GOOD NEWS

Monarch butterflies make huge comeback

By , Accuweather.com

The monarch butterfly population in Mexico is on the rise. 

Photo by anuphadit/Shutterstock


The monarch butterfly population in Mexico is on the rise again, following several years in which the number of butterflies had dwindled to worrying lows.

In a report from the World Wildlife Fund-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico, experts say there has been a 35 increase in the number of butterflies wintering in Mexico's mountaintop forest compared to previous seasons.

At wintering sites in central Mexico, entomologists from the WWF-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance and National Commission of Natural Protected Areas have been measuring the acreage of trees covered by these butterflies since 2004.

According to a newly released report, the monarch butterfly population this year covered 2.84 hectares (7 acres), compared to the 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) that the butterflies covered last year.

Experts know that habitat availability strongly influences the butterflies' population numbers, but they are curious about how weather and climate conditions affect population numbers.

According to a report from Journey North, a science program organized by the University of Wisconsin-Arboretum, much of the habitat these butterflies rely on was lost early in the 21st century.

These great migrators arrive in Mexico's oyamel fir forest, which is just west of Mexico City, in late October to early November to spend the winter.

During the winter months, the trees in this forest provide the monarchs with a "blanket and umbrella," protecting them from extremely cold temperatures and precipitation, according to the Monarch Joint Venture, a nonprofit organization working to conserve monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

Since the temperature in the forest doesn't drop too low or get too high, the butterflies are able to conserve their lipid reserves, slowing down their metabolism, thus making them burn less energy.

But, due to legal and illegal logging, land conversion for farming and the effects of climate change, these forests have been threatened by degradation, which has altered their microclimates.

The degraded wooded areas have become less effective buffers for the monarchs, providing decreased protection from precipitation or temperature extremes. According to Journey North, the oyamel forest ecosystem is Mexico's most endangered forest type.

Even though strides have been made to replace the habitat, the efforts have not come close, which has resulted in smaller butterfly populations each year at the wintering sites.

And the data reflects just that. The average amount of hectares that have been occupied in the time period of 1993 to 2001 was 8.70. For the most recent 10 years (2012 to 2021) the average dropped to 2.62 hectares.

Weather conditions, such as more frequent heat waves and higher temperatures, have forced the butterflies to change their migratory patterns, and last year was one of the first years experts noticed the change.

In February 2021, the butterflies began heading north about a month early, fortuitously escaping an April heat wave, which brought triple digits to parts of Southern California and mid-summerlike temperatures to much of the southwestern United States.

Experts think the increased number of wintering butterflies that were measured in Mexico this past December was a direct result of their early migration in 2021.

This year, the butterflies' pattern was different. They left almost a whole month later than normal.

Experts are curious to see next year's numbers to determine whether this late start in their migration was a good strategy.

Study shows progress for using time crystals in quantum computing

Researchers cooled superfluid helium-3 to about one-ten thousandth of a degree from absolute zero inside this rotating refrigerator. Inside this superfluid, the researchers created two time crystals and and brought them to touch. 

Photo by Mikko Raskinen/Aalto University

June 2 (UPI) -- Physicists seemed to bend the laws of physics by linking two time crystals together for the first time in a new study, showing progress for their potential use in quantum computing.

Time crystals are similar to normal crystals except for one unusual property where their atoms exist in a perpetual state of regular motion without an external push, according to ScienceAlert. In normal crystals, atoms are arranged in a fixed, three-dimensional structure, like the atomic lattice of a diamond, and won't move without an external push.

Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek first theorized time crystals in 2012, but they weren't identified and confirmed by physicists until 2016.

The physicists from Britain and Finland created two time crystals, long believed to be impossible because their perpetual motion appeared to defy the laws of physics, together in a two-level system, the new study published in Nature Communications on Thursday shows.

"Everybody knows that perpetual motion machines are impossible," lead author Samuli Autti of Lancaster University in Britain said in a news release. "However, in quantum physics perpetual motion is OK as long as we keep our eyes closed. By sneaking through this crack we can make time crystals."

"It turns out putting two of them together works beautifully, even if time crystals should not exist in the first place," Autti added. "And we already know they also exist at room temperature."

The two-level system is a basic part of a quantum computer, so time crystals could be used to build quantum devices

Researchers created the two time crystals and brought them to touch in superfluid helium-3 cooled to about one-ten thousandth of a degree of absolute zero in a rotating refrigerator, and then watched them interact.

When they touched each other, they exchanged magnons, which affected the oscillation of the time crystals, creating a single system with the option of functioning in two separate states, according to ScienceAlert.

The experiment is the next step in potentially harnessing time crystals for quantum information processing following the first observation of the interaction between two time crystals, published in Nature Materials two years ago, ScienceAlert noted.

Poll finds 55% of Americans identify as pro-choice


A Gallup poll released Thursday finds 55% of Americans surveyed identify as pro-choice, the highest percentage since the company first started asking the question in 1995. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI | License Photo

June 2 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans now identify as being pro-choice, according to a poll released Thursday.

The Gallup poll found 55% of Americans are pro-choice, the highest figure since the company first measured the opinion 27 years ago, when it came in at 56% in 1995.

It also found 39% of people identify as pro-life, which is the lowest number since 1996.

Over the past decade, between 45% and 50% of Americans have typically identified as pro-choice, according to Gallup. That figure stood at 49% in 2021.

The increase on the pro-choice side is mostly made up of Democrats. A total of 88% of Democrats polled identify as pro-choice, an increase from 70% the year before.

There also were significant swings among women and younger adults. Among adults age 18 to 34, pro-choice identification climbed to 67%, an increase of 12 percentage points. For women, that increase was 9 percentage points, for a total of 61%.

The pro-choice percentage did not change significantly this year among Republicans, independent voters, men or older Americans.

The poll also found 52% majority of Americans do consider abortion to be morally acceptable, while 38% call it morally wrong, which is a record low since Gallup began asking the question. The company first started asking the abortion morality question in 2001.

Only 13% of those surveyed believe abortion should be illegal in any situation, regardless of circumstances. That number is down 6 percentage points over the previous year and the lowest number since Gallup first began asking the question in 1995.

The results come a month after the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed a leaked draft opinion at the start of May to overturn the landmark abortion ruling in Roe vs. Wade was authentic.

In that opinion, drafted in February and first reported by Politico, Justice Samuel Alito was joined by four Republican-appointed justices in the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade's holding of a federal constitutional right to abortion and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which largely maintained that right.

India sees surge in exotic wildlife smuggling

The illicit smuggling of exotic animals through border countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar is rapidly on the rise. A lack of formal regulation of the sector allows the trade to flourish.

Experts fear that the Wildlife Protection Act does not adequately protect exotic species

Last month, West Bengal's forest officials rescued three kangaroos in the forests of Jalpaiguri district and recovered the carcass of another.

Though the rescued kangaroos were finally sent to the Bengal Safari Park, wildlife officials believe they were almost certainly born in breeding facilities in Southeast Asia and smuggled overland.

The animals are the latest exotic creatures to be smuggled into India, possibly to be used as pets. Their smuggling exposes the loopholes in the roaring wildlife trade in South Asia.

Increasing demand for exotic animal parts

"This is the second time kangaroos have been found in north Bengal. A probe has now been initiated to investigate how the animals reached the forests, and from where," Hari Krishnan, a divisional forest officer, told reporters.

The lowland forest region at Gajoldoba Forest, where the kangaroos were found, is surrounded by Bangladesh to the south, Nepal to the east, and Bhutan to the north.

Wildlife conservationists maintain that over the years, the illegal wildlife trade has emerged as a form of organized transnational crime that threatens the existence of many wild species across the globe.

Just last week, over 400 caged exotic animals including three-toed sloths, beavers, snakes, rare lizards and pottos (a small primate) were seized in one of the largest consignments in the northeastern state of Mizoram, along the border with Myanmar.

A week prior, customs authorities in the southern city of Chennai thwarted two attempts to smuggle wild animals from Thailand on two consecutive days.

Acting on a tip, the authorities intercepted a passenger, who had arrived from Bangkok. They then recovered an albino porcupine and a white-lipped red-chested tamarin (a squirrel-sized monkey species) from his baggage. In a separate incident, authorities rescued a sugar glider (possum) that was concealed in a container, which was placed inside the baggage of a passenger.

"This is a lucrative market and smuggling happens. For every item of contraband seized, there are many more which pass by undetected into India, as there is no law governing the possession, trade and breeding of exotic animals," Tito Joseph, program manager of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, told DW.

Lack of legal protection for wildlife

Unfortunately, the trade in exotic species does not fall within the purview of the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, leaving a gaping legal hole in India's wildlife protection system. This is well exploited by those involved in various levels of the wildlife trade.

Markets trading in live exotic wildlife are even operating online and apprehending illegal traders and poachers has so far been an enormously ineffective endeavor.

The exotic birds and rare animals are first caught in the jungles of Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and some countries in Africa. They are then caged, sent out on cargo ships, and sent to India on fishing boats or by air.

"India has also seen a rise in demand for exotic animals. Animals from Thailand, Malaysia and other top tourist destinations in Southeast Asia are being smuggled into the country," said Joseph.

Many experts feel that the frequent seizure of exotic animals indicates a growing international trade and increasing demand for wet markets in the region.

Wildlife Protection Act ignores exotic species

"Traders and traffickers have been exploiting this legal shortfall to the fullest," Subbiah Nallamuthu, a leading wildlife filmmaker, told DW. "Exotic species of birds are now trafficked into India's black markets. Since it is well organized, it is hard to gauge the real scale and scope of the trade."

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of India, diverse products including mongoose hair, snake skins, turtle shells, musk pods and bear bile are bound for the international market and have no direct demand in India.

Large quantities of ambergris , a waxy substance that comes from a whale's digestive tract , have been seized from various parts of the country over the last two years. Ambergris is used in the West to stabilize the scent of fine perfumes.

"I agree there is a gap in the law and it will be plugged very soon. But one of the reasons why there have been more seizures is also that more institutions are becoming aware of exotic animal smuggling," H V Girisha, the deputy director of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, told DW.

India has also been a member of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) since 1976. CITES is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.


MORE TIGERS NOW LIVE IN CAGES THAN IN THE WILD
Admired, feared and on the brink of extinction
Tigers are secretive, solitary animals that need a lot of room to move. From lush jungles in Malaysia and Indonesia to high mountains in Bhutan and mangrove forests in India, the habitats tigers roam in search of food are being lost to deforestation and development. Much of what remains is fragmented into chunks of isolated forest surrounded by roads, farms, towns and cities.
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'Penalties are too weak'

"But without political backing, disincentives for over-exploitation and illegal trade, such as penalties for legal infringements, are all too often weak," said the WWF. 

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), elephant tusks, pangolin scales, tiger skins and parts of Indian star tortoises are just some of the wildlife parts that have been confiscated at Indian airports, in part of a growing trend of exploiting airports to traffic illegal wildlife.

The 2020 World Wildlife Report found that 6,000 different species of flora and fauna were seized between 1999 and 2018. Suspected traffickers from around the world were identified, illustrating that wildlife crime is a global issue.

The latest report by UNEP's partner TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring agency, found that over 70,000 native and exotic animals and their derivatives were trafficked through 18 Indian airports between 2011 and 2020.

"India is among the top ten countries in terms of using the airline sector for wildlife trafficking," said Atul Bagai, head of the UNEP in India. "This is an unwanted accolade."

Edited by: Leah Carter

How can India protect its food security under extreme weather conditions?

A recent heat wave caused India to ban wheat exports. Experts say adapting farming practices and growing more millets can ensure India's food security.

India has banned all wheat exports

Russia's war on Ukraine disrupted wheat supplies and drove up food prices across the globe, as the two countries are the top two exporters. India, the third biggest exporter, stepped in to fill the gap in the global market.

But India banned the export of wheat with immediate effect, although exceptions are being made for some countries. The announcement came just two days after announcing that it was eyeing a record push on wheat shipments this year.

Days ago, India also announced it would restrict sugar exports to stabilize prices and ensure supply. India is the second-largest exporter of sugar in the world. 

Before the wheat export ban, India had set a goal of shipping a mammoth 10 million tons this year, looking to capitalize on the global disruptions to wheat supplies from the war and to find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Food security under threat

Amid a severe heat wave and rising domestic prices, India's Directorate of Foreign Trade said the food security of India along with neighboring and vulnerable nations was under threat.

India saw the hottest March since records began in 1901. Wheat grains usually ripen around this period, which is why they are extra sensitive to heat.

With extreme weather conditions expected to become more common in the future, concerns are being raised about India's food security.

India received requests to supply over 1.5 million tons of wheat from countries that are looking to prevail over the ongoing shortage of the commodity, with the bulk of the request coming from neighboring Bangladesh.

Extreme weather changing growth patterns

Namrata Ginoya, climate resilience expert at the World Resources Institute, says India's food security has become more vulnerable to extreme weather, unpredictable rainfall and other climate factors.

"These events have a quick impact on food production, and since we are continuing on the high-emissions trajectory right now, we will see a lot of impact," Ginoya told DW.

Ginoya said there are several ways farmers can adapt to the changing weather conditions, and these practices are being followed on a smaller scale.

"We're seeing summers arrive earlier than the previous years. That is the time when the grains grow in the crop. If the temperature at the time is higher than 30-31 degrees Celsius [86-88 degrees Fahrenheit], it is bad for the growth of grains," Ginoya said.

So, farmers can start sowing the grain 10-15 days earlier than usual. Changes can also be made in the irrigation and fertilization of crops, to adapt to the weather," she added. 

She believes people need to move towards a style of farming in which every stage of production is monitored and researched, and farmers can access and utilize the findings of the research.

"We also need to identify areas where it is sustainable to grow wheat, and regions where it is no longer viable to grow the crop," she told DW.


RECORD TEMPERATURES HIT INDIA'S FARMERS
Air conditioners and blocks of ice
India is currently experiencing an exceptional heat wave. Rajgarh, a city of 1.5 million people in central India topped out at 46.5 degrees C (116 degrees F) while thermometers in nine other cities also climbed above the 45 degree mark. No wonder that anything to fight the heat is an easy sell on the streets of New Delhi.
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Millet as an alternative

Even with changes in climate practices, wheat and rice may not be able to fulfill the domestic and international demands of the crop.

Under these circumstances, some experts believe it is time to turn to millet, or nutri cereals, to fulfill the food requirements of the world.

"I think we can expect more and more extreme climate events, and heat waves will exacerbate in the future," Ruth DeFries, professor of ecology and sustainable development at Columbia University told DW.

"We also know that coarse cereals, or what are now called as nutri cereals, such as jowar, bajra, raagi, have the physiology of being resilient. They have lower water demands and higher tolerance to coarse soils and heat," she added. 

Due to their high levels of iron, fiber and certain vitamins, they are still grown in more than 130 countries. Yet they only play a significant role in the diets of some 90 million people in Africa and Asia, and are often regarded as food for the poor.

By comparison, around half the global population relies on rice, and more than one-third on wheat.

The United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, which could lead to changes in how these grains are perceived.

However, substituting peoples' diets with the more commonly consumed rice and wheat could prove challenging.

"Historically, nutri cereals were a part of the diets of many people in India, but that has declined over the last two decades. But now they are seen more commonly in grocery stores and restaurants, as they are a different kind of food and good for your health too," said DeFries.

Sorghum, a type of millet, is known as jowar in India

Edited by: Leah Carter

AUDIOS AND VIDEOS ON THE TOPIC

Extreme heat wave grips south Asia   

Indian heatwaves threaten maternal and baby health

Soaring temperatures can lead to more preterm and stillbirths. But experts say awareness of the risk of heat during pregnancy is low, with more research needed into impacts on the world's most vulnerable women.

In the final weeks of her pregnancy, Babita Baswal says that when heat gets too intense, she gets dizzy and sick

The heatwave that swept across South Asia in April could not have come at a worse time for Babita Baswal. At nine months pregnant, the 32-year-old struggled with nausea and fatigue, as temperatures in Delhi soared to highs of 49 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).

After a particularly violent bout of vomiting, Baswal checked herself in to Safdarjung Hospital, where she was diagnosed with extreme dehydration.

Dr. Ana, an obstetrician at the hospital who focuses on high-risk pregnancies, says that in recent weeks, many of the pregnant women in the maternity unit have been facing similar issues. She asked for her last name to be withheld as she was not authorized to speak on behalf of the hospital. 

"Most of them are dehydrated, they're sweating, they're tachycardic," she says, a reference to how they have a heart rate of over 100 beats per minute. "But they don't complain because in our scenario it's such a common thing."

Heatwaves in India are indeed a common occurrence, but this year the staggering temperatures came earlier than usual, hitting record-breaking highs well before summer. Northwest and central India experienced their hottest April in 122 years, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

The unusual weather is "consistent with what we expect in a changing climate," World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement in May.

With climate change exacerbating extreme heat in many parts of the world, experts warn that the impact on maternal and neonatal health could be devastating.

"We do see a lot of cases of oligohydramnios — that is decreased [amniotic] fluid around the baby — preterm births, higher incidence of women going into preterm labor, in the summer months," says Dr. Karishma Thariani, a specialist in high-risk obstetrics who works as a consultant at Indian maternal health non-profit ARMMAN. "And summer months in India are becoming worse."

Mothers at the maternity unit at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi at the height of the heatwave in May

Heatwaves threaten unborn children

Meta-analysis of 70 studies into the effects of heatwaves on pregnant women found that for every 1-degree Celsius temperature rise, the risk of both premature and stillbirths rose by 5%. One Australian study reviewed found a 46% increase in stillbirths during heatwaves, and most found a link between heat exposure during pregnancy and low birth weight.

"Temperature rises with global warming could have major implications for child health," the review, led by the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI) in South Africa, concludes. It adds that "the public also appears largely unaware of the risks of heat exposure during pregnancy."

Most of the studies were done in high-income countries. But the review says pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries could be at particular risk — in part because poorer women are less able to shield from high temperatures and may have to keep working "beyond their heat tolerance limits," even in late pregnancy. 

"The effects of temperature are going to be really different in different populations in different settings," said Dr. Darshnika Pemi Lakhoo, a researcher at WRHI. "Even in the same city, there's going to be different ways that people experience temperature."

In India, women with low socio-economic status "have absolutely no access to air-conditioners or coolers — or sometimes even fans in the house, because the electricity is irregular," says Thariani.

When temperatures soar, keeping cool and hydrated can depend on having

 resources and the luxury of slowing down

A recent report found that 323 million people lack access to cooling across India. Baswal, who was given the all-clear after an ultrasound and advised to stay hydrated, is among the lucky few to have air-conditioning at home. But in recent weeks, surging power demand during the heatwave has led to power cuts for two to three hours each day. Each time, the temperature creeps up and "at that time I start to feel dizzy, I start vomiting," she says.

Infants at risk as temperatures soar

Heatwaves aren't just dangerous to unborn babies — higher temperatures can put newborns at risk, too. A study of neonatal intensive care unit admissions in a hospital with no air-conditioning during a 2010 heatwave in Ahmedabad found that each degree the temperature climbed above 42 C was associated with a 43% increase in admissions.

Dr. Ana says the heat has left many of the women at Safdarjung Hospital unable to breastfeed: "If the woman is not hydrated, how can she feed the baby? She won't lactate properly."

India already struggles with high levels of child malnutrition, responsible for an estimated two-thirds of deaths among children under five. The impacts of rising temperatures on health have long been a concern for researchers, who warn that heatwaves will exacerbate food and water shortages and facilitate the spread of infectious diseases. 

Vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children, will be most at risk. Dengue, for example, which has the highest fatality rates among children, has spread to new regions in recent years because of climate change.

Research, advocacy and policy change

Lakhoo believes there is a need for more research into the direct impact of heat exposure on maternal and neonatal health.

"That's something that's not been explored nearly as well as the indirect impacts," she says. Low- and middle-income countries are particularly "underrepresented in research."

Patients and family members wait in the heat outside the department of

 obstetrics and gynecology at Safdarjung Hospital

Thariani agrees. This is "the first time somebody's asking my opinion on a topic like this," she says of the DW interview.

ARMMAN trains healthcare workers to monitor patients for symptoms of heatstroke and counsel them on the importance of staying hydrated. But Thariani says the government must do more to spread the message about the dangers of heat exposure during pregnancy.

Quantifying direct outcomes can help to push for better policy measures, as well as strengthen existing healthcare systems, Lakhoo says.

"Climate change is going to be the biggest threat to health in our century," she says. "So, it is really important that we are able to do research in this field that can translate into practice to improve people's outcomes."

Data gathered by WRHI will be used to pilot a district health surveillance system in South Africa, which will act as an early warning system for healthcare providers during high temperatures. "If we know, for example, that there are going to be four or five extra preterm births when the temperature is at a certain level, then we can use that to assist in preparing healthcare systems for that extra burden," Lakhoo explains.

"Working in this field, it's not just about research at all," she adds. "It really is about being an advocate."

Edited by: Ruby Russell 

PROFITEERING

Investors cash in on food commodities as the poor go hungry

As food prices rose and war broke out in Ukraine, investors looking for a sure bet flocked into food commodities. The trend could be pushing prices up even further, with live-or-die consequences for the world's poor.

The war in Ukraine has had a huge impact on food prices around the globe

Rising consumer prices are aggravating food shortages around the globe, and investors looking to make a buck off food commodities could be making matters worse.

Food prices have risen sharply after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted global supply chains, causing shortages around the world. The price of food spiked even higher following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both countries are major global suppliers of agricultural commodities, like wheat and sunflower oil.

"In Uganda, wheat and fuel prices have skyrocketed, making everyday goods like bread almost unaffordable to an ordinary citizen," Anna Slattery, external affairs manager at The Hunger Project, a nonprofit that works to end world hunger, told DW.

"In Malawi, our teams are reporting that the prices of maize grain, soybeans and cooking oil have increased significantly, over 50% in some places. The increase in prices is making it difficult for people to access these vital food items." 

An appetite for commodities

Investors trying to make money off the high demand for food and other commodities could be putting even more pressure on prices.

After the war broke out in February, commodity-linked "exchange-traded funds (ETFs)," a type of investment fund open to the public, saw a huge uptick in activity: By April, investors had pumped $1.2 billion (€1.12 billion) into two major agricultural ETFs, compared to just $197 million for the whole of 2021, Lighthouse Reports, an investigative journalism NGO, found out.

According to the news website The Wire, the Paris milling wheat market, the benchmark for Europe, has also seen a significant increase in the share of speculators — that is, investors whose primary aim is to turn a profit — buying up its wheat futures contracts. That's in place of commercial traders or hedgers, i.e. market players who have an interest in buying the commodity itself, for example to secure a wheat supply for a bread factory. 

Activity at the Chicago Board of Trade, one of the world's leading futures exchanges, also reflects this trend. A recent study by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn found that the share of speculators in hard wheat and maize had risen with the price of the commodities, and that it had gone up sharply since the end of 2020. The researchers also found that the volatility of futures prices had increased significantly since the end of 2021, a sign of market irregularities that can lead to excessive speculation.

A sure bet

The ZEF report warned that more speculation could see prices decoupling from fundamentals, like supply and demand for example. It pointed to similar trends leading up to the global food crisis that emerged in 2008.

In April, analysts at investment bank JPMorgan Chase suggested that commodities prices could surge as much as 40% as traders pile in, creating an attractive return for investors.

Traders tend to move away from riskier investments, like tech stocks and cryptocurrencies, in times of economic uncertainty, favoring safer bets, like food and other hard commodities, like oil and fertilizer. Food commodities, like wheat, corn and rice, can also be adversely affected by market uncertainty.

"The more uncertainty in the market, the more demand for risk trading exists," Lukas Kornher, economist and ZEF project manager, told DW. "That is why we see the influx of speculative traders in the market."

It will take a huge effort by the international community to curb hunger in many parts of the world

Excessive trading

"[Speculative traders] basically try to jump on a bandwagon of increasing prices," said Kornher. "And then they start trading with each other instead of meeting the hedging demand of commercial producers or traders."

The price of the commodity can then become disconnected from its physical supply and demand.

Excessive speculative activity in commodities markets is "a double-edged sword," Dirk Bathe, press officer at World Vision Germany, a humanitarian aid group, said.

"On the one hand, speculation on scarce commodities can lead to drastically rising prices," he told DW. "On the other hand, this market functions like an early warning system," giving businesses and policymakers time to react.

Millions more pushed into poverty

The current price inflation and record-high prices at the commodities futures markets signal an expected scarcity within a couple of months, according to Kornher, who said the world was likely "on its way" to a food crisis.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s food price index was up 36% in April compared with the same month a year before, after hitting an all-time high in March. The World Bank's Agricultural Price Index also hit an all-time nominal high in the first quarter of the year, up 25% over a year ago. According to a World Bank analysis, for every one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million more people are pushed into extreme poverty.

Experts have called for measures to protect food systems against speculation. Banks and investment funds could abstain from food speculation as part of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) policy, for example. They've also warned against countries responding to high food prices by turning to protectionist policies.

"We need to make sure that countries don't take export restrictions, don't take export bans that will only exacerbate the food insecurity we're seeing today," Arancha Gonzalez, trade expert and the former foreign minister of Spain, told DW. "This is what we learned in 2008."

Opinion: A healthy planet for all starts with an end to fossil fuels

If leaders at the Stockholm +50 summit want to make good on its theme of a "healthy planet for the prosperity of all," they need to swap fossil fuels for clean energy, says Bhavreen Kandhari.

Research show as many as one third of children in Delhi have damaged lungs

Fifty years ago, when scientific consensus on man-made pollution was just forming, the world came together to set out a bold ambition to preserve the environment and the wellbeing of all people. It became the Stockholm Declaration. But unfortunately, it has failed to deliver.

My 18-year-old twin daughters have grown up with pollution. They are strong, athletic national basketball players, yet by the time they reached their teens they had the lungs of lifetime smokers. They cough, sniffle and have a high susceptibility to respiratory infections just because we live where we do. In Delhi — the most polluted capital in the world.

So as I attend the UN's Stockholm +50 summit, I am angry and disappointed. Inaction has cost my daughters their fundamental right to a healthy life. And their experience is far from unique. In Delhi, every third child has damaged lungs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of 10 people globally breathe toxic air, and Harvard University research says the burning of fossil fuels causes one in five premature deaths.


No other capital in the world has the levels of air pollution that hang over Delhi

What would you do if someone was poisoning your child? I would spring up and kill that person. Yet, our children are absorbing poisonous fumes with every breath, and we're not doing anything about it.
Renewables are the solution, fossil fuels the past

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently set out five critical actions needed to catch the "lifeline" offered by renewable energy sources. They include treating renewables like an essential and global public good, shifting subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, and tripling investment in renewables to $4.2 trillion (€3.9 trillion) by 2030. That's small compared to the $5.9 trillion spent subsidizing coal, oil and gas in 2020 and the health care costs incurred from their pollution.

Bhavreen Kandhari of Warrior Moms India

The WHO strengthened its air quality guidelines in September 2021, based on the latest science showing how best to protect human health. Meeting those guidelines would save 80% of lives lost from breathing PM2.5 — which are the fumes emitted from burning coal, oil, gas and wood.

The benefits of moving as quickly as possible to end new fossil fuels and follow the WHO's air quality guidelines will lead to cleaner air and greater public health as well as improving our chances of reaching net-zero emissions before 2050.
The far-reaching impacts of extreme heat

We're already suffering from the climate crisis. India's recent torturous heat wave of 49°C (120 degrees Fahrenheit) and above caused laborers to fall sick and lose income, and the government to cut harvest prospects and ban wheat exports.

Yet, absurdly, we are still chopping down the forests and trees that store carbon, clean the air, and provide shade, shelter and food. In India, for example, deforestation started in April in the Hasdeo Aranya Forest for an opencast coal mine.

Over the past weeks, India and Pakistan have been hit by extreme heat made 30 times more likely by climate change

How will people survive if the recent heat becomes the norm? How will manufacturing plants, farms, power grids and global supply chains run if people are too sick and it's too hot to work?

These are the questions leaders must tackle if they really want to achieve a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.

In some ways, much has changed in 50 years. The science on pollution, climate change and health is now vast and irrefutable, the solutions are readily available, and people around the world are rising up and calling for a healthier, cleaner way of living.

Yet, we are still poisoning our children. It's time for urgent action.

Bhavreen Kandhari is co-founder of Warrior Moms India which is part of the Parents For Future environmental movement.

This year's Stockholm+50 conference refers to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, the first major international meeting on global environmental issues. It started the dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on the link between economic growth and pollution, helped to establish the concept of sustainable development and led to the foundation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

IN PICTURES: INDIA SWELTERS AS SEVERE HEAT WAVE SWEEPS REGION
Skyrocketing temperatures sweep country
A girl uses sunglasses, a mask, a long cloth and an umbrella to protect herself from the sun on her way to school in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. In April, northwest and central India recorded average maximum temperatures of 35.9 and 37.78 Celsius (96.6 and 100 Fahrenheit) respectively, the highest since the Indian Meteorological Department began keeping records 122 years ago.
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Egyptian antiques seized from New York's Met in Louvre probe


Thu, June 2, 2022, 


New York prosecutors have seized five Egyptian antiques from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an international trafficking investigation involving the former head of Paris's Louvre Museum.

The artifacts -- which include a group of painted linen fragments, dated between 250 and 450 BC, depicting a scene from the Book of Exodus -- are worth more than $3 million, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

A New York state judge ordered their confiscation on May 19, a court document shows.

"The pieces were seized pursuant to the warrant," a spokesperson for the district attorney told AFP on Thursday.


He added that they are "related" to the investigation in Paris in which Jean-Luc Martinez, who ran the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, was charged last week with complicity in fraud and "concealing the origin of criminally obtained works by false endorsement."

The fraud is thought to involve several other art experts, according to French investigative weekly Canard Enchaine.

The five pieces seized from the Met were purchased by the famous museum between 2013 and 2015, according to The Art Newspaper, which first reported the news.

When contacted by AFP, a Met spokesperson referred to a previous statement in which the museum said it was "a victim of an international criminal organization."

In 2019, the museum returned the gilded sarcophagus of the priest Nedjemankh to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined it had been stolen during the revolts against ex-president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The Met had purchased the coffin in 2017 and later said it had been a victim of false statements and fake documentation.

French investigators are also seeking to establish whether pieces looted during the Arab Spring protests were acquired by the Louvre's branch in Abu Dhabi.

Several of the individuals charged in the case -- including Roben Dib, owner of a gallery in Hamburg and who is currently in custody -- were involved in the sarcophagus's sale to the Met, according to a 2019 report by the Manhattan district attorney.

The Book of Exodus painting is valued at $1.6 million. Also among the five works is a painted portrait of a woman dated from between the years AD 54 to 68 worth $1.2 million.

pdh/bfm

SPIRIT ANIMAL

Rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in Swiss zoo

Agence France-Presse - Agence France-Presse
June 4, 2022 | 

A unique albinos Galapagos giant tortoise baby is seen at the Tropicarium of Servion in Switzerland
AFP / Fabrice Coffrini

GENEVA, Switzerland — Visitors to a Swiss zoo caught a glimpse of a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in May.

The baby tortoise may be a unique sight to behold with fair skin and red eyes. It weighs around 50 grams (1.7 ounces), and fits in the palm of one's hand.

Albinism is a genetic condition that results in little or no production of the pigment melanin, which determines the colour of the skin, hair and eyes. In animals, it can be accompanied by loss of sight and hearing.

The condition has never been observed in the tortoise species whose skin and shell are usually black, both in captivity and the wild.

"We are blessed by the gods," said Philippe Morel, owner of Tropiquarium zoo in Servion village, western Switzerland.

He said the creature was of "incredible zoological interest" as a small group of schoolchildren marvelled at the baby in front of a glass window.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Galapagos giant tortoises, which can live up to 200 years, as endangered. Around 23,000 tortoises are believed to live on the archipelago.

The park's owner said he believed the albino tortoise's lifespan would be limited to a few weeks in the wild but is hopeful the creature, whose sex is still unknown, will live a long life. "It's crazy how much it climbs," Morel said.

"It's more active than the other," said his son, Thomas Morel, who is in charge of the animals at the zoo, while showing another tortoise — the usual black — born in early May.

The birth is also exceptional because the tortoises have difficulty reproducing due to their size — they can reach up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). The rate of successful births is only around two percent.

So far there have been new tortoise arrivals in only three zoos worldwide, including two in Switzerland.