Canada potash project may cost BHP growth elsewhere, say investors

© Reuters/BHP Group View of the mine shaft of BHP's Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan

LONDON/TORONTO (Reuters) - BHP Group is under pressure from Canada to greenlight a giant potash project when it makes a final investment decision by mid-year but some investors said the world's biggest miner may obtain better returns by ploughing the funds elsewhere.

The fertiliser ingredient will be in oversupply over much of the next decade, crimping returns from the project, and BHP may be better off investing more in commodities like copper and nickel which are seeing booming demand from the adoption of electric vehicles and solar power, they said.

The Anglo-Australian company would ease investor concerns if it firms up a plan to sell a stake in the project, one investor said. BHP has said a stake sale was an option.

The Jansen project in Canada's Saskatchewan province is estimated to cost up to $5.7 billion in the first phase which is expected to take five years and have an annual capacity to produce around 4.4 million tonnes of potash with an estimated mine life of 100 years. It will have capacity for an additional 12 million tonnes in stages thereafter.

BHP has already sunk $4.5 billion into the project, its first foray into potash, led by previous chief executive Andrew Mackenzie. The world's biggest miner estimates demand for the ingredient could double by the late 2040s to become a $50 billion market.

The project would be Saskatchewan's largest investment ever, said the province's Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre.

"We're cautiously optimistic that this year will bring good news for the project. We hope it's full steam ahead," she said.

BHP's annual capital expenditure of as much as $1.1 billion for the project would be significant compared with the $6.3 billion it expects to spend this year, and some investors said the money could be put to better use.

"I can understand the logic of developing it to diversify the earnings stream and create a long-return channel," said Ben Cleary, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Singapore, which owns BHP shares.

"But I would be surprised not to see the majority of capex spend on base metals, given how positive they are on the latter. Are they really going to put potash ahead of base metals?"

IDLED CAPACITY

Market economics for potash currently are a challenge, say industry executives.

BHP would compete with Nutrien Ltd, Mosaic Co and K+S AG, all of which operate mines in Saskatchewan.

Nutrien has five million tonnes of idled potash capacity currently, Chief Executive Mayo Schmidt told Reuters earlier in May, though he expects rising demand to absorb that by 2030.

"Both Nutrien and Mosaic have latent capacity that could come on, and it's certainly going to come on at better economics than a greenfield would," Mosaic Chief Executive Joc O'Rourke told Reuters in an interview this month.

Some analysts, like Ben Isaacson of Scotiabank, though, are positive on Jansen.

The first phase would not significantly disrupt the market and the steady growth in global potash demand means the extra output will be needed by 2030, he said. Scotiabank in April pegged the probability of BHP approving Jansen's first phase at 90%.

BHP chief executive Mike Henry has said he was not comfortable with the project's spending but that a decision on its fate will be taken based on what it sees as the best use of shareholder capital. BHP declined to offer additional comment.

The silver lining in all the spending that has "de-risked" the project is that it may be easier for BHP to sell a stake, said one institutional investor who owns BHP shares and declined to be named because it was against his firm's policy.

"They do need to start investing (more) in future facing commodities," said the investor.

"They have said they may look to sell down the project once they have de-risked it. That sort of option could still be on the table."

(Reporting by Clara Denina in London, Jeff Lewis in Toronto, Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

THE REAL TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMY
Stimulus checks, reopening economy help Target sales hit the mark

(Reuters) - Target Corp beat estimates for quarterly same-store sales on Wednesday as a strong vaccination drive across the country encouraged shoppers to return to the stores and spend their stimulus checks on home goods, clothes and other items.

© Reuters/Brendan McDermid FILE PHOTO: 

A shopping cart is seen in a Target store in the Brooklyn borough of New York

One of the big beneficiaries of a pandemic-led shopping spree, Target has seen its winning streak spill over into 2021 as the reopening of the economy boosts traffic at its stores, while its e-commerce business continues to draw online shoppers.

Comparable sales at stores rose 18% in the first quarter due to a rise in outlet traffic, while digital sales rose 50%, driven largely by same-day delivery services such as Drive up, Shipt and in-store pick ups.

"There is much greater optimism as consumers see the economy improve, as they get vaccinated, as they see COVID counts begin to decline" Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said on a media call, adding he expects, both, increased traffic at Target stores and more people shopping on its website.

Overall comparable sales, including online, rose 22.9% in the three months ended May 1, beating analysts' average expectations of a 9.93% increase, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Apparel sales jumped about 60%, while comparable sales for food, beverages and essentials grew in low-to-mid-single digits, topping bumper sales from a year earlier when toilet paper and packaged foods flew off the shelves due to panic shopping.

The company also forecast positive single-digit comparable sales growth for the last two quarters of the year, while analysts were expecting a decline.

Larger rival Walmart Inc on Tuesday raised its full-year forecast after bumper first-quarter results as it also benefited from stimulus checks.

Target's total revenue rose 23% to $23.88 billion, beating estimates of $21.81 billion. Net earnings surged to $2.10 billion. Excluding items, it earned $3.69 per share.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

Qatar detains Kenyan guard who blogged on laborers' struggles


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Kenyan who wrote compelling dispatches under a pseudonym about the challenges of living as a low-wage worker in Qatar and advocated for their rights has been detained under unclear circumstances in the energy-rich nation.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The arrest of Malcolm Bidali draws renewed attention on the limits of expression in a nation that will host the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. It also highlights the challenge many migrant laborers face when agreeing to the opportunity of steady work in Gulf Arab states, in exchange for long shifts doing menial work in the shadows of skyscrapers they helped build.

Supporters say Qatari security forces detained Bidali late on May 4 and have not provided information on where he is.

The Qatari government, responding to questions Tuesday from The Associated Press, described Bidali as being “taken into custody and placed under investigation for violating Qatar’s security laws and regulations." The government declined to offer specifics on the arrest, where he was being held, whether he received consular assistance and what potential charges he was facing.

Qatar has “ made a lot of steps ... to reform its labor systems,” said James Lynch, a director at the London-based group FairSquare Research and Projects, which advocates for migrant workers in the Middle East. ”Yet when we have a migrant worker speaking out about his experience, sharing his experience and calling for change in a fully peaceful manner, we see them being shut down and disappeared.”

Bidali, 28, worked 12-hour days as a security guard. In his spare time, he wrote under the pen name “Noah” about his experiences as a guard, including trying to improve his worker accommodations. His essays offered plaudits for Qatar at times as a “trendsetter in many areas.”

However, he didn't hold back in describing the cramped bedrooms some of his compatriots shared — with up to 10 men in a room — or the frustration of being unable to afford the “luxury of privacy” that white-collar Western expatriates and Qataris themselves enjoy.

“Why should intimacy, and even family life, be reserved for the privileged nationalities and financially affluent?” he asked in one article.

The cause of Bidali's detention remains unclear. Days earlier, he spoke and briefly appeared in a video conference with civil society and trade union groups describing his experiences. Activists say he clicked on a suspicious internet link as well during that time. Gulf Arab states widely use spy software and hacks to monitor possible dissenters, but it's unclear who targeted him.

There also was a recent post in which he criticized by name Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the wife of Qatar's former emir and the head of the Qatar Foundation. Bidali worked as a security guard for GSS Certis at a development under the Qatar Foundation. The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An employee at GSS Certis who gave his name as Puvan said he didn't know where Bidali was.

“We were told that this is still under investigation so have no detail on that,” he said.

Security guards in Qatar at two companies also recently held what they described as strikes over pay and labor issues. Only Qatari nationals with the General Union of Workers of Qatar have the right to strike, according to the Washington-based group Freedom House.

Foreign laborers and household help "who engage in labor protests risk deportation,” Freedom House said in a recent report. Qatar's government said it intervened in both cases.

The Kenyan Embassy in Qatar did not respond to requests for comment. In a letter to Qatari officials human rights groups, including Amnesty International, FairSquare and Human Rights Watch, said they feared Bidali had been held “without access to a lawyer or consular assistance.”

“We are extremely concerned for his well-being and safety,” they wrote.

Qatar, a small nation on the Arabian Peninsula, is home to the state-funded Al-Jazeera satellite news network. However, expression in the country remains tightly controlled.

“While residents enjoy some freedom of private discussion, security forces reportedly monitor personal communications and noncitizens often self-censor to avoid jeopardizing their work and residency status,” Freedom House said. “Social media users can face criminal penalties for posting politically sensitive content.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists later called on Qatar to clarify the charges Bidali faced or immediately release him, noting that Doha has “repeatedly arrested journalists covering labor issues.”

“We are alarmed by the detention of blogger Malcolm Bidali without any reason disclosed, especially given Qatari authorities’ record of trying to shut down reporting on labor rights ahead of the country’s hosting of the World Cup next year,” said Justin Shilad, the committee's senior Middle East and North Africa researcher.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

No longer silent, Gulf Arab citizens express anger at Israel

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip has unleashed a chorus of voices across Gulf Arab states that are fiercely critical of Israel and emphatically supportive of Palestinians

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The vocal opposition to Israel, expressed in street protests, on social media and in newspaper columns, comes just months after pacts were signed to establish ties with Israel — and complicates government efforts to rally Arab citizens around full-throttle acceptance of the deals.

Analysts said the conflict will also set back Israeli efforts to secure more normalization deals with other Arab states, like Saudi Arabia.

The criticism has not only put Arab governments that signed the diplomatic accords with Israel in a difficult position with their citizens, it also affirms that the Palestinian cause continues to resonate deeply with people across the Middle East.

“No matter what your national priorities are at the moment or regional priorities are at the moment, when stuff like this happens, the Palestinian issue comes back and hits you,” Emirati political analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said.

Still, the open calls for Palestinian rights and condemnation of Israel voiced by countless Gulf Arab citizens have largely mirrored official statements from their governments, all of which have condemned the violence in some form. Some have gone further, and Abdulla said he’d hoped the United Arab Emirates' most recent statement calling “on all parties” to cease fighting had been bolder and named Israel as the aggressor.

In speaking out, Gulf citizens are challenging the official narratives around normalization with Israel.

In Bahrain, civil society groups signed a letter urging the government to expel the Israeli ambassador. In Kuwait, protesters held two rallies and are demanding permission to hold more. In Qatar, the government allowed hundreds to protest over the weekend as Hamas’ top leader delivered a speech. In the UAE, some have openly donned the black-and-white checkered Palestinian keffiyeh on Instagram while others have tweeted under hashtags supportive of Palestinians.

Last year, the UAE became the first Arab country in over two decades to establish ties with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively. It was a brazen move that bypassed the Palestinians, who slammed it as treason and a stab in the back.

The UAE's move paved the way for three other countries — Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco — to announce similar pacts with Israel in rapid succession.

Immediately after the UAE formalized ties with Israel in September, a tsunami of state propaganda framed it as a new era of peace, religious tolerance and security for the region.

Among the general Emirati public, there was little to no visible pushback from citizens when their government announced ties with Israel. Fiery nationalistic figures on Twitter with tens of thousands of followers aggressively cheered the pact, and throughout the current conflict have both defended ties with Israel and made posts mocking Palestinian protesters.

But unlike in Western democracies, a lack of protest in the Gulf does not mean acceptance. In the UAE, political parties are banned and political expression is heavily suppressed.



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“The show of support that we saw during the early days of normalization, I think it represents something deeper in Emirati society ... and that is that the vast majority support their government,” Abdulla said. “It was a show of support for the government rather than a show of support for ‘normalization’ as such.”

Mira Al-Hussein, an Emirati PhD candidate at Cambridge University, said Emiratis feel taken care of and valued by their government, which provides citizens with strong social safety nets.

“But that doesn’t mean we feel comfortable by what’s happening around us,” she said.

She changed her Twitter handle in support of Palestinians since the fighting broke out, and has used the platform to slam Israel's policies and highlight the atrocities of the war.

“You don’t sign papers and expect a human catastrophe to go away,” she said of the accord with Israel.

Over the years, there have been changes to school curricula across Gulf Arab states to replace pan-Arab and pan-Islamic ideals with a nationalistic identity that unites people around the flag.

The UAE has been trying to mold public discourse around nationalism and a rejection of youth or Islamic movements, said Kristin Smith Diwan, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“I think the relation with Israel was seen as a way to even cement that further. I don’t know how that’s going to work now,” she said.

Al-Hussein said her younger brother, who is in his 20's, never studied the Arab-Israeli conflict in school. But he “just learned about it today from social media," she said.

For millions of Arabs, social media is the only space where limited freedom of expression is possible. Since the war began, users have been flooded by images of dead Palestinian children being pulled from the rubble of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

These platforms have also been awash with images of Israeli security forces firing stun grenades and tear gas at worshippers and protesters in Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, of Palestinian families fighting eviction from their homes and of deadly protests across the occupied West Bank.

At least 217 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 61 children and 36 women. More than 1,440 people have been wounded. Twelve people in Israel, including a young boy and a soldier, have been killed in Hamas rocket attacks.

Bader al-Saif, a Kuwait University professor, said “the sheer un-proportionality” of the conflict has pushed many people to speak out across the Gulf.

“For Israelis to feel secure, they need to feel that they are accepted,” al-Saif said. “That feeling of acceptance cannot be complete without them dealing with the Palestinian issue.”

U.K.-based Saudi scholar Madawi Al-Rasheed, a fierce critic of the Saudi government, said despite the kingdom's widespread crackdown on activists — most of whom are steadfast supporters of Palestinian rights — the outrage expressed by many online reveals the gap between the cautious push by the Saudi leadership to inch closer to Israel and public sentiment in the streets.

“It shows that despite several years of adopting a normalization discourse in official Saudi media, the pulse of the people is actually not diverted from the Palestinian cause,” she said.

___

Follow Aya Batrawy on twitter at https://twitter.com/ayaelb

Aya Batrawy, The Associated Press

Some CNRL Horizon workers in Alberta allege unsafe camp conditions

CNRL HAS A LONG HISTORY OF ABUSING ITS WORKERS, WITH NARY A BEEP OUT OF THE PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS FROM CLAC BROUGHT IN BY THE COMPANY TO REPRESENT THE BUILDING TRADES WORKERS AND TEMP WORKERS FROM CHINA ONSITE

Duration: 02:11 

The deadly COVID-19 outbreak at Canadian Natural Resources Limited's Horizon worksite in Alberta's oilsands continues to worsen. As Heather Yourex-West reports, the staff live and work in close quarters, and some workers have told Global News they felt they were not properly protected from the coronavirus.

Global News   18/5/2021

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M; M&A

KKR in £2bn takeover of infrastructure giant John Laing

SIMON NEVILLE, PA CITY EDITOR19 May 2021



Private equity giant KKR has made a £2 billion offer for one of the UK’s biggest infrastructure firms John Laing.

The 403p-a-share bid has been accepted by the board and will now be put to shareholders to vote on the proposals, with 75% of investors needing to approve the plans.

John Laing has over 150 projects and businesses across the globe with significant focus on the renewables sector, through wind and solar farms.

KKR is keen to tap into the high-growth markets as governments globally tackle the need to decarbonise.

In the UK, the infrastructure business also invested in the £4.7 billion intercity express rail programme, providing trains for the Great Western and East Coast rail routes.

The Hitachi trains were recently pulled from services due to safety concerns after cracks appeared in the chassis.

Inspections were carried out and the 800 trains allowed to return to service earlier this month.

Another area of growth for John Laing are social enterprises, revealing last month it would invest £200 million in retirement homes developed by McCarthy & Stone to help address a shortage of elderly accommodation in Britain.

On the deal with KKR, John Laing’s chairman Will Samuel said: “Whilst the board has full confidence in John Laing’s strategy and management team, it is clear that many of the initiatives are at an early stage of development, retain an element of execution risk and that it will take time for these to deliver value.

“The John Laing board believes that the offer from KKR represents an attractive and certain value in cash today for John Laing shareholders and reflects the high quality of the business, its people and future prospects, as well as providing a positive outcome for John Laing pensioners.”

Tara Davies, partner and co-head of European Infrastructure at KKR, said: “There is growing global demand for national infrastructure which delivers societal benefit and reflects technological advances and policy priorities across areas such as connectivity, renewable energy and transport.

“Under private ownership and with flexible access to capital, John Laing can take a longer-term view as an owner and operator of assets during the next phase of its growth.”

John Laing can trace its roots back to 1848 as a building company based in Carlisle.

It grew to become a major construction company with projects including the M1 motorway, Sizewell B nuclear power station and Coventry Cathedral.

Philippine Environmental Health Groups Call for the Protection of Fishery Resources From Chemical Pollution

 
“Overfishing is not the sole cause of fishery declines.”

May 18, 2021 by Pressenza

By EcoWaste Coalition

As the Month of the Ocean is observed this May, environmental health groups EcoWaste Coalition and Oceana Philippines urged the government and other sectors to give close attention to the adverse impact of chemical pollution on the country’s dwindling fishery production.

The groups’ clarion call for action to protect fish and other marine organisms from various pollutants followed the release of a new report detailing how chemical pollution is harmfully impacting the aquatic food chain, noting that “progress will require fundamental changes in the way we produce, use and manage chemicals and their associated wastes.”

Published by the International Pollutants Elimination (IPEN) and the National Toxics Network (NTN) of Australia, the report Aquatic Pollutants in Oceans and Fisheries documents the science and numerous ways in which chemicals compromise reproduction, development, and immune systems among aquatic and marine organisms.

“As a fishing dependent and archipelagic nation, it is incumbent on us to insist and support global and local action that will prevent and control chemical and waste pollution from all sources, which is making the ocean ecosystems sick and incapable of meeting the huge demand for fish,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition (a participating organization of IPEN), who also emphasized “we need healthy oceans and fisheries to ensure our people’s food security and nutrition.”

Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, Vice-President of Oceana Philippines, said: “Decision-makers from all branches of government including the judiciary must realize the critical juncture we are in and exercise the urgent political will to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all. Our laws are not lacking in addressing the impacts of chemical including plastics pollution that destroys the health of our people and our oceans, but, there still is much foot-dragging in performing the mandates of their office. We hope this publication can be among the wake- up calls for all to prioritize health and act in solidarity now as our enduring gift to our present and future generations.”

“Pollutants including industrial chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, plastics and microplastics have deleterious impacts to aquatic ecosystems at all trophic levels from plankton to whales,” the report said, stressing that “overfishing is not the sole cause of fishery declines.”

Report authors warned that the impacts scientists have identified are only likely to grow in the coming years and will be exacerbated by a changing climate, noting that “the global seafood industry, and the livelihoods and survival of millions of artisanal fishers and communities who depend on seafood, are at a crossroads.”

“Many people think fish declines are just the result of overfishing. In fact, the entire aquatic food web has been seriously compromised, with fewer and fewer fish at the top, losses of invertebrates in the sediments and water column, less healthy marine algae, coral, and other habitats, as well as a proliferation of bacteria and toxic algal blooms. Chemical pollution, along with climate change, itself a pollution consequence, are the chief reasons for these losses,” said Dr. Matt Landos, report author and Director of Future Fisheries Veterinary Services in Australia.

Dr. Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Senior Advisor and report co-author, stated: “The production and use of chemicals have grown exponentially over the past couple of decades. Many chemicals persist in the environment, making environments more toxic over time. If we do not address this problem, we will face permanent damage to the marine and aquatic environments that have nourished humans and every other life form since the beginning of time.”

“We are at the precipice of disaster, but we do have an opportunity for recovery. The out-of-control expansion of the polluters – the oil, gas, plastics, and chemical sectors – needs to be reined in,” said Jo Immig, NTN National Coordinator and report co-author. “Governments around the world must urgently acknowledge the environmental, economic, and public health degradation caused by chemical pollution and act on the scientific evidence to develop policy and lead their communities to totally re-think how chemicals are used.”

Addressing ocean pollution and its impacts on fisheries will need substantial shifts in industries, economies, and governance, including the cessation of destructive industries like deep-sea mining and stopping the devastating practice of using our waterways as waste dumps.

Regenerative approaches to agriculture and aquaculture are urgently required to help lower carbon emissions, stop further pollution, and begin the restoration process. Transitioning away from fossil fuel extraction and use remains an urgent priority, as well as holding chemical producers accountable and responsible under the polluter pays principle.

Additional information:

1. Presidential Proclamation No. 57, series of 1999, declares the month of May of every year as the Month of the Ocean to highlight the importance and significance of conservation, protection, and sustainable management of Philippine coastal and marine resources.

2. The report Aquatic Pollutants in Oceans and Fisheries has identified the following as key areas of concern:

Industrial releases. Industrial facilities continue to release millions of kilograms of toxic materials, including PCBs, dioxins, industrial flame retardants, and the perfluorinated ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS into rivers, streams, lakes, and ocean waters each year. Historic industrial pollutants are re-released via dredging, while coal combustion and small-scale gold mining have substantially increased toxic mercury concentrations in the Pacific Ocean.

Pesticides. Many pesticides known to cause harm is still in widespread use and are present at harmful levels in aquatic environments. Some of these substances not only bio-accumulate in aquatic organisms, but they also destroy the habitat and food supplies aquatic organisms depend on for life, including insects. Pesticides enter aquatic and marine environments through direct sources such as run-off from agriculture, golf courses, sports fields, parks, and residential properties, as well as through indirect sources such as sewage treatment plants and spray drift.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Wastewater treatment facilities do not remove all pharmaceutical residues, and these products are now found throughout marine and coastal waters, as well as rivers and streams. A 2019 global study found at least one antibiotic in two-thirds of the sites studied and unsafe levels of antibiotics in 15% of the sites.

Plastics. Many plastic chemicals are toxic, and microplastics also attract, concentrate, and magnify other persistent toxic chemicals from the surrounding aquatic environment onto their surfaces. Microplastics have been found in commercial fish species throughout the world. Fish and other organisms often mistake the tiny plastic pieces for food, thereby contributing to their malnutrition and exposing fish and the food chain – including fish eaters – to toxic chemicals. This problem is only likely to grow as the petrochemical industry offsets falling fossil fuel revenues with planned rapid growth in plastics production.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POLLUTION
UN: Plastic Waste Affects Disadvantaged People the Most
“The impacts of plastics on marginalized populations are severe, and exist at all stages of the production cycle, from extracting raw materials and manufacturing, through to consumption and disposal.”



May 18, 2021 by Sustainability Times 

Plastic pollution is a global scourge with plastic waste having become ubiquitous worldwide. We all suffer from it in some ways as microplastics has permeated even drinking water, seafood and table salt.

Yet some people suffer far more from plastic pollution than others, according to the United Nations.

“Vulnerable communities disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental degradation caused by plastics pollution, and action is urgently needed to address the issue and restore access to human rights, health and well-being,” the UN’s Environment Programme says.

“The impacts of plastics on marginalized populations are severe, and exist at all stages of the production cycle, from extracting raw materials and manufacturing, through to consumption and disposal,” the UNEP notes based on findings detailed in a new report.

“Plastic waste not only endangers the livelihoods of those relying on marine resources, it also causes a raft of health issues for people who consume seafood infested with toxic micro and nano plastics. Women, in particular, suffer from plastic-related toxicity risk, due to higher aggregate exposure to plastics at home and even in feminine care products,” the UN agency elucidates.

These insights should come as no surprise. Economically disadvantaged people tend to live in communities with higher rates of pollution from air and water pollution to plastics pollution.

Cases in point are countries such as India where millions upon millions of the poorest citizens live in squalid urban slums where they are exposed to high levels of pollutants in various forms, largely owing to poor waste management.

Meanwhile, developing nations such as Thailand are flooded by waste imported from abroad as local businesses seek to turn a profit by recycling e-waste, which they often do with grave costs to the environment and local people’s health.

There are no simple solutions to the problem of plastic waste. The UNEP calls for an expansion in plastic waste monitoring and better waste management in addition to further studies on the health impacts of plastic waste.

“Governments should further enforce bans on single-use plastics and encourage their reduction, recycling and reuse,” the UN agency says.

“Other actors such as business and industry leaders, non-governmental actors, and consumers should also make efforts to reverse the situations for those who are socially, economically, politically marginalized,” it adds.

—

Previously Published on sustainability-times with Creative Commons License

Rising Ocean Heat Leaves Fish Gasping for Oxygen
Lack of oxygen will leave some fish gasping as the thermometer rises. Deep time offers a guide to those at greatest risk.

May 19, 2021 by Climate News Network Leave a Comment



By Tim Radford

As global temperatures soar, the planetary menu could start to dwindle. Cod, sea bass and haddock will move to cooler and more distant waters. Tropical species relying on the shelter of coral reefs could simply disappear. Fish gasping for oxygen will struggle to survive.

And although the world’s marine catch is already under pressure from pollution, ocean acidification and overfishing, the real threat is now clear. As ocean temperatures rise, oxygen levels in the world’s seas will fall, and the most active fish could start to stifle.


Some sea creatures will survive: sharks, rays and other cartilaginous fish will do better than the bony ones. Bivalves that cling to rocks will also cling on to life.

But some types of fish could be pushed to their tolerance limits, says a new study in the journal Global Change Biology, and global heating driven by ever-higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will be the primary cause.

“Warm water contains less oxygen than cool water. This tends to affect organisms that consume the most oxygen, which can mean that actively mobile animals are particularly affected,” said Carl Reddin of the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, who headed the research.

Heading for 3°C

He and his colleagues set themselves a simple challenge: why do some groups of marine creatures go extinct more often than others? The steady decline in fish catches on traditional grounds already has one obvious explanation: humans have overfished, and polluted. So the scientists decided to take a long cool look at the past.

“The deep time fossil record, conversely, is free from human impacts, and documents extinctions during ancient episodes of rapid climate warming, or hyperthermals,” they write.

They looked back across the evidence preserved in the rocks over the last 300 million years and identified what they call “six global hyperthermal events that shared a rapid increase in tropical sea surface temperatures, generally greater than 2°C, with an onset duration less than 100,000 years.”

In effect, they were looking for global conditions that matched those now happening. In the last 100 years, planetary average temperatures have risen by 1°C, and although almost all the world’s nations met in 2015 and vowed to try to contain global heating by 2100 to “well below” 2°C, the planet is heading towards a rise of more than 3°C above the long-term average in the next eight decades.

The Berlin team found that those groups of marine animals that − on the evidence of the fossil record − were most vulnerable to global warming in the deep past looked very like those that seem most in trouble today, among them the bony fishes.

The deep time fossil record documents extinctions during ancient episodes of rapid climate warming

The idea is not new. Other marine biologists have repeatedly warned of oxygen depletion in and beyond the fishing grounds.

Separately, there has been evidence that higher temperatures have begun to change the nature of the oceans, and fishermen have begun to count the cost as their catch migrates to waters that are cooler.


What this latest study does is clear up the uncertainty. Overfishing remains a problem. Ocean acidification will certainly affect some shellfish and possibly also fish behaviour. Pollution has already increased the number of marine dead zones.

But beyond that, the problem is simply one of temperature, and the latest study identifies those groups or classes of marine creature most at risk from another rise in the planetary thermometer: those sensitive to “warming-induced seawater de-oxygenation,” the researchers report.

And they add: “In anticipation of modern warming-driven marine extinctions, the trends illustrated in the fossil record offer an expedient preview.” − Climate News Network
—

This post was previously published on climatenewsnetwork.net and under a Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0.

Hamas starts deploying unmanned sea vehicles from Gaza

It can be seen that Hamas is trying to develop two types of unmanned vessels: remote-controlled converted speedboats or fishing boats, and submersible or semi-submersible drones

Cmdr. (res.) Eyal Pinko | 19/05/2021 

A few days ago, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said, Israeli Navy personnel identified suspicious activity in the northern area of the Gaza Strip, close to the coastal infrastructures of the naval force of Hamas. Navy troops, assisted by intelligence, conducted surveillance of a number of members of the naval force and their movements. On Monday (May 17), the forces identified a weapon, suspected of being a submersible vessel, which was taken in the direction of the beach by members of the unit, and was apparently going to be sent to carry out a mission in Israel's maritime area.      

A Navy force and aircraft attacked the members of the unit in their vehicle, as well as the small submarine, and eliminated them. Following the incident, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said for the first time that Hamas has unmanned submarines that operate autonomously and navigate using GPS systems. These small submarines are equipped with a warhead with 50kg of explosives. After the submarines are launched, they navigate themselves to their targets and blow up.    

The research and development organization of Hamas has been trying for a number of years to develop unmanned vessels that will be operated by the Hamas naval force. It can be seen that there are two types of unmanned vessels that Hamas is trying to develop. One type is a surface vessel, namely a converted speedboat or fishing boat that is either remote controlled or programmed to operate autonomously.  

The purpose of these vessels during times of calm is to collect intelligence on Israeli forces, while in times of conflict they are intended for use with a large amount of explosives against Navy ships and gas platforms, serving as suicide vessels that are operated remotely using wireless or cellular communications. These vessels are equipped with technology such as radar and cameras that enable them to be controlled remotely and steered toward their targets.      

The second type of vessel is the submersible or semi-submersible vessel called a glider. This kind of vessel has the capability to remain underwater or at a low point above the waves so that the Navy's ability to locate it is very limited. This kind of vessel is used for missions similar to those of unmanned ships. 

The R&D organization of Hamas aims to obtain knowledge, systems and technologies for development and manufacturing of such vessels based on Iranian knowledge, academic research that can be obtained on the internet, and professional literature. But it does so mainly on the basis of reverse engineering and upgrade of commercial autonomous vessels that can be acquired freely for maritime research purposes, and even on relevant sites on the internet.  

The Iranians are very advanced in development of unmanned autonomous vessels, and in Iran these kinds of vessels are displayed from time to time. These kinds of vessels have even been used in recent years for suicide attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels against Saudi Navy vessels.   

Hamas and Hezbollah understand that in naval warfare, their forces are technologically inferior to those of Israel. In order to deal with such naval warfare, the naval forces of the two terrorist organizations are developing a doctrine and weaponry including a wide variety of rockets, cruise missiles, naval mines, speedboats and unmanned vessels. The combination of such means in an attack, namely a swarm attack, will enable them, in their view, to overcome their inferiority on the naval battlefield against Israel.      

The battle against Hamas and Hezbollah has continued in the naval domain, but it has received little coverage by the media. Hamas and Hezbollah understand that the sea is a main artery of the State of Israel, and they have set a goal of attacking the country's vital infrastructure at sea and on the coast. Thus there are likely to be bolder and more sophisticated attacks by terrorist organizations against that infrastructure.