.

What she had read about Qatar painted an alarming picture of the host country.

“The US media’s portrayal of the Middle East has been very different from what I have experienced here,” Andrea, 29, told Al Jazeera, adding that her friends decided against travelling to Qatar.

Andrea said is glad she came. “Simple things like taking a walk around the city late at night, that’s something I can’t do back home.”

A 10pm (19:00 GMT) kickoff time for many of the group stage matches and knockout games mean that fans exit stadiums, use public transport and celebrate in fan zones well past midnight. And women, in groups or on their own, are watching football at public screenings, singing and dancing with other fans and moving around without worrying about their safety. According to the Numbeo Crime Index, Doha routinely ranks as the safest – or the second-safest – city in the world.

For Joy Nkuna, the experience has been a stark contrast to her home country South Africa, which ranks as among the most dangerous countries for women travellers. “We have very high crime rates in my country, especially against women,” she said. According to recent government figures, more than 1,000 women were murdered in South Africa in a three-month period between the start of July and the end of September.

Nkuna, 39, said she doesn’t venture out alone past sunset in her country. “From the minute it gets dark, women can’t be out alone or they will be in danger,” she said. “Here, me and my daughter walked around at 3am and nobody intimidated us, catcalled us or looked at us in a way that would make us feel unsafe.”

Tatiana Lopez, a Colombian fan of the Brazilian team, out late at night in Doha

 [Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]

It’s an experience that Tatiana Lopez can relate to. Thirty-three-year-old Brazil fan Lopez, who has travelled from Colombia with two other women, said men in public places have been very courteous. “While it is strange to see more men in public places (compared to women) than I’m used to seeing in Colombia, they have all been very respectful.”

Lopez said she has been enjoying the tournament without worrying about her belongings, which is something she’s not used to back home. “I can actually carry my backpack on my back, and keep my phone in my pocket because I know nobody will snatch it from me.”

Women who have been living in Qatar said safety is not a new phenomenon linked to the World Cup.

Khadija Suleiman, a 32-year-old Ethiopian who has been living in Qatar for 10 years, was at the Lusail Stadium for a 10pm kickoff recently with her three children and two nieces. “I don’t feel the need to be with a man in order to feel safe,” she said as she walked towards the stadium.

To be sure, security presence has increased in Qatar because of the World Cup. But Suleiman said that women’s and children’s safety in public places has never been a concern for her while in the country. “If I need to, I can send my children to school in a taxi and not worry about their safety.”

That confidence is shared by women from other parts of the Gulf region, many of whom have been able to participate in the Middle East’s biggest-ever sporting extravaganza without fear.

Dalia Abushullaih, a fan from Saudi Arabia, said the World Cup being held in Qatar encouraged many women from other Arab nations to attend the tournament

 [Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]

Dalia Abushullaih has travelled to Qatar from Saudi Arabia and said she is overjoyed to see women celebrating in public spaces. “Qatar has made sure that women feel safe and comfortable in being an active part of the tournament and enjoy freely,” the 29-year-old said. “The world is finally witnessing our beautiful Arab culture, and it is beautiful to see people taking it all in and going back home with a part of it.”

Apart from the stadiums, women and children have thronged tourist areas such as Doha’s Souq Waqif and fan zones spread all over the city. Some arrive during the day as festivities are getting started, while others push through the crowds with strollers to join the post-match celebrations.

The decision by organisers to bar alcohol sales in or near the match venues has also added to the confidence of many women that attending games won’t compromise their safety.

Camilla Ferrierra, a tournament volunteer from Brazil, said knowing that she won’t be surrounded by drunk fans at the stadiums made her feel safer.

“I could never imagine going to a football match alone [in Brazil],” she told Al Jazeera. “I can’t imagine being outside late at night, using my phone in public without fear and just being able to enjoy a walk or a football match. Here, I feel 100 percent safe and that’s a great thing for us women: to be able to enjoy the festivities and football in a safe and secure manner.”

Hanoof Abdullah, a Kuwaiti football fan, sat by herself in the middle of thousands of Brazilian fans at the Lusail Stadium. She said Arab families would have found it difficult to stay out at night if they knew alcohol was being served.

“Qatar has shown the world that football can be enjoyed without alcohol, and women can enjoy it without fearing for their safety,” she said. “The bar has been set very high, and now the world will have to work very hard to match it.”

Colombia says agreement made with ELN rebels on displaced people

President says peace talks have led to an agreement to allow the Indigenous Embera community to return to its lands.

The Indigenous Embera community fled their lands in the west of the country due to violence between drug gangs, outlawed right-wing groups and the ELN rebel group 

[File: Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters]

Published On 4 Dec 2022

Colombia has reached an agreement in peace talks with the ELN rebel group to allow the Indigenous Embera community to return to its lands in the west of the country, President Gustavo Petro said.

The pact is the first significant success achieved at peace negotiations taking place between the government and the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s largest remaining rebel group.

The talks, aimed at ending the country’s decades-long conflict, resumed last month in Venezuela after being suspended in 2019.

“The first point of agreement that we reached with the ELN – in barely a week of these dialogues – is the return of the Indigenous Embera people … to their reservations,” Petro said on Saturday in a public appearance in Dabeiba, a town in northwestern Colombia.

Petro did not say when the Embera would return to their lands in the departments of Choco and Risaralda in western Colombia. They had fled violence between drug gangs, outlawed right-wing armed groups and the ELN.

Many of the displaced Embera now live in Colombia’s capital and hold highly visible protests in parks, clashing frequently with police.

As of Saturday, ELN delegates to the talks had not made any statements directly related to the humanitarian agreement on the Embera

.

Embera Indigenous people clash with riot police while fighting for the right to the land they say belongs to them, in Bogota, Colombia

 [File: Harry Furia Grafica/Reuters]
‘Total peace’

The push for peace negotiations came from Colombia’s new first-ever left-wing President Gustavo Petro, who was a former member of the M-19 rebel movement.

After taking office in August, the president engaged the ELN as part of his “total peace” policy and the negotiations resumed even though no ceasefire between the two parties has been reached yet.

Nevertheless, the ELN had pledged to allow “humanitarian relief processes” as part of a peace talks framework its leaders signed with the government of then-President Juan Manuel Santos in 2016.

That year, Santos signed a historic peace deal with Colombia’s largest and oldest rebel group, the FARC. The FARC and the ELN operated in different parts of the country.

Previous attempts at negotiations with the ELN, which accounts for approximately 2,500 combatants according to peace-building civic group Indepaz, have not advanced partly because of dissent within its ranks.

ELN leaders say the group is united, but it is unclear how much sway negotiators hold over active units. The group is primarily active in the Pacific region and along the 2,200km (1,370-mile) border with Venezuela.

Talks between the ELN and Santos were called off in 2019 by Santos’s successor, Ivan Duque, after the ELN bombed a police academy in Bogota.

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$868 to disinfect a room? Hong Kong hotel refunds 'cleaning fee' for guest who tested positive for Covid-19

DECEMBER 03, 2022PUBLISHED AT 11:46 PMByRACHEL YEO

A handout photo. The operator of the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel has refunded a HK$5,000 (S$868) “cleaning fee” charged to a guest who tested positive for Covid-19.

South China Morning Post

A Hong Kong hotel has refunded a HK$5,000 (S$868) "cleaning fee" it imposed on a guest who tested positive for Covid-19 recently, after the family protested.

Homemaker Vivien Siu told the Post she objected because the charge was not made clear when her Australian in-laws made an online booking to stay at the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel.

She said it was only after they arrived from Sydney last month that they were told while checking in that they would have to pay HK$5,000 if they tested positive for the Covid-19.

When her father-in-law's first compulsory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test turned out positive, the hotel arranged for him to go to the government's Penny's Bay isolation centre and charged him the cleaning fee.

"Not only was the HK$5,000 cleaning fee excessive, but the fact that they only told their guests about the fee upon check-in was also completely unreasonable and felt very much like a trap for tourists," Siu said.

The Hongkonger said her in-laws, who are in their 60s and preferred not to be named, were visiting for a month to see her two daughters for the first time. Her husband is an Australian citizen and a Hong Kong permanent resident.

One of the in-laws from Australia staying at the hotel had tested positive for Covid-19 and was sent to Penny’s Bay.
PHOTO: South China Morning Post

Under Hong Kong's current "0+3" pandemic regime, arriving travellers must undergo three days of medical surveillance, during which they must have two PCR tests and may visit some places but cannot enter restaurants and bars.

Arrivals no longer have to spend their compulsory quarantine in a hotel, a measure that lasted more than two years, but many foreigners like Siu's in-laws stay in hotels.

She said her in-laws agreed to the cleaning fee when they were told about it at check-in "because at that point it was simply impractical to refuse and have to scramble to find another hotel".

The hotel made a refund after they complained, and her father-in-law returned to continue staying there after he left Penny's Bay on November 24.

Their experience highlighted varying practices among Hong Kong hotels, which charge different amounts for cleaning when guests test positive for Covid-19. Some do not charge.

Checks by the Post found that Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Tsim Sha Tsui charged Covid-positive guests a HK$3,500 cleaning fee, whereas Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and Lan Kwai Fong Hotel in Central charged HK$1,000. Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City charged between HK$1,000 and HK$1,500 depending on the room size.

The Conrad Hong Kong in Admiralty said it did not have such a fee.

A spokeswoman for the Accor group, which includes the Ibis Hong Kong Central and Sheung Wan hotel, said charging cleaning fees was a "local hotel practice" but it had "adjusted the rates upon review".

She did not give details, but calls to the hotel reception showed it now charges HK$2,000 as the cleaning fee.

A Consumer Council representative told the Post it received two complaints relating to cleaning fees imposed by hotels on guests who tested positive for Covid-19.

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The consumer watchdog said hotels were generally allowed to charge additional fees only if the guest had agreed to pay or accepted or incurred liability.

"If the amount of the additional fee is not expressed in the terms and conditions, the hotel may only charge an amount that is reasonable. Whether the customer has agreed to pay for the additional fee or incurred liability to do so, and what amounts to a reasonable fee, is fact sensitive," the representative said.

The council advised consumers to check carefully for additional charges before confirming their hotel bookings.

But it said hotels should charge reasonably, as deep cleaning of rooms had become a new normal during the pandemic and could be considered a standard procedure rather than an extra service.

Hotels should also ensure that their terms were communicated clearly to guests in advance, such as at the time of booking rather than when guests check in, it added.

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, defended the practice of charging cleaning fees.

Chui, who is chief operating officer of O Hotel in To Kwa Wan, said his hotel also charged the fee.

He added that hiring external companies to help with disinfection was not cheap, but agreed that hotels could do better at informing guests about such charges.

Last year, Nina Hotels charged guests a HK$5,000 disinfection fee if they tested positive within 24 hours of arriving or leaving the hotel.

The practice was exposed on social media, sparking public outrage. The hotel group then dropped the charge.

Receptionists at two Nina branches in Causeway Bay and Wong Chuk Hang said on Friday that guests were not charged cleaning fees

Recent floods, rains pose 'serious' threat to wildlife in Pakistan

South Asian country has lost several species in recent past and is 'about to lose others,' warns World Wide Fund for Nature

Aamir Latif |04.12.2022


KARACHI, Pakistan

Recent super floods and torrential rains combined with drought and wildfires across Pakistan have posed a "serious" threat to already under-pressure wildlife in the South Asian country.

On the occasion of World Wildlife Conservation Day observed on Sunday, the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF) in a report said the recent climatic events such as floods and widespread rains coupled with drought and wildfires have damaged the wildlife habitats and posed a serious threat to the wild species in Pakistan.

The theme of the day for this year is “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration.”

In addition to climate change, the report added, a string of other factors, including illegal wildlife trade and hunting, human-wildlife conflict, unsustainable development, habitat loss and encroachment, and water pollution are also contributing to a gradual decline in wildlife.

Enumerating the damages caused by the successive climatic events, including loss of habitat, dwindling food availability, and migration, the report cautioned that these factors are likely to lead to the disappearance of various wild species in the country.

“We need to assess the adverse impacts of climate change on threatened animals, including resident and migratory birds, marine and freshwater dolphins, snow and common leopards, smooth-coated otters, and pangolins, among others,” it maintained.

Rab Nawaz, senior director of biodiversity at WWF-Pakistan, in his remarks, regretted that despite several initiatives to save biodiversity, the country has lost several species in the recent past and is "about to lose others."

Not many people will realize that animals such as the gharial, despite being seen as recently as 1985, are probably lost now, he added.

This crocodile, harmless to man, was hunted to extinction due to its perceived threat to fish stocks.

Its population in neighboring countries, he went on to say, also faced similar threats but awareness campaigns and re-introduction schemes have seen the successful return of this strange-looking animal back into the water bodies.

Conservation successes

Pakistan is home to rare, unique, and iconic wildlife species such as the snow leopard, markhor, brown bear, Indus River dolphin, freshwater turtles, and many others.

In spite of the challenges, according to the WWF, there are a few conservation success stories in Pakistan’s context, where community-led and coordinated conservation efforts have helped enhance the population of several endangered wildlife species and their habitats.

As a result of the continued efforts of the Sindh Wildlife Department, WWF-Pakistan, and local fisher communities, the population of the Indus River dolphin, an endemic and endangered species of river cetacean, has almost doubled in the past two decades.

The otherwise decreasing population of markhor – the country's national animal – has also rebounded from the 1980s.

Although markhors are restricted to the national parks and community-managed reserves, they are nonetheless viable populations, and all the sub-species are doing well, added Nawaz.

A STATE IN CLIMATE CRISIS DENIAL

Florida expected to be hotbed for wildfires in early 2023

By Andrew Wulfeck, FOX Weather
December 4, 2022 

Florida sees around 4,000 wildfires every year.

The ingredients are aligning for parts of Florida to be active for wildfires in 2023, despite two hurricanes making landfall in 2022, leading to torrential rainfall.

Outlooks recently released by the National Interagency Fire Center show the probability of above-normal wildfire potential to grow in the new year along the Interstate 10 corridor and include the northern Peninsula and Southwest coast in the spring.

The threat of active wildfire weather is also expected to expand northward along the I-95 corridor and impact the coastal plains of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Around 80 percent of the country is experiencing either abnormally dry or drought conditions, but due to long-range climate outlooks, forecasters are able to hone in on areas where the upcoming months do not look promising for drought relief.

The Sunshine State is no stranger to droughts or the problems they cause.

Emergency management reports the state sees around 4,000 wildfires every year that destroy about 200,000 acres.
Drought currently expanding

Severe drought conditions currently exist throughout much of the Florida Panhandle and is expanding each week.

During a severe drought, the US Drought Monitor says crop losses are likely, water shortages are common and water restrictions are imposed.

Fire potential outlook for December 2022.National Interagency Fire Center

Fire potential outlook for January 2023.National Interagency Fire Center

Fire potential outlook for February 2023.National Interagency Fire Center

Fire potential outlook for March 2023.National Interagency Fire Center

Communities experiencing these conditions include Pensacola, Panama City and Tallahassee.

With the state entering its normally driest months, drought conditions will undoubtedly expand and include parts of the Peninsula and nearby southern states.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center has highlighted these areas to see additional drought development through at least February 2023.As Florida enters its normally driest months, drought conditions will undoubtedly expand.FOX Weather

The NOAA predicts parts of the Peninsula and nearby southern states will see additional drought development.NOAA
La Niña to make situation worse

The world is currently experiencing a rare “triple-dip” La Niña, which is expected to continue well into 2023.

During a La Niña, periods of abnormally warm and dry conditions are common across the Deep South during the winter and the spring.

The combination of already dry conditions and an expected lack of rainfall is expected to exacerbate fire threat levels until a significant weather pattern change allows enhanced rainfall opportunities in the Southeast. 

La Niña is expected to exacerbate fire threat levels.FOX Weather
Residual impacts from Hurricane Ian

The Sunshine State did see heavy rainfall during Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, but the precipitation occurred in brief periods, and the entire state did not reap the benefits.

Tropical rainfall was just enough in some communities to send rain gauges back to normal and keep cities from experiencing drought conditions.

Florida saw heavy rainfall during Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, but the entire state did not reap the benefits.FOX Weather

As the evaporation continues and the storms become a memory of the distant past, the National Interagency Fire Center is concerned that impacts on vegetation could play in an active fire season.

“Several agencies have expressed concern that salt-cured fuels associated with Ian’s historic storm surge could easily burn at any moment. Because of this and the likelihood of drought development this winter, southwest Florida is included in above normal potential for February and March,” authors of the NIFC outlook wrote.

Tropical cyclones are known to have lasting impacts on fire weather in the Southeast.

Take precaution during heavy drought periods.FOX Weather

Around 80 percent of the country is experiencing either abnormally dry or drought conditions.Getty Images

Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle in 2018 and toppled millions of trees.

The dead vegetation, in combination with drought conditions, caused the perfect storm for rapidly spreading wildfires in 2022.
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Numerous large fires broke out between Pensacola and Tallahassee, and firefighters said they had a tough time controlling the flames due to the dry brush.

While the terrain where the most recent hurricanes struck is different than in the Panhandle, the lasting impacts from the storms will be an element firefighters will be monitoring throughout the fire season.

When cyclones and fires collide…

Severe weather events that cause extreme havoc

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

 

IMAGE: CLIMATE CHANGE IS MODIFYING CYCLONE AND FIRE REGIMES WORLDWIDE view more 

CREDIT: NASA IMAGE - CC BY 2.0

As strong winds and torrential rains inundate Australia’s south-eastern coast, new research suggests that high intensity bushfires might not be too far behind, with their dual effects extending damage zones and encroaching on previously low-risk residential areas.

Conducted by an international research team, including the University of South Australia, the research is the first to examine what happens when cyclones and fires interact.

The study found that when severe weather events occur in close succession (more common due to climate change) they can have major impacts on the environment, with the interactive effect of the two disturbances being larger than that of each individual event combined.

UniSA researcher and ecologist, Associate Professor Gunnar Keppel, says that understanding the effects of intense weather changes can help us safeguard against damaging outcomes.

“Cyclones and fires are formidable weather events in their own right, but when they occur in close succession, their effect can more than double,” Assoc Prof Keppel says.

“When a tropicl cyclone or a storm hits, it opens forest canopies, creating a large amount of debris and drier and warmer conditions on the ground. In turn, this dry material increases the likelihood, intensity, and area of subsequent fires.

“Furthermore, with cyclones expected to occur at lower latitudes, it might mean that fires could occur in previously untouched areas, for example, the greater Brisbane area in Australia. We need to be aware of this so that we can mitigate possible risks.”

The research coincides with CSIRO’s 2022 State of the Climate report which projects a greater proportion of high-intensity storms, longer fire seasons and more dangerous fire weather.

Assoc Prof Keppel says that shifting weather patterns affect all aspects of our environment – from ecosystems to suburban areas.

“Climate change is modifying cyclone and fire regimes worldwide, producing increased intensities of cyclone–fire interactions that change biomes and their distributions,” Assoc Prof Keppel says.

“Once an environment is damaged, it takes time to regenerate, and if it doesn’t recover due to a fire or subsequent cyclone, the negative impacts last longer and can reduce protective buffer zones for other regions.

“Understanding the likely future interactions of cyclones and fires under climate change is a necessary step to protect against avoidable devastation.”

Note to editors:

This study was conducted in partnership with University of Montpellier, Louisiana State University, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, University of Auckland, University of California, San Diego State University, University of Denver, Universite de la Réunion, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Charles Darwin University, International Savanna Fire Management Initiative.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Contact for interview: E: Gunnar.Keppel@unisa.edu.au
Media contact: M: +61 479 182 489 E: Annabel.Mansfield@unisa.edu.au

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JOURNAL

Trends in Plant Science

DOI

10.1016/j.tplants.2022.08.005 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Altered cyclone–fire interactions are changing ecosystems

Cyclone vs. Typhoon vs. Hurricane vs. Tornado: Are They All ...

https://www.dictionary.com › ... › Education › Nature

Sept 18, 2021 — Hurricanes are essentially massive, spinning formations of multiple thunderstorms, while tornadoes are formed from a wind vortex from the hot, ...

‎Quick Summary · ‎What Is A Cyclone? · ‎Hurricane Vs. Typhoon

CRIMINAL STATE CAPITALI$M

North Korean bandits steal 200 kilos of gold bars worth US $12 million

Border cities are in a state of emergency as authorities try to prevent the loot from being smuggled to China.

By Hyemin Son for RFA Korean
2022.12.01

Photo illustration by Amanda Weisbrod

The three masked bandits descended upon the armored vehicle, overpowered the two soldiers on guard duty, seized 200 kilograms of gold bars worth U.S.$12 million and rode off into the North Korean countryside, sources inside the country said.

Authorities declared a state of emergency in Sinuiju, Hyesan, and other border cities as they searched desperately for the robbers and their loot, sources living near the cities told Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The border cities are on high alert because there is no market for gold in North Korea. The 200-kilogram jackpot is essentially worthless unless it can be smuggled to buyers in China. 

The mid-November robbery occurred when an armored vehicle carrying the gold was stopped on the side of the road along Route 1 on its way to the capital Pyongyang from Sinuiju, the sources said.

“There were two fully armed soldiers riding in the armored vehicle, but judging from how quickly the robbers were able to subdue them, it seems like they had special military training,” the source living near Sinuiju said. “The armed soldiers were helpless in that situation.”

Authorities put all former special forces soldiers in North Pyongan province on the list of suspects, and interrogated each one, asking what they were doing on the day of the robbery, but they are still looking for the robbers, the source said.

“The border city of Hyesan is in a state of emergency with investigators from the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Social Security, and soldiers Border Patrol Headquarters all over the place,” a resident of Hyesan’s surrounding Ryanggang province told RFA.

The city is awash with flyers saying citizens must immediately report to authorities if they have any gold, or if they suspect anyone else to be a gold smuggler, according to the second source.

North Korea produces between two and four metric tons of gold per year, according to both sources. most of it is sent to Office 39, the organization charged with procuring slush funds for the country’s leader Kim Jong Un and his family. The rest goes to North Korea’s central bank.

North Korea’s main gold production facilities are the Jongju and Unjon refineries, both in North Pyongan. There are others in Ryanggang and South Hwanghae provinces.

However, many people secretly regard the bandits as heroes because they see the government as hoarding the gold instead of using it to help the people, who are struggling to make ends meet in an economy still reeling from international nuclear sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, the second source said. 

“The residents laugh at the authorities and cheer that someone risked their lives to raid the gold truck and got away with it.” 

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.