People in Britain, France, Germany question U.S. reliability: survey
Agence France-Presse
June 5, 2024

Donald Trump and Joe Biden (AFP)

Only a tiny number of people in Britain, France and Germany put great faith in the United States to guarantee their security over the coming decade, a survey said Wednesday, ahead of an election in which Donald Trump has thrown doubt on alliances.

The Eurasia Group's Institute for Global Affairs, in its survey of the three western European nations, still found that more people than not expected the United States to be at least "somewhat" reliable.

But only six percent said that the United States would be a "very reliable" guarantor of European security over the next decade, compared with 24 percent of Americans who believed their country was very reliable.

Mark Hannah, a senior fellow at the institute, said it was the first time the question was asked in the annual survey, but that the low number was striking after two years of President Joe Biden staunchly backing Ukraine against Russian invasion.

"The fact that the United States has contributed to the extent it has, and yet only six percent of Western European respondents thought the United States was very reliable, is remarkable and shows this lack of certainty or confidence in American guarantees," he said.

Hannah, who formerly worked in Democratic Party politics, said the most likely reason for the doubts was Trump, who has described both NATO and assistance to Ukraine as wasteful and unfair to the United States.

Lawmakers of Trump's Republican Party held up fresh military assistance to Ukraine for months, citing unrelated disputes on migration.

Majorities in the three European countries -- as well as in the United States itself -- said Washington should maintain or increase troop numbers in Europe, but at the same time only small numbers believed the United States should bear "primary" responsibility for Europe's defense.

In France, which has long led calls for Europe to develop its own security arrangement, 31 percent said that Europe should manage its own defense and maintain a "more neutral" relationship with the United States, higher than in other countries.


Biden, throughout his career a dedicated supporter of US-Europe ties, is running a tight race against Trump with the 81-year-old president lagging in polls.

Biden received few votes from Europeans in the survey when asked which head of state sets the most positive example for the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron enjoyed greater support, with 33 percent of Germans and 25 percent of French saying he set the most positive example.


The survey, conducted with YouGov, reached 3,360 adults in Britain, France, Germany and the United States from April 8-15.

SOME OF US NORTHERN NEIGHBOURS AGREE

Family looted by Nazis donates works back to Louvre

Paris (AFP) – Two 17th century paintings looted by the Nazis and kept at the Louvre in Paris after the war have finally been returned to their Jewish owners, who then donated them back to the museum.

Issued on: 05/06/2024 -

Several of the descendants of the Javal family gathered at the Louvre to see the looted works rehung © MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP

Several of the 48 descendants of the Javal family gathered at the Louvre on Tuesday to see "Still-Life with Ham" by Floris van Schooten and "Food, Fruit and Glass on a Table" by Peter Binoit rehung alongside items detailing the family's experience under the Nazis.

It is a "duty of memory towards my family, looted from and persecuted, whose history speaks to current generations", said one of them, Marion, who did not want to give her full name.

Five members of the family were deported from France during the war and murdered at Auschwitz, while others fought in the Resistance or went into hiding.

The paintings were for decades part of the Louvre's Nordic painting collection, held under the "National Museum Recuperation" programme for stolen works whose owners are unknown.

The government called on genealogy experts way back in 2015 to look into a small number of items in these collections -- part of a broader movement in French museums to hunt down rightful owners.

The experts traced the paintings back to a mansion in central Paris owned by Mathilde Javal that was seized and emptied by the Nazis in 1944.

She had put in a restitution request after the war, but some simple errors in the spelling of her name and address undermined the process, according to the Louvre.

The museum's director Laurence Des Cars told AFP the case was "a commitment to transmitting memory and a constant reminder to action".

Around 100,000 cultural items were looted or sold under duress in France during the Nazi occupation of 1940-45, mainly from Jewish families -- with many transferred to Germany.

Around 60,000 works came back to France after the war, of which 45,000 were returned to their owners by a special commission that operated until 1949.

Of the remaining 15,000, around 13,000 were sold by the state and 2,200 entrusted to museums.

The Louvre remains responsible for 1,610 of these artworks, including 791 paintings.

© 2024 AFP

Spain unveils 'lost Caravaggio' that nearly sold for a song

Madrid (AFP) – A painting by Italian master Caravaggio, once mistakenly thought to be by an unknown artist and nearly auctioned off for a song, was unveiled at Madrid's Prado Museum .

Issued on: 27/05/2024

'Ecce Homo' by Italian master Caravaggio is a dark and atmospheric canvas depicting a bloodied Jesus in a crown of thorns just before his crucifixion 

© PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP


Painted between 1605-1609, the dark, atmospheric canvas depicts a bloodied Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, his hands tied, as he is presented to the crowd by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate just before his crucifixion.

Entitled "Ecce Homo" -- Latin for "Behold the Man" -- it is one of around only 60 known works by the Renaissance artist.

Three years ago, a Madrid auction house had been due to put the canvas under the hammer with an opening price of 1,500 euros ($1,800 at the time), mistakenly attributing it to an artist from the circle of 17th-century Spanish painter Jose de Ribera.

But just hours before the auction, the culture ministry blocked the sale on concerns it was actually painted by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, whose works are worth millions.

The last-minute intervention came after the Prado said it had "sufficient documentary and stylistic evidence" to suggest the canvas was a Caravaggio.

The artist, who lived a violent and chaotic life (1571-1610) pioneered the Baroque painting technique known as chiaroscuro, in which light and shadow are sharply contrasted.

Earlier this month, the museum said experts confirmed the painting was "without doubt, a Caravaggio masterpiece", calling it "one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art".

Now restored, the old master artwork went on display to the public for the first time Monday in a one-piece exhibition called "The Lost Caravaggio". It will remain on display for nine months.

'Extremely important'

The exhibition was made possible by the "generosity" of its new owner, who agreed to temporarily lend the work, the museum's director Miguel Falomir told a news conference on Monday, without revealing who it was.

The painting's emergence is "extremely important for the history of art because there has been no new work by Caravaggio had been identified for more than 45 years", explained David Garcia Cueto, who is responsible for Italian paintings at the Prado.

Experts who have studied its history say this oil on canvas became part of the private collection of Spain's King Felipe IV in the mid-17th century before being put on display at the residence of his son, Charles II.

It was then bequeathed to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts near Madrid's central Puerta del Sol before being passed on to Spanish diplomat and later premier Evaristo Perez de Castro in 1823.

When he died, it passed to his descendants, only to disappear from view for nearly two centuries until it resurfaced in April 2021.

Caravaggio's 'Ecce Homo' will remain on display at Madrid's Prado Museum for nine months 

© PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP

Its reappearance stunned Caravaggio experts who were "absolutely unanimous" in their recognition of the painting's provenance, Cueto said.

"All the Caravaggio specialists are in agreement which means we are certain that this is a painting by the great master of this period," he said.
'Clearly a Caravaggio'

Art historians use various methods to determine the legitimacy of an artwork, including forensic examination of the canvas and paint to determine its age, the technology and styles of the era it was created in, and the techniques of the artist or their students.

One expert involved in the authentication process was Maria Cristina Terzaghi, an art history professor from Italy's Roma Tre University who said the canvas underwent "radiographic" techniques and a "meticulous examination".

She flew into Madrid after the auction was halted, saying her examination left her in no doubt: "It was clear it was a work by Caravaggio," she told AFP at the time.

For her, the evidence was ample: from "the head of Christ" to the glow of his torso, the colour of his cloak and "the three-dimensional nature of the three figures, who are offset in a transition that is almost cinematic".

Spanish media reports said the owner was a British national living in Spain who had paid 36 million euros ($39 million) for the 400-year-old canvas.

"The painting won't end up in the home of the buyer" who wants to loan it to "public art collections for now," Jorge Coll, head of London's Colnaghi art gallery which handled the sale, told El Pais daily.

But Prado director Falomir said its future was in the hands of its owner.

"It is a privately-owned artwork so the owner will have the last word," he said.

© 2024 AFP

Lost treasures: The world's most wanted artworks

Stuart Braun

DW

June 4, 2024

An enduring mythology has developed around stolen, looted and missing masterpieces that have not been seen for decades.

Henri Matisse's 'Pastoral' was stolen from Paris in 2010 and remains missing

Image: picture-alliance/dpa


From "Poppy Flowers" by Vincent Van Gogh to Rembrandt's missing masterpiece, "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee," to Nazi-looted works by the likes of Gustav Klimt, absence has made the heart grow fonder for long-lost artistic treasures.

In 1969, thieves stole the "Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence," an early Baroque painting by Italian artist Caravaggio, which the artist completed in 1609 and which hung in a church in Palermo on the island of Sicily. Fifty-five years later, its whereabouts remains a mystery.

Depicting the birth of Jesus, the vast work extending near 3 meters in height was removed from its frame in the church by two thieves. It allegedly fell into the hands of the Sicilian Mafia.

After the infamous art crime was investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol and Italian police, it is believed to remain in Sicily and could fetch around $20 million (€18.43 million). Several Mafia members are said to have attempted sales on the black market, with one arrested in 1981 after he was said to have buried the masterpiece.

Meanwhile, five paintings worth hundreds of millions of euros were stolen from the City Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010, including Pablo Picasso's "The Pigeon with Green Peas," Henri Matisse's "Pastoral" and Georges Braque's "Olive tree near l'Estaque."

These also have never been found — despite the thief having stood trial. The unprecedented French heist was described by one city official as "one of the worst events for the city of Paris, on a par with the Notre Dame fire, earth-shattering for France and the world."

World's top unsolved art crimes

The long-lost Caravaggio mentioned above features in the FBI's published list of Top 10 Art Crimes, which also includes works by Dutch master Van Gogh.

Hidden, stolen or lost: 10 famous treasures with mysterious stories

The Rhine Gold of the Nibelungen, the Amber Room or the Treasure of the Knights Templar: Many famous troves have never resurfaced. Their whereabouts remain a mystery to this day

 Frank Mächler/dpa/picture-alliance

The Amber Room

The legendary Amber Room was given by Frederick William I of Prussia to Russia's Peter the Great in 1716. During World War II, it was looted by the Nazis, who took the valuable amber to Königsberg, then in Germany. By the end of the war, the amber panels, which had been packed away in crates, disappeared. A replica can be seen in St. Petersburg, but the original remains missing to this day.

Image: Arno Burgi/dpa/picture alliance

Nazi gold train

Historians deny that the so-called "Nazi gold train" ever existed, but that hasn't stopped treasure hunters from searching for it anyway. According to legend, the train carried valuable cargo — up to 300 tons of gold, paintings and other spoils of war — and was hidden by retreating Nazis in a sealed-up rail tunnel or mine somewhere in western Poland.Image: Arno Burgi/dpa/picture alliance


The Rhine Gold

"The Song of the Nibelungs," an epic poem dating back to around 1200, is the first mention of the treasure. In the saga, the gold that Siegfried obtained in a battle against hundreds of warriors, 12 giants and a dwarf is dumped by Hagen von Tronje into the Rhine. But to this day no one knows exactly where. Some researchers believe that the gold was not sunk into the river, but buried

.Image: Presse-Bild-Poss/picture-alliance


The treasures of the Jerusalem Temple

In the year 70 CE, the Romans stole treasures from the Second Temple in Jerusalem: a golden candelabrum and the bejeweled Table of the Divine Presence, which was also made of pure gold. But with the fall of the Roman Empire they were lost. There are many theories about their whereabouts. Some believe the trove is kept in the Vatican, or that the gold was incorporated into the Kaaba, in Mecca.

Image: CPA Media Co. Ltd/picture alliance


The Tsar's Gold in Lake Baikal

Where is the last tsar's gold treasure? Maybe in the depths of Lake Baikal? According to legend, in the winter of 1920, two years after Tsar Nicholas II had been murdered, opponents of the new communist state tried to save wagons full of gold across the frozen lake. But they broke through the ice. The search for the treasure has been ongoing ever since.

Image: Jewgeni Jepantschintsew/dpa/picture-alliance


The treasure of the Knights Templar

In 1307, the wealthy Knights Templar became too powerful for the French King Philip IV. He had their leaders arrested and murdered. But where was their fortune? Philip's men did not find great wealth in the religious houses. Since then, the myth that the knights hid the treasure has persisted. Some treasure hunters believe it to be in Israel, Scotland or Oak Island in Canada.

Image: Leemage/The Holbarn Archive/picture alliance


The Honjo-Masamune sword

The Japanese master blacksmith Okazaki Masamune (1264-1343) produced the legendary katana that the samurai Honjo Shigenaga is said to have carried. The long sword was a status symbol of the Tokugawa dynasty and was passed down from generation to generation for centuries — until it was stolen by the Americans after World War II in 1945. It hasn't resurfaced since.

Image: piemags/IMAGO


A van Gogh self-portrait: 'The Painter on the Road to Tarascon' (1888)

This van Gogh painting, which shows the artist walking with his painting equipment in southern France, was stored with hundreds of other pictures in a salt mine in Stassfurt, south of Magdeburg, during World War II. Two fires in April 1945 are said to have destroyed the pictures. Or were they perhaps stolen by US soldiers or the Nazis? To this day, there is no trace of the painting

.Image: The Print Collector/Heritage Images/picture alliance


Two of Charles Darwin's notebooks

In 2000, two of Darwin's notebooks disappeared after a photo shoot. Their value: several million pounds. Did the Cambridge University Library simply file them incorrectly? After two decades of unsuccessful searches, they unexpectedly reappeared in a publicly accessible area of the library in a pink gift bag, with an Easter greeting to the librarian.

Image: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/picture alliance


The 'Big Maple Leaf' gold coin

There is no trace left of the 100-kilogram coin, which was probably melted down or chopped up and then sold. On March 27, 2017, the "Big Maple Leaf" coin was stolen from a display case in Berlin's Bode Museum and transported away with a wheelbarrow and skateboard. A spectacular theft. It was valued at €3.75 million. Several men from organized crime families were convicted in 2021

.Image: Marcel Mettelsiefen/dpa/picture alliance

* * *

For instance, the $55 million-valued "Poppy Flowers," an 1887 painting by Van Gogh, was stolen twice from Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum — first in 1977 before it was found a decade later, and then again in August 2010 — the last time it was seen.

Four paintings by Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and Claude Monet respectively were stolen in 2008 from a Swiss museum in what was described as a "spectacular art robbery." Masked and armed men entered the Emil Bührle Collection at the Kunsthaus Zurich and removed the masterpieces, before taking off in a car.
Recovering missing art

Luckily for art lovers, some of these works have found their way back to their rightful owners.

The perpetrators of the 2019 Dresden Green Vault Museum heist that saw 18th-century jewels worth more than €113 million stolen were bought to justice in 2023 — even if all the jewels did not turn up with the thieves.

A diamond encrusted sword hilt was among numerous recovered items, but some may never be seen again.

The Jewel Room in the Green Vault Museum in Dresden's Royal Palace reopened in 2020 after some stolen treasures were recovered

Image: Jens Meyer/AP/picture alliance

Former lawyer Christopher A. Marinello founded the UK-based Art Recovery International (ARI) as a means to help recover stolen, looted and missing works of art. He provided information to aid in the recovery of the Dresden jewels.

Marinello told DW that he received "a number of tips from various sources on the whereabouts of the stolen jewelery," and passed the information to law enforcement investigating the case.

"Most of our work begins when stolen and looted objects are being offered for sale," he said of ARI's recovery strategy.

"We attempt to stop the sale and negotiate a discreet resolution with the possessors and the victims," Marinello explained, adding that such negotiated out-of-court settlements save "expensive public litigation."

ARI has recently also helped return screenprints by Andy Warhol valued at $500,000 from the pop artist's Endangered Species Series.



Earlier this year, Spanish police also recovered a painting by British artist Francis Bacon that was stolen from a Madrid apartment in 2015.

Returning Nazi-looted art

Marinello also targets artworks looted by the Nazis, including a work by Polish art deco painter, Tamara De Lempicka, titled "Myrto," that was stolen from war-time France.

Locating these Nazi-looted masterworks, many from Jewish families and art dealers, is often difficult.

"People who knowingly possess stolen or Nazi-looted works of art have no scruples or moral inclination to return someone else's property," said Marinello, who is actively searching for looted art by French impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas.

Gurlitt Collection: Germany's most infamous Nazi-looted art trove

So far, only 14 works were proven to have been looted under the Nazis among the some 1,500 found in Gurlitt's hoard.

Carl Spitzweg, 'Playing the Piano,' ca. 1840

This drawing by Carl Spitzweg was seized in 1939 from Jewish music publisher Heinri Hinrichsen, who was killed at the Auschwitz death camp in 1942. It was acquired by Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt — and later found among the spectacular collection of works hoarded by his son, Cornelius Gurlitt. The work was auctioned by Christie's at the request of Hinrichsen's heirs.Image: Staatsanwaltschaft Augsburg/Lost Art Datenbank

Max Beckmann, 'Zandvoort Beach Cafe,' 1934

The watercolor by the Jewish painter Max Beckmann entered Gurlitt's collection only in 1945. Held by the allied occupation forces at the Central Collecting Point in Wiesbaden from 1945-1950, it was returned to Hildebrand Gurlitt in 1950. Before working for the Nazi regime, Gurlitt had collected and exhibited modern art, curating Beckmann's last exhibition in 1936 before the artist fled Germany.

Image: Bundeskunsthalle / Foto: David Ertl


Otto Griebel, 'Veiled Woman,' 1926

This work was owned by lawyer and art collector Fritz Salo Glaser. Artists of Dresden's avant-garde scene were his guests in the 1920s — as was the young Hildebrand Gurlitt. It is not known how Gurlitt came to possess the painting. It was confiscated in 1945 and later returned. Of Jewish heritage, Glaser only narrowly avoided deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1945.

Image: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH / Foto: David Ertl


Claude Monet, 'Waterloo Bridge,' 1903



This painting by the famous impressionist is not suspected to have been looted. The artist sold it to the Durand Ruel Gallery in 1907. The Jewish art merchant and publisher Paul Cassirer is said to have given it to Marie Gurlitt as a present, and she left it to her son Hildebrand Gurlitt in 1923.

Image: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH / Foto: David Ertl

Thomas Couture, 'Portrait of a Seated Young Woman,' 1850


A short handwritten note allowed provenance researchers to identify this work by the French painter as a looted work of art. The picture was seized from the collection of Jewish politician and resistance leader Georges Mandel, who was executed by French fascists near Paris in 1944. German Culture Minister Monika Grütters (right) handed over the work to Mandel's heirs in January 2019.

Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Schreiber


Paul Signac, 'Quai de Clichy,' 1887



The activist group Provenance Research Gurlitt identified this painting by French neo-impressionist Paul Signac as stolen Jewish property in October 2018. Gaston Prosper Levy fled Nazi-occupied France in 1940. Occupying soldiers are believed to have looted his art collection shortly before his escape. The painting was returned to Levy's family in 2019.Image: picture-alliance/Keystone/A. Anex


Auguste Rodin, 'Crouching Woman,' approx. 1882



Hildebrand Gurlitt must have acquired this work by the French sculptor between 1940 and 1945. Previously belonging to the Frenchman Eugene Rudier, it entered circulation in 1919 at an auction by Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau, who is said to have received it as a present from the artist.

Image: Bundeskunsthalle / Foto: David Ertl


Albrecht Dürer, Knight, Death and Devil, 1513



This copper engraving by Albrecht Dürer once belonged to the Falkeisen-Huber Gallery in Basel. It is not known how it got there or how long it was there however. In 2012 the engraving turned up in Cornelius Gurlitt's collection. "Old masters" like Dürer were very important to the National Socialists' view of art and were often exploited for propaganda.

Image: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH / Foto: David Ertl


Edvard Munch, 'Ashes II,' 1899



The provenance of this drawing is completely unknown. It is certain, however, that Hitler considered Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's work "degenerate art." Some 82 pieces by Munch were confiscated in German museums in 1937.

Image: Bundeskunsthalle/Foto: Mick Vincenz


Francois Boucher, 'Male Nude,' undated

Hitler venerated 18th-century French painting. He secured exceptional paintings for his own collection by targeting the collection of the Rothschild Family after the annexation of Austria. Hildebrand Gurlitt supplemented them with drawings by renowned French painters. He acquired this work by Boucher from a Parisian art merchant in 1942.

Image: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH / Foto: David Ertl


In Gurlitt's apartment

Cornelius Gurlitt hoarded the sculpture along with many other artworks for decades in his Munich apartment. Before his death in 2014, he consented to have his stocks researched and — should they include articles of stolen art — have them returned to their rightful owners in accordance with the Washington Principles on Nazi-looted art.

Image: privat/Nachlass Cornelius Gurlitt


"Such individuals hide behind German privacy laws to protect their ill-gotten goods to the detriment of crime victims and victims of the Holocaust," he added.

Nonetheless, the investigator noted that a number of stolen works come into the hands of "honest dealers and auction houses" who are willing to work to have the art returned.

In 1976, German performance artist Ulay (1943-2020) decided to symbolically loot Nazi art when he stole Adolph Hitler's favorite painting, "The Poor Poet" (1839) by Carl Spitzweg.

Documented on camera as part of his performance, Ulay (whose real name was Frank Uwe Laysiepen) strolled into the National Gallery in Berlin, grabbed the artwork and drove with it to the poor immigrant enclave of Kreuzberg to hang it on a Turkish family's apartment wall. Before entering their apartment, though, he stopped at a phonebooth on the street and called the museum authorities to inform them where they could retrieve the painting.

"I made a statement that this was a demonstrative action, not a theft in the traditional sense," Ulay would later explain. He considered it a "protest action, first of all against the institutionalization of art, secondarily about discrimination against foreign workers."

The Nazi art heist - A belated search for justice 26:05

Edited by: Brenda Haas

F for Fake — Orson Welles, 1973 TRAILER

F for Fake — Orson Welles, 1973 FILM

The Monuments Men Official Trailer #1 (2013)

 - George Clooney, Matt Damon Movie HD

The Monuments Men Official UK Trailer (2014)

 - John Goodman, Bill Murray Movie HD

Hunting Hitler's Stolen Treasures - The Monuments Men. 2014.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY

The true story of an unlikely World War II “band of brothers.” The unsuspecting group of scholars, academics, historians and architects headed to the front lines of the bloodiest war in history to rescue thousands of years' worth of European art and culture from Nazi-occupied Europe. Through extensive archive sources and photographs, journals and letter excerpts, along with the personal accounts from surviving family members, this special sheds light on the remarkable story.

Monuments Men: Fact and Fiction | Sunday at the Met

The Met

Explore how the actions of Monuments Men James Rorimer, George Stout, and others protected and recovered stolen art during World War II. Welcome and Introduction: Jennifer Mock, Assistant Museum Educator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Speakers: Lynn Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa Rachel Mustalish, Conservator, Department of Paper Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Michael J. Kurtz, Visiting Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland Recorded March 9, 2014

Climate finance: Preparations for UN climate talks kick off

Beatrice Christofaro

June 3, 2024

Negotiators are laying the groundwork for a new climate finance goal ahead of the COP 29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Who's paying for the rising costs of climate change?

Image: NHAC NGUYEN/AFP/


Forking out for the rising costs of climate change has been a contentious issue for years. But as the climate continues to heat up, leading to ever more unpredictable and extreme weather events, it is an issue of growing importance.

Against that backdrop, thousands of government negotiators, researchers and civil society members are gathering in the German city of Bonn for the next two weeks. There, they will lay the groundwork for the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the end of the year.

Among the thorniest questions on the table are: Which developed nations should pay? How much money should come from government coffers and how much from private businesses? And how can countries be transparent about where the money is going?

"The questions are so complex and there are so many countries involved, the two weeks in November aren't enough," said Petter Lyden, Head of International Climate Policy at the NGO Germanwatch. "A conference like the one in Bonn to prepare is crucial."
From billions to trillions

In 2009, richer countries decided to provide US $100 billion (€92 billion) annually by 2020 to help developing nations mitigate and cope with the effects of the climate crisis. The OECD, which has been tracking progress towards the goal, found the donors met the target for the first time in 2022 — two years later than agreed.

"While fully reaching the $100 billion annual goal is worth celebrating, the funding needed to come to grips with the climate crisis in the years ahead goes well beyond this amount," Melanie Robinson of the US-based World Resources Institute (WRI) said in a statement.

African leaders call for fairer climate financing  01:58

Indeed the signatories of the Paris Agreement pledged to come up with a new finance goal before 2025. And the pressure to up the target is growing.

According to a 2021 study by the WRI, climate finance needs to rise to a whopping US $5 trillion per year by 2030. Especially as mega economies continue to burn fossil fuels — and heatwaves, rainstorms, droughts and wildfires linked to rising temperatures devastate more and more places around the world.

"This is not just a cost, it's an investment," said Joe Thwaites who works on international climate policy for the US non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council. "Even when the investment gets into the scale of trillions of dollars, we'll save multiple trillions of dollars in avoided damages."

Who is going to pay?

The question is where to get these sums from. Many of the developed countries who agreed to the 2009 goal are calling on other high-polluting economies to pull their weight. Top emitters like China and Saudi Arabia have so far been exempt because the UN counts them as developing nations.

"It's the time of taking action and we need more countries that take their fair share," Germany's Development Minister Svenja Schulze said at a Berlin climate conference in April. "All the ones who are big emitters, also the Gulf states, also China, we all need to do more."

Another sticking point is how to get private investments flowing into climate action.

Ultimately, Thwaites says, this is a responsibility that falls back on the state, be it via taxation, regulation or subsidies. Because it is governments, not the private sector, negotiating and enforcing the new finance goal.

"While it's important to be looking at what roles every part of the global economy should play in meeting the climate challenge, the commitments need to be things that governments can be held accountable for," he said.

Is Saudi Arabia really quitting oil? 12:40

Agreeing about transparency

One of the challenges in implementing the original finance goal is transparency.

Without clear reporting regulations on different types of funding, interpretations between donor countries and recipients often get muddled. In other words, money that was meant for a development project, for example, might be used to reduce emissions or to adapt to a warming world.

The uncertainty also makes it hard to follow which countries upheld their end of the bargain

"Developed countries can have a lot of room to play with how they present their climate finance statistics," said Tom Evans, Senior Policy Advisor at the climate think tank E3G. "That's led to a lot of distrust and skepticism about whether targets are being met."

The UN will complete a new transparency framework at the COP summit this year. Countries are expected to use unified reporting guidelines to show how they are contributing to the fight against climate change — and that includes finance statistics.

Paving the way in Bonn

Unlike the COP 29 in Baku, which will be attended by world leaders, the smaller conference in Bonn attracts expert negotiators from the different government delegations. They discuss technical details with less political scrutiny.

"Those technical pieces are really the key to a good deal," says Evans. "But the challenge of Bonn is always trying to see how far you can get towards the final deal without ever agreeing anything."

While the conference provides vital groundwork, high-ranking politicians must come in to make final decisions around contentious issues. And it is in Azerbaijan that they will have the chance to negotiate what to do with the building blocks laid down in Bonn.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

Sources:

Intercontinental cooperation on energy projects   03:34

https://www.oecd.org/climate-change/finance-usd-100-billion-goal/
OECD: Climate Finance and the USD 100 Billion Goal

https://www.wri.org/research/state-climate-action-2021
World Resources Institute: State of Climate Action 2021: Systems Transformations Required to Limit Global Warming to 1.5°C

https://sdg.iisd.org/events/2024-un-climate-change-conference-unfccc-cop-29/
IISD: 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29)

Beatrice Christofaro German-Brazilian multimedia reporter focused on the environment

SPACE

China spacecraft lifts off with rocks from moon's far side

China says its probe has started its journey back toward Earth after gathering samples from the far side of the moon in a world first.

DW
June 4, 2024

Chang'e-6's spacecraft collected rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon

Image: CNSA/Xinhua/AP/picture alliance

China's lunar spacecraft started its journey back to earth after collecting samples from the far side of the moon, the country's space agency said on Tuesday.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said the ascender module of the Chang'e-6 probe unfurled the Chinese flag before lifting off.

The craft was the first to ever successfully take off from the moon's far side.

The mission comes as China advances its space program, aiming to put a person on the moon before the end of this decade.

Why is the mission important?

The so-called dark side of the moon, which is invisible from Earth, is believed to have great potential for research as its craters are less covered by ancient lava flows than the near side.

Scientists say material collected from the far side of the moon may help in studying how it was formed.

The mission was widely hailed in China, with Chinese state news agency Xinhua describing it as "an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history."

Ge Ping, the mission's spokesperson, said analyzing the collected samples would allow scientists "to deepen research on the formation and evolutionary history of the moon."

It can also offer insights into "the origin of the solar system ... laying an improved foundation for later exploration missions," he added.

China launches unprecedented moon mission 02:13

What is China's Chang'e-6 probe?

The probe's 53-day mission began on May 3. On Sunday, it touched down in the moon's immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, which the CNSA says is one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.

According to the Chinese agency, Chang'e-6 faced a challenge of high temperature, as well as lack of direct communications with ground stations on Earth.

The probe relied instead on relay satellite Queqiao-2, which was put into orbit in April for communications.

To collect samples, the probe used a drill to gather material under the surface and a robotic arm to grab specimens above the surface, according to Xinhua.

The probe's predecessor, Chang'e-5, retrieved samples from the near side of the moon.

fb/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Chang'e 6: What's in store for China-EU space cooperation?

Mu Cui

DW

June 3, 2024

China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe highlights the giant strides China is making in space exploration. The ESA has supplied instruments for the mission, but there is concern this cooperation won't be possible in future.

Scientists expect the Chang'e-6 mission will help answer key questions about the early evolution of the solar system

Image: Jin Liwang/Xinhua News Agency/picture alliance

Chang'e-6: Is geopolitics harming China-EU lunar mission?  03:45

"People were there on the beach. It was really very exciting to see the launch, and to see the expectation from everybody for this mission. That was really something wonderful for a scientist to see," said Olivier Gasnault.

He was referring to the launch of China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe on May 3 from the southern Chinese island province of Hainan.

Its mission was to land on the moon's far side and collect samples that scientists expect will help answer key questions about the early evolution of the solar system.

Gasnault, together with his colleagues at the French Institute of Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) in Toulouse, developed a radon detector — a device that measures radioactive gases and radiation — for Chang'e-6.

On Sunday, after several maneuvers, the landing module touched down in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.

It's the second Chinese mission to land on the far side of the moon, the first being Chang'e-4, which landed there five years ago and still remains in operation.

China launches unprecedented moon mission 02:13

Detecting radon on lunar surface

Scientists believe rock samples from the southern polar region of the moon could reveal insights into the early history of the solar system.

Also, within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, there are numerous permanently shadowed regions that are thought to contain ice, which is a valuable resource for future space exploration, as it could be used as a source of drinking water as well as to produce fuel and oxygen, among other uses.

Although the French radon detector does not search for water directly, the knowledge gained during the mission should help a great deal.

Gasnault showed DW a replica of the radon detector at his lab. Equipped with eight dish-shaped sensors, the "DORN" (Detector of Outgassing Radon) device is about the same size as a standard household microwave.

Radon, a radioactive noble gas, is a chemical element found in rocks. On the moon, the gas is continuously produced in the lunar soil, the so-called regolith, by the decay of uranium. DORN will allow scientists to study the concentration of radon present on the Moon's surface.

The detector is equipped with several sensors for this purpose, said Romain Mathon, an engineer who helped develop DORN.

"We needed to remain in the mass and volume envelope which was allocated by our Chinese partners," he added.

Is India winning the new space race?  49:44

Close cooperation between European and Chinese space agencies

DORN is not the only European scientific measuring device in the Chang'e-6 mission.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics also deployed a detector for negatively charged ions to gain valuable information about the interaction between solar wind and the lunar surface.

"We used instrumentation technology that had a high maturity, with a lot of experience in developing very similar fly hardware. The developing time for this instrument was very fast by our standards, usually we would take quite some more time," James Carpenter, ESA's head of planetary science research, told DW

Mathon, the engineer, stressed that it was a challenge to meet the deadlines set by the Chinese side, as everything had to be completed between 2019 and 2022, despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Geopolitical concerns

However, ESA fears that increasing geopolitical tensions could jeopardize future space cooperation with China.

Karl Bergquist, head of ESA's international relations department, has been coordinating the ever-intensifying European-Chinese cooperation in space since the early 1990s.

There has been closer scientific as well as interpersonal links, he said.

However, he added, "there are much more geopolitical tensions today than just eight or nine years ago. So there are more and more restrictions."

He cited cooperation on the manned space program as an example. There had already been several joint astronaut training programs between ESA and the Chinese space agency.

But they have de facto been put on hold "due to export controls by third countries," Bergquist said.

New space - The next economic frontier  42:36

This is because the US bans cooperation with the Chinese in space technologies and exploration, he noted.

"We in Europe will use a lot of US components that we use in our missions. And these are components that we can use here in Europe. But of course we cannot export."

Even the unmanned European-Chinese missions could be at risk if Beijing expands its cooperation with Russia, Bergquist said.

"After the Russian attack on Ukraine, there are a whole set of EU sanctions imposed on cooperation with Russia. Then there is the International Lunar Research Station, which is a Sino-Russian initiative," the ESA official said.

If the Chang'e-7 or Chang'e-8 mission is part of the ILRS, it will be "very difficult or actually impossible for Europe to cooperate," he added.

ESA planetary expert Carpenter, nevertheless, still sees no problem in collaborating with Chinese scientists, with whom he has also built up good friendships.

"It's really fantastic to see how China's lunar program has grown and become world class. We feel privileged and happy to be part of it. We are also interested in further cooperation exploring the solar system."

This article was originally written in German.