MIGRANT WORKERS SCORE!

Cargill comes to tentative deal with union at High River, Alta. beef plant

The Cargill beef plant in High River, Alta., is shown on Thursday, April 23, 2020. 

TAKEN BECAUSE THE PLANT WAS INFECTED WITH COVID

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh


Michael Franklin
CTVNewsCalgary.ca 

Senior Digital Producer
Published Dec. 1, 2021

With less than a week to go before workers were set to go on strike at Cargill's High River, Alta. beef processing plant, the company says a tentative deal has been reached.

The company announced the development on Wednesday and says it is "encouraged by the outcome" of recent talks.

"After a long day of collaborative discussion, we reached an agreement on an offer that the bargaining committee will recommend to its members. The offer is comprehensive and fair and includes retroactive pay, signing bonuses, a 21 per cent wage increase over the life of the contract and improved health benefits," Cargill wrote in a statement to CTV News via email.

The company adds it also "remains optimistic" a deal can be finalized before the strike deadline.

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"(We) encourage employees to vote on this offer which recognizes the important role they play in Cargill’s work to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. While we navigate this negotiation, we continue to focus on fulfilling food manufacturer, retail and food service customer orders while keeping markets moving for farmers and ranchers," it wrote.

The United Food and Commercial Workers' Union (UFCW) Local 401 was expected to go on strike on Dec. 6.

It rejected the most recent attempt at a deal on Nov. 25 by a 98 per cent margin.

'FAIR OFFER'

According to a statement from UFCW Local 401, the negotiating team engaged in "a marathon day" of talks with the company on Tuesday.

"Late in the evening, our bargaining committee concluded that they were in receipt of a fair offer and that they were prepared to present that offer to their coworkers with a recommendation of acceptance," it wrote in a statement.

The union says the tentative deal will "significantly improve" the lives of Cargill workers and will be the 'best food processing contract in Canada."

Highlights from the deal include:
$4,200 in retroactive pay for many employees;
$1,000 signing bonus;
$1,000 COVID-19 bonus;
More than $6,000 total bonuses for workers three weeks before Christmas;
$5 wage increase for many employees;
Improved health benefits; and
Provisions to facilitate a new culture of health, safety, dignity and respect in the workplace

While UFCW Local 401 president Thomas Hesse calls the deal "fair," he will support workers on the picket line if they decide to reject the proposal.

"If they do accept it, I’ll work with them every day to make Cargill a better workplace," Hesse said in a statement. "I will do as our members ask me to do.

"I respect all of the emotions that they feel and the suffering that they have experienced."

Employees are expected the vote on the new deal between Dec. 2 and 4.

MACHISMO MISOGYNY

Paraguay: Girls face sexual violence, pregnancies and impunity in a labyrinth with no way out


Bichofeo Estudio/Amnesty International

NEWS

December 1, 2021 

Girls who are survivors of sexual violence in Paraguay face a confusing path of obstacles to rebuilding their lives and obtaining justice in a country where authorities ignore their voices, force them to carry pregnancies resulting from rape to term, while failing to listen to the expert opinions of their own professionals on sexual violence, Amnesty International concluded in a new report released today.

“By action and omission, Paraguay is turning its back on its girls and teenagers as they face unimaginable abuses. Although on paper there is a legal framework to support survivors of sexual violence, in practice they are at the mercy of a chaotic system that does not listen to them or prioritize their well-being and instead focuses on forcing girls to carry pregnancies to term,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

The report, titled in Guaraní Mitãkuña ndaha’eiva’erã sy (They are girls, not mothers), analyses the failures of the system that exists in Paraguay to address cases of sexual violence against children and teenagers based on the experiences of a large number of professionals in the fields of health, education and justice.

The crisis is monumental. In 2019 alone, the Public Prosecutor’s Office received, on average, 12 reports of sexual violence against children and teenagers every day. Experts estimate that for every two cases they know of, there may be at least 10 others.

Most take place in the family environment and, in some cases, the abuse results in pregnancy. In fact, in Paraguay, an average of two girls between the ages of 10 and 14 give birth every day. At least 1,000 girls aged 14 and under gave birth in Paraguay between 2019 and 2020. In addition, more than 12,000 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 gave birth in 2019. Many of these pregnancies may also have been the result of sexual violence, lack of comprehensive sexual education, inadequate information on prevention of early pregnancy or insufficient access to sexual and reproductive health services.

For girls, options are often very limited, despite the enormous risks that early childbirth can pose to their bodies and lives – girls under the age of 15 are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, in addition to being at greater risk of premature birth.

Forcing someone to continue with a pregnancy, particularly when it is the result of rape, is a form of ill-treatment that can be considered torture

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

Paraguay continues to have some of the most restrictive laws in the Americas regarding access to safe and legal abortion. Termination of pregnancy is a crime punishable by imprisonment, with the exception of cases where the pregnant woman’s life is in danger.

Without options, many girls end up living with their abusers or in children’s homes where they are often pressured to become mothers, and are subjected to further abuse, deprived of any possibility of a quality education and dignified life plans.

As a consequence of not listening to the professionals’ response to sexual violence in girls and teenagers, Paraguayan authorities are not promoting early detection, are not providing comprehensive sexual education with a gender focus and are not coordinating and streamlining their response to avoid secondary revictimization.

“Girls have the right to a life free of violence. Forcing someone to continue with a pregnancy, particularly when it is the result of rape, is a form of ill-treatment that can be considered torture,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas. “Despite some legislative advances in recent years, Paraguay has failed to put in place sufficient measures to protect the most vulnerable people in society.”

In 2018, Paraguay adopted Law 6202 to prevent sexual abuse and guarantee comprehensive care for child and teenage survivors. However, almost three years later, the roadmap for its implementation has not yet been finalized.

The authorities are also turning their back on Comprehensive Sexual Education, a key element for the prevention of early pregnancies. Although the Childhood and Adolescence Code recognizes its importance, in 2011, the authorities stopped its implementation. In 2017, the Ministry of Education and Science banned “the dissemination and use of materials…referring to gender theory and/or ideology, in educational institutions.”

Paraguay has failed to put in place sufficient measures to protect the most vulnerable people in society

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

“Paraguayan authorities must immediately introduce Comprehensive Sexual Education to ensure that girls, boys and teenagers have the necessary skills to speak out if they are threatened by sexual violence,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

“They must also finalize the long-awaited single pathway to provide comprehensive care for survivors of sexual abuse and prevent chronic secondary victimization and put in place a national programme to support those who become pregnant and are forced to carry the pregnancy to term, to help them rebuild their lives and overcome the severe long-term damage that sexual violence can inflict.”

For more information  duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

Read more:
They are girls, not mothers (Short paper), 1 December 2021)
They are girls, not mothers (Full length report), 1 December 2021)
Paraguay: 8 facts to understand the crisis of sexual abuse against children and adolescents (News, 1 December 2021)

World ‘dangerously unprepared’ for future pandemics, UN body warns

In a report to mark World Aids Day (December 1) UNAIDS says that health inequalites exposed by the Covid 19 pandemic could see the world facing over 7 million AIDS-related deaths in the next 10 years if urgent action is not taken

URGENT CALL: The COVID-19 pandemic must not be an excuse to divert investment from HIV says UNAIDS report

THE HEAD of a United Nations body focused on ending HIV as a public health threat has said that if urgent action is not taken to tackle global health inequalities the world could face 7.7 million AIDS-related deaths over the next 10 years.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director for UNAIDS was speaking following the publication of a report that the organisation said was aimed at being “a wake-up call on the AIDS emergency” as millions hold events as part of World Aids Day (December 1).

The report highlighted concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic is deepening the inequalities that have long driven the HIV epidemic, putting vulnerable children, adolescents, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers at increased risk of missing life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services.

It said there is a significant risk that political attention to and financing for HIV will drift as world leaders devote resources to tackling the pandemic.

The report, called Unequal, Unprepared and Under Threat argues that bold action is needed by world leaders to end aids as well as prepare for future pandemics.

STARK WARNING: Winnie Byanyima

It said: “In this time of COVID-19, there is a significant risk that political attention to and financing for HIV will drift. If we do not take the steps needed to tackle the inequalities driving HIV today, not only will we fail to end the AIDS pandemic, we also will leave our world dangerously unprepared for future pandemics.”

Byanyima said: “Progress against the AIDS pandemic, which was already off track, is now under even greater strain as the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage, disrupting HIV prevention and treatment services, schooling, violence-prevention programmes and more.”

She added: “We cannot be forced to choose between ending the AIDS pandemic today and preparing for the pandemics of tomorrow. The only successful approach will achieve both”.

Unequal, Unprepared and Under Threat found that some countries, including some with the highest rates of HIV, have made “remarkable progress” against AIDS.

However, it pointed out that new HIV infections are not falling fast enough to stop the pandemic, with 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2020 and growing HIV infection rates in some countries.

“In this time of COVID-19, there is a significant risk that political attention to and financing for HIV will drift. If we do not take the steps needed to tackle the inequalities driving HIV today…..we also will leave our world dangerously unprepared for future pandemics.”
Unequal, Unprepared and Under Threat, UNAIDS report

The research also concluded that Infections follow lines of inequality. Adolescent girls account for six out of every seven new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to UNICEF, children and adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa account for 89 percent of new HIV paediatric infections and 88 percent of HIV-positive children and adolescents worldwide. The continent also accounted for 88 percent of all AIDS-related child fatalities.

UNICEF has also found that COVID-19 caused substantial interruptions in HIV services in many countries in early 2020. In high-burden nations, HIV newborn testing decreased by 50 to 70%, and new treatment initiations for children under 14 years of age decreased by 25 to 50%.

The UNAID report examined five critical elements that it said must be urgently implemented to halt the AIDS pandemic but are under-funded and under-prioritized. These include community-led and community-based infrastructure, equitable access to medicines, vaccines and health technologies and supporting workers on the pandemic front lines.

In the foreword to Unequal, Unprepared and Under Threat Helen Clark, Co-Chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said: “Pandemics find space to grow in the fractures of divided societies…work to end pandemics cannot succeed unless world leaders take the steps that will enable them to do so.”

WHO says travel bans achieve little against Omicron strain
Wednesday, December 1st 2021 -

People over 60 or with comorbidities should postpone their journeys anyway

The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday advised people aged over 60 or who suffer from comorbidities which could result in more serious cases of COVID-19 postponed all travel whenever possible in the light of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Geneva-based organization also said travel bans entailed more negative consequences than actual progress in the fight against the disease.

The international organization has released a document recommending extreme caution to those “at risk of developing a serious form [of C19] or dying.”

“People who are not in good health or at risk of developing a serious form of the disease,” including those over 60 years of age and who have comorbidities should postpone their journeys as a consequence of the Omicron strain, the statement warned.

However, the WHO also said the suspension and ban on flights will not prevent the new variant of Covid-19 from spreading throughout the world. The organization also pointed out such restrictions would only have negative consequences.

Since Nov. 28, “56 countries had applied travel measures to try to delay the importation of the new variant,” said the WHO, while warning that these “general travel bans will not prevent international spread, and represent a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.”

According to the WHO, these measures ”can have a negative impact on global health efforts during a pandemic by discouraging countries from reporting and sharing epidemiological and sequencing data.“

”People are not in good health or are at risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19 disease or dying, including those aged 60 years or older or those with comorbidities (for example, heart disease, cancer and diabetes), should be advised to postpone their trips,“ the WHO recommended.

The organization also urged all travelers to ”remain vigilant“, get vaccinated and abide by public health regulations, regardless of their vaccination status, and insisted on the importance of face masks, physical distancing and proper ventilation in addition to coughing or sneezing into a folded elbow and keeping their hands washed or sanitized regularly.

The WHO also advised member countries to improve surveillance and sequencing of cases; share genome sequences in publicly available databases; report initial cases or clusters; and conduct field investigations and laboratory evaluations.

”Preliminary evidence suggests that there may be a greater risk of reinfection [among people who have recovered from C19],“ said the WHO over the weekend, while the transmissibility and severity of the Omicron strain and its symptoms was still under analysis, which also applied to ”the performance of vaccines and diagnostic tests and the efficacy of treatments.”

BAS team to study quick response to whales mass stranding with satellite technology

Tuesday, November 23rd 2021 
Full article0 comments

‘Cetacean Strandings from Space’ infographic created by Lead Author Penny Clarke.

An international team of scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey have published research on using new technology to study mass stranding of whales from space and how the technology could be used to help protect populations.

The study published in Frontiers in Marine Science found that studying high–resolution satellite imagery could help build long–term cetacean (i.e. whales, dolphins and porpoises) stranding monitoring programs in remote regions and stranding networks globally. The team behind the study includes scientists from British Antarctic Survey, CEAZA (Center for Advanced Research in Arid Zones), Oceanswell and the University of Massey.

Whale strandings are becoming a critical ocean health issue and an increase in capacity to monitor and understand strandings is urgently required. The World Health Organization recently announced their ‘One Health’ approach, which recognizes oceanic conditions that impact whales often affect the marine ecosystem, with potential ramifications for human health too. Leading marine mammal experts made whale stranding response one of three core goals of the World Marine Mammal Conference in 2019.

The researches discuss making satellites a viable long-term monitoring tool, particularly for places where stranding response capacity is very limited and where surveys are infrequent. For remote regions, satellites could form an ‘early response’ tool, alerting managers to a problem and allowing for appropriate response, which could increase the likelihood of attaining useful diagnostic samples to understand exactly what is causing these events.

Penny Clarke, Lead Author of the study and PhD Researcher at British Antarctic Survey, said: “This study reveals that we need to increase the monitoring of mass strandings across the globe to greater understand cetacean populations, the threats they face and to evaluate the impact of future change. This is particularly important in remote regions, absent of stranding monitoring networks, where satellites offer an opportunity to gather baseline data in these regions.”

Dr Jennifer Jackson, Whale Biologist at British Antarctic Survey said: “As whale populations recover from whaling and suffer growing impacts from humans and from climate change, we need new tools to monitor these impacts, particularly in remote areas. Satellites hold a lot of promise for helping monitor those strandings over huge areas, as well as to look at local sea conditions, to help identify the causes faster, and make the right recommendations for ocean protection and management.”

Dr Asha de Vos, Founder and Executive Director of Oceanswell in Sri Lanka said: “Strandings happen across all our coastlines, but not all of us are equipped to monitor or document these events. Satellites provide us with a unique opportunity to monitor even the most far flung places but the key thing is increasing access. If we want to truly understand and protect our planet, we need to ensure equitable access to tools that can help us solve our greatest challenges together.”

The team analyzed satellite imagery collected from the Golfo de Penas, Chile in 2019, an area of annually recurring mass stranding events and the location of the original largest known mass stranding of baleen whales in 2015. The results show the power of satellites to deduce the timings of events, which could be vital for long-term monitoring programs.

The international team hope to challenge the current disparity in stranding monitoring efforts through use of satellites. They also call for collaborative partnerships between satellite providers and stranding networks governments and NGOs, for equal access to satellite imagery, a recommendation endorsed by the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee.

The research highlights the importance of collaborating across remote sensing specialisms to determine if satellites may help understand the environmental and human induced conditions before, during and after a mass stranding event. Other remotely sensed data could help to highlight changes in the ocean environment and to provide an early warning system to mitigate mass stranding events and develop more informed, knowledgeable and rapid response stranding networks.

Moving forward, the team plan to test the robustness of this technology by partnering with existing and efficient stranding networks in hotspot areas, such as New Zealand, to develop working protocols and automated detection procedures. Following this they will concentrate on remote priority locations such as: the Chilean Patagonia region; much of the West and Eastern coastlines of Africa; the Polar Regions; and coasts in politically turbulent regions such as the North West Indian Ocean.

Cetacean strandings from space: Challenges and opportunities of very high resolution satellites for the remote monitoring of cetacean mass strandings by Penny J. Clarke, Hannah C. Cubaynes, Karen A. Stockin, Carlos Olavarria, Asha de Vos, Peter T. Fretwell and Jennifer A. Jackson is published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Read the paper on their website

Why China and India aren’t the climate villains of COP26

Saturday, November 20th 2021 
THE CONVERSATION

Providing 37% of the world’s energy, coal is the single largest source of electricity generation globally

By Daniel Parsons and Martin Taylor (*) 

The Glasgow Climate Pact urges countries to “accelerate efforts towards phasing down”, rather than “phasing out”, coal power that isn’t mitigated by carbon capture and storage.

This subtle change to the text surfaced at the end of COP26, the latest UN climate change conference, at the insistence of India and China. So are these two countries to blame for the summit’s disappointing outcome, as many are suggesting?

Largely formed from plants and animals buried in the Carboniferous period 359 to 299 million years ago, fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are found on every continent. But their global distribution is not even – India and China have significant coal resources, but comparatively little natural gas.

Providing 37% of the world’s energy, coal is the single largest source of electricity generation globally. It is projected to remain the leading energy source into the 2030s, particularly because its use in India in China is still growing.

The UK has reduced its carbon emissions by switching from coal power to natural gas. Coal generated 41% of the country’s electricity in 2012, while natural gas made up 25%. A decade later, coal is almost non-existent in the UK’s energy mix and natural gas is the largest source.

Over half of the 30% reduction in the UK’s carbon emissions during the past decade were due to this switch from coal to gas, with the rest driven by a rapid increase in renewable generation.

Why natural gas burns cleaner than coal is due to a quirk of chemistry. The amount of CO₂ produced when a given fuel is burned is largely a function of the elements it’s comprised of. Natural gas is mostly carbon and hydrogen. This combination has a very high energy content relative to other fuels, and so, it produces relatively less CO₂ emissions for each unit of energy-burning it generates.

Impurities such as sulphur, which are common in coal, increase how much CO₂ is generated for each unit of heat. This means even the highest quality coal produces double the CO₂ emissions of natural gas per unit of energy.

Energy demand is closely linked with productivity. As economies like China and India rapidly grow and develop, their energy demand is expected to rise in tandem. But their ability to follow the UK in switching from coal to natural gas as a primary source of electricity generation is limited because they have comparatively less natural gas. The UK produces over half its natural gas from the North Sea and has made a lot of progress in ditching coal.

Per person, emissions in both China and India are still substantially lower than in almost all developed countries. India’s per-person emissions are less than one-quarter of the global average, and roughly one-tenth of those of the US. Close to a quarter of all carbon emissions come from manufacturing products that are exported and consumed in other countries. Textiles and clothes exported from India and South Asia account for over 4% of global emissions.

Labelling India and China as the chief villains of COP26 is a convenient narrative.

The financial aid which rich countries promised yet failed to deliver as part of the Paris Agreement signed in 2015 was supposed to help developing countries dump coal for cleaner sources of energy. And while the world berated India and China for weakening the Glasgow Climate Pact’s coal resolution, few questioned the fossil fuel projects being floated in developed nations, like the UK’s Cambo oilfield and the Line 3 oil pipeline between Canada and the US.

Switching from coal to gas offers a quick and partial win for reducing CO₂ emissions, but doing it depends on geology and geography. A rapid switch to renewable energy sources is easier when energy demand isn’t growing as fast like it is in rapidly developing countries. These countries need financial assistance from richer countries to make that leap. Until that is delivered, developed countries have no right to lay the disappointment of COP26 at the feet of China and India.

(The Conversation)
(*) Daniel Parsons, Professor of Sedimentology and Director, Energy & Environment Institute, University of Hull. Martin Taylor, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Energy and Environment, University of Hull

Chile planning an optical fiber cable from Puerto Williams to Antarctica

Monday, November 29th 2021 

MERCOPRESS

The cable “reaffirms Chile's leadership in the continent and our efforts to place it at the heart of communications for the interests of science,” said Minister Hutt

The regional government of Magallanes extreme south of Chile signed an agreement with the Telecommunications ministry and Country Development Secretariat to study the feasibility of an optical fiber from the region to the Antarctic peninsula.

The project is expected to begin next year will look into the different options plus the technical, financial, market and legal challenges of such an undertaking. The idea is to provide the scientific and military bases in the peninsula with a faster internet, which should also benefit the cruise industry and other undertakings.

Chilean authorities are aware it won't be easy or cheap since the thousand kilometers line will demand a heavy investment, but considered in the long term it will pay itself and ensure a great step forward for Chile in international affairs and presence, as Magallanes will connect Antarctica with the rest of the world..

The Telecommunications Under Secretary, Francisco Moreno, the elected regional governor of Magallanes Jorge Flies and the General Manager of Country Development, Patricio Rey signed the agreement. Apparently the continent connection is planned from Puerto Williams, since there is sufficient infrastructure.

The Chilean minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Gloria Hutt, in a video link said that the agreement reaffirms Chile's commitment with Antarctica. “To begin studying conditions for the first submarine optical fiber cable reaffirms Chile's leadership in the continent and our efforts to place it at the heart of communications for the interests of science and progress for the whole of humanity. As government we are determined to crystallize the project and contribute strategically to the concerns of the international community and increase scientific cooperation”

Under Secretary Moreno added that despite Antarctica being a continent dedicated to scientific research it has huge limitations such as insufficient digital connectivity. With this project we aspire that a great flow of scientific information from the different research centers in Antarctica such as climate change, biologic evolution can circulate to the rest of the world through Chilean communications networks. We are giving the first step to create a digital Antarctic hub and consolidate Chile as the digital hub of the region”.

The Antipodas project, a US$2 Billion Subsea Solar Power Cable From Chile To China
Friday, November 19th 2021 - 
Full article

The so-called Antípodas project will be based on the enormous solar energy potential of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world

By Halev Zaremba Oilprice.com

 – One of the biggest challenges standing in the way of achieving a 100% renewable energy transition is the fact that key sources of renewable power including wind and solar are variable - meaning that they don’t supply a steady flow of energy production. Instead, they are dependent on external factors such as weather, daylight hours, and seasons.

This unpredictability poses unique challenges to the energy sector, and there are many different approaches to solving the problem - all of which are a long way away from being able to support a sweeping green energy transition without some serious investment, research, and development efforts.

To manage these waxing and waning in-flows and out-flows of energy to the grid, grid infrastructure will have to be seriously remodelled and made “smart” to better calculate, account for, and predict the minutiae of energy supply and demand throughout the day. Energy storage technologies, which are designed to capture excess energy when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining and feed that energy back into the grid when demand outstrips supply, are myriad and range from the extremely simple to the futuristic.

Energy storage is a fast-growing sector that promises to be a huge industry in the future, but many of these technologies are in their nascence, and startups are still clamouring to win the attention of investors with deep pockets to dictate which technological direction the future of the sector will take.

And then there’s an entirely different approach to solving the issue of variability - importing energy from the opposite side of the globe and building a solar empire so vast that the sun never sets. This strategy is part of a new agreement being developed between Chile and China. The two governments are currently planning to build a submarine cable running along the bottom of the ocean to export photovoltaic energy from South America to East Asia, according to the Chilean solar energy association (ACESOL).

During Chile’s National Meeting of Entrepreneurs (ENADE), Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said that “through the cable, the electricity produced by between 200 and 600 GW of photovoltaic generation capacity may transmit power to Asian countries when it is daytime in Chile and nighttime across the Pacific, or when it is winter in Asia and summer in the southern hemisphere,” as summed up by PV Magazine this week. The cable will be 15,000 km long and is projected to cost about US$2 billion.

The so-called Antípodas project will be based on the enormous solar energy potential of Chile’s the Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar desert in the world. While temperatures in the Atacama are usually relatively temperate, they can soar to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). The almost entirely cloudless desert is the region in the world with the highest rates of solar radiation, making it a prime location for a solar farm.

Getting all that solar energy to Chinese markets, however, may be tricky. On top of the hefty price tag of the cable itself, China will have to seriously invest in building out its solar plant infrastructure to make way for Chile’s prodigious 3,106 MW of already-installed photovoltaic capacity. It will also require a lot of geopolitical deal-making between Chile, China, and other Asian economies.

China is eager to secure energy imports from all around the globe as the world’s second-largest economy continues to expand and its already ravenous industrial sector continues to demand even more energy. China is currently feeling a tight energy squeeze and has leaned heavily on coal production to fill the supply gaps, showing just how difficult it will be for China to keep up with its energy needs while also meeting its climate pledges, freshly renewed and redoubled at this month’s COP26 climate conference. This deal with the Desert bodes well for China’s energy supply as well as its ability to make good on its decarburization goals.

Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms

Tuesday, November 23rd 2021 - 

THE CONVERSATION

Pathways for non native species. Dana M Bergstrom

By Dana M Bergstrom and Shavawn Donoghue – We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is busier than you probably imagine, with many national programs and tourist operators crisscrossing the globe to get there.

And each vessel, each cargo item, and each person could be harbouring non-native species, hitchhiking their way south. This threat to Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem is what our new evaluation, grapples with.

We mapped the last five years of planes and ships visiting the continent, illuminating for the first time the extent of travel across the hemispheres and the potential source locations for non-native species, as the map below shows. We found that, luckily, while some have breached Antarctica, they generally have yet to get a stranglehold, leaving the continent still relatively pristine.

But Antarctica is getting busier, with new research stations, rebuilding and more tourism activities planned. Our challenge is to keep it pristine under this growing human activity and climate change threat.

Life evolved in isolation

Biodiversity-wise, much of the planet is mixed up. The scientific term is homogenization, where species, such as weeds, pests and diseases, from one place are transported elsewhere and established. This means they begin to reproduce and influence the ecosystem, often to the detriment of the locals.

Most life in Antarctica is jammed onto tiny coastal ice-free fringes, and this is where most research stations, ships and people are.

This includes unique animals (think Adélie penguins, Weddell seals and snow petrels), mosses and lichens that harbour tiny invertebrates (such as mites, water-bears and springtails), and an array of microbes such as cyanobacteria. The adjacent coast and ocean team with life, too.

The more we learn about them, the more outstanding life at the end of the planetary spectrum becomes. Just this week, new scientific discoveries identified that some Antarctic bacteria live on air, and make their water using hydrogen as fuel.

When the Southern Ocean has formed some 30 million years ago, natural barriers were created with the rest of the world. This includes the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the strongest ocean current on the planet, and its associated strong westerly surface winds, icy air and ocean temperatures.

This means life in Antarctica evolved in isolation, with flora and fauna that commonly exist nowhere else and can cope with frigid conditions. But the simplicity of Antarctica’s food webs can often mean there are gaps in the ecosystem that other species from around the world can fill.

In May 2014, for example, routine biosecurity surveillance detected non-native springtails (tiny insect-like invertebrates) in a hydroponic facility at an Australian Antarctic station.

This station, an ice-free oasis, previously lacked these interlopers, and they had the potential to alter the local fragile ecosystem permanently. Thankfully, a rapid and effective response successfully eradicated them.

Pressures from climate change are exacerbating the challenges of human activity on Antarctica, as climate change is bringing milder conditions to these wildlife-rich areas, both on land and sea.

As glaciers melt, new areas are exposed, which allows non-Antarctic species greater opportunity to establish and possibly outcompete locals for resources, such as nutrients and precious, ice-free space.

So far, we’ve been lucky

Our past research focused on non-native propagules – things that propagate like microbes, viruses, seeds, spores, insects and pregnant rats – and how they entrain themselves into Antarctica.

They can be easily caught on people’s clothing and equipment, in fresh food, cargo and machinery. Research from the last decade found that visitors who hadn’t cleaned their clothing and equipment carried on average nine seeds each.

But few non-native species have been established in Antarctica, despite their best efforts.

To date, only 11 non-native invertebrate species – including springtails, mites, a midge and an earthworm – have been established across a range of locations in the warmer parts of Antarctica, including Signy Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. In the marine realm, some non-native species have been seen but it’s thought none have survived and been established.

Microbes are another matter. Each visitor to Antarctica carries millions of microbial passengers, and many of these microbes are left behind. Around most research stations, human gut microbes from sewage have mingled with native microbes, including exchanging antibiotic resistance genes.

Last year, for example, a rare harmful bacteria, pathogenic to both humans and birds, was detected in guano (poo) from both Adélie and gentoo penguin colonies at sites with high rates of human visitors. COVID-19 also made its way to Antarctica last December.

Both these cases risk so-called “reverse zoonosis”, where humans spread disease to local wildlife.

What do we do about it?

Three factors have helped maintain Antarctica’s near-pristine status: the physical isolation, cold conditions and cooperation between nations through the Antarctic Treaty. The Treaty is underpinned by the Environmental Protocol, which aims to prevent and respond to threats and pressures to the continent.

There is unanimous commitment from Antarctic Treaty nations towards preventing the establishment of non-native species. This includes adopting a science-based, non-native species, which provides guidance on how to prevent, monitor, and respond to introductions of non-native species.

But time is of the essence. We must better prepare for the inevitable arrival of more non-native species to prevent them from establishing, as we continue to break the barriers protecting Antarctica. One approach is to tailor the newly developed 3As approach to environmental management: Awareness of values, Anticipation of the pressures, Action to stem the pressures.

This means ramping up monitoring, taking note of predictions of what non-native species could sneak through biosecurity and establish under new conditions, and putting in place pre-determined response plans to act quickly when they do.

(*) Dana M Bergstrom, Principal Research Scientist, University of Wollongong, and Shavawn Donoghue , Adjunct Researcher, University of Tasmania

Unauthorized works kill hundreds of penguins in Chubut

Tuesday, November 30th 2021 - 
MERCOPRESS

The perpetrator faces up to one year in jail

A landowner in the town of Punta Tombo in the Argentine Province of Chubut is to be prosecuted under the Law of Cruelk Treatment Against Animals after crushing several penguin nests and electrocuting over a hundred of the birds living at the local natural wildlife reserve some 110 kilometres south from Rawson, the provincial capital.

According to specialists, penguins are born around this time of the year. hence, the damage caused to the local fauna is irreparable, it was reported.

Chubut's Ministry of Tourism has filed criminal charges against a Punta Tombo resident who built an unauthorized path crossing the entire countryside all the way to the sea shore, destroying over 140 nests along its way. In addition to that, he installed an electricity wiring, which killed hundreds of adult birds asa well.

The owner of the property bordering the Punta Tombo Natural Reserve used heavy machinery which crushed the nests, where on average three eggs are laid.

Prosecutor Florencia Gómez, explained that the perpetrator buried “all the nests of penguin chicks, in an area of high density.”

”We believe (the intention) was to have direct access to the coast, but for that it would have been necessary to have a prior authorization and a study to analyze the environmental impact.“ Hence the ”irreparable damage,“ Gómez stressed.

The state attorney also explained that the fence was electrified, which ”caused many adult penguins to die by electrocution.”

The perpetrator is to be charged under the animal abuse law, although other additional counts may be filed, depending on what the forensic canvassing of the property yields.

Wildlife guards of the reserve were on an expedition when they spotted hundreds of crushed nests and dead penguins. The road, which extended from the property to the coast, was made without authorization and with a tall machine. Those same guards were to join CSI units inspecting the area for further evidence.

Punta Tombo is a natural habitat to Magellanic penguins.

According to Law 14346, the perpetrator faces up to one year in jail for his acts of cruelty against the animals.

The Punta Tombo reserve, with a surface of 210 hectares, becomes the most populated on the continent with more than a million penguins when the family is complete. Other seabirds also live in the area, such as cormorants, kelp gulls, southern gulls, terns, skuas and oystercatchers; as well as mammals such as guanacos, maras, foxes, piches and furry and other scavengers lured by the eggs.

Russian company finds oil off the coast of Tabasco in Mexico

Thursday, November 25th 2021 

MERCOPRESS

Lukoil entered the Mexican market after the 2013 energy reform

Russia's Lukoil oil company Wednesday announced the finding of an oil reserve off the coast of Tabasco in Mexico believed to be worth 250 million barrels of crude. ”The reservoir was discovered when drilling the Yoti West-1EXP well from the semi-submersible platform Valaris 8505,” according to a company statement.

This finding is located on a sandbank in upper Miocene sediments with high permeability and an effective oil-saturated thickness of about 25 meters, experts have told the media. Named Yoti West-1Exp, the well was drilled from the Valaris 8505 semi-submersible drilling platform 60 kilometers offshore.

Following the discovery, Lukoil plans to develop an evaluation plan for the Yoti West field, which will be based on drilling results. “Based on the results of the drilling, it is planned to prepare an evaluation plan for the Yoti West field,” the statement said. The plan now needs approval from the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH).

Since 2017, Lukoil Lubricants México has been granted exploration rights in Block 12 in the Gulf of Mexico on a 60/40 arrangement with the Italian energy company ENI.

Lukoil is one of the largest Russian oil producers and has offices in Moscow and the United States.

This year, Lukoil and Eni have already drilled two prospecting wells in Block 10, where ENI is the operator and Lukoil has 20%, and they have announced the discovery of a field with initial reserves of up to 200 million barrels of crude.

The Russian company entered the Mexican market after the 2013 energy reform. Together with ENI, it was among the first to sign a contract with Mexico's Pemex following the energy reform implemented under former President Enrique Peña Nieto.

In 2017, both companies were granted the right to drill in Block 12, which has an area of 521 square kilometers.

News from Latin America and Mercosur — MercoPress