Are Middle East investments in the West a threat?

Nik Martin
September 11, 2023

From football clubs to phone companies, Gulf Arab states are on an investment binge in the West, thanks to high oil prices.

Saudi Arabia is on a spending spree that goes beyond luring the world's best footballers

 Ahmed Yosri/REUTERS

When not tempting the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema to Riyadh for hundreds of millions of euros a year, Saudi Arabia has regularly opened its deep pockets to prop up ailing businesses in the West.

Together with its neighbors the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, the massive Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) stepped in at the height of the 2008/9 financial crisis to support several Western banks, even as their own economies cratered along with the oil price.

"The Gulf sovereign wealth funds can invest large sums in an unbureaucratic manner, especially when the going gets tough. They've often proved to be white knights for many companies," Eckart Woertz, Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies, told DW.

The Kingdom currently has stakes in Nintendo, Uber, Boeing and Newcastle United Football Club. In June, Golf's PGA Tour agreed on a controversial merger with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf that was denounced by human rights groups.

PIF also owns nearly two-thirds of would-be Tesla rival Lucid Motors, splurging some $5.4 billion (€5.04 billion) over the past five years on a firm that produces less than 10,000 vehicles per year.

Telecoms investments under scrutiny

The latest investment, albeit much smaller, is Saudi Telecom's (STC) announcement last week that it had built up a 10% stake in Spain's telecommunications giant Telefonica, worth some €2.1 billion ($2.25 billion).

Saudi Telecom is gradually increasing its stake in Spanish telecoms company Telefonica

Thiago Prudencio/DAX via ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance

Over the past eight years, Telefonica's market value has shrunk by two-thirds. Price wars for mobile and internet services, investments in new technologies and expansion to new markets have left the Spanish firm with a huge debt pile.

The UAE's phone company e& (formerly Etisalat) this year upped its stake in another major European telecoms firm, Vodafone, from 10% to nearly 15%. Last month, e& said it was considering a further increase to 20%.

The two investments have naturally sparked national security concerns as the Gulf states are autocratic regimes that have a long history of human rights abuses and rampant surveillance of their populations.

Last week, Nadia Calvino, Spain's first deputy prime minister, said the stake in Telefonica would need to be scrutinized "with the defense of Spain's strategic interests in mind."

The Madrid government is said to be particularly wary of Telefonica's ties with the country's defense sector.

Britain too is worried whether Vodafone's tie-up with e& could impact the former's $19 billion planned merger with rival Three UK, which is currently being scrutinized by the country's competition watchdog.

Three is owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and the deal could give China — and also the UAE — access to critical UK communications infrastructure. But some analysts think the concerns may be overblown.

Oil-rich Gulf nations are not China

"Saudi Arabia does not pursue comparable interests to China or Russia," said Woertz. "While China has been pursuing technology that is already installed here in highly sensitive communications infrastructure, that is not the case with Saudi Arabia. They don't produce high-end technology like China's Huawei."

Woertz was referring to the ban placed on Huawei and other Chinese tech firms by the United States and many of its allies in recent years. Western intelligence agencies have raised concerns that Chinese wireless networking equipment could contain backdoors that enable surveillance by Beijing.

Deep pockets for high-end chips

Amid a global shortage of high-end semiconductors needed to power advanced artificial intelligence language models, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are reported to have been buying up chips made by the US tech company NVIDIA.

The two countries have spoken openly about a desire to become leaders in AI technologies, which many tech leaders have warned could be misused by autocratic regimes. Indeed China has a lead over the rest of the world in surveillance of its 1.4 billion population.

"Human rights defenders and journalists are frequent targets of government crackdowns [in UAE and Saudi Arabia]," Iverna McGowan, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Europe office, told the Financial Times last month. "Pair this with the fact that we know how AI can have discriminatory impacts, or be used to turbocharge unlawful surveillance. It's a frightening thought."

Surveillance skills and close ties to China

There are increasing concerns that Gulf states are using AI technology to snoop on Western companies and users

 Mahmoud Khaled/picture alliance

Gulf Arab states have hit the headlines recently for their own surveillance prowess. In 2019, Google and Apple removed a popular UAE-based messaging app ToTok, after the New York Times reported that it was being used by Emirati intelligence agencies to spy on users.

The Gulf Arab states also heavily censor the internet, including anti-Islamic content, government critics and liberal issues, including LGBTQ+ rights.

The Gulf countries are also key partners of China's so-called Digital Silk Road (DSR), the technological arm of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that aims to smooth trade between China and much of the rest of the world.

Several analysts have warned that the pervasiveness of Chinese snooping technology in the Middle East will likely pose additional security concerns for the West.

No end to sportswashing

Human rights groups have regularly denounced Saudi Arabia for a practice known as sportswashing — in other words, distracting from its appalling rights record with mega sports deals, like the recent merger of Golf's PGA tour and the massive investment in a Saudi league filled with top footballers from the West.

"It's been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf — just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country's atrocious human rights record," said Felix Jakens of Amnesty International UK.

In its latest annual report, the human rights group accused Saudi Arabia of human rights violations including unfair trials, torture in prisons, mass executions and discrimination against women.

While rights concerns are important, and security threats need investigating, GIGA's Woertz said that pragmatism often trumps other issues in business, especially in times of crisis.

"For companies, human rights are not their primary concerns. It is about growing the respective business and as an investor they [Gulf countries] are very useful," he said.

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Gabriel Boric: Chile's democracy 'still under construction'

Diego Zuniga

September 11, 2023

In an exclusive interview with DW, Chilean President Gabriel Boric talks about the political polarization caused by the 1973 coup and highlights the strength of today's institutions and democracy in Chile.

"For me, politics is not a game of arithmetic," Chilean President Gabriel Boric told DW. "I believe that democracy, to be strengthened and to take care of itself, has to know how to respond … to the needs of our citizens."

Boric, Chile’s president since March 2022, is the country’s eighth elected leader since Augusto Pinochet’s military rule ended in 1990. The 37-year-old was born more than a decade after Pinochet’s violent coup ousted the Marxist president, Salvador Allende, on September 11, 1973, but like many Chileans he too has had to grapple with its aftermath.

In an exclusive interview with DW's Jenny Perez to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup, Boric spoke of the current role of the armed forces, the challenges faced by his government and the changes he himself has undergone since he was elected.

"Taking office as president of Chile means you have to adapt when it comes to certain things. You are ruling over an entire country, and, therefore, you represent the whole of Chilean society, those who voted for you and those who didn't," said Boric, who is also the leader of Chile’s left-wing Social Convergence Party.

"But my longing for social justice, for social transformation, for progress toward a fairer distribution of wealth, toward a total end to discrimination against women and sexual diversity, toward a development that is just and integral, remains intact," he said, adding that he remained "a person with left-wing convictions."

Chile's most leftist president since Allende

These political positions, and the fact that Boric is Chile's most progressive head of state in the past 50 years, have influenced the commemorative events around the anniversary of the coup and Allende's death on September 11, 1973.

Boric said that given the chance he would thank the president [Allende] for his commitment, courage and sacrifice.

"I would tell him that we are working hard to follow in his footsteps, hoping 'to continue opening great avenues again, where free men and women can walk together to build a better society,'"

Boric is Chile's eighth leader since the end of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship

Image: Matias Delacroix/AP/picture alliance

Boric said citing from the last speech Allende ever made on the day he died.

It remains unclear to this day whether Allende's death was suicide or murder.

The repercussions of Pinochet's dictatorship still divide much of Chilean society. Boric had campaigned for a bigger event marking the anniversary of the 1973 coup, but according to a survey by pollster Pulso Ciudadano at least 60% of Chileans were not interested.

A "Pact for Peace," an effort introduced by Boric's predecessor to resolve the social and political conflict that has triggered countrywide protests since 2019, was also divisive. During his presidency, Boric has attempted to improve coexistence through minimum agreements of democratic respect, including the rewriting of the constitution, but the country's right-wing and center-right parties have not supported his efforts. He has championed the idea of a "Pact for Democracy."

"We continue to have differences as to why this institutional breakdown is taking place, and I see with concern that there are many right-wing leaders who insist on the idea that without Allende, there would have been no Pinochet," said Boric. "When you think about what that means, it is very worrying. It means that should there be another constitutional government they do not like and a climate of polarization and political difficulties, then the answer is a coup d'etat and a dictatorship.

"I hope Chilean society agrees with me when I say that we will always solve the problems of democracy with more democracy and not less. And that nothing will ever justify violating the human rights of those who think differently," he said.

Boric believes it's a positive development that all of Chile's living ex-presidents, including the center-right Sebastian Pinera, have signed the Pact for Democracy.
No danger of another coup

When asked about Chilean society taking a possible ultraconservative turn and the increase in more radical visions from all sectors, Boric told DW he was worried. He stressed the need for the government to respond to the "needs of our citizens."

"In Chile, we have been waiting 10 years for a pension reform. Not only do pensions not go up, but the trust Chileans have in democracy as a mechanism for solving their problems is weakened," he said.

"Democracy, from my point of view, is an end in itself, and we have to be looking after it constantly, watering it, caring for it," he said, adding that it was "based on consensus."

"The art of politics, the art of fair policies, is to reach agreements among those who think differently for the sake of a shared common good. And when societies become polarized, that shared common good can seem distant."

Chilean President Boric has shown an affinity for Salvador Allende, who was ousted in a coup by General Augusto Pinochet in 1973

Image: ORF

However, Boric said he did not believe there was a danger of the events of September 1973 being repeated in Chile: "It would be irresponsible of me to say so," he pointed out.

He also highlighted recent policy achievements, such as mining royalties or reducing the work week to 40 hours, as examples of how Chilean democracy can function.

"I believe that the opposition is playing a role, which has indeed resulted in a blockage to certain reforms, but it is part of how democracy works, and it is up to us to seek and explore new ways of reaching agreements," he said.

And the role of the military? "Now, I am certain that the armed forces are not looking to engage in any kind of adventure and that they are steadfast constitutionalists and respectful of the constitution and the rule of law," Boric stated.

'Democracies are constantly perfecting themselves'

The Chilean president's confidence lies in the strength of the country's institutions but he recognizes that maintaining democracy is an ongoing process.

"Chilean democracy is a democracy that is still under construction. I would not say that there is a moment when democracies are fully consolidated because societies change, and with change comes new challenges," he said.

"The inclusion of the feminist movement in our society, for example, has been very organic given the way politics was understood until 10 years ago. The old idea of infinite development at any cost is not only being questioned today. It is seen as something that could endanger the very survival of humanity. So democracies are constantly perfecting themselves."

Referring to the fact that the Chilean dictatorship came about in the context of the Cold War, which led to numerous military regimes in the region, Boric pointed out that "the power of arms is very meager. It vanishes with time. Bodies can disappear, people can be murdered, comrades can be tortured, but the dignity of those who fell and those who fight for a free country always ends up prevailing.

"And this is valid for the history of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and so many other Latin American dictatorships — or the world," he warned.

'We have to defend' democracy, human rights

Since his presidency began in 2022, Boric has also stood out on the international stage for his condemnation of leftist dictatorships in the region. In this regard, the president said he wasn't afraid of criticism.

"I am convinced that, in terms of human rights, we must have a single standard, both from the historical point of view and from a whole of society point of view, and therefore, we cannot go around choosing which autocracies we like and which we don't like," he said.

"If we value and defend democracy and, in particular, the universal respect for human rights as an advance of humanity, we have to defend it from the left, center, and right, whether we are red or blue. And I will stay firm on this no matter who it bothers."
US discloses role in 1973 coup

Boric also spoke in favor of the recent gesture by the United States to declassify documents outlining the role of the world power in the 1973 coup.

"The US ambassador to Chile has been very open to it. Some documents have already been declassified, and I believe that the position of the United States today is clear when it comes to condemning what happened," he said.

"However, we can always do more. The Nixon administration at the time made every possible effort — and this is all documented — first, to prevent President Allende from taking office and then to hinder and create the conditions of chaos that allowed for the coup."

US President Richard Nixon's administration was heavily involved in the events leading up to the coup in Chile, with the CIA helping to finance opposition efforts to organize strikes by truck drivers and shop owners. The US also backed Pinochet's government despite his regime's human rights record.

Boric (right) is optimistic about cooperating with Scholz (left) when it comes to investigating the German sect Colonia Dignidad

Image: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/picture alliance

Boric said that he would ask for information on the alleged collaboration of the West German intelligence service with the Pinochet dictatorship and the German sect Colonia Dignidad, which cooperated with the regime.

"I have talked about this with Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz the few times I have met him. From what I have seen, I think he is keen to collaborate in everything related to the investigation and recognition of what happened in Colonia Dignidad," said Boric.

There has been an agreement to install plaques in memory of the victims of the German sect, although there have been no significant advances on that front. Boric said that "just a bit of willpower" is needed for that.

"What is clear to us is that there are still many dark elements around, even 50 years after the breakdown of democracy in Chile. Therefore, we will continue to fight for truth and justice."

This article was originally written in Spanish.

 Chinese city hunts for dozens of crocodiles

September 12, 2023

Chinese emergency teams are scrambling to track down a large number of crocodiles that escaped after heavy storms and floods that hit in recent days.


Crocodiles are bred in China for their skin and meat, which is sometimes used in traditional medicine

CFOTO/picture alliance

Chinese media reported on Tuesday that more than 70 crocodiles had escaped after deluges in Guangdong province caused a lake at a crocodile farm to overflow.

Authorities asked residents around the city of Maoming to stay inside as the severity of deluges hampered the search for the reptiles.
What's the latest we know?

"Crocodiles are still in the water, and several government departments are working to catch them," the state-affiliated China National Radio (CNR) reported, citing the local agriculture office.

"The specific situation is still under investigation," CNR said, adding that the exact number of animals still on the loose was not known.

The newspaper Beijing News said emergency forces were sent to locate the escaped crocodiles with the help of sonar equipment.

Authorities said the high water levels had made the search difficult, and asked residents to stay indoors.

Heavy rains drench southern China for 7th day  01:26

Footage showed responders in red uniforms searching flooded fields in rescue boats. In other images, crocodiles could be seen that had already been captured with their mouths and limbs tied together.

Bred for skin and meat

Crocodiles are bred in China for their skin as well as their meat, which is sometimes used in traditional Chinese medicine.

At least 69 grown crocodiles and six younger ones were kept at a farm near the lake that burst its banks, allowing the creatures to escape.

CNR also said the affected area was also home to a "crocodile theme park."

rc/jcg (dpa, AFP)

CONFLICTS ARMENIA

Azerbaijan lets aid into majority-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh

Separatist authorities in Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region say supplies have arrived via Azerbaijan-controlled territory. Azerbaijan had closed a route linking the territory with Armenia.

A truck carrying aid from Russia crossed from Azerbaijani-held territory into the ethnic Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday, despite objections from some residents.

It is the first time in 35 years that officials in Nagorno-Karabakh have allowed use of the transport link amid fears that the connection would allow Azerbaijan to fully absorb the breakaway territory.

Why was the aid shipment needed?

Azerbaijan started to blockade another road — the Lachin corridor — in December, alleging Armenians were using it to ship arms in and smuggle minerals out.

Amid acute shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, Nagorno Karabakh authorities on Saturday conceded on allowing aid to be funneled through from Azerbaijani-held areas.

The local authority said the truck had arrived at its destination, the territory's capital, Stepanakert, carrying blankets, toiletries and 1,000 food parcels.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nagorno-Karabakh officials had also stipulated that Azerbaijan reopen the Lachin corridor.

While it appeared that this might not immediately be the case, Russia's foreign ministry said the shipment of aid represented "a first step" to resolving the crisis.

Russian officials said they expected that the Lachin corridor would be unblocked "in the near future."

Vital and symbolic transport link

Nagorno-Karabakh slipped from Azerbaijan's grasp in a separatist war as the Soviet Union collapsed. Since 1994, it has survived with direct support from Armenia thanks to control over the Lachin corridor.

During that first war, Armenia had gained control of swaths of territory around Nagorno-Karabach. However, Azerbaijan won that territory back in a six-week-long war with Armenia in 2020 — leaving Nagorno-Karabach once again surrounded.

Under a Russian-brokered armistice, the Lachin corridor became the sole connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russian troops policed the corridor until it was blocked last December.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused Russia of being either "unable or unwilling" to control the transport route. He has also warned of a return to all-out conflict.

Germany does not recognise the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," considering it to be part of Azerbaijan.

rc/jcg (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

US-Mexico border is world's deadliest land route, UN says

More migrants have died or disappeared across the Americas than ever before according to the UN body. Crossing from Mexico to the US is particularly risky.



The border between the US and Mexico is the world's "deadliest land route"

 Jose Luis Gonzalez /REUTERS


At least 1,457 displaced persons have died or disappeared in the Americas in 2022, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

With 686 documented deaths and disappearances, the US-Mexico border makes up for over half of the cases. While this is a slight decrease from last year, it still makes it the world's "deadliest land route" according to the IOM.

Dangerous desert areas

The Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts bordering the US are particularly dangerous. More deaths have been reported here than in the far bigger Sahara desert, the IOM said.

Documenting deaths and disappearances of migrants – especially in remote areas – is made difficult by lack of data from official sources according the UN organization.

"The fact that we know so little about migrants who disappear in the Americas is a grim reality,” said Marcelo Pisani, IOM Regional Director for South America. "The impacts on the families left behind to search endlessly for a lost loved one are profound."

The IOM urged countries in the region "to act on the data to ensure safe, regular migration routes are accessible."

Increased migration across Latin America and Caribbean

The IOM said the numbers in its report "represent the lowest estimates available." Still, the overall number of deaths and disappearances has more than doubled since 2018.

Migration across the Americas has been increasing in recent years. Movements between countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have seen an especially steep hike: from 5.3 million migrants in 2010 to 11.3 million in 2020, numbers from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) show.

North America is still the primary destination for people migrating from Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2022, more than 2,5 million people crossed the southern border of the US, setting a new record.

fg/jcg (afp, ap)

Latin America worst region for environment defenders — NGO

Zac Crellin

DW

13/09/2023 

More land defenders were murdered in Colombia than any other country in the past 12 months. The Amazon also saw a large number of lethal attacks, particularly against Indigenous people.

Indigenous people have been murdered in the Amazon as illegal mining encroaches on their land

ALAN CHAVES/AFP via Getty Images

Latin America is the most dangerous region in the world for environmental defenders, according to a new report released by the Global Witness NGO on Wednesday.

The environmental crime watchdog said at least 177 land defenders were killed worldwide last year. One in five of them were murdered in the Amazon rainforest.

The countries where the most environmental defenders were killed were Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras.

Very few perpetrators are brought to justice, which has created a climate of impunity.

"For too long, those responsible for lethal attacks against defenders have been getting away with murder," said Shruti Suresh from Global Witness.
Murders increase in Colombia

Colombia was found to be the deadliest country on the list with 60 land defenders murdered in the past year — accounting for a third of such killings worldwide.

"Once again, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, small-scale farmers and environmental activists have been viciously targeted," the report read.

Since coming to power in August last year, leftist President Gustavo Petro pledged to put an end to such violence.

His government signed on to the Escazu agreement in October 2022 which includes protections for environmentalists.

But despite this, the number of murdered land defenders in Colombia is almost double the figure reported in 2021.

At least 382 defenders have been killed in the country since Global Witness began documenting deaths in 2012. Colombia is also the country with the highest number of reported killings globally over this period.

Dozens of killings last year also occurred in Brazil and Mexico, with 14 land defenders also having been murdered in Honduras in 2022.

Indigenous groups under attack

The report is a reminder that Indigenous communities are disproportionately targeted by lethal attacks, often related to illegal mining, logging and fishing encroaching on their land.

Around 34% of murdered land defenders last year were Indigenous, despite making up around 5% of the world's population.

"Research has shown again and again that Indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the forests and therefore play a fundamental role in mitigating the climate crisis," said Laura Furones, a researcher on land defenders at Global Witness.

"Yet they are under siege in countries like Brazil, Peru and Venezuela for doing precisely that. We hear of new attacks every day, and our report highlights some of those stories."

The murder of Indigenous peoples expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon last year brought global attention to the threat faced by rainforest communities every day.

 

Indigenous land defenders demanded justice for Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, who were murdered in the Amazon last year

Andre Penner/AP Photo/picture alliance

A worldwide problem

Outside of Latin America, the Philippines was the most dangerous country for environmental defenders after 11 people were reported murdered in the last year.

Other countries where environmental defenders have been killed recently include India, Indonesia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Global Witness said many murders go unreported, often due to a lack of independent monitoring in many countries and restrictions on press freedom.

The NGO said it therefore cannot capture the full scale of the problem, while governments around the world also fail to investigate these incidents.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery

Colombia deadliest country for green activists in 2022, says report

Environmental activist murders doubled in Colombia last year, making it the most dangerous country in the world for those trying to protect the planet, a watchdog said Tuesday.

Nadia Umana, a Colombian environmental leader threatened by criminal gangs, speaks during an interview with AFP in Bogota on August 30, 2023. 

© Raul Arboleda, AFP

By:NEWS WIRES

In its annual review, Global Witness named 177 land and environmental defenders who had been killed in 2022 -- from the Amazon to the Philippines and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Latin America again bore the brunt of the murders, including 39 killings across the vast Amazon rainforest, a vital carbon sink facing widespread destruction at a time the world is grappling to curb climate change.

The number of those killed has progressively decreased since a record 227 in 2020, however "this does not mean that the situation has significantly improved," said Global Witness.

"The worsening climate crisis and the ever-increasing demand for agricultural commodities, fuel and minerals will only intensify the pressure on the environment -– and those who risk their lives to defend it," warned the London-based watchdog.

While in 2021 most killings took place in Mexico, Colombia last year surged ahead with 60 deaths -- more than a third of all the murders globally.

"This is almost double the number of killings compared to 2021, when 33 defenders lost their lives," said the report.

Many of those targeted were Indigenous people, members of Afro-descendant communities, small-scale farmers and environmental activists.

At least five children, three of them Indigenous, were among the global tally.

"Yet there is hope," said the NGO, praising efforts under new leftist President Gustavo Petro to boost protection for defenders -- a first in the country.

Colombian sociologist and activist Nadia Umana, 35, fled her northern home after the murders of four colleagues, all of whom had been fighting for the return of rural lands taken over by paramilitaries.

"Knowing that a colleague of yours was murdered is an indescribable pain," Umana told AFP in Bogota.

Even the country's vice-president, Francia Marquez -- the 2018 winner of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize -- has faced multiple threats.

In 2019, she survived an attack by gunmen who tried to kill her over her work defending her home region's water resources against mining companies.
Mining, logging, farming

According to Global Witness, almost 2,000 land and environmental defenders have been murdered over the past decade -- some 70 percent of them in Latin America.

In Brazil, where British journalist Dom Philips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were killed last year in the Amazon, a total of 34 land defenders were killed.

Mexico, Honduras, and the Philippines also had high numbers.

Global Witness said that while it was "difficult to identify" the exact drivers for the killings, 10 were found to be linked to agribusiness, eight to mining, and four to the logging industry.

Aside from activists, state officials, demonstrators, park rangers, lawyers, and journalists are also among those who lost their lives.

"All of them shared a commitment to defend their rights and keep the planet healthy. All of them paid for their courage and commitment with their lives," said the report.


Issued on: 13/09/2023 
(AFP)

Disasters getting worse, say Brazil cyclone victims

Muçum (Brazil) (AFP) – In his 74 years, Humberto Simonaio had never experienced anything like it: the cyclone that hit southern Brazil swelled the Taquari river so badly it inundated even high ground he had never seen flood before.

Residents of the town of Mucum, in southern Brazil, remove belongings from a house damaged by a deadly cyclone © Silvio AVILA / AFP

Simonaio, the owner of a beloved, half-century-old ice cream parlor called Keko in the hard-hit town of Mucum, said he knew he needed to get his freezers and other equipment to higher ground as last week's storm headed toward the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, packing torrential rains.

But he never imagined the local river would become such a torrent it would also overrun the supposedly safe spot he took them to, a friend's shed in one of the highest parts of the city, he said.

"Since the day I was born, I'd never had to evacuate because of a flood," said Simonaio, who had a machine swept several meters (yards) away by the current but plans to reopen soon.

"I don't know why these storms have gotten so big. This was the biggest in our history," he told AFP.

Mucum, population 4,600, is hardly alone: experts say extreme weather events are growing more common around the world, hitting places like Hong Kong, Greece and Libya this month alone, as climate change fuels bigger, deadlier disasters and governments struggle to adapt.

A week after the storm hit Mucum, the town is still cleaning the mud and wreckage from its streets and mourning its dead.

Sixteen of the nearly 50 people killed in the cyclone were found here. Dozens of others are still missing across the region.

"Human lives are being seriously affected by the excessive warming of the atmosphere, which is resulting in extreme weather events in various parts of the world," said Dakir Larara Machado da Silva, a climate scientist at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University.

"Record heat waves, prolonged droughts, a month's worth of rain in 24 hours -- it's a ticking time bomb," added the professor, who got a first-hand view of the destruction when the storm hit his state.

"Areas that didn't used to be affected (by floods) are starting to now."

'Here to stay'

In a neighborhood of Mucum called Fatima, the one hit hardest by the storm, 56-year-old teacher Ana Luisa Batiuci says she used to feel relatively safe: the house where she lives with her husband and daughter sits on a hilltop.

But they got more than a meter (three feet) of water inside.

"It had never risen so high," she told AFP, cleaning up the mud.

Selmar Klunk, 38, the director of a regional tourism association, was helping neighbors in the nearby town of Encantado save their belongings as the floodwaters rose.

After working through the night, he learned the flood had reached the parking lot where he left his car, two kilometers (more than a mile) from the river.

Machado da Silva called the disaster an "exceptional climate event" that "defies preventive measures" -- and will probably be repeated.

"It's the start of something that's here to stay," he said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also linked the tragedy to the warming climate.

The planet is experiencing "an unprecedented climate emergency," he said from the G20 summit in New Delhi.



Issued on: 13/09/2023 
© 2023 AFP

As climate catastrophes rise, reinsurers reduce risks

Monaco (AFP) – Natural disasters are now happening so frequently that reinsurers -- the firms that sell insurance to insurance companies -- are scaling back their exposure to such risks.

Natural disasters such as the wildfires that scorched Hawaii have become more frequent © Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

While this may make business sense, it raises the question of whether individuals and businesses will be able to protect themselves against the effects of climate change if their insurance companies cannot even get coverage themselves.

Just weeks after wildfires caused major damage in Hawaii and parts of Europe, and as catastrophic floods ravaged Libya, the issue was front and centre at a major industry gathering held in Monaco this week.

Reinsurers identified climate change as the biggest risk they now face in a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation.

"Climate change is the number-one risk once again as reinsurers bear the brunt of the cost of catastrophe claims from an ever-increasing number of extreme weather events," the report said.

"As these losses spiral upwards, the survey highlights growing concerns that some areas and types of business could become uninsurable," it added.

Ratings agency Fitch said in a note to investors ahead of the conference, which ends Wednesday, that some companies "were already retreating from the property-casualty market in 2022".

It added that "even the strongest reinsurers have now pulled back, largely through tightening their terms and conditions to limit their aggregate covers and low layers of natural catastrophe protection".

Another ratings agency, S&P, said "more than half of the top 20 global reinsurers maintained or reduced their natural catastrophe exposures during the January 2023 renewals, despite the improved pricing terms and conditions and rising demand".

The reinsurance unit of insurance giant AXA raised prices 6.3 percent during the first half of this year, but it took in three percent less, mostly because of a reduction in exposure to natural catastrophes.

According to Fitch, reinsurers are reducing their exposure to so-called secondary peril events. These are smaller weather events, which are becoming more frequent and virulent owing to climate change.

'Doesn't make any sense'

Reinsurers are still offering ample cover against the most severe weather events, Fitch added.

Data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that weather and climate disasters in the United States where losses exceeded $1 billion averaged 18 per year between 2018 and 2022, up from 8.1 events between 1980 and 2022, using inflation-adjusted figures.

The United States was hit by a record-breaking 23 such events in the first eight months of this year, it added.

This rising number of natural disasters has put pressure on reinsurers.

"There was an under-estimation of the frequency of events, and I think we underestimated the development of the population in different areas as well," said Jean-Paul Conoscente, chief executive of the property and casualty branch of reinsurer Scor.

Scor began to reduce its exposure to natural catastrophes in 2021.

Fitch analyst Robert Mazzuoli noted that policies that paid out to insurers once a certain amount of damages from a particular risk, like hail, was reached, have completely disappeared when they were very popular only two or three years ago.

Providing coverage against risks with "really high frequency... doesn't make any sense", said Thomas Blunck, who heads up the reinsurance committee at the world's top reinsurer, Munich Re.

These natural disaster policies were initially developed to protect insurers from extreme events and not against the volatility inherent in the business, said Conoscente, explaining the development in the industry.

'Brutal' shift

But this repositioning of reinsurers is not without consequence for traditional insurers.

"This is part of the reasons which has driven us to have a rather negative outlook," said Manuel Arrive, a Paris-based director at Fitch Ratings.

Jean-Philippe Dogneton, head of the French insurer Macif, criticised the "rapid" and "brutal" shift in the reinsurance sector.

Fitch's Robert Mazzuoli said some reinsurers "were abrupt with their clients and treated them poorly".

Given the current circumstances, insurers may have little choice than increase their rates or in turn reduce the risks that they cover, which is already happening in certain countries.

Scor's Conoscente said for the moment "you can get insurance anywhere" but on the condition of being able to "pay the necessary price".

For him, the real problem is that "a large portion of the population isn't ready to pay the real cost" of climate change.

 13/09/2023 

© 2023 AFP

Australia logging ban to create koala haven

Agence France-Presse
September 12, 2023,

Koala numbers are threatened by deforestation, drought and bushfires 

(William WEST/AFP)

Australia's most populous state announced Tuesday a logging ban in a forest haven for koalas, aiming to protect the local population from being wiped out.

Logging has been halted in 8,400 hectares (21,000 acres) of forest, home to 106 "koala hubs" that are highly populated by the marsupials, the New South Wales government said.

The koala-rich area would form a key part of a planned 315,000-hectare Great Koala National Park on the mid-north coast and "save koalas from extinction in the state", it said.

The move was a "historic step forward", said Nature Conservation Council acting chief executive Brad Smith, describing the area as "the most important koala habitat in the world".

"This decision is also a recognition that logging has a devastating impact on koalas and biodiversity," he added.

WWF-Australia spokesman Dr Stuart Blanch said koala numbers in NSW had suffered a dramatic decline, falling by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2020 due to deforestation, drought and bushfires.

The government's move "is a chance to turn this tragedy around", he said.

"If we're going to save koalas from extinction this century, then we need massive new protected areas covering millions of hectares of forests."

But Greens spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson criticized the move as "a gift to the timber industry".

She said 58 percent of the proposed park area's koala population would be left unprotected by the logging ban, adding: "Logging is likely to continue throughout the area of the Great Koala National Park through to 2025 due to the long reporting timeline that the government has set for itself.

"The government needs to do the work now to begin the transition of the public native forest industry before it's too late for koalas and too late for the other previous forest-dependent species."

The state government said it would soon begin consultations with state-owned logging agency Forestry Corporation NSW to "determine timber supply options".

California firefighters use AI to battle wildfires

Agence France-Presse
September 12, 2023,

FILE PHOTO: Firefighters battle a fast-moving wildfire that destroyed homes driven by strong wind and high temperatures forcing thousands of residents to evacuate in Goleta, California, U.S., early July 7, 2018. REUTERS/Gene Blevins


When a wildfire erupted in the middle of a recent California night, it could have been a disaster.

But thanks to a new monitoring system that uses artificial intelligence to scan for danger, firefighters were able to quell the blaze long before it got out of hand.

"It was less than a quarter acre," Captain Kris Yeary of Cal Fire told AFP.

"Had the AI not alerted us to it, it could have gotten much bigger."

Yeary, who is responsible for organizing firefighting over an area that includes Mount Laguna, around 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of San Diego, sprang into action around 3am on August 5 after a call from colleagues at a command center.

Computers watching live feeds from the Cleveland National Forest spotted what their algorithm had been taught to understand was a column of smoke.

Human operators were able to verify the machines were correct and alerted Yeary, whose firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.

"It could have been a devastating fire," he said.

- Artificial intelligence -

Artificial intelligence is a rapidly developing field of computing that seeks to mimic human abilities to "think."

Unlike a traditional computer, which can only produce answers based on the concrete information it has, AI can infer answers, using experience it has gained from similar problems it has seen before -- similar to a human being.

Over the last few years, its application has spread to include areas as diverse as weather forecasting, stock-picking, art and journalism.

That has brought with it worries from people who fear it will do them out of their jobs -- the writers' and actors' strike currently paralyzing Hollywood is in part about the use of AI in films and television.

But firefighters battling California's wildfires say they will take all the help they can get.

"AI is just another tool for us," said Yeary. "It's never going to replace firefighters."

- Promising results -


California experiences thousands of fires every year, which torch hundreds of thousands -- sometimes millions -- of acres (hectares).

Over the last decade, blazes have claimed more than 200 lives, and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, wreaking billions of dollars of damage.

For several years firefighters have used a network of more than 1,000 cameras to monitor possible fire hotspots.

Since the end of June, the ALERTCalifornia system has had AI computers "watching" these feeds, and flagging to human operators when they see wisps of smoke that could be a fire -- with promising results.

"Our success metric is the fires you never hear about," says Neal Driscoll, who heads the project for the University of California San Diego.

"We beat 911 calls about 40 percent of the time. And it's going to get better."

The addition of AI has meant each firefighter watching the dozens of feeds they are responsible for now has a helping hand.

When the software believes it detects smoke, it displays a small red rectangle on the screen, and offers a percentage indicating its degree of certainty.

It is then up to the operator to confirm the seriousness of the alert -- and weed out any confusion.

Currently, the system can erroneously flag dust raised by tractors, insects in front of the camera or even a bit of fog.

"When a cloud will go over... it can cast a shadow on the ground and sometimes (the computer) can actually think that that's possibly smoke," says Suzann Leininger, an intelligence specialist at Cal Fire.

The feedback that experts like Leininger give -- no, that's just a bit of weather -- is helping the AI to get better at what it does.

But even in its current state, it's a boon.

"It's getting us time to react in a faster manner," says Leininger.

And when you're talking about fire, time can be everything.


- Climate change -

As California grapples with the effects of human-caused climate change, fires are becoming bigger and more destructive.

The state has experienced 18 of its 20 largest wildfires on record in the last two decades.

With terrifying blazes ripping through Europe, Canada and Hawaii this year, the devastating impact of the changing climate is becoming ever-more apparent worldwide.

"I think that as we see these devastations in other areas, like in Greece, and Maui, that systems like this that provide early confirmation will be a step in the right direction," says Driscoll of UC San Diego.

Faced with the scale of the threat, the scientist has chosen to grant public access to the data on his platform, so that other companies or academics can work on it.

"We need to leverage all of our assets and work together, because extreme climate is bigger than any one of us."