The fruits of Palestine and their symbolism

Beyond their simple colours and shapes, these fruits carry the weight of history, shared culture, and loss.

Olives and olive trees represent Palestinians’ deep-rooted connection to their land

 [File: Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA]

By Adam Sella
Published On 31 Aug 2023

What do watermelons, oranges, olives and eggplants all have in common?

Yes, technically, they are all fruits. Maybe you think they’re all delicious. But for Palestinians, they symbolise Palestinian culture and identity.

In protest, agriculture, cuisine and literature, Palestinians use watermelons, oranges, olives and eggplants to represent national identity, connection to the land and resistance.

Watermelons

Watermelon shares the same colours as the Palestinian flag and is used to protest Israel’s suppression of Palestinian flags and identity

 [File: Abid Katib/Getty Images]

The watermelon is perhaps the most iconic fruit to represent Palestine. Grown across Palestine, from Jenin to Gaza, the fruit shares the same colours as the Palestinian flag – red, green, white and black – so it’s used to protest against Israel’s suppression of Palestinian flags and identity.

Following the 1967 war, when Israel seized control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem, the government banned the Palestinian flag in the occupied territory.

Although the flag has not always been banned by law, the watermelon caught on as a symbol of resistance. It appears in art, shirts, graffiti, posters, and of course the ubiquitous watermelon emoji on social media.

Recently, the flag has come under fire again. In January 2023, the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir instructed police to confiscate Palestinian flags from public places. This was followed in June by a bill to ban the flag in state-funded institutions, which Haaretz reports received preliminary Knesset approval.

In response, Zazim, a grassroots Arab-Israeli peace organisation, placed the Palestinian flag – in watermelon form – on about a dozen Tel Aviv service taxis.

In Gaza, young watermelons, eggplants and tomatoes are roasted to make a spring salad [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

“If you want to stop us, we’ll find another way to express ourselves,” says Amal Saad, a Palestinian from Haifa who organised Zazim’s watermelon campaign.

Saad was unsure whether the right wing would try to stop her, so she kept her planning under the radar. However, Saad said the support she received was overwhelming, with more than 1,300 activists donating to the cause.

Grassroot donations allowed Zazim to keep the watermelons up for two weeks, a week longer than was originally planned, and the campaign has now shifted to distributing watermelon shirts.

Oranges

Ghassan Kanafani wrote about the anguish of a family in the Nakba, forced to leave behind all they every knew and ‘all the orange trees that [they] had abandoned’ 

[File: Abid Katib/Getty Images]

The Jaffa orange, which originated in the 19th century, gained prominence for its sweetness and thick, easy-to-peel skin, which made it well-suited for shipping.

Before the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948 when the creation of Israel led to the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from villages and towns that their ancestors had lived in for centuries, Jaffa oranges were an important export for Palestinian farmers and businessmen.

Because of their prominence, the oranges also became a symbol of national identity in literature and art. Palestinian novelist and journalist Ghassan Kanafani used oranges to symbolise loss in his 1958 short story about the Nakba, called The Land of Sad Oranges.

The story begins with the narrator and his friend, both young boys, observing their family on the eve of the Nakba. The families pack what they can, but they are forced to abandon “the well-tended orange trees that [they] had bought one by one”.

The fact that these trees were carefully nurtured over a long period of time indicates the strong connection between Palestinian farmers and the land, which hundreds of thousands were forced to forsake during the Nakba.

Jaffa oranges were an important export for Palestinian farmers and businessmen 

[File: Baz Ratner/Reuters]

The last contact the narrator has with Palestine before entering Lebanon is a peasant selling oranges along the road. Amid the sound of his family weeping, he picks up a few oranges and brings them into Lebanon – a memento to “all the orange trees that [they] had abandoned to the Jews”.

In Lebanon, life is very hard for the refugees, in particular for his friend’s father. The story ends after the narrator witnesses his friend’s father having a mental breakdown. Next to the crying, shivering grown-up, the narrator “saw at the same moment [a] black revolver … and beside it an orange. The orange was dried up and shrivelled.”

The revolver, a symbol of death, is connected to the shrivelled orange by the narrator’s gaze. Forcibly displaced from the “land of oranges”, the narrator realises the extent of the Palestinian people’s loss.

Olives

A Palestinian man collects olives with his wife. In recent years, Palestinian olive trees have come under attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank 

[File: Abid Katib/Getty Images]

Olive trees can be found across Palestine and are a symbol of resistance. Nour Alhoda Akel, a 23-year-old Palestinian from the Ara valley, believes olive trees are associated with Palestinian identity because, like the orange trees in Kanafani’s story, they represent Palestinians’ deep-rooted connection to their land.

“Olive trees can live for hundreds of years,” says Akel. “So if the tree outside my house is 100 years old, I have an automatic connection with it”, referring to the land on which the tree stands.

Every year during the olive harvest, Akel joins her extended family to pick olives from their grove, a family heirloom.

“The whole family goes out and everyone helps,” says Akel. After a week of picking, they make olive oil and cure the olives, enough to last the family until next year’s harvest.

Many Palestinian farmers make their own olive oil and soap for personal use and for sale [File: Ali Ali/EPA]

For other Palestinians, the olive harvest is an important source of income. In addition to the oil, which Akel says is an essential ingredient in Palestinian cuisine, olives are used in cosmetics and soap.

In recent years, Palestinian olive trees have come under attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. According to the UN, more than 5,000 olive trees belonging to West Bank Palestinians were vandalised in the first five months of 2023.

In previous years, settlers attacked Palestinians during the olive harvest, which normally falls in October and November. On one day alone in October 2021, Al Jazeera reported that settlers uprooted 900 olive and apricot saplings, and stole olive crops in the village of Sebastia, north of Nablus.

Eggplants

For Edward Said, eggplants were a way to connect with Palestine, despite living most of his life as an exile

 [File: Abid Katib/Getty Images]

In Edward Said’s photonovel on Palestinian identity, called After the Last Sky, he devotes a few pages to eggplants, in particular those from Battir.

Battir is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for eggplants. It even periodically hosts an eggplant festival.

For Said, eggplants are a way for him to connect with Palestine despite living in the United States. He lived most of his life as an exile. At the time of writing this book, Said was still a member of the PLO, so Israel barred him from entering his homeland.

Said recounts that his family was particularly attached to the Battiri eggplants.

So much so that even “during the many years since any of us had Battiri eggplants, the seal of approval on good eggplants was ‘They’re almost as good as the Battiris,’” he writes.

Battir, whose terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, grows legendary eggplants. Environmental groups say an Israeli settlement project slated for a nearby hilltop could threaten its ancient terraces

 [File: Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Germany wants to boost the use of geothermal energy to reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies

By Kristina Jovanovski

EURONEWS

Published on 31/08/2023 

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Berlin is looking at ways to reduce its dependency on gas supplied by Moscow.

Germany is considering using an out-of-use airport to implement its geothermal plans, as Berlin looks to become more energy-independent – and cleaner.

Geothermal energy is a form of thermal energy that has been exploited as a source of both heat and electric power. The site of the former Tegel airport is just one of many proposed locations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week the country’s goal is to get as much geothermal energy as possible by 2030, focusing on providing heating to buildings.

The war in Ukraine forced Germany to massively decrease its reliance on Russian gas. The German Geothermal Association says since then,there's been a strong spike in interest.

While a more cleaner energy source, the group’s managing director says there are obstacles to expanding geothermal use.

Andre Deinhardt, Managing Director of the German Geothermal Association, says: “We don’t have enough money in the market for geothermal. And there are some moves of the government in this direction but it’s not fast enough. And then we have to be faster, a lot faster in permitting these geothermal installations.”
Berlin’s Tegel airport to be transformed into environmentally friendly 10,000 person community

One study by the Fraunhofer Institute last year found that geothermal energy could provide more than a quarter of Germany’s heating.

Berlin’s local government plans to start deep digging in 2025. But some environmentalists say the whole country should go one step further – and fully eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

“There is no other way to be aligned with the Paris Agreement and other climate targets than renewable energy,” says Anike Peters, a Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace.

“And that’s why it’s so important that the German government stops investing in fossil fuels and starts pushing really hard and only for 100% renewable energies.”

Supporters say geothermal energy will help Germany be more self-sufficient with its resources. Berlin also wants to expand into its other alternative industries – like solar.

"We are independent, it’s cheaper, you have it every time. Especially if it’s cold then you often don’t have enough sun. But geothermal energy is a heat flow that you have every time – 24 hours, 7 days,” Deinhardt concludes.

What's behind Vietnam's worsening sex ratio imbalance?

Rodion Ebbighausen
3August 31, 2023

Vietnam finds itself alongside countries like China and India when it comes to skewed sex ratios. A traditional preference for boys, ultrasound tech and a two-child policy are all to blame.

The shortage of women in Vietnam has become a regular topic of conversation at the dinner table. Even a few years ago, if a woman in her mid-20s was not yet married, her marriage prospects were one of the biggest concerns for her family.

But many families' concerns are now increasingly directed at their sons.

Questions like these are preoccupying their minds: Is his education enough? Does he earn enough? Does he know how to behave?

If the answers to these questions are in the negative, then his prospects of finding a wife diminish.

There are already 1.2 million more boys than girls among Vietnamese under the age of 19, according to the 2019 census.

Vietnam finds itself alongside countries like China and India when it comes to such skewed sex ratios.

The social consequences of this development are dramatic for men, who cannot find female life partners, as well as for women who are exposed to increased challenges as a result of being a contested "commodity."
Traditional preference for boys

A 2018 study entitled "Gender Imbalance In Vietnam: Problems And Solutions" identifies several reasons for the imbalance of boys and girls.

The imbalance is partly a result of society's preference for boys, where traditionally, a female child is valued less than a male.

Is Vietnam set to replace China as the world's factory?  02:55

Confucianism, which has a strong influence on Vietnamese society, calls for a strict separation of gender roles and the subordination of women to men.

When women marry in Vietnam, they usually join their husbands' families and are thus "lost" to their own families.

Since the state doesn't provide an adequate social safety net, parents depend on their sons to provide for them in their old age.

Impact of tech and two-child policy?

The widespread use of prenatal testing methods such as ultrasound imaging has also made it possible to determine the sex of the unborn child, despite the government's 2003 ban on ultrasound testing for gender identification.

Today, as many as 83% of pregnant women know the sex of their child before birth, reported the United Nations Country Gender Equality Profile 2021.

Ultrasounds, along with policies to curb population growth, have negatively influenced the country's sex ratio. The Vietnamese government adopted a two-child policy in 1988, but it is not rigidly enforced.

Most families in the country want a son to continue their lineage. As a result, there has been an increase in the abortion of female fetuses, especially when it comes to a second or third pregnancy.

The consequences for mothers are clear, said Thu Hong Khuat, director of the Institute for Social Development Studies in Hanoi.

"Vietnamese women are under extreme pressure to give birth to a son. If they don't succeed, their husbands and families are likely to treat them badly, especially in rural areas," she told DW.

Human trafficking, social instability on the rise

Contrary to what one might expect, the skewed sex ratio has not led to an improvement in the status or social standing of women in Vietnam.

Instead, they are increasingly becoming victims of "forced marriage, human trafficking and other forms of violence against women and girls," according to the study "Gender Imbalance In Vietnam: Problems And Solutions" by Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and other authors.

In addition, there has been an increase in prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. At the same time, the risk of social unrest is on the rise as the number of socially and sexually frustrated men grows.

These problems will continue to worsen, and the gender mismatch will grow, unless the government succeeds in reversing the trend.

The abortion of female fetuses has increased in Vietnam since ultrasound technology was introduced nationwide

Pascal Deloche/GODONG/picture-alliance

UN estimates suggest the population gap between men and women in the 20-39 age group will grow from the current 3.5% to about 10% by 2059.

This means that, in purely mathematical terms, one in 10 men of marriageable age will not be able to find a wife.
Strong laws, but weak welfare state

A comprehensive package of measures is needed to resolve the problem, said Thu Hong Khuat, pointing out that the challenge at hand is nothing less than changing a centuries-old cultural norm.

She stressed that it will require laws, education and a stronger welfare state.

Vietnamese woman seeks justice for Agent Orange victims  03:29

The Vietnamese parliament passed an equality law in 2006, and the 2013 constitution banned gender-based discrimination. The government is currently implementing the second 10-year plan to promote gender equality, the "National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021-2030."

"There is a strong political will of the government in Vietnam to promote gender equality," stressed Thu Hong Khuat.

Public awareness of the problem has also increased significantly, she said. "Nowadays, people are aware that gender equality is a good thing, but culture and tradition are still very strong."

However, she underlined that laws and public awareness alone aren't enough.

"Until we improve the social system, the social safety net, change cannot go very far," she said, noting that children needed to be freed from the financial and material burdens involved in taking care of their parents in old age.

This would require, for instance, integrating more Vietnamese into the pension system. According to the International Labor Organization, just over a third of the population is currently part of the system.

This article was originally written in German.

INFOGRAPHICS AND CHARTS

The internet celebrates its 40th birthday, but some users are twice its age

!NICCOLÒ COMINI|

WORLDBANK.ORG

AUGUST 31, 2023

The charity HelpAge in India promotes digital literacy and internet safety programs for the elderly. © Shutterstock

Does internet help you to stay in touch with family and friends? If you answered yes, you could claim that internet is benefiting your health! Scientific research has demonstrated that social isolation – often correlated with age – is a risk factor for premature death comparable to smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. According to the UN, the share of individuals that are 65 years or older is increasing more rapidly than the population below that age.

Estimates indicate that this segment will account for 16 percent of the global population in 2050 (up from 10 percent in 2022), with the number of 60 and over who may face age-related disabilities expected to reach 2.1 billion. As the world goes digital, with everything from banking to healthcare and government services moving online, this trend raises new challenges for policymakers as older people tend to be less familiar with the internet. While we often talk about the digital divide across genders or urban and rural groups, the wide gap in internet use between generations is another crucial area of focus.

Today, nearly 70 percent of the global population over the age of 10 uses the internet. However, if we look at data more closely, people between the ages of 15 and 24 use it more compared to the rest of the population. For instance, in the USA, one of the most connected countries globally, around a quarter of people aged 65 and older are not online. In Brazil, almost half of the population over 60 has never used the internet.

In many cases, older people have spent much of their lives ‘offline,’ going to work in an office, handling financial matters at a brick-and-mortar bank or visiting friends in person, which means they may not have had the need or opportunity to develop digital skills. At the same time, a significant proportion of older people in developing countries often cannot afford devices and internet subscriptions. And despite the increasing call for digital skills, many older adults living with low income are unprepared for the digital world. This means that a segment of our society is being left behind when it comes to accessing basic services, social interactions, and economic opportunities.

It is important that older people can get online for a variety of reasons. There is a predominant social aspect underlying the internet that can be crucial to enhance seniors’ quality of life. Moreover, among this segment of the population, mobility may be limited. Hence, internet can facilitate access to a wide spectrum of resources, from signing up for public services to grocery delivery. Digital health could complement traditional healthcare services, for instance facilitating remote monitoring for an older person who lives alone. Access to good quality internet and digital public infrastructure is also key to increase resiliency during health shocks and promote social assistance response.

There are examples around the world of specific programs to bring the aged population online. For instance, the charity HelpAge in India promotes digital literacy and internet safety programs for the elderly, who may be more vulnerable to online fraud or scams. In Colombia, a program led by the government is working with the Universidad Nacional to strengthen seniors’ digital skills – for example teaching them how to use technology to access public information, carry out requests for services online or communicate with family and friends. Several mobile operators in different countries offer discounted internet subscriptions to older users.

The World Bank’s digital development team supports digital skills trainings as part of various projects around the globe, targeting the whole age spectrum. For instance, the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) in Nicaragua trained nearly 600 individuals over the age of 45 on foundational and more advanced digital skills, and about a third of them reported an increase in salary after six months of completing their training program.

Considering the global demographic shifts we are seeing and how quickly our everyday lives are moving online, it’s crucial to equip all with the skills to connect in a safe and meaningful way. Digital inclusion programs should follow a holistic approach so that everyone – young and old – can reap the benefits of the digital transformation. Digital skills programs, whether led by the government, academia, or the private sector, should target elders, focusing on their specific learning gaps and needs.

Public resources such as the universal service funds - a system of subsidies, fees, and funding designed to increase access to telecommunications resources - may be leveraged to support these activities as well. Digital public services should be designed considering the potentially limited digital skills available for this segment of people, promoting user-friendly interfaces while ensuring online safety. Finally, each of us can also play a role, encouraging senior citizens to get online in productive ways, from using online messaging applications to stay in touch to teaching them how to make the most of e-commerce platforms. Together we can help narrow the aged-based digital divide.

Saudi Arabia: Mass Killings of Migrants at Yemen Border

Systematic Abuses of Ethiopians May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity

 Border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023.

Saudi officials are killing hundreds of women and children out of view of the rest of the world while they spend billions on sports-washing to try to improve their image.
Saudi Arabia should immediately and urgently revoke any policy to use lethal force on migrants and asylum seekers. Concerned countries should press for accountability and the UN should investigate.

(London) – Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings, which appear to continue, would be a crime against humanity.

The 73-page report, “‘They Fired on Us Like Rain’: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border,” found that Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons to kill many migrants and shot other migrants at close range, including many women and children, in a widespread and systematic pattern of attacks. In some instances, Saudi border guards asked migrants what limb to shoot, and then shot them at close range. Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who were attempting to flee back to Yemen.

“Saudi officials are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area out of view of the rest of the world,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Spending billions buying up professional golf, football clubs, and major entertainment events to improve the Saudi image should not deflect attention from these horrendous crimes.”


Click to expand Image
A video published on TikTok on December 4, 2022 shows a group of roughly 47 migrants, 37 of whom appear to be women, walking along a steep slope inside Saudia Arabia on the trail used to cross from the migrant camp of Al Thabit. © 2022 Private

Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 people, including 38 Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023, and 4 relatives or friends of those who tried to cross during that period. Human Rights Watch analyzed over 350 videos and photographs posted to social media or gathered from other sources, and several hundred square kilometers of satellite imagery.

Human Rights Watch wrote to the Saudi and Houthi authorities. The Houthi authorities replied to our letter on August 19, 2023.

Approximately 750,000 Ethiopians live and work in Saudi Arabia. While many migrate for economic reasons, a number have fled because of serious human rights abuses in Ethiopia, including during the recent, brutal armed conflict in the north.

While Human Rights Watch has documented killings of migrants at the border with Yemen and Saudi Arabia since 2014, the killings appear to be a deliberate escalation in both the number and manner of targeted killings.

Migrants and asylum seekers said they crossed the Gulf of Aden in unseaworthy vessels, Yemeni smugglers then took them to Saada governorate, currently under the control of the Houthi armed group, on the Saudi border.

Many said Houthi forces worked with smugglers and would extort them or transfer them to what migrants described as detention centers, where people were abused until they could pay an “exit fee.”


Click to expand Image
3D model of likely Saudi border guard posts and patrol roads near fences identified with satellite imagery near the migration route from the migrant camp of Al Thabit in Saada Governorate, Yemen, into Saudi Arabia. Graphic © Human Rights Watch

Migrants in groups of up to 200 people would regularly try to cross the border into Saudi Arabia, often making multiple attempts after Saudi border guards pushed them back. Migrants said that their groups had more women than men and unaccompanied children. Human Rights Watch has identified Saudi border guard posts from satellite images that are consistent with these accounts. Human Rights Watch also identified what appears to be a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle positioned from October 10, 2021, to December 31, 2022, at one of the Saudi border guard posts. The vehicle appeared to have a heavy machine gun mounted in a turret on its roof.

People traveling in groups described being attacked by mortar projectiles and other explosive weapons from the direction of Saudi border guards once they had crossed the border. Those interviewed described 28 incidents with Saudi border guards using explosive weapons. Survivors said the Saudis sometimes held them in detention facilities, in some cases for months.

All described scenes of horror: women, men, and children’s bodies strewn across the mountainous landscape severely injured, already dead and dismembered. “First I was eating with people and then they were dying,” said one person. “There are some people who you cannot identify because their bodies are thrown everywhere. Some people were torn in half.”

A Human Rights Watch digital investigation of videos posted to social media or sent directly to Human Rights Watch and verified and geolocated show dead and wounded migrants on the trails, in camps, and in medical facilities. Geospatial analysis revealed growing burial sites near the migrant camps and expanding border security infrastructure.


Click to expand Image
Location of burial sites identified on satellite imagery close to Al Raqw migrant camp. Image: February 9, 2022. 

© 2023 Maxar Technologies. Source Google Earth

Members of the Independent Forensic Expert Group of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, an international group of prominent forensic experts, analyzed verified videos and photographs showing injured or dead migrants to determine the causes of their wounds. They concluded that some injuries exhibited “clear patterns consistent with the explosion of munitions with capacity to produce heat and fragmentation,” while others have “characteristics consistent with gunshot wounds” and, in one instance, “burns are visible.”

People traveling in smaller groups or on their own said once they crossed the Yemen-Saudi border that Saudi border guards carrying rifles shot at them. People also described guards beating them with rocks and metal bars. Fourteen interviewees witnessed or were themselves wounded in shooting incidents at close range. Six were targeted both by explosive weapons and by shootings.

Some said Saudi border guards would descend from their border guard posts and beat survivors. A 17-year-old boy said border guards forced him and other survivors to rape two girl survivors after the guards had executed another migrant who refused to rape another survivor.

Saudi Arabia should immediately and urgently revoke any policy, whether explicit or de facto, to use lethal force on migrants and asylum seekers, including targeting them with explosive weapons and close-range shootings. The government should investigate and appropriately discipline or prosecute security personnel responsible for unlawful killings, wounding, and torture at the Yemen border.

Concerned governments should publicly call for Saudi Arabia to end any such policy and press for accountability. In the interim, concerned governments should impose sanctions on Saudi and Houthi officials credibly implicated in ongoing violations at the border.

A UN-backed investigation should be established to assess abuses against migrants and whether killings amount to crimes against humanity.

“Saudi border guards knew or should have known they were firing on unarmed civilians,” Hardman said. “If there is no justice for what appear to be serious crimes against Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers, it will only fuel further killings and abuses.”

Ethiopia unveils joint Saudi probe into alleged migrant killings

Addis Ababa (AFP) – Ethiopia said Tuesday it would launch a joint investigation with Saudi Arabia into a Human Rights Watch report accusing the kingdom's border guards of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants.

Issued on: 22/08/2023 

Repatriated: Ethiopians flown back from Saudi Arabia landing at Addis Ababa's Bole airport in March 2022 © EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP/File

The report sparked global outrage after its publication on Monday, although a Saudi government source dismissed the allegations as "unfounded."

"The Government of Ethiopia will promptly investigate the incident in tandem with the Saudi Authorities," the foreign ministry said on X, formerly Twitter.

"At this critical juncture, it is highly advised to exercise utmost restraint from making unnecessary speculations until (the) investigation is complete," the ministry said, noting the "excellent longstanding relations" between Addis Ababa and Riyadh.

The report points to a surge in abuses along the perilous migrant route from the Horn of Africa to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live and work.

One 20-year-old woman from Ethiopia's Oromia region, interviewed by the US-based rights monitor, said Saudi border guards opened fire on a group of migrants they had just released from custody.

"They fired on us like rain. When I remember, I cry," she said.

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) says hundreds of thousands of people each year take the so-called eastern route from Africa in the hope of working in the wealthy Gulf countries.

The travellers face "life-threatening dangers," including starvation, dehydration, kidnapping and arrest, or being forced to join warring groups, particularly in Yemen, it says.

One of the world's poorest countries, Yemen is in the grip of a deep humanitarian crisis after eight years of war pitting Iran-backed Huthi rebels against the Saudi coalition-backed government.

The Saudi government source who spoke to AFP rejected the HRW accusations.

"The allegations included in the Human Rights Watch report about Saudi border guards shooting Ethiopians while they were crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border are unfounded and not based on reliable sources," said the source, who requested anonymity.
US call for probe

Washington, a long-time ally of Riyadh, urged "a thorough and transparent investigation" into the accusations.

The European Union noted with "concern" the HRW claims and plans to raise them with Riyadh and with the Huthi rebels who control strategic parts of Yemen, a spokesman, Peter Stano, said Tuesday.

"We welcome the announcement by the government of Ethiopia, specifically, to investigate the whole issue together with the authorities in Saudi Arabia," he said.

Each year hundreds of thousands of Africans attempt the perilous 'eastern route' to reach the wealthy Gulf states for work -- many are from Ethiopia and Somalia, which are struggling with drought and conflict 

© Tupac POINTU / AFP

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the report "very concerning" but noted the "serious" allegations were difficult to verify.

The French foreign ministry also urged a transparent probe and said it was raising the issue of human rights in Yemen and Saudi Arabia with the Saudi authorities, calling on them to "respect international law and protect civilian populations".

HRW has documented abuses against Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia and Yemen for nearly a decade.

But it said the latest killings appear to be "widespread and systematic" and may amount to crimes against humanity.

Last year, UN experts reported "concerning allegations" that "cross-border artillery shelling and small-arms fire by Saudi Arabia security forces killed approximately 430 migrants" in southern Saudi Arabia and northern Yemen during the first four months of 2022.

In March of that year, repatriation of Ethiopians from Saudi Arabia began under an agreement between the two countries.

Ethiopia's foreign ministry said about 100,000 of its citizens were expected to be sent home over several months.

© 2023 AFP

Scientist Peter Kalmus: The Hurricanes, Floods & Fires of 2023 Are Just the Beginning of Climate Emergency

DEMOCRACY NOW!
STORY  AUGUST 31, 2023

GUESTS  Peter Kalmus
climate activist and scientist.

LINKS Peter Kalmus website
"Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution"


As Hurricane Idalia left a wake of destruction Wednesday, President Joe Biden said, “I don’t think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore.” Climate activist and scientist Peter Kalmus calls for Biden to declare a climate emergency in order to unleash the government’s ability to transition away from fossil fuels. “The public just doesn’t understand, in my opinion, what a deep emergency we are in,” says Kalmus. “This is the merest beginning of what we’re going to see in coming years.” Kalmus blasts the fossil fuel industry for manipulating politics through campaign contributions, and GOP presidential candidates for misleading the public about climate science. “As a parent, as a citizen and as a scientist, I find it appalling and disgusting,” declares Kalmus. “I can’t mince words anymore.”

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.


AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Hurricane Idalia has left a trail of flooding and destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, inundating coastal towns and leaving over 300,000 customers across the region without power. Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane and was later downgraded to a tropical storm. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the Big Bend section of Florida in over 125 years. The storm produced record storm surge across much of the region. As Idalia continues northward, North Carolina residents are bracing themselves for heavy downpours and possible tornadoes. Officials warned residents dangerous storm surges are still possible. Two people died in Florida in car crashes linked to the storm.

On Wednesday, President Biden spoke at the White House.


PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore. Just look around. Historic floods — I mean historic floods — more intense droughts, extreme heat, significant wildfires have caused significant damage like we’ve never seen before.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we’re joined by Peter Kalmus, climate activist, climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, joining us today speaking on his own behalf, not as a spokesperson for NASA. Last year, he was arrested for locking himself onto an entrance to the JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles.

And you can explain why, Peter Kalmus, you locked yourself to the JPMorgan Chase building, how that relates to your climate science work, and what the south and the east of the country is experiencing right now, even Raleigh getting the tail end as the storm moves north.

PETER KALMUS: Yeah. Thank you.

So, the public just doesn’t understand, in my opinion, what a deep emergency we are in. This is the merest beginning of what we’re going to see in coming years. And to me, it’s absolutely horrifying. I don’t think people really fully appreciate how irreversible these impacts are. We can’t just reverse this. It’s not like cleaning up trash in a park. How hot we allow this planet to get is how hot it will stay for a very long time. And I feel like climate scientists, including myself, have been being ignored for decades by world leaders. They just don’t seem to get this, either.

I’m glad to hear President Biden finally using his bully pulpit a little bit to try to wake people up that this is real, but he continues to expand fossil fuels at breakneck pace. He continues to permit more drilling on public lands at a pace even faster than Trump, to approve the Willow project in Alaska. He went out of his way to make sure that the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia, was approved. He could have stopped that, but, instead, he’s pushing to expand fossil fuels.

And that’s the cause of all of this damage that we’re seeing — the deadly fires in Greece, in Maui a few weeks ago, the flooding that we’ve seen in Vermont this year, in Pakistan last summer that basically inundated most of the country. The record heat that we’re seeing is going to get worse and worse. I feel like we are on the verge — these are very nonlinear changes. So, it feels like they’re increasing very quickly, because they interact with society in very complex ways. And we’re a lot more vulnerable than I think that most people think, or thought quite recently. And so, we could start seeing things like regional heat waves that end up killing a million people over the course of a few days in coming years. And it won’t stop there. That’s the thing. It just gets worse, the more fossil fuels we burn.

And so, yeah, the science, just doing the science, publishing the papers hasn’t seemed to got the message across either to the public or to world leaders. I’ve got two sons, and it breaks my heart to see the Biden administration continue to expand fossil fuels and take us deeper into this catastrophe, instead of trying to bring us back from this. He’s deeply on the wrong side of history.

Choosing JPMorgan Chase Bank in Los Angeles last year, that was a strategic choice, because a lot of these new fossil fuel projects — and just let me say again how insane it is that we’re still building new — we’re still allowing new fossil fuel projects to be built, because they have lifetimes of three to four decades. Anyway, the financing of those new projects is crucial. And no one, no institution on the planet does more damage to the Earth system, irreversible damage, by financing fossil fuel projects than JPMorgan.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Peter Kalmus, could you talk about that? Elaborate on the role of the fossil fuel industry, not just in, of course, contributing over 80% — being responsible for over 80% of global heating, but what role, if any, it plays in the Biden administration’s — despite what he said, that there’s no question now of denying the impact of the climate crisis, he’s falling short. Even though he says — he said earlier this year that he’s “practically” declared a climate emergency, he has not done so. So, what would declaring a climate emergency enable? And what role is the fossil fuel industry playing, if any, in preventing him from doing so?

PETER KALMUS: Yeah, so a lot of questions there. Let me start out by saying that the public needs to know that the fossil fuel industry and its leaders, the fossil fuel executives, have — and their lobbyists, have been lying for decades, for about 50 years. This is very well documented. There’s a paper trail — people like science historians like Naomi Oreskes, Ben Franta, journalists like Amy Westervelt. There’s a very clear and sizable body of evidence that the fossil fuel industry, and through organizations like the American Petroleum Institute, have been literally lying to the public, trying to spread confusion about the science, countering climate scientists’ attempt to sound the alarm, kind of creating this sense of uncertainty through their lies, you know, spending billions of dollars on these misinformation campaigns, and then bribing politicians.

So, I think it was a year ago a story in The New York Times said that, you know, we all know that Joe Manchin gets a lot of money from the fossil fuel industry, but even Senator Chuck Schumer received almost $300,000 in one election cycle from the corporation that benefits from the Mountain Valley Pipeline, to ensure that the Mountain Valley Pipeline was built. So, the tendrils of the fossil fuel industry — and it’s surprising how cheap it is for them to buy off these politicians. It reminds me of the David Bowie song “The Man Who Sold the World.” I know that President Biden, when he was — during the primaries, a lot of the people in his campaign team had worked previously in the fossil fuel industry, so there’s a lot of connection there, as well. So I think that, you know, part of the problem is simply we have one of the most powerful industries on the planet, if not the most powerful industry, which has extremely deep pockets. They have profits of over, I think, a trillion dollars per year. And they can spend a tiny bit of that money to basically influence politicians. It’s essentially legalized bribery.

So, you know, I think there’s also — their disinformation campaign is a big part of why the public doesn’t understand how serious of an emergency we’re in right now. And that, in turn, kind of doesn’t push journalists to kind of connect these dots. So I see a lot of stories being reported, in The New York Times and elsewhere, about these individual climate catastrophes, but they miss very key points in the story, right? First of all, they often use the passive voice. They say, like, “The Earth is heating up.” No, it’s being heated up by the fossil fuel industry, by their dishonesty, by their legalized bribery. So they don’t make that connection.

They also don’t make the connection of where we’re going in the near future. Right? So, if they’re talking about a deadly heat wave that happens in 2023, they don’t say how much worse things are going to get by, say, 2028 or 2032. This is what really frightens me about climate change caused by global heating. It’s a trend. You might have some years that are slightly cooler than others due to natural variability, so it’s a little bit of a noisy trend, but it’s rising year on year. The physics is absolutely — you can’t negotiate with it. We understand the physics quite well. We don’t understand how it’s all going to play out with these complex human systems like the agriculture system, water systems, geopolitics. That’s a whole other question. But we know it’s going to get hotter and hotter, and that’s going to drive all of these types of catastrophes that we’re seeing to get more intense, more frequent.

AMY GOODMAN: Peter Kalmus, I wanted to go back to last week’s Republican presidential debate. Some are calling it a vice-presidential debate, those who are competing to be the vice-presidential running mate of President Trump. But Fox News played a question from Alexander Diaz, a student at Catholic University of America.


ALEXANDER DIAZ: Polls consistently show that young people’s number one issue is climate change. How will you, as both president of the United States and leader of the Republican Party, calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn’t care about climate change?


MARTHA MacCALLUM: So, we want to start on this with a show of hands. Do you believe in human behavior is causing climate change? Raise your hand if you do.


GOV. RON DESANTIS: Look, we’re not schoolchildren. Let’s have the debate. I mean, I’m happy to take it to start, Alexander.


MARTHA MacCALLUM: OK. You know what?


BRET BAIER: So, do you want to raise your hand or not?

AMY GOODMAN: That was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He and the other seven candidates refused to say climate change is caused by humans. Vivek Ramaswamy went on to call climate change a “hoax,” Peter Kalmus.

PETER KALMUS: It’s absolutely disgusting to me. I mean, he made a reference to schoolchildren. Schoolchildren understand this science much better than these adult men who are running for high office. And as a parent, as a citizen and as a scientist, I find it appalling and disgusting. I mean, I can’t mince words anymore. You know, I think too many scientists are holding back in how they talk about this. But the science is — there’s a mountain of evidence; the science could not be any more clear. There is no debate. It’s just ridiculous. And I don’t know what else to say. It’s like: How would I be able to argue with somebody who insisted that two plus two equals five?

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Peter, before we end — we just have a minute — what alternatives to fossil fuel are being explored now?

PETER KALMUS: Well, so, let’s be really clear, right? So, as you said earlier, about roughly 80% of global heating is caused by burning fossil fuels. Most of the rest of it is caused by industrial animal agriculture. So, but we know nothing we do will stop this, besides — if solution packages don’t include ramping down fossil fuels very quickly, they’re complete, basically, garbage. Right? So, look at the COP28 process, too — I want to make this point — which COP28 has — the last few COPs, the fossil fuel industry has sent the largest group of delegates to. This is the United Nations global negotiations on —

AMY GOODMAN: Twenty seconds.

PETER KALMUS: Yeah, and now it’s being led by the UAE national fossil fuel executives. So, the fox is controlling the henhouse. We have to ramp down fossil fuels. There’s no other choice. And renewable energies are already cheaper. So it’s just this money in politics which is blocking everything, and the ignorance of some of these politicians.

AMY GOODMAN: Peter Kalmus, climate activist, climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, not speaking on behalf of NASA but speaking on his own behalf, and, some might say, on behalf of the planet.

Coming up, we’ll look at another crisis: the rapidly shrinking supply of groundwater in the nation’s aquifers. 

U.S. Aquifers Are Running Dry, Posing Major Threat to Drinking Water Supply

STORY AUGUST 31, 2023
GUESTS Warigia Bowman
director of sustainable energy and natural resources law at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

LINKS"America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There's No Tomorrow"


A major New York Times investigation reveals how the United States’ aquifers are becoming severely depleted due to overuse in part from huge industrial farms and sprawling cities. The Times reports that Kansas corn yields are plummeting due to a lack of water, there is not enough water to support the construction of new homes in parts of Phoenix, Arizona, and rivers across the country are drying up as aquifers are being drained far faster than they are refilling. “It can take millions of years to fill an aquifer, but they can be depleted in 50 years,” says Warigia Bowman, director of sustainable energy and natural resources law at the University of Tulsa College of Law. “All coastal regions in the United States are really being threatened by groundwater and aquifer problems.”

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.


AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: “America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow.” That’s the headline to a major New York Times investigation that examines how the nation’s aquifers are becoming severely depleted due to overuse in part from huge industrial farms and sprawling cities.

The depletion of the nation’s aquifers is already having a devastating impact. The Times reports that in Kansas, corn yields are plummeting due to a lack of water. In Arizona, there is not enough water to support the construction of new homes in parts of Phoenix. And rivers across the country are drying up.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going now to Oklahoma, where we’re joined by Warigia Bowman, who has been closely tracking this issue, director of sustainable energy and natural resources law at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Thank you so much for being with us. Can you start off by just explaining what an aquifer is, why these groundwater resources are under such threat, why they’re so critical not only to the United States but all over the world?

WARIGIA BOWMAN: Well, thank you so much, Amy. It’s really an honor to be on your show. I’ve been listening for years, so I am grateful for the opportunity.

For your listeners, an aquifer refers to, essentially, a container of soil and rock that holds water under the ground. This is not an underground river. Rather, it’s water flowing through porous rock and soil. So, if you have an aquifer very close to the surface, we usually call that artesian, and that’s when you see a spring. So, if you see a spring bubbling out of the ground, that means that the aquifer is very close to the surface. Some aquifers are very deep below the surface, and they were formed by glacial rainwater billions and millions of years ago. So, an aquifer is just a fancy way of saying, you know, the place that holds our groundwater.

Now, aquifers are critical for both the United and the world, because we get so much of our drinking water from groundwater. It’s really a significant percentage. In California, it could go as high as 60% in a drought year.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And so, Warigia, if you could talk about how the federal government and state governments manage public water supplies?

WARIGIA BOWMAN: OK. Well, the federal government does not deal with groundwater. They have the power to. The Supreme Court has said, in Nebraska v. Sporhase, that the federal government has that opportunity. But all water law is done at the state level for the moment. And what that means is that each different state has a different approach to managing its water. So, actually, who manages water at the local level, that’s a municipal issue. That’s a little bit more of an infrastructure issue. But in terms of who owns the water and the legal regime to utilize it, that’s a state law issue.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about how aquifer depletion isn’t solely a problem in the west of the country, how the tap water crisis is emerging in other parts of the country, as well?

WARIGIA BOWMAN: OK, well, I’m not an expert on the tap water crisis, but I will say that all coastal regions in the United States are really being threatened by groundwater and aquifer problems. Some of the hardest hit are going to be Louisiana and Florida. Obviously, New York will eventually be hit.

Let’s take Florida. I’m sure you guys have already heard about how residents in Miami are trying to move their properties or find property on hillier areas, but in places like the Everglade, you have a very delicate balance of freshwater and saltwater. But when we overdraw our aquifers, then you get something called saltwater intrusion, which upsets that balance. And that’s also a serious problem in Louisiana.

And surprisingly, under the Mississippi River between Mississippi and Arkansas, there’s enormous aquifer depletion. It’s hard to believe because the Mississippi is such a big river. But the farmers in that region are withdrawing so much water so fast that actually the aquifers underneath the Mississippi River are one of the most endangered aquifers in the United States.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Warigia, if you could talk about, very quickly, in the last minute we have, how the climate crisis worsens this aquifer depletion and accelerates it?

WARIGIA BOWMAN: Well, there are a few different ways. The first way is precipitation is declining. Snowmelt is declining — I mean, snow is declining. But one thing to understand it that aquifers and groundwater, they recharge incredibly slowly. So, it can take millions of years to fill an aquifer, but they can be depleted, you know, in 50 years. But as surface water supplies, like rivers and streams and lakes, are depleted, farmers and industry are going to draw more from groundwater, and so that accelerates the depletion.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Warigia Bowman, we want to thank you so much for being with us, associate professor and director of sustainable energy and natural resources law at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

That does it for our show. A very happy birthday to Hany Massoud! Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Sonyi Lopez. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, Denis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick, Matt Ealy and Emily Anderson.

If you want to sign up for our daily digest, news in your email box, go to democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Thanks so much for joining us.

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Oil and gas companies have outsized economic impact on Alaska, says industry study

By

 Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

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31 August 2023

A network of pipelines, seen on Aug. 23, 2018, snakes through a portion of the Greater Prudhoe Bay Unit on Alaska’s North Slope. The oil and gas industry has more impact on Alaska’s economy than any other industry, a new study finds. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

The oil industry packs a bigger economic punch than any other industry in Alaska, according to study findings presented on Wednesday at an industry conference in Anchorage.

The study, by the McKinley Research Group and commissioned by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, found that oil and gas employment, spending, tax revenues and spinoff effects supported 16% of the state’s jobs in 2022.

For each direct oil and gas company job, industry activity supported 15 other jobs, and each dollar in oil and gas industry wages supported $4 in other Alaska wages, according to the report, which was presented at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s annual conference.

“This is a significant multiplier. This is the highest multiplier in the state,” Katie Berry, McKinley’s director of economics and research, said in her presentation at the conference. “And that comes about because the oil and gas industry has such a high level of spending and is so connected to their vendors and is so connected to the state of Alaska.”

The multiplier to which Berry referred is an economic term that accounts for direct employment and spending, indirect spending and induced spending, which includes industry workers’ purchases in the larger economy.

“Every time somebody that works at an oil and gas company goes to the dentist or pays for child care or stops by Costco, they’re supporting jobs and wages here in Alaska,” Berry said.

The 15 primary oil and gas companies operating in the state employed 4,105 workers, 83% of whom were Alaska residents, and paid $1.1 billion in wages in 2022, Berry said in her presentation. The companies that year paid $4.6 billion for goods and services in Alaska and contributed $4.5 billion in total tax and royalty payments, $4.1 billion of which went to the state government, she said.

That $4.1 billion amounted to 47% of state revenue in the 12 months that ended on June 30, 2022, she said.

Factoring in all multipliers, the industry supported 69,250 jobs and was the source of $5.9 billion in wages in 2022, Berry said.

The industry’s big economic impact will continue in coming years, Berry said in her presentation.

The oil and gas companies collectively plan to spend $14 billion on new fields and investments in existing fields through 2028, a notable sum, she said.

“We feel compelled to remind you that these companies are operating in a global environment in which they’re competing to bring capital to the projects in Alaska. So to have this level of investment in the state is very significant,” she said.

Direct construction and drilling employment from that investment is expected to total 1,600 jobs with $1 billion in wages, Berry said. Factoring in the multiplier effect, the investment is expected to support 2,500 to 2,900 workers annually during the construction phase, she said.

Direct employment during the production phase of those new projects is expected to total 300 jobs and $65 million in wages by 2028, according to the findings. With all multiplier factors considered, the cumulative total from the new development during the production phase is expected to be about 2,700 new jobs and $215 million in wages through 2028, according to the findings.

The study is based on state and company data, Bery said.

The new findings were largely similar to findings in a McKinley Research report released in early 2020 that was also commissioned by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association findings. At the time, the company went by a different name: the McDowell Group.

That 2020 study, which focused on impacts in 2018, found a somewhat higher level of direct oil and gas company employment: 4,906, of which 84% were Alaska residents. Including all multipliers, the oil and gas industry supported 77,600 jobs in Alaska in 2018, about a quarter of all wage and salary jobs in the state, according to that study.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s annual employment forecast, issued in January, noted that North Slope oil employment hit a 16-year low in 2021 but is poised to increase this year because of investments in new projects.

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Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Follow Alaska Beacon on Facebook and Twitter.

You can read the original here.

 

Norwegian oilmen lay out a picture of Svalbard

There is a growing interest in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate says in a statement and pitches a photo from the far northern Svalbard archipelago.

By

 Atle Staalesen, The Independent Barents Observer

 -

31 August 2023

The Norwegian Petroluem Directorate signals a push towards Svalbard in its presentation of a new license round. Photo: Bjørn Anders Lundschien/the NPD

Climate crisis and weather havoc notwithstanding, Norway continues to push for expanded oil and gas drilling. Including in its far northern waters.

The country’s Petroleum Directorate this week announced that 25 companies are ready to take part in an upcoming new license round.

The so-called Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2023 includes new drilling acreage in areas previously opened for exploration.

The Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2023 includes 78 blocks in the Barents Sea, the northernmost at 74° North.

The Barents Sea is a main priority area in the new license round. A total of 78 blocks in the far northern waters are on offer. In addition come 14 blocks in the Norwegian Sea.

Judging from the maps distributed by the Directorate, the northernmost blocks are located at 74° North, the same parallel as the Bear Island.

“We see an increased interest in the Barents Sea this year,” says Kalmar Ildstad, Director licence management in the Petroleum Directorate.

“It’s gratifying to note the continuing significant interest in investigating new exploration acreage among almost all active companies on the Norwegian contintental shelf,” he underlines.

Illustrating its Arctic focus, the Directorate in its press release features a photo of the Egde Island in Svalbard. The island is the third biggest in the Arctic archipelago and has status as protected nature reserve.

Norway has no plans to open up for oil drilling at Svalbard. Nevertheless, several of the blocks included in the 2023 Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) are located very close to the Svalbard Fishery Protection Zone, the 200 nautical miles zone that surrounds the archipelago.

According to the Directorate, there is no connotation linked with the photo. “It is chosen because it generally is geologically interesting and we picked it as part of an internal photo competition in due time before the application deadline,” says Ola Anders Skauby, Director Communication, public affairs and emergency response at the Directorate.

Truls Gulowsen is leader of the Friends of the Earth Norway. Photo: Fartein Rudjord, Naturvernforbundet

But Truls Gulowsen, leader of Friends of the Earth Norway, is critical towards the directorate.

“The tendentious use of the Egde Island, which is located far north of areas that are planned opened [for exploration], strengthens the impression that they are doing PR for Arctic oil,” he says in a comment to the Barents Observer.

Norway has over many year gradually expanded Arctic areas available for oil drilling. The aggravating climate crisis and the growing pressure from domestic and international organisations has not made the country’s government back down.

According to Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland, the expanded drilling is important for the development of the country’s petroleum sector.

“Without exploration and new discoveries, we will neither be able to maintain the production of oil and gas over time or further develop the petroleum sector and all the jobs in the industry,” Aasland says in a statement. He praises the oil companies that are ready to bid for the new licenses.

“It is very good that the oil companies are showing such great interest in the awarding of new production licences and exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf,” he underlines.

Truls Gulowsen believes the words of the Norwegian oil minister are based on an illusion, and that the government “does not tell the truth to the Norwegian people.”

“The claim that there is a “big interest” in the APA [license round] without any other supporting arguments beyond the number of companies participating […], the government indicates that it is more occupied with preserving an illusion about the Barents Sea as attractive petroleum region than telling the truth to the Norwegian people,” he says.

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Located in Kirkenes, Norway, just a few kilometres from the borders to Russia and Finland, the Barents Observer is dedicated to cross-border journalism in Scandinavia, Russia and the wider Arctic.

As a non-profit stock company that is fully owned by its reporters, its editorial decisions are free of regional, national or private-sector influence. It has been a partner to ABJ and its predecessors since 2016.

You can read the original here.