UEA scientists watch killer whales hunt in the Antarctic


Thu, March 9, 2023 

A pod of killer whales appeared hunting a humpback whale

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have described their amazement at seeing killer whales hunting from on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough.

Daisy Pickup and Dr Isabel Seguro have joined a team of 30 for two months researching the ship's science capabilities in deep polar waters.

The pair, from the University of East Anglia, have been collecting data and preparing the ship for future trips.

While on board they have also witnessed an orca pod hunting a humpback whale.

Scientists were called on deck to see the dramatic scene

"Somebody shouted 'Orcas'," said Dr Seguro. "We all ran out, very excited. We witnessed about 30 orcas, chasing a humpback whale. It was very dramatic."

"We hope the humpback got away," added Ms Pickup.

Dr Isabel Seguro is carrying out research on global warming

As well as doing their own research - taking measurements to analyse the speed of the ice melting - the pair have been helping test and prepare the RRS Sir David Attenborough's equipment for further trips for the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey.

"Whatever we do here is helping us set the basis for the next project," said Dr Seguro.

Daisy Pickup is part of the team preparing the RRS Sir David Attenborough for future trips

The two scientists, based in Norwich, said the team was definitely looking forward to heading home at the end of March, following many days and nights of freezing temperatures in Antarctic waters.

"We are very excited to see green again," said Ms Pickup.

The £200m RRS Sir David Attenborough is described by the British Antarctic Survey as a floating polar research laboratory AKA BOATY MCBOATFACE

"There are not a lot of trees here, so it will be really nice to see green trees.

"When all you've seen is sea for five weeks, you're ready to see a different landscape."

Photos show a female orca swimming with adopted baby pilot whale in unique case, scientists say

Alia Shoaib
Fri, March 10, 2023 

The orca female and pilot whale calf.

orcaguardians.org

A female orca appeared to adopt a baby pilot whale in the first known case of its kind.

Scientists observed the orca caring for the calf in western Iceland in 2021, a new study says.

The study noted that the orca had never had a calf of her own.

A female orca appeared to have adopted or abducted a baby pilot whale in the first known case of its kind, scientists say.

The orca, known as "Sædís," was first observed swimming with the pilot whale calf in August 2021 in the Atlantic Ocean near western Iceland.

Scientists observed that Sædís was not simply accompanying the calf but was actively caring for it.

Two other orcas, likely from Sædís' pod, were also present, but no other pilot whales were seen – which is unusual because pilot whales also travel in pods.

This marks the first scientific documentation of orcas nurturing and tending to a long-finned pilot whale calf.

The findings recently published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology document the orca's maternal care for a pilot whale calf and suggest that the relationship between the two species is more complex than previously thought.

Marie Mrusczok, the lead author, told Newsweek that there were clear signs the orca was looking after the calf.

"The orca was swimming with the pilot whale calf in the echelon position, which means the calf was swimming right behind the pectoral fin of the orca," she said.

"The echelon position allows a calf to make fewer tail fluke movements than when swimming on its own and overcome physical limitations during high-speed travel — in other words, the calf is 'carried' by the pressure wave created by the adult's larger body."

However, Elizabeth Zwamborn, an academic on the research team, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Maritime Noon show that it was unclear whether it was an altruistic adoption.

She said the relationship could be interpreted as a "lovely warm adoption story" or a case of killer whale abduction.

The female orca and pilot whale calf.orcaguardians.org

"But there's also a decent chance that she actually abducted this calf from a group of pilot whales. Off Iceland, there's been quite the interaction between both species, and oftentimes pilot whales are seen chasing the killer whales," she said.

"We don't know the reasons for it, but if there's a chance that there might be a female orca here and there that tries to take a calf from the pilot whales, that would certainly give them reason to chase."

The study noted that Sædís had never had a calf of her own, so it is possible she took in the pilot whale calf as a substitute.

Zwamborn said that the calf appeared to be emaciated and seemed to have not been fed recently, which would make sense as the female orca would probably not be able to nurse, having not birthed her own calves.

Both orcas and pilot whales have similarly close-knit family structures in the wild, which could explain the relationship.

About a year later, Sædís was observed with a group of long-finned pilot whales, but the calf was not present. Further encounters between Sædís' and the pilot whale pod indicated a deliberate attempt to acquire a new calf, the findings said.

Zwamborn told CBC that Sædís' observed interactions with pilot whales appeared to be unique and that she could have been attempting to abduct another calf.

'Shame on Marineland': 'World's loneliest orca' Kiska dies, ending tragic era of captivity in Canada

After 11 years in solitude, Canada's last captive orca dies amidst calls to 'prosecute Marineland'

Corné van Hoepen

·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada

Fri, March 10, 2023 

Kiska, also known as the world's loneliest orca, has died at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont. on March 9.

"The ministry was advised by Marineland that the whale named Kiska passed away at Marineland on March 9, 2023. A necropsy was conducted by professionals retained by Marineland," Brent Ross, a spokesperson of Ontario's solicitor general wrote in an emailed statement to local press.

She was believed to be 47 years old.

"Marineland's marine mammal care team and experts did everything possible to support Kiska’s comfort and will mourn her loss," the theme park said in a statement to local media.

Kiska was captured at three-years-old in North Atlantic waters, alongside another orca named Kieko, star of the 1993 film Free Willy.

While Keiko was rehabilitated and moved back to familiar waters off the coast of Iceland, Kiska was moved around several North American aquariums before being transferred to her final home at Ontario's Marineland.

During her captivity at Marineland, Kiska gave birth to five calves, all who tragically died shortly after birth. Since 2011, Kiska was held in solitariy confinement, thus earning her the nickname 'the world's lonliest orca.'

Orcas, known to travel in pods are social animals. Videos began emerging of Kiska floating listlessly in her tank or bumping her head repeatedly against the tank wall — a toll solitary confinement was having on the mammal.

"We are calling on provincial authorities to make public the results of a post-mortem, and prosecute Marineland for the unlawful distress Kiska clearly experienced throughout her final years," Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice told CBC News in a statement.

Kiska's passing also marks the end of orcas being held in captivity across Canada, due to a landmark bill being passed in Canadian legislation during 2019, which bans whales, dolphins and porpoises from being held in captivity. Anyone found in violation of this bill would face up to a $200,000 fine.

An exemption of the bill was not enough to free Kiska — marine mammals already held would be allowed to remain in captivity.

Kiska's passing resulted in an outpouring of tributes posted to social media from animal activists and organizations, to members of the public who wanted to share their response.

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Megafires, drought and heat killing conifer seedlings in US west – study

Maanvi Singh
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Photograph: Susan Montoya Bryan/AP

The ancient, towering ponderosa pines and Douglas firs that dot the west are dying off at an alarming rate – and increasingly intense megafires, drought and heat are making it harder for their seedlings to grow, a new study has found.

In an expansive study, a team of more than 50 fire ecologists analysed data from more than 10,000 locations after 334 wildfires to assess how the severity of a fire and the weather conditions afterwards affected conifers across the US west.

Related: Atmospheric river comes for California as experts warn it ‘could get really ugly’

They found that over the past four decades, increasingly destructive megafires and hotter, drier conditions have already made it harder for seedlings to establish themselves post-fire, according to the study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

For the next few decades, the intensity of wildfires will most affect the likelihood of a forest regenerating afterward, the study found, though eventually, warm, dry climate conditions will make large sections of conifer habitats unsuitable for seedlings. If global average increases 4F (2.2C) compared to the first half of the 20th century, only 74% of the area the researchers studied will have climate conditions suitable for conifer seedlings by 2050.

Extensive projections across the range of eight major conifer species in the west suggest that while forests in the northern Rocky Mountains and Pacific north-west are expected to hold steady in the coming decades, forests in the south-west and California are most vulnerable to decline.

But the analysis also offers some good news. At least in the short term, researchers say, forest treatments to clear out the dead and dying vegetation that fuels megafires could reduce the severity of wildfires across the west – and preserve its forests.

“So the results are at least a little bit hopeful,” said Kim Davis, who led the study as a researcher at the University of Montana, and now works as an ecologist for the US Forest Service at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. “Climate change is making it really hard for trees to recover. But there are some ways in which we can have a little bit of agency and promote forest recovery.”

Lukens Lake with shoreline conifer trees and grasses in Yosemite national park, California. Photograph: Anthony Brown/Alamy

Conifer species in the west have evolved with fire, even depending on fire to seed and regenerate. Some species, such as the lodgepole pine, are cued up to open up their cones and release seeds with the heat of a fire. Before European colonisation, many wildfires were left to burn naturally, and many were set intentionally by Indigenous practitioners who used controlled burns to manage overgrown vegetation.

But decades of aggressive fire suppression in many parts of the west disrupted the cycles of fire that these trees need. Without regular fire, built-up brush can crowd out seedlings and fuel more severe conflagrations that damage even established trees.

And then came climate chaos. In recent years, prolonged droughts and record-breaking heatwaves have not only ushered in an era of more intense and destructive wildfires, but have also created a hostile environment for seedlings. “It’s a double whammy,” said Davis.

Unlike older trees, seedlings have small root systems that cannot reach for water below the top layer of soil. And they lack the thick bark that insulates trees from heat waves.

As the west warms, the regions that can comfortably support seedlings are rapidly shifting and shrinking. The study’s findings are in line with other recent research mapping the devastating effects of climate crisis on western conifers. In another report published this month, researchers at Stanford University found that global heating has already left a fifth of all conifers in California’s Sierra Nevada stranded in climates that cannot support their species. While resilient, ageing pines and firs across lower elevations of the range are hanging on to life, new generations of young trees are failing to establish themselves.

Climate change is making it really hard for trees to recover. But there are some ways in which we can have a little bit of agency and promote forest recovery

Kim Davis

Both studies show that conifers, which can live for decades or centuries, simply cannot keep up with the velocity of climate crisis. But if western states work quickly to reduce the severity of wildfires, they can help forests survive – at least in the short term, said Marcos Robles, lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy in Arizona.

Clearing landscapes – mechanically and with fire – and restoring fire-wrecked forests, can help conifers regenerate in the coming decades.

Controlled fires, for example, thin out the fire-fueling brush so that flames can’t burn as fiercely, allowing more trees to survive. Those trees, in turn, help shade and cool the forest post-fire, reducing temperatures by up to 5F (2.8C), and allowing seedlings a chance to grow and survive. In some high-elevation forests, planting trees after wildfires could also help forests recover, the study suggests.

“This study really spells out the point that we stand to lose our forest,” said Don Hankins a pyrogeographer and Plains Miwok fire expert at California State University, Chico. “But there is a path forward.”

Hankins, who was not involved in the study, said that recent examples show that thoughtful fire management can transform a forest’s fate. When the Bootleg fire hurtled toward the 30,000 acre Sycan Marsh Preserve in Oregon, it weakened and slowed as it hit areas that had been thinned and treated with controlled burns.

In the aftermath, “we were looking at an island of green, surrounded by a dead forest”, Hankins said.

State and national authorities are increasingly prioritising wildfire management, and the federal government has allocated $3bn toward a 10-year plan to treat 20m hectares. The analyses and maps generated by the study could help officials decide which regions to tackle first, said Robles.

“But even with this federal investment, the pace of wildfire treatments is probably not going to be sufficient,” said Robles, a co-author of the PNAS study. In California and other western states, landscape management efforts stalled and lagged due to bureaucratic hurdles, staffing and funding shortages. Authorities could consider letting some low-severity wildfires that occur away from communities burn naturally.

“Right now, we have a short term opportunity to change the trajectory of our forests,” Robles said.

Texas youth organizers take aim at the biggest oil field in the world

Aliya Uteuova
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Photograph: Nick Oxford/Reuters

A first-of-its-kind municipal climate charter in Texas could throw a wrench in US fossil fuel extraction. Residents of a major Texas city just west of the Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the US, will have the chance to vote on the package this spring.

If the proposal passes, the city of El Paso would adopt a comprehensive climate policy that would include prohibiting the use of city water for extraction projects outside city limits, such as in the Permian Basin, which makes up roughly 40% of all US oil production.

“El Paso is on the verge of potentially passing one of the most progressive pieces of climate legislation in the country,” said Deirdre Shelly, campaigns director for the national Sunrise Movement.

Related: Oil wells guzzle precious California water. Next door, residents can’t use the tap

Proponents say the climate charter would prepare El Paso to withstand extreme weather events and accelerate the city’s transition to renewables, requiring 80% of its energy to come from carbon free sources by 2030. It also encourages rooftop solar development, proposes establishing a climate department and could move the ownership of El Paso Electric into the city’s hands. The utility company was purchased in 2020 by a JP Morgan-tied fund.

“We’re battling the fossil fuel giants in our community,” said Ana Fuentes, a 25-year-old resident of El Paso and a campaign manager for the local Sunrise chapter. “This charter would allow people to have the platform and a space where our concerns will be prioritized over the bottom line of fossil fuel oligarchs.”

Last July, Sunrise El Paso and Austin-based Ground Game Texas submitted nearly 40,000 petition signatures to get the climate charter on the ballot for the November 2022 election, but due to a prolonged verification process, the vote on the plan will take place in the 6 May election. Roughly half of the petition signers were people under the age of 35.

“Something [we] talk a lot about a lot is climate anxiety, and I think we all feel it and it shows in those numbers,” Fuentes said.

The climate charter has the potential to disrupt drilling in the Permian Basin. The proposed policy would ban the use of city water for fossil fuel activities outside of El Paso limits. The annual amount of freshwater used for fracking the Texas side of the Permian Basin was estimated at 72bn gallons in 2019. That is a 2,400% rise from 2010, according to the US Geological Survey.

“We would be able to preserve the water within our desert community for household use, instead of having that water be sent to fracking and fossil fuel projects outside the city,” said Fuentes.

Fracking depletes large amounts of water that is scarce in desert communities like El Paso. On top of that, this process of extracting natural gas has been shown to cause groundwater contamination.

Water used for fracking is “laced with chemicals [and then] percolates through to people’s agricultural fields and sometimes wells where people drink them”, said Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. The fossil fuel activities in the Permian Basin, which have been termed a “carbon bomb” by environmentalists, release planet-heating methane and volatile organic compounds associated with poor air quality that can degrade human health.

Related: Red states leading the US in solar and wind production, new report shows

The El Paso chamber of commerce, a membership group representing the interest of businesses, wrote in an emailed statement that it opposes the climate charter, stating that the proposition “has the right end game in mind – an improved climate, but doing so will cost us the very livelihoods it seeks to enrich”. The chamber claims that the climate charter would pose a “clear detrimental effect to local businesses and regional economy”, according to the findings from the economic impact report that the chamber paid for.

Sharon Wilson, an organizer with the nonprofit Earthworks who previously worked in the oil and gas industry, said this type of fear mongering from industry stakeholders is par for the course when environmentalists propose bold climate action.

“The oil and gas industry actually uses some of the same tactics that the tobacco industry used to deceive the public about the harm of tobacco,” said Wilson. Indeed, there is a documented history of companies like Exxon and Chevron borrowing from the tobacco industry’s playbook.

“At some point the tobacco industry was not allowed to advertise anymore and that needs to happen with the oil and gas industry.” Wilson said. “Smoking is a choice, breathing air is not.”

Students protest pension reform in France as union cuts power to Stade de France in ‘symbolic move’

Euronews
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Young people across France took to the streets on Thursday to protest the government’s attempt t to raise the retirement age to 64.

Several hundred students protested in Paris as part of nationwide strikes and demonstrations - with some blocking access to universities and high schools.

The protest briefly turned violent as a group of young people broke away, vandalizing bus stops and setting a car on fire.

The energy branch of France's prominent union, CGT, cut power to the Stade de France and several construction sites of the infrastructure for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday.

Cédric Liechti, the Secretary General of CGT Energy, said the move was a “symbolic action”.

“For two and a half months now, more than 90% of workers and more than 70% of French people have rejected this reform which will bring the entire French people to their knees. The government refuses to hear, refuses to apply democracy and the majority of the people.”

A man plays the trumpet in front of a barricade during a demonstration in Lyon, central France. - AP Photo

President Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and make other changes he says are needed to keep the public pension system financially stable as the population ages.

But opponents argue that wealthy taxpayers or companies should pitch in more to finance the system instead.

“I don’t want to work all my life and be exhausted at the end,” said Djana Farhaig, a 15-year-old who protested in Paris. “It is important for us to show that the youth is engaged for its future.”

Demonstrations also took place in Rouen, where some 400 people marched. And in Toulouse, where 400 to 500 people gathered.

Blockades were also organised in several high schools and universities.

In Strasbourg, three university buildings were reportedly blocked. In Lille, for the second consecutive day, the Moulins campus of the university was blocked by 50 to 100 students with banners and drums, according to the faculty.

REST IN POWER
French architect and left-wing activist Roland Castro dies aged 82

Jonny Walfisz
Fri, 10 March 2023 



The French architect made his name through his design plans predicated on raising the standard of living for working class neighbourhoods and his involvement in the May 1968 Paris student protests.

Born Limoges in 1940, Castro's Jewish heritage meant he spent the first years of his life in hiding during the Vichy regime. Alongside his parents and sister, Casto took refuge in the Limousin hinterland, in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, where he was hidden by the Maquis, the communist resistance force.

His experience with the Maquis would define his worldview, believing he had “a debt of existence to France.”

“Architecture, the suburbs, the causes have never been lacking: everything has been a pretext for settling this debt,” he once said.

His ambition took him to the Paris Beaux-Arts architecture school in 1958 and joined the Union of Communist Students. Ever committed to his intellectual integrity, he was expelled from the union in 1965 for criticising Stalinism. In response, he embraced Maoism, as was popular in French communist circles at the time.

He became a leading figure in the anti-capitalism protests that erupted throughout France during May 1968 bringing the country to a standstill. Castro was involved in the student paper ‘Melp!’ which publicised the motivations behind the riots to the general public.

Castro became an architect and in 1983, and co-founded ‘Banlieues 89’ with his urbanist friend Michel Cantal-Dupart. Banlieues 89 was a vehicle for his political and architectural ideals with the mantra “to make a revolution in the suburbs.”

In 1983, President François Mitterrand (C) and architect Roland Castro (R) visit the new stock exchange building in Saint-Denis. - PIERRE GUILLAUD/AFP or licensors

The project was responsible for the renovation of Cité de la Caravelle in Villeneuve-la-Garenne and the housing estates in the Hauts-de-Seine. Castro also designed the Cité de la bande dessinée in Angoulême and the Bourse du Travail in Saint-Denis.

Roland Castro's buildings were often grafted onto existing constructions. He added asymmetrical lines, combining wood and concrete, and favoured white, adorned with plant facades.

More than 200 projects were submitted to Banlieues 89, but the operation faced financial reluctance from the French government, and the collective dissolved in 1991.



In 2017, Castro came out in support of President Emmanuel Macron.

The President responded to the architect's death on Twitter, writing: "Legend of architecture and urbanism, visionary left-wing activist, Roland Castro has left us. On our urban landscape, it bequeaths an indelible imprint. To the citizens, an inspiration. Goodbye and thank you, Roland."

Castro was a colourful figure of French intellectualism, donning a trademark pinstripe suit and socialising with Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan (who psychoanalysed him for seven years), as well as meeting Che Guevera and Fidel Castro - no family relation.

‘Trust is gone’: First Nation battles oil company and Alberta over toxic water


Leyland Cecco in Toronto

THE GUARDIAN
Fri, 10 March 2023

Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

Throughout the summer and into the fall, members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation ventured out on to the land as they do every year, hunting and fishing the streams and boreal forest of their community in western Canada.

Over those same months last year, however, toxic water had been leaking from an oil sands operations upriver.

It wasn’t until recently, when Chief Allan Adam got a call from a neighbouring First Nation, that he realized the danger his community could be in: mine waste had been seeping from four tailings ponds for months.

When he called them, company officials and the province’s energy regulator both confirmed the leak – but neither had warned the community when they learned of the issue nine months ago.

Adam is now prepared to battle both Imperial Oil and Alberta’s energy regulator, alleging they “covered up unprecedented failures” of the company’s containment ponds, in what is now believed to be one of the largest tailings leaks in Alberta history.

“They’re both up against the wall right now. They were caught red-handed. The trust is gone. There’s no way you can come back from that. And we’ll always have what happened in the back of our mind, whenever we’re out on the land,” he said. “You can’t ever forget about something like this.”

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation chief, Allan Adam. 

Photograph: Trevor Hagan/Reuters

Calgary-based Imperial Oil notified Alberta’s energy regulator in May that it had discovered discoloured water near the Kearl oil sands project.

The regulator soon concluded the water had come from tailings ponds where the company stored the toxic sludge-like byproducts of bitumen mining. Environmental samples showed high levels of several toxic contaminants, including arsenic, iron, sulphate and hydrocarbon – all of which exceeded provincial guidelines.

Local communities were notified in May of the initial discovery of discoloured water, but not made aware of the regulator’s subsequent findings that containment ponds had failed.

Last month, there was another leak, in which 5.3m litres of tailings water escaped from an overflowing catchment pond. This time, the community was informed two days later.

On Monday, Imperial said the second spill posed no threat to water or wildlife and that it had made “significant progress” in the cleanup efforts.

But the company admits it doesn’t yet know how much toxic tailings water has seeped into the land and water over the last nine months.

Adam says he met with company officials three times during the period, but alleges they never mentioned the leaking tailings pond.

On Monday, Imperial apologized for not communicating with affected communities, admitting it had “fallen short of expectations”.

Despite assurances from the company, residents remain wary. In the municipality of Wood Buffalo, city staff have stopped drawing from Lake Athabasca.

And in Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, community members have been advised by leadership not to eat any game or fish harvested in the last nine months.

“I just got back from an elders meeting and I told everyone to get rid of whatever you harvested. Throw it out. Don’t even feed it to your dogs,” said Adam, adding the community was waiting on test results of its water supply to determine if it is contaminated.

Imperial Oil has since been hit with both an environmental protection order and a non-compliance order in relation to the leak and the province’s regulator has demanded the company file plans to show how it intends to contain, monitor and remediate the areas affected by the leak.

Canada’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, said last week he was “deeply concerned” over revelations toxic water had been leaking into the nearby land and water for months.

Adam met with the the province’s regulator this week, and received an apology from senior staff for their failure to notify his community.

“I told them don’t bother apologizing. We’re well past that. Fix this problem, and show me how you won’t let it happen again.”

He says the inability for residents to harvest from the lands is a violation of the nation’s treaty rights and by not notifying the community of the spill, the company breached its benefit agreement contract with the First Nation.

“I told the company and I told the regulator that a simple phone call would have cost you less than five bucks. A simple phone call,” he said. “Look at what it’s going to cost you now.”

Explainer: Where are the critical raw materials the EU needs for its green transition?


Marie Lecoq
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Raw materials are present in the ground all over the world but some are more common in certain areas than others.

All of the clean energy technologies that we need to decarbonise the energy system require large amounts of minerals and metals.

These minerals and metals are used in many technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines and electric car batteries.

And as countries around the world are setting out to reduce carbon emissions, the demand for clean technologies is increasing, and with it so is the demand for raw materials.

K.C. Michaels is a legal advisor and critical minerals expert at the Internation Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation analysing data on the energy sector worldwide.

“Essentially all of the clean energy technologies that we need to decarbonise the energy system require large amounts of minerals and metals,” he explains.

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries for instance need large amounts of lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite. While rare earth elements are mainly used in permanent magnets for EV motors and wind turbines.

An excavator piles up salt at the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia, one of the biggest reserves of lithium in the world, October 10, 2009 - MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP

The European Union has established a list of 30 critical raw materials, mostly minerals, that are considered strategic to the EU’s economy and that have high supply risk.
But where do we get them from?

“The first challenge is the availability of those critical raw materials,” explains Dario Liguti, the director of sustainable energy at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

“The production of some of those materials is highly concentrated in certain countries today,” he adds.

More than three-quarters of the global production of critical raw materials used for energy comes from just three countries.

China leads with 66% of the global supply share, followed by South Africa with 9% and the Democratic Republic of Congo with 5%.

And in some cases, a single country can be responsible for over half of the global output.

“For example, cobalt supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo is about 60 or 70% of the world production,” Liguti explains.

China also plays a huge role in refining, a necessary step before the materials can be used.

So for example, even though cobalt is primarily mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, almost all of it goes to China for processing.

This concentration of resources can lead to major issues in supply, particularly for places like Europe, which produces very little in-house.

“If we imagine a world where there are ten suppliers of lithium and one of those suppliers has a strike or some sort of issue and a shutdown, there are a lot of opportunities to switch to other suppliers. But if we imagine a world where there are only two suppliers and there's a disruption from one, then there's a really big impact,” Michaels says.

An aerial view of wind turbines off the coast of Great Yarmouth, eastern England, on February 15, 2023 - DANIEL LEAL/AFP

“Their demand is already right now explosive and it will only become so as the transition towards a less carbonised energy system becomes even more important,” Liguti says.

The International Energy Agency projects that if the world stays on track to meet its global climate goals and reach net zero by 2050, the overall demand for minerals is going to quadruple by 2030.

“This is a huge increase in just the next seven or eight years,” Michaels says.

“When we start to look at specific minerals, then the demand increase can be much higher. Specifically for lithium, it's as many as 40 times, depending on the scenario,” he adds.

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So can the current supply keep up with growing demands?

“There is a real risk that we won't be able to ramp up production fast enough to meet these goals,” Michaels says.

The quantities necessary for the green transition are staggering.

“Even if we could have 100% re-use of all the minerals and metals that are out there today, we're still not even close,” he adds.

According to Liguti, increasing production won’t be enough. “The quantities necessary for the green transition are staggering,” he says.

“The answer to that demand is not only through increased primary production, but it is as well through the increase of the recycling and the reuse of those raw materials, on establishing the circular economy, the traceability of those minerals, so we exactly know at which stage of the value chain those raw materials are,” he explains.

A child and a woman break rocks extracted from a cobalt mine in Lubumbashi on May 23, 2016 - JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP

Securing the supply is not the only issue at stake. Mining can have a destructive impact not only on the environment but also on local communities.

"While we develop lithium mines and cobalt mines and manganese mines, even if the scale of operations is smaller, we don't want to do the same errors that we did when we started exploiting oil and gas, ” Liguti says. So we have to consider what happens to mines at the end of their lifecycle, he adds.

This means looking at "what to do with the mine, how to involve the local communities, how to account for negative externalities on the environment and mitigate those aspects”, he explains.

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So how can we ensure a sustainable and ethical supply chain of raw materials?

One of the solutions, experts say, is supply chain diligence.

“Companies will be required to look into their suppliers and really try to understand where the materials are coming from, what the risks are and what they can do as purchasers to reduce those risks,” Michaels explains.

This principle will be used in the new EU battery regulations, to ensure that batteries on the European market are sustainable and circular throughout their whole lifecycle, from the sourcing of materials to their collection, recycling and repurposing.

Once the purchasing companies, the car manufacturers become engaged, then they can bring a lot of change.

“It can lead to real efforts to improve the situation because once the downstream companies, the purchasing companies and the car manufacturers become engaged, then they can bring about a lot of change. They can speak to their suppliers, they can push for new standards and push for improvement,” Michaels adds.

Innovation can also play a big role in reducing the demand on raw materials.

New technologies can help improve how we use and mine these materials but also find alternative sources, develop substitutes and improve recycling.

“A raw material might not be critical a few decades from now as they were not critical a few years ago,” Liguti says.

“But they are critical now and we need to take care of that. So in 20 years, we don't have to look back and say: "Oh, we did the same errors that we did 100 years ago when we started exploiting oil and gas",” he adds.

To address this, the EU will adopt a Critical Raw Materials act on the 14th of March, 2023. The initiative aims to make sure Europe has a diverse and reliable supply of materials, and ensure social and environmental standards are respected.

BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of ‘rightwing backlash’

Helena Horton Environment reporter
Fri, 10 March 2023 



The BBC has decided not to broadcast an episode of Sir David Attenborough’s flagship new series on British wildlife because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians and the rightwing press, the Guardian has been told.

The decision has angered the programme-makers and some insiders at the BBC, who fear the corporation has bowed to pressure from lobbying groups with “dinosaurian ways”.

The BBC strongly denied this was the case and insisted the episode in question was never intended for broadcast.

Attenborough’s highly anticipated new series, Wild Isles, looks at the beauty of nature in the British Isles.

Narrated by David Attenborough, it is expected to be a hit, with five episodes scheduled to go out in primetime slots on BBC One.

A sixth episode has also been filmed, which is understood to be a stark look at the losses of nature in the UK and what has caused the declines. It is also understood to include some examples of rewilding, a concept that has been controversial in some rightwing circles.

Related: The truth about Britain’s wildlife crisis is stark: the timid BBC must let David Attenborough tell it loud and clear | Geoffrey Lean

The documentary series was part-funded by nature charities the WWF and RSPB, but the final episode will not be broadcast along with the others and will instead be available only on the BBC’s iPlayer service. All six episodes were narrated by Attenborough, and made by the production company Silverback Films, responsible for previous series including Our Planet, in collaboration with the BBC Natural History Unit.

Senior sources at the BBC told the Guardian that the decision not to show the sixth episode was made to fend off potential critique from the political right. This week the Telegraph newspaper attacked the BBC for creating the series and for taking funding from “two charities previously criticised for their political lobbying” – the WWF and RSPB.

One source at the broadcaster, who asked not to be named, said “lobbying groups that are desperately hanging on to their dinosaurian ways” such as the farming and game industry would “kick off” if the show had too political a message.

They added: “Frankly, this idea that you sort of put it in a separate programme to almost parcel it to one side is disingenuous. Why don’t they integrate those stories into all of them at the time?”

In a statement provided after the story was first published, the BBC said: “This is totally inaccurate, there is no ‘sixth episode’. Wild Isles is – and always was – a five part series and does not shy away from environmental content. We have acquired a separate film for iPlayer from the RSPB and WWF and Silverback Films about people working to preserve and restore the biodiversity of the British Isles.”

Alastair Fothergill, the director of Silverback Films and the executive producer of Wild Isles, added: “The BBC commissioned a five-part Wild Isles series from us at Silverback Films back in 2017. The RSPB and WWF joined us as co-production partners in 2018.

It was not until the end of 2021 that the two charities commissioned Silverback Films to make a film for them that celebrates the extraordinary work of people fighting to restore nature in Britain and Ireland. The BBC acquired this film for iPlayer at the start of this year.”

Laura Howard, who produced the programme and used to work at the BBC’s Natural History Unit, said she did not believe its messages to be political.

She told the Guardian: “I think the facts speak for themselves. You know, we’ve worked really closely with the RSPB in particular who are able to factcheck all of our scripts and provide us with detailed scientific data and information about the loss of wildlife in this country. And it is undeniable, we are incredibly nature-depleted. And I don’t think that that is political, I think it’s just facts.”

The producer said the film would touch on how farming practices had harmed wildlife, but would also profile farmers who had done the right thing.

“Those farmers are there to make the point that every farm in the country ought to be able to do a little bit at least of what they do, and that it is possible to farm alongside nature, to make a profit, to produce healthy food and to still run a business,” Howard said.

She added that she hoped a young audience would be able to find the film, as they are used to streaming on iPlayer rather than watching a broadcast.

Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “For the BBC to censor of one of the nation’s most informed and trusted voices on the nature and climate emergencies is nothing short of an unforgivable dereliction of its duty to public service broadcasting. This government has taken a wrecking ball to our environment – putting over 1,700 pieces of environmental legislation at risk, setting an air pollution target which is a decade too late, and neglecting the scandal of our sewage-filled waterways – which cannot go unexamined and unchallenged by the public.

“BBC bosses must not be cowed by antagonistic, culture war-stoking government ministers, putting populist and petty political games above delivering serious action to protect and restore our natural world. This episode simply must be televised.”

Chris Packham, who presents Springwatch on the BBC, also criticised the decision. He told the Guardian: “At this time, in our fight to save the world’s biodiversity, it is irresponsible not to put that at the forefront of wildlife broadcasting.”

Stephen Moss, a natural historian and TV producer who has worked for the BBC on nature programmes, said focusing on a conservation angle could win political support for the cause. He said: “Often, if you lead on environmental issues, people genuinely turn off. But if you drip feed it within the programmes and then hit people with a message at the end when you convince them how brilliant wildlife is, it tends to work.

“With Blue Planet, you got Theresa May standing up and Philip Hammond, the chancellor at the time, saying: ‘this is the BBC as its very best’, doing what Conservatives never do, basically praising the BBC and saying: this is fantastic. So maybe that will happen with this. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Tory politicians jump on the bandwagon and go on and on about how brilliant it is.”

The charities involved in the programme are already using it to launch a campaign – unaffiliated with the BBC – called Save Our Wild Isles. They have gained the support of the National Trust, the Guardian understands.