Nations commit to get nature goals back on track at COP17 summit

Yerevan (AFP) – Nearly 200 nations struck hard-fought agreements Friday at a UN biodiversity summit, but the outcome was accompanied by disappointment over missed opportunities to address humanity's destructive toll on nature.


Issued on:  31/10/2026 -  RFI

Delegates cheered as the crucial texts were approved in overtime

 © Karen MINASYAN / AFP



Delegates cheered as crucial texts were approved in overtime but the celebrations were tempered by acrimonious debates and regret over limited progress on some of the most contentious issues.

The COP17 summit in Armenia sought to revive a landmark commitment to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by 2030 after global efforts to meet that goal fell short.

Over two bruising weeks in Yerevan, nations were urged to correct course to keep the pact alive and protect the plants, animals and ecosystems that sustain life on Earth.

The United Nations had warned that progress was insufficient to meet the goals of the 2030 target including protecting 30 percent of Earth's land and oceans, tackling pollution and invasive species, and boosting money for conservation.

"And that's it. Perfect," said COP17 president Hambardzum Matevosyan in Armenia as he brought down the gavel on two major texts, the final versions of which were still not available early Saturday.

But the outcome was "not commensurate" with the crisis engulfing the natural world, said French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut on Saturday.

"The progress we failed to achieve here is a series of missed opportunities to speed up our response to the loss of biodiversity," Barbut said in a lengthy statement sent to AFP, stressing that "nature will not wait for the pace of our negotiations."

Cop17 races for desertification deal as report warns half world’s soils under threat

'Step forward'

The final plenary stretched through Friday night and well into the next morning, with negotiations turning sour as the hours dragged on.

Even as some delegates left to catch flights, others stayed behind to argue technical points.

Veteran COP observer Juliette Landry from the IDDRI think tank told AFP "there was a lot of push and pull in every direction" throughout the summit and "in that context, it's hard to get things accepted".

UN biodiversity chief Astrid Schomaker said the summit had achieved some "quite remarkable things at a moment when multilateralism is supposedly not functioning."

"Some of these more difficult subjects, we could not expect to have strong negotiated commitments. That was never the plan," she told reporters after the summit's close.

In a draft agreement of one closely watched text, nations were urged to "accelerate" their efforts and warned that "increased action" was needed to tackle the forces driving biodiversity loss.

This "represents a positive outcome... and though there are weaknesses, particularly on harmful subsidies, it does represent a step forward," Guido Broekhoven from WWF International told AFP.

Tackling subsidies and other incentives that encourage activities harmful to nature – such as fossil fuels, intensive agriculture and overfishing – was one of the most politically fraught agenda items at the summit.

"Even though the agreed decision text expresses it in weak terms, COP17 saw important political momentum to address harmful financial incentives, including subsidies," An Lambrechts from Greenpeace International told AFP.

A rare fight over science cast a pall over the summit, with a number of countries accused of undermining efforts to approve key reports in scenes that shocked even seasoned negotiators.

"We regret the increasing instances in which scientific evidence and its uptake has been challenged or constrained" by politics, said Swiss negotiator Gabriela Blatter in a statement on behalf of dozens of countries.

"Our delegations fully respect every state's right to safeguard national interest but science is not negotiable".

Nations accused of undermining science at UN nature talks

The final, agreed, version of the document was not immediately available

 © STRINGER / AFP

Finance feud

A separate row revolved around finding new cash sources to fund conservation efforts – another hot-button issue with public budgets under strain amid an energy crisis and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The European Union led a charge for wealthy emerging economies such as China to contribute to global conservation efforts, a contentious issue at COP17.

In a sign of possible compromise, another draft text that circulated Friday invited countries outside the developed-country donors to voluntarily join the group.

Outstanding questions over the design of the Cali Fund – a UN mechanism that hoped to attract billions of dollars in corporate contributions but is close to empty – were left unresolved.

"By punting essential decisions to two years from now, parties have all but ensured the fund remains empty until then," said Pakhi Das from the nonprofit organisation Plant-for-the-Planet.

The COP17 summit decided early Saturday that Ecuador would host the next biodiversity talks in 2028 after the South American nation defeated rival candidate Panama in a secret vote.

US and Russia block competing UN resolutions on Western Sahara

The mandate for a UN-led peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara is set to end on Saturday after Russia and the United States vetoed each other's draft resolutions on extending the 35-year-old mission.


Issued on: 31/10/2026 - RFI

MINURSO personnel, seen here in 2020, are now in limbo since their mandate to continue a peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara expired on 31 October. © Fadel Senna / AFP

The peacekeeping force, known by the acronym MINURSO, was established in 1991 to oversee a ceasefire and settlement plan between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front.

The two sides have disputed control of Western Sahara for 50 years.

Morocco claims sovereignty over the former Spanish colony; Polisario Front separatists, supported by Algeria and who represent the indigenous Sahrawi people, are seeking to establish an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic.

As of June this year MINURSO comprised 359 civilian and military personnel, according to its website.

US and Russia vetoes

On Friday, the United States tabled a draft resolution a the UN Security Council to extend the mission until 30 April, 2027. It would have put a Moroccan autonomy plan at the centre of efforts to settle the conflict and cut the mission's military component.

It would also have changed the name of the force from MINURSO to MINUSO, dropping the "R" that refers to a referendum on the territory's self-determination.

Eleven of the council's 15 members voted in favour, and three countries including China and Pakistan abstained.

However Russia, a permament council member, used its veto to block the US proposal, slamming it as a "unilateral approach". Moscow proposed the mission's mandate be renewed under the same terms as before.

"We stress the fact that the Security Council cannot automatically pre-determine matters relating to sovereignty," Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said.

"The Security Council must not give a blessing to such a one-sided approach. Therefore we were compelled to block the adoption of ⁠the draft."

The US then vetoed the Russian proposal, and the countries that supported the American resolution abstained.

"Some members of this council have used their veto to preserve the letter 'R' – for the referendum – and the name that the United Nations hasn't even been preparing to hold for decades," said US Ambassador Mike Waltz.

The representative of France, Jerome Bonnafont, denounced "Russia's obstruction".

Ceuta and Western Sahara at heart of US-Morocco rapprochement

Satisfaction

Morocco's Royal Cabinet on Friday welcomed the nonrenewal of the peacekeeping mandate and said this "should mark the end of the Security Council's involvement and the removal of this issue from its agenda".

Algeria's representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, thanked Russia "as well as all the countries that chose not to be associated with such a blatant injustice".

Bendjama affirmed that Algeria would continue to promote "a solution that guarantees the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination".

The Polisario Front's representative in New York, Sidi Omar, also expressed his "satisfaction" following the rejection of the US resolution.

Last year, the Security Council under US leadership gave unprecedented support to Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, deeming it the "most feasible" solution, despite Algeria's hostility.

A Spanish colony until 1975, mineral-rich Western Sahara is largely controlled by Morocco but is considered a non-self-governing territory by the UN.

INTERVIEW


'Working in Russia is like being a deep-sea diver', BBC's man in Moscow tells RFI

How does one report, from its capital, on the reality of Russia at war? Based in Moscow for more than 30 years, the BBC's Russia correspondent Steve Rosenberg is one of the few Western journalists still working in the country. He spoke to RFI about his daily life as a reporter in Russia and why he has chosen to stay, despite the Kremlin's increasing hostility to foreign media.


Issued on:  02/11/2026 - RFI

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Russia correspondent since 2003, is one of the few Western journalists still working in the country. © BBC

Rosenberg is well known in Russia. The fame he has gained asking Russia's political leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, direct and unflinching questions during televised press conferences means he is often approached in the street – encounters he says are overwhelmingly positive.

"Very often, people come up to shake my hand or ask for a selfie... it says a lot about what's happening in the country," he said. "In my view, it shows that the massive wave of anti-Western propaganda disseminated by state media hasn't reached the entire population."

On a recent visit to France to attend the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents – which held a screening of the BBC documentary Our Man in Moscow, following a year in Rosenberg's life reporting from Russia – he sat down with RFI.

RFI: How has it felt being out of Russia in Western Europe, in France?

Steve Rosenberg: Every time I leave Russia, which isn't very often, and arrive in Europe or go back home to the UK, I initially find it strange to step out of this bubble I live and work in. But I think it's important to leave Russia every few months, take a step back, and look at what's happening there from a distance before going back.

In a way, working in Russia today is a bit like being a deep-sea diver. You descend below the surface, into a very strange environment where the pressure is intense. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, I felt as if a huge wave had engulfed the Russia I knew.

And so, from time to time, it's important to surface – remove your regulator, if you like – and breathe before diving again. When I leave the country, I want to return because it fascinates me and I want to know what will happen. But it's important to release the pressure from time to time.

France ‘dismayed’ over Russia’s ban on Reporters Without Borders

RFI: You first arrived in Russia in 1991, initially to teach English, later becoming a BBC correspondent. Do you remember a moment when the Russia you knew truly changed? Was there a turning point, or was it something that unfolded gradually?

SR: When you're in the midst of a tornado, it's difficult to see everything that's happening. It's only in retrospect that you realise, "ah, that was the precise moment when something changed".

Looking back, I feel like I've known four different Russias. I saw the end of Soviet Russia – I spent a year studying in Moscow in 1990. So I experienced the last gasps of the Soviet Union. Then I witnessed its collapse in 1991.

And I saw 1990's Russia, the first decade of independent Russia, which was full of chaos, full of hope, as well, that Russia and the West were going to be friends, and this would be a new era of peace, but also an era of chaos, many Russians get impoverished, the wars in Chechnya..."

Then there was Putin's Russia, the first version. His rise to power in 2000 marked a different Russia. There were worrying signs from the start, but it seemed Putin wanted to improve relations with Europe and the West. The economy was growing. Oil prices were high. Then, gradually, the country became more authoritarian.

Finally, I've experienced post-2022 Russia, which I often call Z-Russia. The Z is one of the symbols of what the Kremlin calls the "special military operation" in Ukraine. It's a very different Russia, much more authoritarian, with more repressive laws. A country at war with its neighbour and with ever-increasing internal repression.

RFI: Were you surprised that Putin went so far as to invade Ukraine?

SR: Yes, absolutely. I didn't think he would make that decision. It was a belligerent show of force by the Kremlin. That day I was on air all day, until late into the night. When I finished my last live broadcast, I sat down and, for the first time, I truly grasped the magnitude of what had just happened. I understood that life would never be the same again. Not only for Russia, but also for Europe, for the West.

And I'm certain Putin didn't think it would be a war. I'm certain he must have been convinced that in a matter of days, or weeks at most, the Ukrainian government would collapse in Kyiv, a pro-Moscow regime would be installed and the whole thing would remain a military operation. But the authorities clearly miscalculated.

On a street in Moscow, a screen shows an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin behind an electronic board promoting contract military service in the Russian army, 19 December 2024. © Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

RFI: Let's talk about how you do your job in Moscow for the BBC. You have to renew your visas and accreditations every three months, how does that affect the way you work?

SR: Previously, we received one-year visas and accreditations, multiple-entry visas... But since the invasion of Ukraine, journalists from so-called "unfriendly countries" only receive three-month visas. And the UK is on that list. So we have to renew our visas and accreditations every three months.

At first, as the expiration date approaches, you inevitably wonder if they will renew it or not. I imagine that's exactly how the authorities want us to feel. But I've come to understand that there's no point in worrying. I can't do anything if one day they decide not to renew my visa, I won't be able to influence their decision. So there's no point in worrying or keeping a suitcase packed.

RFI: Since 2022, you also have to think differently about the people you meet, where you meet them and how you interact with them. Tell us about that.

SR: We obviously have to think very carefully about who we talk to and who we put on air or show. After February 2022, a whole series of repressive laws were passed in Russia to silence dissenting voices and punish those critical of the authorities and the war. So we have an obligation to ensure the safety of the people we put on air.

When I conduct [interviews with ordinary people in the streets] I don't directly ask people: "are you for the war or are you against the war?", because that could get them into trouble. But there are many other questions that allow us to gauge public opinion and understand what's happening.

There are also places we can no longer go that we used to. For example, for the past two or three years, the BBC hasn't been granted permission to go to the Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk regions bordering Ukraine – where bombings and drone attacks obviously generate a lot of stories. Now you need special permission to go to these regions, which isn't being granted. We keep applying, but for now we can't go.

I read the Russian press and regularly publish a review of it, because the newspapers say a lot about what's happening in the country. Even in a highly controlled media environment, they reflect the developments taking place in Moscow. And the authorities can't accuse me of spreading propaganda if I report what's in the newspapers.

Headlines in Russia media on 22 February 2022, as Putin announced the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. © AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr

RFI: Is it difficult now trying to convince people to talk to you?

SR: We used to have a very long list of contributors, experts and commentators we could contact to talk about all sorts of topics: culture, music, politics, economics. And then after 2022 – actually, this had started before the full-scale invasion – some people began refusing our interview requests. That long list became extremely short.

Some people are afraid to speak to the BBC. They don't want to risk being accused of associating with a major Western media outlet. Others have left the country.

What surprises me is that ordinary people always agree to talk to us in the street. Wherever we go, in cities, small towns or villages, we stop passersby. I always introduce myself, specifying that I work for the BBC. Of course, not everyone agrees to talk, but if you stop people on Oxford Street in London, not everyone will answer your questions either. Many people agree to talk to us, and that's encouraging.

RFI: Freedom of the press is virtually non-existent in Russia today. When you ask Putin a question during his annual December press conference, is the question sometimes more important than the answer?

SR: First of all, there's no guarantee I'll get the floor. But when I do have the opportunity, I know it's a huge responsibility. I have to think about the question I'm going to ask, and what the Russians watching live across the country will hear.

It's not easy because you rarely get a follow-up question – once the question is asked, they take the microphone away. But even a single question to Putin and a single answer can shed light on his way of thinking.

One time [after I had asked a question], the next day the security guard in our building said: "Steve, the question you asked our president yesterday is a question we're all asking ourselves." It teaches you something about what people are thinking.

I would love to be able to conduct a real interview with Putin. So far, my attempts have failed. I've interviewed [Belarusian President Aleksandr] Lukashenko twice, in lengthy sessions. He's a very different character from Putin. He answers everything and seems to enjoy a kind of duel during the interview.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on 19 December 2025. © AFP - ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL

RFI: Why do you think it's important to be there on the ground?

SR: Being there in person has real value. If you're not there, if there are no more foreign correspondents, everything becomes black or white. All Russians seem black, and the whole country too. But when you're there, we can see the nuances.

I'll give you an example. I was returning to Moscow after a reporting trip and we stopped at a petrol station about 200 kilometres from the city. I wanted to buy some biscuits. As I was approaching to pay, another customer recognised me. He came up to me and asked if I was a reporter. I replied yes. He told me: "I saw your reports somewhere, maybe on YouTube." And he said he wanted to pay for my biscuits. I told him he didn't have to, that it was very kind but not necessary. He insisted, and he paid. Then he came to shake my hand with a big smile before leaving. It's these small interactions that teach us a lot about what's going on.

It's not just about knowing what the president says and thinks, but also what ordinary Russians say and think.

RFI: You've been reporting from Russia for more than 25 years now. In Our Man in Moscow, you say you want to stay to tell the end of this story. Is it important for you to see it through to the end?

SR: Yes, I tell myself that all the time, but is it realistic? When will this story end? In a way, Russia resembles a vast Tolstoy novel – it's War and Peace. Unfortunately, more war than peace in this moment. We turn the pages wondering how the novel will end, but it seems to go on forever. It just keeps going. One Russia replaces another, then another.

This interview has been adapted from the original version by RFI's French service and edited for length and clarity.

INTERVIEW

'African leaders are not naive, they will partner with whoever makes the best offer’

The third Russia-Africa Summit took place in Moscow this week, with 48 African nations sending delegations. It comes as Moscow grapples with sanctions and isolation over its Ukraine offensive, while African governments turn to it for security assistance. However, geopolitical analyst Priyal Singh tells RFI that despite this, Russia still lags behind China in its influence on the continent.


Issued on: 31/10/2026 - RFI

Vladimir Putin with, to his right, Evariste Ndayishimiye, president of Burundi and African Union chair, at a meeting with leaders of African organisations at the 2026 Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow. © Reuters/Maxim Shipenkov

By: Zeenat Hansrod


Addressing African leaders in Moscow, Russia's President Vladimir Putin described a partnership with Russia as an alternative to traditional allies – who he referred to as a "narrow bloc of states" which determine "the destinies of entire continents".

This narrative of breaking away from old allies or former colonial powers is one that has also been deployed by China. However, Chinese trade with African countries dwarfs Russia's – at $348 billion recorded in 2025 compared to $27 billion.

Priyal Singh, a geopolitical analyst at risk advisory firm Signal Risk and senior research consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, told RFI why the two powers cannot be compared in terms of their relationships with African countries, and how Africa leverages these for its own gain.

RFI: Do China and Russia have rival interests in Africa?

Priyal Singh: China and Russia structurally are two very different international actors and represent two very different types of partners for most African countries.

China, of course, has incredibly deep pockets. It has an incredibly extensive network of commercial engagements with many African states that go back many years. Whereas the story of Russia is quite different because following the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia largely retreated from the African continent to focus on its more immediate pressing political, security and strategic interests closer to home.

And during much of that period, a whole set of other global actors and global powers kind of stepped into that void and made considerable headway. Russia then pivoted back towards the African continent. It began in earnest in the late 2000s amongst a handful of African countries, but we saw a much more acute and targeted engagement with African countries in very recent years, particularly in the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

I think Moscow looks towards the African continent as a critical theatre for it to reestablish its presence and to deepen its engagements, as a concerted effort to circumvent Western isolation and Western sanctions. But materially, Russia is still very, very much playing catch-up to the likes of China. I mean, let alone the likes of China – other global powers like India, for example, you'd often find have far more substantial and deeper commercial engagements across the African continent.

Vladimir Putin pictured with African leaders at the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow on 29 October. © Reuters/Anastasia Barashkova

And one clear distinction I'd make is that Russia's game plan for strategic influence and engagements across the African continent is quite distinct in different parts of the continent.

In the Sahel region, Russia plays a far more overt security role, working with those governments in the Sahel, providing arms, military support, technical training and, of course, the role and influence of its state-backed private security providers are also very pronounced in those regions. In Southern Africa, however, Russia maintains far more longstanding liberation-era ties to many of the ruling parties in this part of the world, and its engagements are far less security-orientated. It's far more commercially orientated.

Nevertheless, those engagements lag far behind the likes of China.

RFI: So Russia and China are not in competition, trying to carve up Africa between them?

PS: Not at all. I don't think there is that kind of overt competition between China and Russia in Africa. I think the competition is much more centred around Russian competition with Western actors, particularly the European Union, individual European member states, and, of course, the United States. But China, I would not see as being a major competitor for Russia, for it to try and displace and win influence across the African continent.

RFI: Russia uses language where it seems to be seeking to identify with the Global South. But the African leaders at this summit are not naive. What do they seek to gain from Russia?

PS: African leaders are not naive. For most African leaders, it's very clear that Russia is very much a major world power that has a seat at the United Nations Security Council, just like China does, and they are not a developing nation.

So, what do African countries want from Russia? Well, African countries want investment. They want partnerships that will spur on their own industrialisation. And most African countries will take that investment and will take that partnership from whoever is making the best offer. So whether it's coming from the United States or it's coming from Europe or China or Russia or India or Brazil, African countries are open to that kind of partnership.

And an additional factor is that all of these competing offers to help African countries develop their local industries, to diversify their critical mineral supply chains and so on, all ultimately work in favour of African countries because they can play one offer against the other.

Leaked files reveal Russia's blueprint to expand African Sahel alliance

RFI: Is Russia succeeding in extending its influence beyond the Sahel region, where it is firmly established?

PS: You're correct in saying that the real centre of Russia's security influence across the continent is centred in the Sahel region. I think Russia has found it quite difficult to expand beyond this hard security focus through arms sales, through technical cooperation.

But we have seen Russia attempt to branch out, especially in the provision of nuclear energy and infrastructure through Rosatom, a state nuclear energy corporation. And we've seen a lot of commitments around energy development.

But a lot of these remain largely framed as broad commitments. We haven't seen these commitments translate into firm agreements that have taken off on the ground. So there's still a large implementation gap in terms of what Russia can do outside of its security focus in the Sahel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during the plenary session of the third Russia-Africa summit, an event first held in 2019. © AP/Ivan Sekretarev

RFI: Russia has been weakened by the Ukraine war. On the economic front, does it have the means to invest significantly in Africa?

PS: Russia often is able to extract greater dividends from a relatively more meagre investment, be it diplomatic investments or economic investments. And this is because Russia has pursued a very kind of targeted strategy to gain access and influence, particularly in the Sahel, particularly across West Africa and into Central Africa and into East Africa and the Horn of Africa.

Those kinds of very targeted engagements in which Russia doesn't necessarily play by the same playbook as most Western actors have allowed it to basically gain access and influence with a much smaller cheque book. And it doesn't necessarily need to make the massive multi-million or multi-billion dollar infrastructural investments that its larger peers are able to do in Africa.

RFI: In that context, what appeal does Russia have for African nations?

PS: Maybe not looking towards African nations as a whole but political elites within a very select handful of certain African countries, Russia can bring those political elites into the fold. It can put very attractive offers on the table, providing security cooperation in exchange for access to critical minerals, to energy and so on.

And this is something that not many Western actors are able to do because Western actors have to abide by their own normative commitments. So Russia is able to provide an alternative avenue for political elites in Africa to engage with.

RFI: Can Russia's relations with some African states be summarised as military support in exchange for access to natural resources?

PS: Absolutely. I think a defining feature of Russia's security engagements – with most Sahel countries, with most West African and Central African countries – is largely transactional in nature. It's tit-for-tat security deals that allow African countries to barter influence and access to their critical minerals, their gold, their energy resources in exchange for regime security and support.

RFI: And with little regard for human rights?

PS: Absolutely.

RFI: This is the third Russia-Africa summit, held this year in Moscow. What is different this time round?

PS: During the time of the first summit [in 2019] much of the Western world still believed that its efforts to diplomatically isolate Moscow could work, and that African states would largely lend their support to Western actors in cutting off ties from Russia. I think where we are in 2026, it's a very different story.

That hope that many Western actors had has clearly proven [unfounded]. African countries are willing to work with all actors from all corners of the world – be it China, Russia, Gulf actors, Turkey, India and so on – so long as they are able to get the best possible deal, and then leverage all of these competing offers against one another.

African states really have no qualms about choosing one partner to displace another, so long as it is more attractive and it leads to perhaps more expeditious outcomes on the ground. So, I think that has been the fundamental change.

And the second fundamental change has, of course, been the United States and the second Trump administration, which has taken a very different approach in engaging with Russia. And again, that kind of isolation that Western Europe was perhaps hoping for is no longer seen as a very viable option in light of the fact that you have Washington and you have most of the global South not playing by the same playbook.

INTERVIEW

'Protecting the Congo's forests means protecting people's lives'

The forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are a haven for some of the world's rarest species – but despite being protected areas, they are under threat from conflict, poaching and deforestation. After global decision-makers gathered at the United Nations' Cop17 biodiversity summit this week, Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo, a ranger at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, says people on the frontline of wildlife protection deserve greater recognition.


Issued on: 01/11/2026 - RFI

Guides lead tours in the forest of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a few kilometres outside the city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 13 February 2022. © AFP - GUERCHOM NDEBO

Now assistant park manager at Kahuzi-Biega, Lukoo was formerly a ranger at nearby Virunga, the oldest national park in Africa.

From tropical forests to extinct volcanoes, snowfields to swamps and lava plains, the region is home to an exceptional range of habitats.

Yet its natural wealth makes it vulnerable to exploitation, whether from armed groups battling the national government or impoverished local communities struggling to survive.

Hundreds of rangers work to protect the parks and their wildlife, sometimes at risk to their own lives.

Lukoo, who also founded a football academy to engage young people in conservation and has written a memoir about his experiences, told RFI about the challenges of preserving nature in a conflict zone – and why he wishes rangers got more respect.

Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo, ranger and assistant park manager at Kahuzi-Biega National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo, pictured earlier this year. © Courtesy of Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo

RFI: Why is conservation work so important in your view?

Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo: These forests are part of Congolese heritage, but they also belong to the world. We're not just protecting them for ourselves, but for future generations – so they'll have the chance to come and experience the same thing we can.

It's also a source of income for the country: tourists come to visit the park and pay to see this biodiversity. Money comes in, and everyone benefits.

The climate is changing too. A few years ago, you couldn't just wear a shirt, you needed a sweater. That's no longer the case. We're also seeing rivers drying up, agricultural production declining, landslides. If we can breathe fresh air, it's because of all these forests and this biodiversity that we're protecting. We're protecting an ecological balance. Without trees there's no rain, no rivers.

Protecting the forests in the [DRC] means protecting people's lives. It's a huge responsibility.

RFI: In the DRC, rangers undergo intense training, similar to military recruits. Were you drawn to that aspect of the job?

EBL: I didn't start out wanting to be in the military. I've been passionate about nature ever since I was very young. Being in the Scouts taught me how to live in the forest, alongside animals. And I was born right next to a protected area. From a very young age, I witnessed the wonders of conservation. After completing my studies in humanitarian aid, I went to university and got a degree in environmental management.

You learn a lot when you're training to be a ranger: what conservation means, all about the protected area you'll be working in, how to navigate the forest without a compass, how to live alongside animals, who they are, why they need to be protected... But you also learn how to handle weapons. Eastern DRC has been a conflict zone for a long time. Rebel groups take refuge in protected areas.

As a result, park managers give rangers thorough paramilitary training so they can confront armed groups. This training is gruelling.

Nature conservation in the Congo isn't the same as elsewhere. For us, it's like being at war. When you go out on patrol, you don't think about coming back... Being a ranger in the east of the DRC is complicated. But you learn to love it.

RFI: Your role sees you handle everything from fighting off armed groups and poachers to tracking gorillas. What is ultimately the core of your mission?

EBL: It's protecting the territorial integrity of the reserve, the habitat and everyone who lives there against numerous threats – for instance, poaching and wildlife trafficking. To take a baby gorilla and traffic it, you first have to kill the mother. Our mission isn't to wage war against armed groups, but to defend when they attack.

There's also deforestation and illegal logging. In some areas, it has reached a particularly alarming scale. Trees are cut down to produce charcoal – known locally as makala – for energy, but also to make furniture.

Other threats include the illegal occupation of land for farming and the expansion of pastures, as well as illegal mining.

This aerial photograph, taken in September 2019, shows an area in Kahuzi-Biega National Park devastated by logging. © AFP - ALEXIS HUGUET

Deforestation falling worldwide but Congo Basin losses grow, report finds

RFI: How are these illegal activities carried out?

EBL: Not everyone who enters a park illegally has the same motives. Some groups are pursuing political or military objectives, while others are seeking to control territories or trade routes, or to exploit natural resources to finance their activities.

Others, however, live in extreme poverty on the outskirts of the park and depend on these resources.

Armed groups set up camp in protected areas and draw from these communities – sometimes by force. Often, they use young people to mine minerals and produce charcoal. The communities transport the goods to illegal markets and hand over the money to the groups exploiting them.

RFI: In your memoir, you write that the political situation in the DRC complicates conservation efforts, notably corruption. What problems does this pose when managing a national park?

EBL: There are a lot of land disputes. Some communities see nature reserves as a problem. Certain politicians support these communities in illegal activities in order to get elected. Others use armed groups to attack ranger posts so that the rangers cannot do their jobs.

RFI: What could help reduce the pressure on national parks?

EBL: All parties must respect the integrity of protected areas, because everything starts with the violation of their boundaries.

But we have to look at the bigger picture. As long as local communities do not have access to affordable energy sources and enough economic opportunities, forests are likely to remain under pressure.

Next, we need to protect wildlife rangers. They are subject to arbitrary arrests and attacks. Everyone talks about human rights and protecting biodiversity, but I've never heard anyone mention rangers' rights. And yet they work day and night, spending 90 percent of their time in the forest, far from family and friends.

RFI: The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates the conservation outlook at Virunga as 'critical'. Do you share that assessment?

EBL: It's hard to say what the state of the protected area is because there's no scientific research being conducted at the moment. A very large portion – the south and the centre – is occupied and is no longer under the park's control. These are areas where rangers no longer go.

Today, it's a matter of survival and protecting the animals has become very complicated. After the war, we'll have to take stock.

A male Grauer's gorilla, a critically endangered species, in the forest of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in September 2019. © AFP - ALEXIS HUGUET

The challenges of protecting wildlife from war in eastern DRC

RFI: You've written about the personal toll that the job takes on rangers. How has it affected you?

EBL: Rangers are motivated and passionate but they don't get recognition, that's what saddens me the most. Their sacrifice isn't acknowledged, even internationally. They aren't valued as they deserve to be. It's not fair because without forests, the world wouldn't exist. You see the results of these people's work, but you don't show them the respect they deserve in return.

We also need to reconsider their pay, which isn't enough to live on in cities where everything costs more. They rely on this salary to cover rent, tuition, food... The children of rangers end up on the streets, either because their father doesn't have enough money to pay for their education or because he died protecting a World Heritage Site.

RFI: Is that why you set up your football academy?

EBL: Yes. The Virunga Football Academy came from the fact there was a lot of mistrust between young people living near the park and the rangers. When we arrest some of them, their friends see us as the bad guys. We wanted to find a way to build a connection with them. Football is the simplest way.

We started in 2021 with about 50 young people in Rumangabo in North Kivu province. Then we got lots more requests, and today we work in Goma, Kiwanja, Kirumba and Kasindi... There are around 400 young people in the school. More are always applying, but we don't have the the resources to take them in.

Young players in Kasindi train at the Virunga Football Academy, which was founded to promote peaceful coexistence between communities living near Virunga National Park. © Doyi Kanega/Virunga Football Academy

RFI: How does it work?

EBL: Every week after school, boys and girls aged 8 to 17 come to practice, just like at any other football academy. When they play together, it builds bonds. They stop thinking about getting into trouble in the park. It also fosters peaceful cohesion between them, even though there are many intercommunal conflicts in the area.

In addition, we organise educational activities to help them understand the importance of nature reserves, education and living together.

In Rumangabo, young people's tendency to engage in illegal activities has really gone down. They're busy playing football. It's far from being all young people, and these are also the ones who want to do something. But we've reached the most vulnerable ones.

The football academy giving South Sudan's youth an alternative to gang life

RFI: In April 2018, you and five other rangers were ambushed by militiamen. You were the only one to survive. What drives you to keep going after the trauma of that experience?

EBL: Firstly, to honour the friends who died protecting the park. There have been others since then. We lost 13 rangers in Rumangabo in 2020 to an ambush. It would be a great act of cowardice to leave.

Secondly, I see conservation as a way to help communities develop without contributing to the destruction of the park.

As a ranger, what drives me to keep going is hope – even in the midst of danger and armed conflict. Far from discouraging me, this situation strengthens my resolve. Despite my fear, I continue to defend our country's natural wealth with courage and conviction. I am still convinced our mission is essential for the future of our region, and for the future of generations to come.

This article was adapted from an interview in French by Géraud Bosman-Delzons. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

A year after the fall of El Fasher, Sudan's war has left a ghost town in its wake

A year after paramilitary forces at war with the Sudanese army captured the strategic city of El Fasher, survivors and aid workers report that the capital of North Darfur state remains largely abandoned. Some residents are too scared to return, while thousands are still missing – many held in deplorable conditions in overcrowded prisons.


Issued on: 01/11/2026 - RFI

In this satellite photo provided by Planet Labs PBC, El Fasher is seen from above on 26 October, 2025, as paramilitary forces seized control of the city after a siege that lasted months. © AP - Planet Labs PBC

On 26 October, 2025, after 500 days of siege, El Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an armed group that has been fighting Sudan's army since April 2023.

It marked one of the darkest chapters of the conflict. The paramilitaries pledged to "cleanse" the city and explicitly called for the elimination of non-Arab communities – notably the semi-nomadic Zaghawa and the Fur, Darfur's largest ethnic group.

International investigators have found evidence of widespread atrocities, including mass killings and sexual violence. The United Nations has estimated that some 6,000 people were killed, but researchers studying satellite imagery suspect the death toll is much higher – in the tens of thousands.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), nearly 100,000 people managed to flee. Thousands more civilians are missing, having died while trying to escape or been captured by the RSF.




In January, under the supervision of the city's new authorities, humanitarian organisations were able to visit El Fasher for the first time since the paramilitaries seized control. They described "a ghost town, with few civilians remaining".
Contested repopulation

"My house was destroyed," says Salwa, who did not want to be identified by her full name. Born in El Fasher, she fled a few days before the city fell.

"They smashed everything and threw all our things into the street. My father's house is still standing, but they've put people we don't know in it."

Like many residents who fled, she believes the new authorities are seeking to replace the city's original inhabitants – mainly Zaghawa and Fur – with members of nomadic Arab tribes, from which the RSF draws its leadership and most of its fighters.

Sudan's RSF paramilitaries accused of crimes against humanity in El Fasher

A screengrab from a video shared on the Rapid Support Forces' social media shows RSF fighters celebrating in the streets of El Fasher after capturing the city on 26 October, 2025. © AFP - -

"They're bringing in people from outside and giving them our homes. They're even giving them documents to prove they're the owners. These people will never leave. On top of that, they're filming them for propaganda and claiming that the residents of El Fasher have returned."

Tasis, a coalition of civilian and armed groups led by the RSF and governing in parallel from the city of Nyala in South Darfur, has called for displaced residents to go back to El Fasher and says it is helping civilians to return.

"These aren't residents of El Fasher, but people who were brought in to repopulate the city," Salwa protests.
Lingering trauma

Solidarités International, a French humanitarian organisation that has returned to work in El Fasher, estimates that between 40,000 and 60,000 people have either returned or come and go regularly, out of a pre-war population of at least 300,000.

"They come to seek aid, to see their neighbourhood, their home. They've heard that an NGO is here, that the paramilitary-linked government's humanitarian aid office is organising food distributions," Renaud Douci, the organisation's field coordinator in Sudan, told RFI.

But returnees are often put off by what they find, he said. "When the market where you used to get food is now a meagre affair with a few stalls and exorbitant prices, those aren't conditions under which you can return with your family."

Others are kept away by the memory of the siege. "For now, because of the trauma and violence of those 500 days, people don't feel at all ready to return," Douci said.

Women victims of Sudan's war bear scars of 'indescribable' violence

A displaced woman in Tawila, Darfur, pictured on 28 October, 2025, after fleeing El Fasher following the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces. © AFP

Laura Mills, a researcher at Amnesty International, shares his assessment. "Only a fraction of the population has returned; people are too afraid," she told RFI.

"Humanitarian workers tell us there are pockets of houses still standing. And between each pocket, the streets are deserted. The city is still abandoned."

For her, the hesitation is understandable. "The residents of El Fasher are traumatised by what they've been through. Why would they return when the paramilitaries are still there and have never been held accountable for their actions? Why return when you risk being arrested and tortured at any moment?"
Prison of horror

The RSF took thousands of people prisoner during the capture of El Fasher: not only members of the armed forces but civilians – soldiers' families, teachers, doctors, journalists, civil society activists and others they accused of supporting the Sudanese army.

Ibrahim (not his real name), a journalist with El Fasher Radio and Television, was taken by the paramilitaries a few weeks before the city fell, according to his wife, who wanted to remain anonymous.

"One morning he went out to look for food, because at the time there was nothing left to eat. He left in the morning and didn't come back that evening or the next day," she told RFI.

A Sudanese man who says he was imprisoned and tortured in RSF prisons before fleeing El Fasher sits in a makeshift shelter in the town of Tawila in the Darfur region, 2 March 2026. © AFP - -

His wife believed he was wounded or dead until she learned that he had been captured by the RSF and sent to Dagris, a notorious prison outside Nyala that has been described as a "site of horror".

"The conditions were terrible," she said. "The detainees were crammed into small cells. Sometimes they would go entire weeks without seeing the sun. Occasionally, they'd be taken outside so they could air their belongings, dry their clothes and get rid of insects and fleas. And their toilets were right inside the cells. The sanitary conditions there are disgusting."

Sick, emaciated and having lost his sight in one eye, Ibrahim was finally released nine months later upon payment of $2,000. Numerous accounts report demands for ransom are common.

'They took my family'

According to human rights organisations, between 13,000 and 19,500 people were being held at Dagris earlier this year – several times the prison's official capacity of 4,500.

Zamzam, a journalist originally from the El Fasher region who now lives in exile, says her relatives were among them, arrested as punishment for her coverage of the conflict.

"The RSF contacted me to tell me to stop writing, they even offered me money. But I refused, so they took my family," she told RFI.

Her cousin, a doctor at a hospital in El Fasher who chose to stay throughout the offensive, remains incommunicado. Zamzam has heard only that he is working in construction.

"They use prisoners as labourers in construction, to do laundry, to clean the homes of RSF fighters' families," she claimed.

Conditions at Dagris prison are inhumane and in some cases life-threatening, according to Mohamed Faisal, a member of the Sudan Doctors Network.

"The detainees have no rights and no contact with their families," he said. "The cells are overcrowded. There are lots of diseases, such as cholera and dengue fever, and we are seeing a sharp rise in mortality. A few months ago, there were four deaths every week. And when prisoners die, their families aren't even notified."

An estimated 73 medical personnel are being held in Dagris and Kober, another prison in South Darfur, the network believes. Several journalists are also detained, including Muammar Ibrahim, a correspondent for Al Jazeera's Arabic news channel who had been covering the conflict since it began in April 2023.

Today, Darfur is almost entirely under the control of the paramilitary forces. The fighting has shifted to the Kordofan region, where the UN has warned El Fasher's grim history could be repeated.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Alexandra Brangeon.

France braces for fresh protests as students to resume school blockades

France is readying for another week of protests after the head of a student group said a campaign of high school blockades would restart Monday, ahead of a nationwide day of strikes and protests on Thursday.


Issued on: 02/11/2026 - RFI

A masked high school student holds a placard reading "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Except for us, apparently" during a blockade of the Lycee Voltaire high school in Paris on 6 October. REUTERS - Tom Nicholson

A nationwide day of strikes and protests across the public and private sectors is planned for Thursday.

The Union Etudiante (Student Union), said Saturday that blockades of universities and high schools would take place on both Tuesday and Thursday.

But some high schools will be blockaded from Monday, when students return from a two-week holiday, said Pierre Sourzat, head of the "Lyceens!" group.

"We're calling for blockades... starting on Monday ... that's the principle when you go on strike, it's to cause disruption," he told RMC radio on Sunday.

High school pupils began blockades in mid-September.

President Emmanuel Macron has called for classes to resume in a calm manner, arguing that "young people have been heard".

"No, we're not all going back to class," Sourzat said, "[the president] hasn't heard us, he's given us almost nothing."

'Smoke and mirrors'

Hundreds of thousands of people, including high school and university students, took to the streets across France on Saturday for a third consecutive weekend of protests over soaring prices, inequality and poor conditions in schools.

The movement emerged in mid-September with high school students angry over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings, which they blame on years of underinvestment.

Last Monday, the government announced a series of measures, including replacing the university admissions platform, known as Parcoursup, which is criticised for its lack of transparency, and providing loans for school renovations.

Sourzat said the proposed overhaul of Parcoursup failed to address the shortage of places in higher education.

He also dismissed the government's plan to reduce class sizes as insufficient, noting that it would apply only to 10th-grade classes.

"We were asking for all year groups," he said, describing the government's proposals as "smoke and mirrors".

"There's a bit of polish on the surface, but once you scratch beneath it, there's nothing there."

High school pupils block the lycée Buffon in Paris on 2 October. AFP - THOMAS SAMSON


Calls for action

France is the eurozone's second-largest economy but is struggling with mounting debt and the government has limited scope to appease student protesters through additional spending.

Several trade unions also say the government's proposals do not go far enough and are calling for a large turnout on Thursday.

"This time, we're close to concrete progress so that tomorrow can be better than today," Thomas Vacheron, a national official at the hardline CGT union told BFMTV.

The CGT wants an increase in the minimum wage, higher pay grades for civil servants and pay rises for all workers.

"The government must respond to the protests now. It's the one that holds the key," Vacheron said.

'Robust' security operation

Turnout at Saturday's protests was around 320,000, including 70,000 people in Paris, the Interior Ministry said, though organisers put the figure at half a million.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had warned that Saturday was a "high risk" day and deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide.

In Paris, the only authorised march was outside the city centre.

Police arrested 779 people, the interior ministry said on Sunday, adding there had been "no major incidents".

The operation helped avert a repeat of the widespread looting and vandalism seen on 17 October when more than 1,300 people were arrested and an estimated €1 billion of damage caused to shops and public property..

"The arrangements put in place, robust and flexible, allowed authorised demonstrations to take place, guaranteeing freedom of expression while preventing the actions of those who sought to make the marches degenerate," Nunez wrote on X.

Prosecutors announced Sunday they had launched an attempted murder probe after a petrol bomb was thrown at security forces during the protest in Paris, leaving one officer with second-degree burns.

Several hundred rioters had attacked security forces with projectiles, including a Molotov cocktail, the prefecture said.

(with newswires)

Calls mount to ban French TV channel following racist killing

A petition urging that a French television channel be taken off air gained traction on Monday, after accusations that far-right views it aired contributed to the racist killing of a black man.


Issued on: 02/11/2026 - RFI

A banner reads "Racism kills" during in a rally against racism in Trappes, outside Paris on 30 October, 2026. AFP - SIMON WOHLFAHRT

Anger against CNews – often described as France's answer to Fox News – has mounted with just six months to go before the country elects a new president, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen leading in the polls to replace Emmanuel Macron.

The petition to shut down the channel was launched in June, but signatures spiked after a man on 23 October killed a Frenchman of Congolese origin and wounded seven others, including a child, in a racist attack in the Paris suburbs.

Contacts told French media he was an avid consumer of CNews, while leftist politicians have accused such media of giving too much airtime to anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The independent petition accusing CNews of being a "propaganda machine" on Monday surpassed 500,000 signatures on the National Assembly website. This means the issue could go to debate in the lower house, though this is not systematic.

CNews – among the media outlets owned by French ultra-conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré – told French news agency AFP it would not comment on a "political petition".

It has previously denied allegations it promotes far-right views and racist tropes, saying it defends freedom of expression.

Paris suburb shooting suspect 'targeted Muslims, Africans or North Africans'

A 39-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the 23 October attack in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière west of Paris in which he said he was "targeting individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African", a prosecutor has said.

Protesters at a rally a few days later in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers held up posters reading slogans such as "CNews kills".

Two Green lawmakers have urged the lower house of parliament to withdraw accreditation for CNews to protect "democracy" from "racist hatred".

France earlier this year expelled Russian pundit Xenia Fedorova, who had been accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda on CNews.

The channel has also been accused of broadcasting racist comments about Bally Bagayoko, a Frenchman of Malian descent who is the mayor of the capital's largest suburb, Saint-Denis.

Protesters on 17 October threw projectiles and broke windows at the channel's Paris headquarters during cost-of-living protests.

(AFP)

 

What happens to the brain when you eat peanuts daily? New study reveals striking results

Copyright Brad Farris/AP

By Chaima Chihi & يورونيوز

Published on 30 October 2026 - EURONEWS

Does eating peanuts every day help to maintain memory as we get older?

A recent scientific study indicates that eating peanuts daily may help improve the brain's response to insulin in areas linked to memory in older adults.

The study was published in the journal "Food & Function", and was carried out by researchers from the medical centre at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, with the aim of examining the effect of regular peanut consumption on the brain's response to insulin with advancing age.

The experiment involved 31 healthy people aged between 60 and 75 years.

The participants ate 60 grams of roasted peanuts with their skins and without salt every day for 16 weeks, then the researchers compared the results with another period during which they did not eat peanuts.

Improved brain response to insulin

The results showed an improvement in the response of areas in the right hemisphere of the brain to insulin, including parts of the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the lingual gyrus and the posterior cingulate gyrus, which are areas involved in memory processes and other cognitive functions.

To measure this response, the researchers gave the participants insulin through the nose, then used magnetic resonance imaging based on arterial blood labelling to measure changes in blood flow to brain regions.

Insulin plays a role in a number of brain processes linked to learning, memory and communication between nerve cells.

The brain's response to this hormone may become less effective with advancing age, a change that is associated with age related cognitive decline.

However, the researchers did not demonstrate that eating peanuts prevents cognitive decline or stops dementia from developing, but they observed changes in the response of specific brain regions to insulin.

These findings build on previous research by the same team on the same dietary intervention, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition in 2025, where the results showed a 3.6% increase in total blood flow to the brain, along with a 5.8% improvement in verbal memory after the 16 week intervention period.

The researchers believe that the nutritional composition of peanuts may explain some of these effects, as they contain unsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals and biologically active plant compounds, as well as plant protein.

Peanuts are also a source of the amino acid L-arginine, which the body uses to produce nitric oxide, a compound that helps regulate blood vessel functions and may in turn be linked to learning and memory processes.

Is eating peanuts enough to protect memory?

These findings still need further research to determine to what extent the recorded changes in the brain's response to insulin are reflected in memory and mental performance.

The experiment was limited to 31 people, and the indicators observed by the researchers are not enough to state with certainty that peanuts provide protection from Alzheimer's or other dementia disorders.

Conducting studies on larger numbers of participants and following them for longer periods would help to clarify this relationship and determine whether the potential benefits continue over time.

 

Canadian minister stops short of endorsing EU carbon tax as energy alliance deepens

Copyright AP Photo / The Canadian Press / Christinne Muschi

By Marta Pacheco

Published on 2 November 2026 - EURONEWS

The Canadian climate Minister's reluctance to openly commit to cooperation with the EU on its climate policy stems from the fact that Ottawa is effectively seeking an exemption from the bloc's carbon border tax, according to a December 2025 internal document seen by Euronews.

Canadian Climate and Environment Minister Julia Dabrusin has defended industrial carbon pricing as a tool to cut CO2 emissions and protect businesses from unfair competition, but stopped short of explicitly endorsing the European Union's carbon border tax.

"Industrial carbon pricing is important in a low-carbon economy, which is where the world is going. But these are conversations for us to have (...) those are conversations that are still to be had," Dabrusin told Euronews.

Opposition to the EU's carbon border tax — the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — could expose potential limits to a budding energy alliance between Brussels and Ottawa, as the transatlantic partners embark on a new path of cooperation, hailed at the Montreal summit on 29-30 October.

But when asked whether Canada would back CBAM — which came into effect in January 2026 and imposes a carbon cost on certain imports to protect European producers from competitors operating under weaker climate rules — Minister Dabrusin offered no explicit endorsement.

Dabrusin's reluctance to commit to cooperation with the EU on its climate policy stems from the fact that Ottawa is effectively seeking an exemption from the bloc's carbon border tax, according to a December 2025 internal document seen by Euronews.

"Canada continues to seek a practical agreement with the EU to reduce CBAM's administrative burden for Canadian exporters, and the Prime Minister's Personal Representative to the European Union is fully engaged," the internal document from Canada's trade and foreign affairs ministries reads.

At the closing press conference on 30 October, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that "a series of trade issues that had been bubbling along" had been discussed, but stopped short of sharing details.

"We are working together to find common solutions (on CBAM and other trade issues)," Carney told reporters on 30 October.

Carney has been attempting to diversify Canadian trade away from its heavy dependence on Washington, making access to the EU market increasingly important.

However, the Canadian document identifies CBAM as a potential obstacle to expanding exports to Europe, particularly in aluminium, steel, critical minerals and hydrogen.

"Canadian exports are not exempt from CBAM and exporters will face carbon charges and complex administrative requirements that could create market access risks and potential competitiveness challenges in the EU market," the document reads.

Lobbying for an exemption

Canada does not qualify for an exemption, despite its existing carbon-pricing policies and close trade relationship with the EU under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), according to the document.

Nonetheless, Ottawa wants Brussels to recognise its domestic carbon-pricing system as sufficiently comparable to the EU's to reduce the administrative and financial burden on Canadian businesses.

Although the legal obligation falls on EU importers, critics argue that such requirements and costs are likely to be passed on to exporters through commercial agreements.

Stephanie Kusie, the Canadian Conservatives' shadow minister for international trade, also raised concerns about how the EU's CBAM could affect businesses.

"Canada is facing an EU carbon tariff in the coming months that could affect $3 billion in Canadian exports. Instead of fixing the issue, the PM has spent months distracting Canadians with talk of the EU," said Kusie.

Between 2021 and 2024, Canadian exports of goods covered by the EU's carbon border mechanism averaged C$28 billion a year, representing 7.4% of Canada's exports to the bloc, according to the document.

Relate

Minister Dabrusin said the Canadian government supports industrial carbon pricing, which it has had in place for years and intends to strengthen.

Dabrusin argued that industrial carbon pricing was among the most effective ways to reduce emissions while keeping businesses competitive in a global economy shifting towards lower-carbon production.

However, despite having its own industrial carbon-pricing system, Canada is not exempt from the EU's carbon border levy. Under the bloc's rules, a full exemption is linked to participation in, or a connection with, the EU Emissions Trading System — a condition Canada does not currently meet.

Moreover, the EU's carbon price is significantly higher than Canada's domestic carbon price trajectory.

Battle of semantics over EU-Canada relations

The EU-Canada summit took place as the EU seeks to build a network of trusted economic partners amid souring relations with the United States, which have become more uncertain under Donald Trump's administration.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the EU-Canada summit that Ottawa aims to become an associate member by June next year.

However, divergences over the nature of this renewed relationship have been voiced by several member states, led by Germany, particularly over the definition of associate membership. EU leaders agreed to define the concept by the 2027 summit.

Dabrusin told Euronews that, for Canada, delivering on substance rather than semantics was important.

"The main thing for us is deepening the relationship with the EU (...) The conversations we had today underlined how much we have in common in terms of interests and values, and these are things we can build on as we launch the Alliance for the Future," Minister Dabrusin said.