Canada: inquiry into police unit accused of excessive force against green activists


Leyland Cecco in Toronto

THE GUARDIAN
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Photograph: Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images

Canada’s federal police force has opened an investigation into a controversial unit tasked with overseeing environmental protests, following hundreds of complaints that officers used excessive force, disregarded court orders and violated protesters’ rights.

Related: Giving the middle finger is a ‘God-given right’, Canadian judge rules

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, a watchdog arm of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said on Thursday it would examine the activities of the community-industry response group, or C-IRG, based in British Columbia.

During the Fairy Creek blockade against old-growth forest logging on Vancouver Island, officers with the special unit were accused of ripping off protesters’ masks to pepper-spray them and dragging them by their hair.

A British Columbia supreme court judge subsequently ruled that the exclusion zones created by the RCMP – set up to prevent media from entering certain areas of the injunction area – were unlawful.

The C-IRG was also involved in protests over the Coastal GasLink pipeline, deploying riot control officers, dogs and helicopters to dismantle blockades – and as the Guardian has previously reported, was prepared to shoot on Indigenous protesters.

The RCMP has long faced criticism for its conduct against Indigenous peoples, and in recent years has faced mounting concerns over accountability and a disregard for court orders. The C-IRG has faced accusations of harassment, racism and excessive force – allegations the unit’s leadership has denied.

The unit is currently the target of a lawsuit alleging it used “unlawful tactics” to dismantle the Fairy Creek protest, and is also linked to a broader press freedom lawsuit after RCMP officers detained two journalists reporting on police efforts to tear down blockades against the Coastal GasLink pipeline on traditional Wet’suwet’en territory.

Related: ‘I felt kidnapped’: Canada police sued for arresting photographer covering protest

The RCMP oversight body says it will assess whether the unit’s operations are consistent with Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms, as well as recently passed legislation on the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. The force has said it will also ensure the unit’s actions align with recommendations from a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The chair of the oversight group, Michelaine Lahaie, is not part of the RCMP.

The C-IRG unit, staffed with volunteer RCMP officers, was originally formed in 2017 to help resource-extraction protests proceed by breaking up public protest and blockades. The unit has cost nearly C$50m over the past five years, according to CBC News.

The CRCC has the ability to examine the conduct of individual officers to determine if policies or training need to change, the RCMP said.

The RCMP said in a statement it had anticipated the investigation.

“We knew about the possibility for a review and have been working cooperatively to ensure that the CRCC have comprehensive access and a fulsome understanding of the C-IRG’s policies, procedures, practices, guidelines, training and deployments,” Staff Sgt Kris Clark, a media relations officer, said.

HS2 delay will discourage British investment, says infrastructure expert

The High Speed 2 rail project has been beset by delays and cost re-evaluations

Jasper Jolly
Fri, 10 March 2023


The UK’s decision to delay the HS2 rail line will discourage British investment at a time when the US and mainland Europe are pushing forward with major spending on green technology, according to the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission.

Sir John Armitt said the delay to HS2, a high-speed line that aims to increase British rail capacity, contrasted with the heavy investments by the US and EU on decarbonisation.

“That investment is going elsewhere,” Armitt said on BBC Radio 4. “We need all the investment we [can get] in this country. Making these sort of announcements simply dims the prospect and causes uncertainty in people’s minds.”

Joe Biden’s $369bn (£308bn) Inflation Reduction Act has fuelled a subsidy race between the US and EU, leaving the UK scrambling to catch up.

Ministers on Thursday confirmed that HS2 would be delayed. The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the decision was the result of “significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs”. The delay will spread the cost over a longer period.

Parts of the planned line between Birmingham, Crewe and Manchester will be “rephased” by two years. The line to Crewe may not be open until 2036, and Manchester not until 2043.

Critics of the project point to long delays and the fact that the budget has already grown significantly. Some people affected by construction plans are also opposed. Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP, said he had “serious doubts as to value for money and cost control” on HS2 after scrutinising it at the Treasury.

However, Armitt said the delay would increase the total cost of the project by drawing out the process and prevent businesses from investing.

“It will increase the end cost,” he said. “That impacts the confidence and certainty people have in investing in this country. We’re about levelling up; we’re about competing with the world. We don’t level up, we don’t compete with the world if we create uncertainty.”

Armitt was chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, which oversaw the construction of the venues, facilities and infrastructure for the 2012 Games in London, and in 2013 he wrote an influential review that recommended setting up the commission in order to speed up the construction of big projects.

However, since then the UK’s record of development has been patchy. Meanwhile, the UK’s productivity growth has stagnated since the financial crisis in 2008, and business investment has lagged behind, particularly since the Brexit vote, costing billions in lost potential output.

Armitt said it was not unusual for major infrastructure projects to run over budget, in part because politicians often announced how much it would cost before detailed work was carried out.

“HS2 is an integral part in delivering that long-term success for our transport system, for decarbonisation, and for business growth in this country,” he said.

HS2: All the delays and U-turns on £100bn rail project since it started

The High Speed 2 rail project has been beset by delays and cost re-evaluations ever since it was first put forward in 2009.


Ross McGuinness and Chris Parsons
Fri, March 10, 2023

An artist's impression of a HS2 train. (PA)

The government has announced fresh delays to some sections of the High Speed 2, or HS2, pushing parts of the project back by a further two years.

In a written statement to MPs, Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced the delay of the Birmingham to Crewe leg of HS2, blaming increased costs and inflation.

Phase One of HS2 involves the railway being built between London and Birmingham, with the line extended from the West Midlands to Crewe in Phase 2a.

Phase 2b will connect both Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to the East Midlands.

The announcement comes come after HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Thurston said the impact on the project from inflation has been “significant”, adding to the cost of building materials, labour, fuel and energy.

The Transport Secretary also confirmed the government would be prioritising HS2 services between the Midlands and Old Oak Common, suggesting that those using the high speed line to travel from Birmingham to London would still have to complete their journeys into central London using the London Underground, adding time on to their journeys.

The £106bn HS2 project has been beset by delays and cost re-evaluations ever since it was first put forward in 2009.

Work continues on the Colne Valley Viaduct on December 12, in Hillingdon, west London, which will become the longest railway bridge in the UK, as part of the HS2 project. (Getty)

The project has been dogged by criticism over its financial and environmental impact.

In October 2020, levelling up secretary Michael Gove suggested capital investment for HS2 would be reviewed, but Hunt subsequently backed the project.

The target cost of Phase One between London and Birmingham was £40.3bn.

A budget of £55.7 billion for the whole of HS2 was set in 2015, but this has since spiralled to an estimated £72bn-£98bn at 2019 prices. That budget is now likely to be much higher due to rising inflation.

It is just the latest blow to the HS2 project, which has ballooned in cost and angered residents and politicians.

The first phase between London and Birmingham was supposed to open at the end of 2026, but this has been pushed back to between 2029 and 2033. The second phase, originally scheduled to open in 2032, is now expected as late at 2040.
The delays and U-turns of the beleaguered HS2 project:

January 2009

The then Labour government sets up HS2 Ltd to look at the case for building a high-speed railway line.

January 2012

HS2 is given the green light by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, despite concerns about its cost and its impact on the environment. It has an initial budget of £32bn.

June 2013

The projected cost of delivering HS2 rises to £42bn.

An aerial view of the entrance to the Chiltern Tunnels, part of the work on the HS2 network, on 3 November, 2021. (PA)

September 2015

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee notes that the new projected cost for HS2 is £56bn.

June 2016

The National Audit Office warns the project is already under financial strain and could be delayed by a year.

August 2019

The government announces a review of HS2 which will analyse whether it should continue to go ahead, with the Department for Transport promises a “go or no-go” decision by the end of that year.

The review will be led by former HS2 Ltd chairman Douglas Oakervee.

Later that month, the BBC reports the government and HS2 bosses knew the project was over budget and behind schedule three years previously in 2016.

September 2019

HS2 Ltd chairman Allan Cook says HS2 may not be completed until 2040 and could cost as much as £88bn.

January 2020

The Oakervee Review is delivered and finds that costs have ballooned even more, projecting an overall cost of £106bn.

However, the report finds that the project should continue.

A demonstrator carries a 'Stop HS2' banner during a protest in London. (PA)

That same month, the National Audit Office accuses the government of underestimating the complexity of the project, saying it is impossible to say with certainty just how much the final cost of HS2 could be.

February 2020

Despite the concerns, prime minister Boris Johnson gives another green light to HS2, approving the entire line.

May 2020

MPs say the HS2 project has gone “badly off course” and that further increases in costs cannot be ruled out.

Read more: HS2 costs ‘rose by £1.7bn in past year’

The all-party Public Accounts Committee accused the Department for Transport of hiding information about delays and cost overruns.

September 2020

Formal construction on HS2 begins, with Johnson saying it is an “incredible” project and “crucial for our country”.

September 2021

MPs say there is “no clear end in sight” to the cost and delays of HS2.

An artist's impression of the proposed HS2 station at Euston, London. (PA)

The Public Accounts Committee said it is “increasingly alarmed” about key parts of the project.

October 2021

The government says that dealing with anti-HS2 protests has cost the high speed rail project up to £80m.

Johnson tells the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester that his government “will do Northern Powerhouse Rail, we will link up the cities of the Midlands and the North”.

November 2021

The government is accused of committing a 'great robbery' as Grant Shapps confirms that the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds has been scrapped.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Northern Powerhouse Rail – the name given to proposals for an east-to-west high-speed train line across the North – had been “a fraud”.

The government's revised HS2 route, which it announced in November 2021, involved scrapping the route to Leeds. (PA)

July 2022

A £3bn branch of the High Speed 2 network designed to speed up rail journeys between London and Scotland is quietly ditched by ministers, provoking outrage from rail industry groups.

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham have since held private meetings about the best way to replace the axed Golborne link to take high-speed trains to Scotland.

March 2023

Transport Secretary Mark Harper announces the delay of the Birmingham to Crewe leg of HS2, blaming increased costs and inflation.

In a written statement to MPs, Harper also confirms the government will be prioritising HS2 services between the Midlands and Old Oak Common outside central London, meaning commuters from Birmingham to the capital will have to continue their journeys from the western suburbs using the Tube, adding journey time.

Harper's announcement does not appear to give a definitive date of when HS2 will be completed so people can travel direct into London Euston.

Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion costs surge 44% to C$30.9 billion


 A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator

 Trans Mountain is seen in Kamloops

Fri, March 10, 2023 
By Nia Williams

(Reuters) -The cost of the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion has jumped 44% from last year's estimate to C$30.9 billion ($22.35 billion), the federal corporation building the project said on Friday.

Trans Mountain Corp (TMC) said it is in the process of securing external financing to fund the remaining cost of the project, which is now expected to start shipping oil in the first quarter of 2024.

The 590,000 barrel-per-day pipeline expansion will nearly triple the flow of barrels from Alberta's oil sands to Canada's Pacific coast, opening access to Asian markets. It has been beset by regulatory delays, environmental opposition and hefty budget overruns.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government bought the pipeline from Kinder Morgan Inc in 2018 to ensure the expansion got built, drawing sharp criticism from environmental groups.

Last February TMC increased the cost estimate to C$21.4 billion, up from C$12.6 billion in 2020 and C$7.4 billion in 2017. Following last year's jump, the Canadian government said it would halt any further public funding for the project.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated government plans to sell the pipeline once it is complete.

"As we committed to Canadians last year, no additional public money will be invested in this project as construction is completed," Freeland said in a statement.

"The federal government does not intend to be the long-term owner of the project, and we will launch a divestment process in due course."

BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities have been engaged by the government to provide advice on certain financial aspects of the project.

In a letter to the government on Friday, the banks said once the expansion is complete TMC is expected to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of more than C$2.4 billion a year and would be commercially viable.

BMO declined to comment and TD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Eleven oil shippers, including Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and MEG Energy have committed to long-term contracts that make up 80% of Trans Mountain's capacity.

TMC blamed the cost increase on a number of factors including high global inflation and supply chain issues, floods in British Columbia, unexpected major archaeological discoveries and challenging terrain.

The corporation also said the current cost estimate does not include reserves for "extraordinary risks" and could change again.

"As with all projects of this size, risks to the final costs and schedule will remain as work is completed through 2023," TMC said in a statement.

Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, said buying and building the pipeline would go down as one of the worst infrastructure decisions ever made by a Canadian government.

"It was always a disaster from a climate change perspective, but this is now an economic crime that has stolen C$30 billion of public funds from real climate solutions," Stewart said.

(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia, Steve Scherer in Ottawa, Maiya Keidan in Toronto and Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Grant McCool and David Gregorio)

British unions lose legal challenge over $23 billion pension reform bill

Fri, 10 March 2023 


'Britain Deserves Better' Trade union protest march in London


LONDON (Reuters) -Two British trade unions on Friday lost a legal challenge to changes to public sector pensions they argue allows the government to unlawfully pass the 19-billion-pound ($23 billion) cost of discriminatory pension reforms onto workers.

The Fire Brigades Union and the British Medical Association argued Britain's finance ministry was effectively making members of newer pension schemes foot the bill for its own mistake.

But a judge at London's High Court dismissed the two unions' case in a written ruling on Friday.

The legal action followed a 2018 court ruling that the exclusion of younger staff from more beneficial "legacy" pension schemes, as part of wider government reforms, amounted to unlawful age discrimination.

That decision landed the government with a bill estimated at between 17 and 19 billion pounds in additional future pension payments to around three million public sector workers.

In 2021, the government included that bill in the valuation of public sector pension schemes – without which, the unions said, scheme members' benefits would have increased or their contributions would have been reduced.

The unions' lawyers argued at a hearing in January that the decision was unlawful as it was taken without assessing other options.

The government had said it was faced with a "basic choice" between asking public sector employees – and ultimately the taxpayer – or pension scheme members to bear the cost.

Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the British Medical Association's pensions committee, said in a statement: "We firmly believe that affected doctors and other public sector workers must not pick up the bill for the government's unlawful discrimination and we will be considering an appeal."

The Fire Brigades Union and Britain's finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Deepa Babington)

Al Gore warns it would be ‘recklessly irresponsible’ to allow Alaska oil drilling plan


Oliver Milman
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Al Gore has warned it would be “recklessly irresponsible” to allow an enormous, controversial oil drilling project to proceed in Alaska, speaking ahead of a decision from the Biden administration on whether to approve it. Gore spoke amid growing alarm among Democrats and campaigners that the Willow development will drastically undermine the US’s effort to confront the climate crisis.

The vast, multi-billion-dollar ConocoPhillips oil project, to be situated on the tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, is awaiting approval from the federal government that could arrive as soon as Friday. Gore, the former US vice-president and leading climate advocate, told the Guardian that the planned drilling would threaten local communities as well as the task of curbing dangerous global heating.

“The proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling in Alaska is recklessly irresponsible,” Gore said. “The pollution it would generate will not only put Alaska native and other local communities at risk, it is incompatible with the ambition we need to achieve a net zero future.

“We don’t need to prop up the fossil fuel industry with new, multi-year projects that are a recipe for climate chaos,” Gore added. “Instead, we must end the expansion of oil, gas and coal and embrace the abundant climate solutions at our fingertips.”

The Willow project has become a leading target for climate campaigners due to the huge volume of planet-heating emissions it could unleash. The drilling operation would extract up to 180,0000 barrels of oil a day, about 1.6% of total US oil production from one site alone. In a grim irony, ConocoPhillips has said it may have to re-freeze ground that is rapidly thawing as the Arctic heats up in order to stabilize the drilling equipment.

An exploratory drilling camp at the site of the Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope is seen in 2019. Photograph: AP

This drilling would result in 278m tons of greenhouse gases over a 30-year lifespan of the development, according to the administration’s own estimates, the equivalent of adding 2m gasoline-consuming cars onto the road or running more than 70 coal-fired power plants for a year. The pollution produced would comfortably wipe out the emissions saved from all renewable energy projects on US public lands by 2030.

The Department of the Interior has said it has “substantial concerns” about the Willow project’s impact upon the climate and the subsistence lifestyle of native Alaskan communities but has completed an environmental review of the development that it said would improve it, such as drilling at three sites rather than five and reducing the number of roads and other infrastructure that would be built in the wilderness.

The prospect of the administration approving a full or abridged version of the project has sparked alarm among local communities, climate campaigners and Biden’s Democratic allies.

The International Energy Agency has said no new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built if the world is to avoid disastrous climate change and two dozen Democrats in Congress have written to Biden warning that Willow poses “a significant threat to US progress on climate issues”. The lawmakers called upon the president to “stop this ill-conceived and misguided project”.

A wave of opposition to the Willow project has hit the White House in recent weeks, including in-person rallies in Washington DC and a viral #StopWillow campaign on social media. An online petition calling for the project to be halted has garnered more than 3m signatures. Critics have pointed out the project fatally undermines Biden’s promise to deal with the climate crisis, which he has called an “existential threat” to humanity.

“President Biden continues to address climate change during high-profile speeches and events but his actions are contradictory,” said Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, an Indigenous group that has warned the project would endanger the subsistence lifestyle of native communities that rely upon the migration of a caribou herd, as well as other established patterns in the environment, to live in their Arctic surrounds.

Biden has come under pressure from proponents of the project, too, with Alaskan lawmakers and some native groups arguing Willow would create much-needed jobs and investment for the region. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska, has called the size of the project “minuscule” and that it has been “meticulously planned” to avoid harm to the environment.

The battle over Willow is likely to end up in the courts, with environmental advocates vowing to keep fighting any iteration of the project. “I think that litigation is very likely,” said Jeremy Lieb, a senior attorney for Earthjustice. “We and our clients don’t see any acceptable version of this project.”

‘We are still suffering’: Families struggle to find food 6 months from devastating Pakistan floods

Rosie Frost
Fri, 10 March 2023 


Six months after widespread flooding submerged a third of Pakistan, people are still struggling to survive.

Inflation has sent the price of food skyrocketing and families, especially, are being forced to cut back on their meals. Doctors are reporting increased cases of malnutrition, according to Save the Children.

Many are still living in tents around stagnant water and surviving on just one meal a day, the charity says.

“This is one of the biggest disasters this country has ever seen, and after six months, we are still suffering,” says Khuram Gondal, charity Save the Children’s country director for Pakistan.

“These devastating floods are an acute example of how those living in a country responsible for less than 1 per cent of global carbon emissions are seeing their lives completely turned upside down by the climate crisis.”

Gondal adds that, as with many disasters, children are bearing the brunt of the impact.

Just this week, Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the flooding was “the biggest, most devastating climate catastrophe that we’ve ever experienced.”

And, at the time of the flooding, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned that “what happened in Pakistan will now stay in Pakistan.” He called the country the “ground zero of climate change”.

Pakistan: Cases of malnutrition are rising

Communities in Sindh province affected by the floods have told Save the Children staff they are barely surviving due to agricultural land being ruined. It is the main income source for most families in the area.

Hajra lives in a tent with her husband and three children as their house is still damaged by stagnant flood water. Her husband barely earns enough money to buy food for one meal a day for the family as a daily wage labourer.

“We had nothing to eat during the rains, and no milk for the children. It was difficult for us to eat the food as our children start crying when they see us eat, so we fed them what we had,” she says.

“There was nothing left to eat for my husband and me. What should we do? Eat and see our children crying and hungry?”

Waheed, nutrition assistant, feeds Hajra's 10 month old baby at the clinic. - Khaula Jamil/Save the Children

Her 10-month-old baby has developed severe acute malnutrition due to a lack of food as Hajra was weak, sick and couldn’t breastfeed.

She brought him to a healthcare unit run by Save the Children where he was treated and has since improved. The doctor who treated her son, Dr Muhammad Hanif, says that the percentage of children arriving at his clinic with malnutrition has increased from 20 per cent to 60 per cent.

“All the produce that people had from their fields also drowned in the floods so people have absolutely nothing to eat.”

‘They are completely flooded’: Rising sea levels endanger life in Marseille’s coastal huts
What can be done to help people in Pakistan?

Around 33 million people - 16 million of them children - are still in need of help. The UN’s Pakistan Floods Response Plan is just 36 per cent funded more than halfway through its nine-month duration.

Save the Children is calling on the international community to step up and deliver the money needed to prevent a full-scale hunger crisis.

“When will the world listen to these children?” Gondal says.

“We welcome the fact that some steps have been taken - but children in Pakistan need more, not only to rebuild from this catastrophe but also to know that in future, when they will inevitably bear the brunt of yet more climate disasters, the world will not look away.”

The charity is also calling for progress on an agreement made at last year’s COP27 climate summit to establish a Loss and Damage fund. Save the Children says that funds need to be clearly earmarked for climate disasters like the flooding in Pakistan as well as slow onset events like rising sea levels.

Hundreds of pronghorn are dropping dead in Wyoming, officials say. What’s the cause?

Mitchell Willetts
Thu, March 9, 2023

Hundreds of pronghorn antelope have suddenly died in western Wyoming, and wildlife officials say a rare disease is to blame.

In a matter of weeks, starting in mid-February, an estimated 200 pronghorn have died due to pneumonia brought on by Mycoplasma bovis, a disease typically associated with cattle, the state Game and Fish Department said in a March 8 news release.

Photos shared by the department show the animals apparently falling down dead, their bodies collapsed in the snow.

It’s rare to see M. bovis spreading among wildlife in Wyoming, officials said.

“This is a nasty, nasty pathogen,” Hank Edwards, WGFD wildlife disease specialist, told Field & Stream. “Whether it’s in domestic stock or otherwise, it’s just incredibly fatal — particularly in pronghorn. The pneumonia that they’re getting is substantial. It’s killing them pretty ... quickly.”

The deaths appear to be centered in a specific area south of the town of Pinedale, according to the release. However, the source of the outbreak is unknown, and it’s unclear if the pathogen could be more widespread.

“While reported M. bovis outbreaks causing mortality in wildlife are rare, this is not the first occurrence of M. bovis being linked to pronghorn mortalities in Wyoming,” Edwards said in the release.

The disease is not a direct threat to humans, but it can have a devastating impact in other ways, according to the National Institutes of Health, as Mycoplasma bovis infections “are responsible for substantial economic health and welfare problems worldwide.”

From 2019 to 2020, the disease killed nearly 500 pronghorn in the northeastern part of the state before the outbreak burned out during spring, Wyoming wildlife officials said.

“We were hoping that that outbreak was the last of it … but we were really surprised to see it pop up again on the other side of the state,” Edwards told Field & Stream.

Wildlife officials will continue monitoring across the state for signs of M. bovis, the release said.

UN buys huge ship to avert catastrophic oil spill off Yemen


Gareth Evans - BBC News
Thu, March 9, 2023 

The FSO Safer has been abandoned since 2015 and is carrying 1.1m barrels of oil

The UN has purchased a huge ship that it hopes will prevent an environmental catastrophe off the coast of Yemen.

For years, more than a million barrels of crude oil have been sitting on a decaying supertanker in the Red Sea.

There are fears the vessel could soon break apart or explode, risking one of the worst oil spills in recent memory.

But on Thursday, the UN said it had purchased a crude carrier that would head to Yemen and remove the oil from the stricken ship.

"The purchase of this suitable vessel... marks the beginning of the operational phase of the plan to safely remove the oil and avoid the risk of an environmental and humanitarian disaster," Achim Steiner from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said, adding that it was a "major breakthrough".

A UNDP statement said the ship - which it purchased from major tanker company Euronav - was undergoing routine maintenance in China and would arrive for the operation in early May.

"A major spill would devastate fishing communities on Yemen's Red Sea coast, likely wiping out 200,000 livelihoods instantly. Whole communities would be exposed to life-threatening toxins. Highly polluted air would affect millions," it said.

The organisation added that a potential oil spill could cost up to $20bn (£16.7bn) to clean up.

The UN had been searching for years for a solution and appealed for donations. The planned operation is estimated to cost $129m of which $75m has been received and another $20m has been pledged, it said.

The stranded ship - the FSO Safer - was left abandoned off the port of Hodeida after Yemen's civil war broke out in 2015. It has not been serviced since.

It was constructed as a supertanker in 1976 and converted later into a floating storage for oil. It is anchored near the Ras Isa oil terminal, which is controlled by Yemen's rebel Houthi movement.

The 376m (1,233ft) vessel holds an estimated 1.14m barrels of crude oil.

The Safer's structural integrity has deteriorated significantly since maintenance operations were suspended in 2015, when the Houthis seized large parts of Yemen and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government. The ensuing conflict has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left more than 23 million in need of aid.

Mr Steiner told reporters on Thursday: "Let me be very clear - this is a risky operation and things could go wrong." He added that it could still be suspended if they fail to raise enough funds.

CANADA'S SPY AGENCY
Climate change is posing a serious threat to Canada — and British Columbia in particular, according to CSIS

Fri, March 10, 2023 

Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, waits to appear before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa in February. According to a report from the agency, rising sea levels have the potential to destroy 'significant parts' of the westernmost province. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Canada's spy agency says climate change is threatening the nation's prosperity and security, and has identified British Columbia as a region of particular concern.

A newly released analysis by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that was prepared in April 2021 and only recently disclosed to The Canadian Press spells out several concerns presented by global warming.

They include looming threats to water and food security, Arctic sovereignty, and coastal security — the latter of which could greatly impact British Columbians.

According to the report, rising sea levels could cause "irretrievable loss of infrastructure and even entire communities" with the potential to destroy "significant parts" of the westernmost province.

Taking steps to lessen the severity of flood and weather risks may be impractical, and buying insurance or rebuilding after a calamity will simply be too expensive in some cases, the brief says.

CSIS does not detail what regions will be hardest hit, but according to the provincial government, three quarters of B.C.'s population lives along the coast.

Preparing for sea-level rise

"This report is is sobering, but it's not a surprise," said Melissa Lem, president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).

"We know that if we continue with business as usual that climate change will have wide-ranging effects on every aspect of society."

Vancouver city planners estimate that sea levels could rise up to two metres in the next 80 years.

Ben Nelms/CBC

Lem, speaking Thursday on The Early Edition, said rising sea levels are already affecting the province's health-care system. She said plans to construct the new St. Paul's Hospital in city are already buffering for this reality.

"They're planning to raise the lot by over a meter to protect this new $1.9-billion facility, but unfortunately everything around it is still going to be flooded when a severe weather event happens," said Lem.

'We haven't seen anything yet': CAPE president

British Columbians are no strangers to severe weather events in recent years, including raging wildfires, catastrophic floods, marine heat waves and a horrific heat dome that killed over 600 people in summer 2021.

CSIS anticipates a higher risk of animal-borne diseases, loss of arable land and shrinking freshwater resources is coming.

Human migration might also grow to unprecedented volume due to newly uninhabitable territory, extreme weather events, drought and food shortages, and human conflict zones, CSIS says.

Ben Nelms/CBC

The spy service is also predicting an increase in ideologically motivated violent extremism from people who want to speed up climate change solutions and those more interested in preserving their current way of life.

"If you think the social disruptions we saw during the pandemic were dramatic, we haven't seen anything yet compared to climate change," said Lem.

Listen to stewards of the land: Indigenous leaders

When it comes to tackling climate change, Indigenous leaders say it is critical to listen to Indigenous people who have been stewards of the land, now known as British Columbia, since time immemorial.

Eli Enns, president and CEO of the IISAAK Olam Foundation — a non-profit educational organization focused on Indigenous-led conservation — said when the Sumas Prairie region of Abbotsford flooded in November 2021, it came as no surprise to elders of the Sumas First Nation, who predicted and warned such a flood would occur after an existing lake there was drained in the 1920s to create farmland.

"We undermine the resiliency of an environment by not respecting the Indigenous peoples of the land," said Enns, also speaking Thursday on CBC Radio.

The B.C. government did commit $100 million Monday to protecting freshwater sources in the province in partnership with First Nations.

Indigenous-led conservation efforts are not only critical to protecting the planet, said Enns, but also B.C.'s young people.

A new study from Lakehead University in Ontario that surveyed 1,000 Canadians aged 16 to 25 showed 80 per cent of respondents' mental health had been impacted by climate change. Nearly half think humanity is doomed.

"If the adults in the room were getting along with each other and working toward the benefit of all of our children and grandchildren, it would inspire more sense of hope," said Enns.

Province gives go-ahead for new gold and silver mine in central B.C.

Thu, March 9, 2023 

Vancouver-based mining company Artemis will operate the Blackwater gold and silver mine 112 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C. (Artemis Gold Inc. - image credit)

The B.C. government has approved a construction and operation permit for a 44-square-kilometre gold and silver mine in the province's central Interior.

The mine, located 112 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C., will be operated by Vancouver-based Artemis Gold and is expected to create 450 jobs per year, along with over 800 more per year during its construction and expansion phases, the province said.

The announcement comes three years after the province signed an economic and community development agreement with the Lhoosk'uz Dené Nation and Ulkatcho First Nation — on whose territories Blackwater is located — to share mineral tax revenue from the mine.

The province says the nations have been engaged in all aspects of the project, from exploration, to permitting and environmental assessment, while the mine's owners and both nations have a project participation agreement in place.

The B.C. government forecasts the Blackwater Mine will contribute more than $516 million to the province's average annual gross domestic product and more than $47 million in average annual provincial mineral tax.

During its 22-year lifetime, the mine will contribute a total of $13.2 billion to B.C.'s economy, including $2.3 billion in provincial revenue, the province adds.

Premier David Eby says the approval of Blackwater Mine is good news for local communities.

"The Blackwater gold project will put lots of people to work and create a wide range of opportunities and benefits for local businesses, communities and First Nations, while ensuring the highest standards of environmental protection, mitigation and sustainability," Eby said in a written statement.

The province says it has engaged the First Nations in the environmental assessment of the mine site. It adds that the mine site is connected to B.C. Hydro grid, meaning it will be powered with a sustainable source of low-carbon hydroelectricity.

Ulkatcho First Nation Chief Lynda Price says her community has been involved in Blackwater Mine's environmental assessment since 2015.

"We continue to work in collaboration with Artemis Gold Inc., Lhoosk'uz Dené Nation, and both the federal and provincial governments, to achieve the best mitigation results for all Canadians," she said in a written statement.

The province says B.C.'s mining sector had a forecast annual production value of more than $18 billion in 2022, and provides more than 30,000 jobs across B.C.