Charles is Jamaica’s head of state. The island nation may break with the monarchy next year.

The Commonwealth country has scheduled a referendum in 2024 on whether to cut ties to the British monarchy, opening up a debate on how to reshape the society.

A protest demanding an apology and reparations for slavery in Kingston, Jamaica, last year during a visit by King Charles III’s son Prince William, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Credit...Collin Reid/Associated Press


By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
May 6, 2023

As King Charles III put on the centuries-old St. Edward’s crown on Saturday, Jamaica, a Commonwealth member, continued to move ahead with plans to cut ties with the British monarchy — a decision scheduled for a referendum in 2024.

“Time has come. Jamaica in Jamaican hands,” Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica’s minister for legal and constitutional affairs, said in an interview with Sky News this week. “Time to say goodbye.”

She is part of a 15-member committee of officials and experts that is laying the groundwork to modify Jamaica’s Constitution and remove the British monarch as the Caribbean island’s head of state.

Jamaica was also represented in a letter to King Charles this week in which campaigners from 12 Commonwealth nations urged him to use his coronation to apologize for the “horrific impacts” of Britain’s imperial past, including “racism, oppression, colonialism and slavery.” The letter called for reparations and the return of all stolen cultural artifacts.

“The British have a great opportunity” to address colonial injustices, said Rosalea Hamilton, co-signer of the letter and founding director of the Institute of Law and Economics, a nonprofit in Kingston, the Jamaican capital. “Having led the world with this inhumanity for centuries, they can lead the world in repairing the damage.”

More on BritainCoronation: King Charles III, Britain’s first new monarch in 70 years, was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London during an ancient ceremony that had a few modern touches.
Municipal Elections: Britain’s Conservative Party suffered sweeping losses in local elections, a stinging rejection of the status quo that raises doubts about its ability to hold onto power.
HSBC: Europe’s largest lender has a venerable place in Britain’s banking industry. Can it stay in one piece, as its biggest shareholder pushes to spin off the bank’s profitable Asian operation?
A Double Life: The execution in Iran of a former deputy defense minister on espionage charges brought to light the man’s role in providing Britain with valuable intelligence over a decade.

Although its practical role in the island’s affairs might be minute, the monarchy has left an uncomfortable legacy. All of the queen’s, and now the king’s, functions are performed by a governor general acting as their direct representative — assenting to all legislation and determining who becomes Prime Minister.

“Some people would tell you it’s largely ceremonial, but I think that’s the wrong way of thinking about it,” said Tracy Robinson, a constitutional law professor at the University of the West Indies. “It reflects the old prerogative power of the crown.”

On the British government’s part, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declined to apologize for the country’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade or to engage in discussions about paying reparations. “Trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward,” he told lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament in April, “and it’s not something that we will focus our energies on.”

Still, the constitutional reform process is prompting more people in Jamaica to think even beyond ditching the British monarch.

“When we say we wish to get rid of the monarchy, that tells you only the starting point,” Ms. Robinson said during a public panel this week. “It does not tell you the destination or where we’ll end up.”

Among the questions that loom: If Charles III is out as Jamaica’s head of state, what kind of political system would ensue?

“We’ve never quite asked and answered those questions before,” said Ms. Hamilton, who co-chairs the Advocates Network, an organization that has urged a national discussion around transitioning to a republic. “Can we, for the first time in our history, really conceive of reshaping the society in the interests of the majority?”

Clear answers are elusive. So far, the government’s committee — which has said that a draft bill will be presented to Parliament this month — has mostly met in private.

If the legislation is not drafted with significant public participation, said Maziki Thame, a researcher at the University of the West Indies, the decision-making could end up in the hands of a few. That would fall short of what many Jamaicans expect.

“Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s very important that you have our people in power,” she said. “At the same time, I want it to have substance as representative of a democratic move.”

THE ORACLE OF CAPITALI$M

Buffett, Munger lash out at "stupid" US-China tensions

• Javier E. David

WASHINGTON - MARCH 13: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., participates in a panel discussion, "Framing the Issues: Markets Perspectives," at Georgetown University March 13, 2007 in Washington, DC. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hosted the "Treasury Conference on U.S. Capital Markets Competativeness," a day-long program to focus on capital market issues like regulation, competition and other related topics. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Investing legends Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger on Saturday urged the U.S. and China to settle their widening differences, arguing the superpowers have a "mutual interest" in continuing cooperation.

Why it matters: On multiple fronts, the world's two largest economies have found themselves at repeated loggerheads, with few signs of near-term reconciliation.

• As tensions have worsened, some observers have mulled the extent to which both countries can afford to decouple from one other, the consequences of which would cascade across the global economy.

Driving the news: At a question and answer session at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in Omaha, the billionaire dynamic duo insisted the U.S. and China need one another.

• For his part, Munger cited tech giant Apple as a shining example of how the Sino-American relations should work, and blasted rising tensions as "stupid, stupid, stupid."
• "If there’s one thing we should do is get along with China, and have lots of free trade with China…it’s in our mutual interest," Munger stated.
• Attempts by either side to rattle the other should be responded to "with reciprocal kindness," the 99 year-old said.

What they're saying: Buffett, the 92-year old "Oracle of Omaha" whose advice on investing and markets has been widely followed for decades, argued both countries "have to get along with each other."

• "Part of it is how far you can judge how far you can push the other guy without them reacting," Buffett said.

• "The alternative will drive them both into destruction, and increase the probability of something going wrong."

Buffett likened U.S.-China tensions to the Cold War, where America stared down the Soviet Union under the threat of a nuclear conflict that would lead to "mutually assured destruction."

• That policy "kept a lot of things from happening...but Cuba was a close call," Buffett said.
• "It's imperative that both U.S. and China understand what the game is and both can't push too hard, but both can prosper."

Factbox: Who is writer Zakhar Prilepin, target of car bomb in Russia?


A view shows a destroyed vehicle, which transported Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin allegedly wounded in a car bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia, May 6, 2023. (Reuters)
Published: 06 May ,2023

Here are some key facts about Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian nationalist writer who was wounded when a bomb blew up his car on Saturday.

*Prilepin, 47, is the author of six novels, often focusing on dark themes. His debut novel “The Pathologies” told the story of young soldiers in the Chechen wars. He has also written numerous poems, essays and articles, and is the recipient of various state awards including a 2021 arts prize from the defence ministry.

*He is an outspoken pro-war figure on social media, with around 300,000 subscribers each to his Telegram and YouTube channels.

*For years, he has organised Russian proxy fighters in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, boasting in a 2019 YouTube interview that his unit “killed people in big numbers”. The extent of his direct combat involvement is not clear.

*Prilepin has been politically active as the co-chair of the “A Just Russia - For Truth” party. Last year he took a prominent role in creating GRAD, a parliamentary group that seeks to identify cultural figures with “anti-Russian” views and persuade the state and business to stop funding them. GRAD’s initials stand for “Group to investigate anti-Russian activity in the cultural sphere.” Grad is also the Russian word for “hail”, and the name of a missile system.

*Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, he has been sanctioned by Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the European Union.

Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin injured in car bombing, one person killed

Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin poses for a picture in his flat 

in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on December 6, 2008. (Reuters)

AFP
Published: 06 May ,2023

A prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing on Saturday that Russia immediately blamed on Ukraine and the West.

TASS news agency quoted the interior ministry as saying one person had been killed in the blast in Nizny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow.

It separately quoted a source in the emergency services as saying the writer was wounded but conscious after the explosion.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “The fact has come true: Washington and NATO fed another international terrorist cell - the Kyiv regime.”

She said it was the “direct responsibility of the US and Britain,” but provided no evidence to support the accusation.

“We pray for Zakhar,” she said.

TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as declining to comment in the absence of information from investigators.

Prilepin is a novelist who is known as an outspoken supporter of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where Moscow’s invasion is in its 15th month.

Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said: “Law enforcement officers are now investigating the circumstances and causes of the incident. Zakhar is OK.”

Two leading pro-war Russian propagandists have been killed in bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

Darya Dugina, the daughter of a nationalist ideologue, died in a car bombing near Moscow in August, while military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe last month.

Nationalist writer and politician Zakhar Prilepin in critical condition following a car bombing

May 6, 2023
Source: Meduza

A car bombing outside of Nizhny Novgorod injured Russian nationalist politician and writer Zakhar Prilepin. Telegram channel Baza reports that Prilepin’s daughter was riding in the car with him, but that she got out of the car before the explosion.

The car’s driver, who was also Prilepin’s bodyguard, was killed. Publication Verstka reports that the driver was a Luhansk separatist fighter. Russian Telegram channels previously reported that the driver went by the call sign Zloy (Evil). According to Verstka, that call sign belonged to 27-year-old Luhansk native Alexander Shubin, who fought with the Surkov–Prilepin battalion before moving to the Nizhny Novgorod region, where Zakhar Prilepin lives with his family.

Prilepin was reportedly traveling to Moscow from the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics.” Russian state broadcaster RBC reports that Prilepin stopped at a cafe in the Nizhny Novgorod region on his way to Moscow. The bomb was possibly planted in his car while he ate. A source for the Telegram channel Shot says an explosive device was placed under the hood of Prilepin’s Audi and exploded as soon as the car left the cafe. Shot reports that the explosion formed a crater and scattered wreckage from the car 50 meters (over 150 feet).

Prilepin is in critical condition and will undergo surgery in a hospital in Nizhny Novgorod. Reports about the writer’s condition varied immediately following the incident. Nizhny Novgorod governor Gleb Nikitin say that Prilepin “was okay.” Regional emergency services later confirmed that Prilepin had been injured. TASS reported that Prilepin sustained injuries to both of his legs. Within 45 minutes of the explosion, a Shot source said that the writer was being evacuated by medical helicopter, and pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy posted about an emergency amputation of Prilepin’s legs. RIA Novosti, citing a source in law enforcement, reported that Prilepin had suffered fractures and a concussion. Telegram channel Mash says that first responders splinted and bandaged Prilepin’s broken leg before loading him into an evacuation helicopter.

The first photographs of the incident emerged an hour after the explosion, showing a mangled car and the helicopter that reportedly took Prilepin to a hospital.





Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the explosion, classifying the incident as a terrorist attack.

Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the incident. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, called the attack on Prilepin “a cynical performance” and “a vile attack carried out by Nazi extremists.”

Police in Nizhny Novgorod arrested a possible suspect after a search by local authorities. Telegram channel Baza reported that police were tasked with stopping “all suspicious vehicles.” A source for Interfax reported that the suspect had been following Prilepin. The source said the suspect was around 30 and fit the description of a person who had been seen during the previous two days outside of Prilepin’s home in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The source added that another person, who “was seen near the village in a vehicle without license plates” is still wanted.

Later on May 6, Alexander Permyakov, who was arrested in connection with the car bombing, confessed. Permyakov said he was acting on instructions from Ukrainian special services, and that he placed an explosive on the road Prilepin was traveling on, detonating it at a distance.

Politician Ilya Ponomarev said the explosion was organized by the National Republican Army, which has also claimed responsibility for killing high-profile right-wing figures like Vladlen Tatarsky and Daria Dugina.

Atesh, a military paristan movement among Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in the occupied territories of Ukraine, also claims to have taken part in the event. On January 28, the Atesh movement posted on Telegram, “The orders for Prilepin have been given! We’ve sent out more than 5,000 text messages to our agents and Russian soldiers to find and liquidate a known Ruscist.” On May 6, the day of the car bombing, Atesh announced that they had “been hunting Prilepin since the beginning of the year,” adding that “Our predictions always come true, because we don’t just speak, we act.”

On May 4, Prilepin posted on his personal Telegram channel that the Oplot battalion, of which he was a deputy commander, would take a leave from the combat zone. The writer and politician went to war in January 2023. He supported the Russian troops from the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A Prilepin spokesperson said he ran “humanitarian missions” in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Prilepin planned to run for President of the Russian Federation in 2024. By August 2022, he had already opened several campaign headquarters in Russia as well as in the self-proclaimed LNR and Russian-occupied territories of Kherson and Kharkiv. One source told news outlet Vedomosti that Putin’s administration looked on Prilepin’s presidential ambitions “not in the best way.”

A US civil case gives us, Syrians, a glimmer of hope

A new lawsuit against the Syrian regime filed in the US is an important step towards justice for Syria’s disappeared.

Mayassa Sheikh Ahmed
Human rights activist

OPINION
Published On 6 May 2023

Landline telephones are placed by Syrian families at the Bebelplatz as a call to governments to do more to seek information about detained people in Syria, in Berlin on August 28, 2021

 [File: Reuteres/Hannibal Hanschke]

On April 12, the US-based Centre for Justice and Accountability revealed that it has filed a civil case against the Syrian regime for the widespread torture of Syrian citizens it has carried out over the past 12 years. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Obada Mzaik, a Syrian American who survived torture while in detention and was able to get out of the country.

The news of this court case reached me in my home in one of the camps for displaced people in northwest Syria. Amid the devastation of war, the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that hit us in February, and the personal loss I have suffered, this was much-needed good news.

It was an important moment, for not just me but all of us Syrians, whose loved ones have been forcibly disappeared by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, kept in arbitrary detention without charge, tortured and even killed.

On January 5, 2012, my husband Muhammad, a real estate contractor, was arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime because he had helped to organise peaceful demonstrations at the start of the Syrian revolution. It has been more than 11 years and still, I know nothing about where he is or how he is doing.

Some survivors of detention, who met him in detention, told me he was killed under torture in 2014, but when his parents, my in-laws, inquired of officials, they said he was not detained by them. We don’t know what to believe.

My daughter Maryam was just two months old when her father was arrested. She only knows his face from pictures I have of him. She loves drawing and since she discovered her love of art, she constantly sketches his face. Maryam’s brother Abdulsalam was six when his father was forcibly disappeared and her sister Zahraa was four and both speak of him often.

We have very little left to remind us of the happy life we had before Muhammad’s detention. Our house where we lived in Maarat al-Nu’man was bombed several times, the last time it was destroyed. I still have a letter that Muhammad gave me when we were engaged in January 2004. I have my engagement ring and one playing card with the words “I love you” written in his handwriting.

The word victim is sad and terrifying, but unfortunately, my children and I are victims of a cruel regime. Living in Syria and with no international tribunal in place to investigate all the crimes that have been committed during the Syrian war, we have no way to seek justice.

That is why the US court case is important to us as well as all others that have been undertaken by foreign courts. For example, in early April, a French court announced that it has charged three Syrian regime officials with complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. France has even issued an international arrest warrant for them.

Last year, a German court sentenced to life Anwar Raslan, a former officer in the Syrian army, for crimes against humanity. And in 2021, victims of the Assad regime’s chemical attacks filed a case in Sweden against Syrian officials.

These court cases expose the system of detention and torture used to control and suppress the Syrian population.

Although Syria has disappeared from international news headlines, the Assad regime continues its horrific practices of forcibly disappearing and abusing Syrian citizens. Anyone who dares to stand up for freedom or democracy, utter even a word of criticism against Assad or even find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time can be arbitrarily arrested.

This also happens to Syrians who decide to return voluntarily or are deported from countries where they have sought asylum. Syria is not a “safe place” for refugees to return.

Many Syrians would rather live in legal limbo in camps for refugees or displaced people than brave entering regime-controlled areas to obtain travel documents. I myself do not have a valid passport any more and cannot travel with my children to a place where we would feel safer.

These court cases in the US, France, Germany and Sweden give us some hope. They keep us going in our fight to get our loved ones released from Assad’s prisons. As many as 135,000 people are believed to still be in detention.

I and hundreds of survivors of detention, members of the families of detainees, and activists are working hard to build a global movement to get them released. We have launched the campaign Free Syria’s Disappeared to draw attention to their plight and put pressure on the international community to act.

These court cases filed in foreign countries help us fight the normalisation of the Assad regime, remind the world of his heinous crimes and hopefully encourage efforts to establish real peace. For it is only when Syria is at peace that we will be able to attain true justice for the crimes committed against us.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Mayassa Sheikh Ahmed
Human rights activist
Mayassa Sheikh Ahmed is a human rights activist and member of Families for Freedom. She is part of a new campaign called Free Syria’s Disappeared.

THIS IS NOT BIODIVERSITY

Nepal is ready to start commercial wildlife farming, including maybe someday of tigers and rhinos

Activists are afraid the move will encourage illegal trade, while the country’s Department of National Parks believes it will aid in conservation.

Ramesh Bhushal

Royal Bengal tigers inside an enclosure at the Central Zoo in Nepal's Lalitpur in 2019. 

| Reuters

Despite the misgivings of conservationists and non-governmental organisations, Nepal is about to embark upon the commercial farming of wild animals, including a number of endangered species.

Decades after Nepal’s National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act banned the buying or selling of wild animals in the country, an amendment to the Act was passed by parliament in 2017 to allow the farming of wild animals for commercial purposes. Then in 2019, the Ministry of Forests and Environment published a list of wild animals that could be farmed under the new policy, which included several endangered deer species; 12 birds; all reptiles except pythons; and frogs and toads.

The new policy was met with controversy, with conservationists and even officials in Nepal’s wildlife department questioning how it could be adequately monitored to prevent illegal trade – a petition to repeal the policy gained almost 10,000 signatures. Meanwhile, some conservationists suggested that if done properly, wildlife farming could reduce pressure on wild animal populations affected by poaching.

In early 2020, Nepal was finalising criteria for issuing wildlife farming permits, including around obtaining animals from the wild to start captive populations, when the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the process. Now, three years later, the government is again ramping up its efforts to launch wildlife farming.

To find out more about the policy and what it means for Nepal’s wild animals, The Third Pole spoke with Maheshwar Dhakal, director-general of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation – the government agency in charge of formulating the wildlife farming policy, as well as overseeing and regulating its implementation.

Maheshwar Dhakal, director-general of Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. Credit: Ramesh Bhushal via The Third Pole.

How close is the government to finalising a criteria document that will allow wildlife farming businesses to start up in Nepal?

We are now finalising the criteria. The criteria document prepared by the Ministry of Forests and Environment has received approval from the Ministry of Finance and has been forwarded to the Ministry of Law. Once it’s back, we will submit it to the cabinet for endorsement. We should be able to accept applications from parties interested in wildlife farming soon

Why does Nepal want to move into wildlife farming now?

It is necessity that has forced us to move into this policy. All policies evolve with time and wildlife policy is no exception. There are three main reasons: demand for farming from the private sector and communities; willingness within the conservation sector to go into farming; and an increasing interest from the political sphere in economic opportunities from the wildlife sector.

It’s valid for any nation to explore ways to gain economic benefits. Nepal doesn’t boast gold mines or oil wells. We have forests, wildlife, water resources and human resources. So, we should think about harnessing benefits from these. We believe that if some animals are farmed legally and used for economic benefits, mostly meat production, it will eventually help conservation rather than harm.

Your list of species that can be farmed includes endangered Himalayan musk deer and hog deer, as well as several threatened bird and reptile species. How were animals selected? Do you think other endangered species like tigers and rhinos will be on the list in the future?

This policy was initiated before I became head [of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation] eight months ago. But having worked in this department previously for over five years as an ecologist, I am familiar with the plan. As far as I have been informed, there wasn’t a scientific study carried out before selecting species. The selection was based on demand for meat production in the market; the species’ protection status; and discussion among stakeholders within government agencies and concerned interest groups outside the government.

We have selected some species and once those animals are provided for farming, we will know what works well and what doesn’t. We can make necessary changes thereafter too. It’s a kind of hit-and-trial method, or learning by doing.

It’s not true that consultations were not done. In Nepal, people think consultation means talking directly with an individual. If it’s someone else with whom the matter was discussed, then [they] don’t think it is a consultation. It is not possible to reach out to all individuals or groups. We haven’t sent the document for final endorsement and there is ample space to make changes, if need be, so any feedback and suggestions are welcome.

‘If we could farm Himalayan musk deer, why not tigers in future?’ is a valid question. Farming tigers or rhinos is not beyond possibility, and if the government thinks that it’s worth it then it can decide in the future. But there is a fundamental difference between Himalayan musk deer and tiger or rhino farms. Musk deer farming doesn’t threaten an individual: musk can be extracted without killing the animal. But if you farm tigers or rhinos, you have to kill the animal and sell its body parts to gain the economic benefits.

A Himalayan musk deer in this photograph taken in Uttarakhand. 

Credit: Dibyendu Ash, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The government is being criticised for the new policy, and it seems that very little preparation has been done. Do you see any challenges ahead?

Obviously, there are challenges ahead. It’s a new venture and we don’t know what the results will be. One challenge is to identify targeted beneficiaries of this business. Our objective is to help reduce poverty and gain economic benefits, but we can’t give animals to individual farmers as that would be nearly impossible to monitor and regulate. In that case, we should focus on commercial farming by companies with capacity to invest so that large-scale production is possible. But we will be criticised for benefiting a small portion of the population that already has resources. Communities and individuals won’t have that opportunity [to benefit economically] despite wildlife being a public property, where communities have played a significant role in the conservation of those animals. However, to get it started we should be more specific, and I am personally in favour of large-scale farming. We will decide about it but it’s a view that is divided among government officials.

If we go into large-scale farming then we don’t have to worry much as the government will take less responsibility (financially and operationally) for managing farms, because selected companies will be responsible. Our role would be just monitoring them, which we can do with a bit of investment in human and financial resources. We will provide seed animals and [investing companies will bear the cost of capturing and transporting those animals].

In terms of preparation, we can’t construct a jail now on the assumption that illegal activities will happen in the future. We already have a mechanism that works in different parts of the country when it comes to wildlife conservation. The only thing we need is to work a bit and make sure we have a mechanism to look over wildlife farming in addition to wildlife conservation, and we are capable of doing this.

The Third Pole has heard that Chinese companies have approached the government with an intention to farm animals including Himalayan musk deer. Have you been contacted regarding this?

Not at all. It’s been eight months [since I became director-general], and I haven’t met any company representatives from China that are interested in wildlife farming. Also, I have not received any calls from them regarding the matter. But even if they do, it’s normal for companies across the globe to show interest. Be it be Chinese, Indian, American, or European, I don’t see any wrongdoing in approaching the government or showing interest. Once we finalise our legal documents, they may come, but it’s in our hands to decide who to give a licence to.

Nepal has a strong international reputation on wildlife conservation, and the sector receives significant international financial support. With a wildlife farming policy in place, do you foresee any negative implications for this support?

We are not the first country in the world to have a wildlife farming policy. There are several examples of wildlife farming across the globe. There are both failures and successes. But in general, there are two schools of thought: [the first says that] wildlife consumption leads to more crime. If you allow any animal to be farmed, consumers will access the products which will eventually increase demand and ultimately put pressure on wild populations, resulting in more poaching to meet the demand. But there is another school of thought which is equally valid. It has been argued that if you allow some animals to be farmed and provide them for human consumption then it will reduce poaching as demand is met via legal production. So, it’s a mix of things and there is no one right answer.

Our responsibility is to make sure that no species goes extinct from the wild because of our policy. But it’s my department’s role to make sure that we facilitate a process that will eventually benefit the country and its people. If wildlife farming has that potential, why not go for it? We are a sovereign state and can formulate our policies on our own. Of course, the policy should also respect international laws and treaties that we are part of, but I don’t think there would be any resistance from international communities in this matter as we are not going against conservation of any species.

This article was first published on The Third Pole.

Judge sets a deadline for plan to reduce algae growth on Lake Erie


By Karen Graham
Published May 6, 2023

Harmful algae bloom. Bolles Harbor, Monroe, MI, Lake Erie. July 22, 2011.. Source - NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laborat, CC SA 2.0.

Ohio’s environmental regulators will have until the end of June to finish a plan aimed at combatting algae in Lake Erie.

Toxic algae blooms have plagued Lake Erie since before the 1990s, and have become more common, with the lake experiencing its largest algae bloom in 2011.

The bloom was composed of potentially toxic Microcystis and Anabaena. This bloom was linked to agricultural practices in the watersheds of the lake and warmer than normal conditions as expected with regional climate change.

The pollution diet is part of a settlement agreement a federal judge approved Thursday. The consent decree also calls for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to either approve the plan within 90 days or come up with its plan own if the federal agency determines the state’s proposal isn’t strong enough, CTV News Canada reports.

The agreement brings an end to a lawsuit seeking to force mandatory pollution rules for the lake. The Environmental Law and Policy Center, along with Lucas County Commissioners, sued the Ohio EPA in 2017, asking that there be a limit to the amount of phosphorus going into the lake through a total maximum daily load

.

Harmful algae bloom. Lake Erie. July 22, 2011. Credit: NOAA. CC SA 2.0.

The worst blooms in the past decade have been in 2011 and 2015. That was when Ohio agreed to reduce phosphorus runoff into the lake by 40 percent to limit the blooms.

Nearly all of the phosphorus that fuels the blooms comes from farm fertilizer and livestock manure, researchers have found. Ohio already has been working for months to develop a pollution plan that would set “total maximum daily loads” and impose specific limits on phosphorus that flows into the lake.

Suriname’s Indigenous communities are on the front line of the climate fight

'Working on climate justice is working on solving the climate crisis'

Written byCari-Bois News

Posted 6 May 2023  

Residents of Suriname’s Hollandse Kamp village during a recent demonstration against illegal mining and other forms of unsustainable economic activities in their communities. Photo by Johannes Damodar Patak, used with permission.

By Johannes Damodar Patak

This story was first published on Cari-Bois Environmental News Network. A version of the article is republished below as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Around the world, Indigenous communities share an intimate connection with nature, on which they rely for housing, food, medicine and sacred spiritual practices. The natural environment is a central component of Indigenous identities and existence, and while such communities have always been nature’s defenders, they are now on the front line of a new fight as the world combats climate change.

Speaking with Cari-Bois News, chair of Suriname’s Association of Indigenous Village Leaders, Muriël Fernandes, said that Indigenous people around the world are concerned about climate change. Now in a race against time to protect their traditional values and norms, she added that many of Suriname’s Indigenous communities have reported being affected by an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters.

The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimates the Indigenous Peoples of Suriname account for approximately 20,344 people (3.8 percent) of the country’s total population of 541,638.

During her time as chair, Fernandes has received reports of unpredictable weather affecting the ability of some of these communities to farm and transport their goods, as road networks are continuously being affected by intense floods. Communities which have built along waterways are also being regularly affected by extreme flooding.

Fernandes claims mismanagement by Surinamese policymakers have led to a rise in illegal gold mining, deforestation and further infringement of land rights of Indigenous communities. Combined, she explained, these factors have exacerbated the effects of climate change and the rate at which their natural resources have been degraded:

Indigenous communities are feeling the impacts of climate change individually, at the village level, at the regional level, at the national level and even at the international level.

Muriël Fernandes, chair of Suriname’s Association of Indigenous Village Leaders, has said Surinamese authorities must do better when it comes to recognising the land rights of indigenous communities and their right to self-determination. Photo by Johannes Damodar Patak, used with permission.

Chair of Suriname's Climate Change Parliamentary Committee, Radjendrekoemar Debie, told Cari-Bois that combating climate change will require all hands on deck.

While Suriname is one of only a few carbon-negative countries in the world and contributes very little harm, Debie said mitigating climate change will also require the country to play its part. When it comes to Indigenous communities, Debie said humanity must recognise that these communities contribute the least to climate change and are affected the most.

As such, he believes that people must be more environmentally conscious of how their activities affect others. Governments, especially in Global North countries, must also accept some responsibility by helping Indigenous communities become more climate resilient:

Local communities, in this case the Indigenous and the Maroons in the interior, are losing their homes and places where they have sometimes lived for generations.

In terms of sufficient climate policies, however, Fernandes thinks Suriname has a long way to go. While the country has committed itself to numerous international treaties, she criticises its ability to adequately implement them. For example, Indigenous communities lack sufficient support, which in turn hinders their efforts to gain official recognition of their right to land and self-determination. If these communities are to access the funding and support they need to strengthen their climate resilience, this right to land and self-determination will be crucial:

The Surinamese government has not recognised the rights of its Indigenous and tribal peoples, even though it voted in favour of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples. Suriname has also not ratified ILO Convention 169, which further shows that the state is unwilling to address the problems of its Indigenous and tribal peoples.

According to Debie, though, the Surinamese government is in the preliminary stages of drafting environmental frameworks that consider stakeholder recommendations, including those coming from Indigenous communities.

Some of these will seek to reduce deforestation and the use of mercury in mining activities, both of which exacerbate the detrimental effects of climate change and further impacts the stability of the natural environment.

Debie said a concept law entitled “The Collective Rights: Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Peoples” is pending in parliament, pointing out that solid climate policies are a core condition for the well-being of everyone, regardless of their origin, ethnicity, income, age, gender, or where they live in the world:

We call that climate justice. Unfortunately, this is not always met everywhere. We live in the middle of a climate crisis and some are much more directly or more severely affected by it than others. Working on climate justice is working on solving the climate crisis. This also offers a huge opportunity to work for well-being.

While some progress is being made on the legislative front, Fernandes believes there is still a long way to go to ensure that the positions, views and proposals of Indigenous people are incorporated into national climate policies.

She said it is essential that Indigenous communities are closely involved in shaping climate solutions, given they already have knowledge and experience in devising solutions to the effects of climate change within their immediate environment.

Outside of legislation, Debie sees an immediate need to strengthen the climate resilience of Indigenous communities which, in the case of Suriname's Indigenous communities, have built their settlements directly along rivers and creeks because of the availability of water.

However, with extreme weather events increasing in frequency, these communities have been repeatedly affected by flooding, says Debie:

What these Indigenous communities have been taught is to build their homes on higher ground. It is of paramount importance that trained people go into the field and inform people — in their language [and] with the correct information — about the consequences and how they can overcome them, in line with finances that must be present and especially [with] manpower.

Fernandes agrees. She wants Indigenous people to have direct access to information related to climate change through their own database, with information relevant to them, and in the languages they prefer.