Experts: El Nino (and Food Industry Upheaval) is Coming

KELLY BEATON AND BRITTANY BORER | JUNE 16, 2023


Everyone knows “El Nino” by now – hot weather. Big winds. And once again in 2023, much of the world will gain a better grasp of this unpredictable meteorological phenomenon.

El Nino generally refers to a warming of the ocean surface, or above-average surface sea temperatures, in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean– but the phenomenon could have a widespread impact soon, especially on the food industry.

“The opinion of several experts suggests that this El Nino will be stronger than before due to global warming, resulting in higher temperatures than those previously experienced with this phenomenon,” Sara Galeano, director of sustainability at GoodSAM Foods, told The Food Institute.

“Unfortunately, El Nino is a phenomenon that can last for months.”

The arrival of the first El Nino in almost four years foreshadows new damage to an already fragile global economy. The shift to a warming phase from the cooler La Niña can generate chaos, especially in fast-growing emerging economies, as the world struggles to recover from Covid-19 and Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on, as Bloomberg recently reported.

“Vulnerable regions heavily reliant on rain-fed agriculture are particularly susceptible to the negative impacts of El Nino,” Alison Friel, director of consulting at NSF, told The Food Institute. “In particular, winter crops in Asia and palm oil and rice in the Far East. American growers are hoping for heavier rainfall to alleviate the effects of the previous drought.”

AT-RISK F&B ITEMS

The heralded El Nino event is cause for concern, especially for some coffee farmers. While it remains unclear exactly how El Nino will unfold, it could bring unusually hot and dry conditions to coffee regions, which threatens coffee bean yields, The Washington Post reported. Arabica coffee beans are hypersensitive to temperature changes.

Meanwhile, the world’s rice glut will be put to the test with El Nino’s return. The world is awash in rice with global stockpiles at close to record levels, but El Nino-related weather usually brings hotter and drier conditions to Asia, which produces and consumes 90% of the global rice supply, Bloomberg noted.

Fisheries are also at risk. El Nino patterns often disrupt marine ecosystems, affecting the migration of fish, which can result in reduced catches that can throw the fishing industry into disarray.

“El Nino disrupts catch volumes,” Galeano noted. “Coastal regions may experience anomalies in sea levels and salinity, impacting aquaculture.”

AN UPTICK IN STORMS?

El Nino weather typically supports the warm, Pacific jet stream dipping further south than normal. This can lead to rounds of storms, flooding in parts of the southern U.S., as well as abnormally warm and dry conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

Weather patterns have been changing rapidly in recent years, which leaves the world navigating new territory when it comes to climate patterns.

These weather extremes are arriving fast and furious and last longer than ever before.

Wildfires, floods, tropical cyclones, and extreme temperature fluctuations will impact the food industry – from farming, to production, to shipping – as El Nino is expected to strengthen into this winter. Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies said its forecasts indicate that the first quarter of 2024 could be the peak period of El Nino’s intensity.

BUSINESSES BRACE FOR IMPACT

Food companies, including manufacturers and grocery chains, can take several steps to protect their businesses from the negative impacts of El Nino.

“Companies should implement water conservation strategies and prioritize the efficient use of this resource,” Galeano said. “This can include recovering water sources, (and) implementing irrigation systems that minimize water waste…”

And, as with any potential disruption to the food supply chain maintaining dialogue with a suppliers is key to adapt to changes in supply.

For example, Friel noted, “if sourcing organic wheat, can you source an alternative that’s also organic? … Ensure business departments such as procurement are looking ahead and planning for the possibility that traditional supply chains could be disrupted. Ensure your development teams look to change their formulations to reduce or remove at-risk ingredients.”

Kelly Beaton serves as The Food Institute’s chief content officer. Brittany Borer is FI’s digital content producer/reporter and has a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology.
The Food Institute Podcast


Food price inflation has been a constant thorn over the past few years, but are we about to turn the corner toward greener pastures? Wells Fargo Chief Agricultural Economist Dr. Michael Swanson returned to The Food Institute Podcast to discuss emerging trends in food inflation and the changing dynamics between eating at home and eating out. Dr. Swanson also discusses agricultural impacts stemming from both drought and increased rainfall in different parts of the country.

END FREE SPEECH SAYS DIKTATOR

Turkey’s Erdogan demands Sweden stop Kurdish protests to consider NATO bid

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he gives a press conference after the cabinet meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, on September 21, 2020. (AFP)

Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English
Published: 25 June ,2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Sweden had to stop protests by supporters of the Ankara-criminalized Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Stockholm if it wanted Turkey to approve its NATO membership.

“Turkey maintains its constructive stance regarding Sweden’s membership but that legislative amendments would be meaningless so long as PKK/PYD/YPG supporters organize demonstrations freely in this country,” according to a readout of the phone call between Erdogan and Stoltenberg.

Erdogan also stressed during the call, “the injustices faced within the context of the F-35s and the attempts to associate Turkey’s requests about the F-16s with Sweden’s membership would harm NATO and its security rather than Turkey.”

Stoltenberg said on Twitter he had a “good call” with Erdogan ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, where “important decisions on terrorism, deterrence and defense” will be taken. He added: “We will continue working together on Sweden’s accession to NATO.”

Turkey ratified Finland's NATO accession in late March, however, it raised objections to Sweden's membership, alleging that Stockholm supported Kurdish militants, namely the PKK, which Ankara deems a terrorist organization.

With the NATO leaders summit scheduled for mid-July in Lithuania, the membership of Sweden has emerged as a top priority for the alliance and the US.

The US had steadfastly denied the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, a fellow NATO member, owing to Ankara’s decision to purchase the Russian S-400 air defense system. This acquisition was seen as a potential threat to the NATO alliance as it could expose vulnerabilities of the F-35s to the Russian system. As a result, Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019.

Despite these complications, later discussions of a possible F-16 deal have emerged. The potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey is seen as an attempt to bolster their aging fleet while maintaining NATO interoperability, without jeopardizing the security of the advanced F-35 technology.

Turkey’s pursuit of billions of dollars’ worth F-16 deal has encountered delays due to objections raised by the US Congress, despite President Joe Biden’s administration expressing support for the sale.

Turkish journalist detained for saying Öcalan’s ‘isolation’ should be lifted

By Turkish Minute 

June 26, 2023

Journalist Merdan Yanardağ, editor-in-chief of the Tele 1 TV station, was detained after criticizing the “isolation” imposed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, saying it should be lifted, local media reported on Monday.

The “isolation” of Öcalan, who has been jailed in a high-security prison on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999, refers to his inability to speak with his lawyers for years.

Yanardağ was detained on Monday as part of an investigation launched into him by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for his statements regarding Öcalan’s isolation during a program on Tele 1 over the weekend.

“The isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan has no place in the law. It should be lifted. He is unable to even meet with his family [members] and lawyer. … Öcalan is an extremely intelligent person who reads a lot of books and correctly understands … politics,” the journalist said.

The investigation was launched after Mehmet Ali Çelebi, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), pointed to Yanardağ as a target by sharing a video on social media that was a compilation of what the journalist said in the program.

Yanardağ was taken into custody by the counterterrorism police at the Tele 1 headquarters in Istanbul on charges of “praising crime and criminals” and “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

Meanwhile, Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) Chairman Ebubekir Şahin announced on Twitter on Sunday that the council had launched an investigation into Tele 1 due to Yanardağ’s statements which Şahin said was praising “the terrorist leader who is responsible for the killings of thousands of people.”

Öcalan, who was given a life sentence for treason after Turkey removed the death penalty, has been barred from meeting with his legal representatives since 2011 with one exception and has had only limited family visits since the collapse of the settlement process in 2015.

The settlement process, which refers to talks between the AKP government and the leadership of the PKK to resolve the Kurdish issue, began in 2012 and ended after two police officers were executed in southeastern Şanlıurfa province in June 2015.

It is common for journalists in Turkey, which has a poor record on freedom of the press, to face threats, physical attacks and legal harassment due to their work.

Rights groups routinely accuse the Turkish government of trying to keep the press under control by imprisoning journalists, eliminating media outlets, overseeing the purchase of media brands by pro-government conglomerates and using regulatory authorities to exert financial pressure, especially since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan survived a failed coup in July 2016.

Turkey is ranked 165th in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2023 World Press Freedom Index, among 180 countries, not far from North Korea, which occupies the bottom of the list.

The Spirit of 1951

The EU’s asylum reform and Tunisia deal are merely the latest steps in its war on migrants


AUTHOR
Sofian Philip Naceur

NEWS | 06/26/2023

Migration / Flight - Europe - North Africa

Tunisian President Kais Saïed shakes hands with visiting German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser at the Carthage Palace in Tunis, Tunisia, 19 June 2023.Photo: IMAGO / Xinhua

The planned Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is not a new scandal, but the continuation of a policy that right-wing and social democratic parties have pursued for decades, effectively normalizing violence and death along the EU’s external borders. Scandalizing border externalization with recourse to humanitarian and legalistic rhetoric, as recently seen in Tunisia, no longer works — nor did it work against the arming of Libyan and Egyptian police authorities or militias in Sudan. We urgently need new narratives to fight back against border violence.

If the new, far-reaching regulation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is ratified in its current version, the fundamental right to asylum and the 1967 Protocol to the 1951 Geneva Convention will be undermined in an unprecedented manner. Effectively, the right to asylum will be de facto and de jure dismantled across the EU.

Left-wing and progressive voices have expressed shock and horror at the German government’s support of the “reform” alongside other liberal EU administrations, as well as the conclusion of a new border regime deal with Tunisia immediately thereafter — despite the fact that the 2021 coalition agreement between the three parties in the Berlin federal government clearly committed them to substantially undermining the right to asylum and expanding EU border externalization. For instance, the agreement states that asylum procedures in third countries should be “examined”.

Traditionally, outrage over the EU’s and its member states’ border externalization policies mostly targeted figures or parties in the right-wing and extreme right-wing political spectrum. But the current CEAS draft represents the logical continuation of policies pursued by social democratic and liberal parties for decades.

Concepts such as “migration management” — a euphemism for illegalizing refugees while at the same time systematically filtering migration movements according to the economic needs of European and other industrialized economies — were not developed solely in the conservative and right-wing camps. It is no coincidence that the Vienna-based International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), an organization pivotal in mainstreaming migration management concepts in Europe since its founding in the early 1990s, was chaired by a Swedish Social Democrat from 1993 to 2004.

The times when a humanitarian uproar could be sparked over such developments are over.

In Germany, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), in the opposition at the time, gave its parliamentary approval to the so-called “asylum compromise” back in 1993 alongside the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). This constitutional amendment is still regarded as the most far-reaching restriction of the fundamental right to asylum in German history.

The fact that SPD and FDP are now once again attempting to dismantle the right to asylum is therefore anything but surprising. In the early 1980s, SPD politicians warned of “floods of fake asylum seekers” and shamelessly advocated for “drastically restricting the right to asylum” and considering “limiting the right to asylum to citizens of European countries”. Forty-one years later, such “proposals” are now to become reality in the form of the CEAS — all that has changed is they toned down the racist rhetoric.

The Spirit of 1951

While the CEAS threatens to completely abolish individual asylum applications and could establish dangerous contingency regulations, we are now also witnessing a formal return to the origins of the architecture of contemporary international refugee law. The non-universal treatment of European refugees on the one hand and non-European refugees on the other, as was particularly blatant with the outbreak of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sparked outrage here and there, but is in fact in line with the original spirit of the 1951 Geneva Convention.

After all, that convention was tailored exclusively to European refugees after World War II and only became universal law, applicable worldwide and for everyone, with the 1967 Protocol to the convention. The EU’s migration policy of the past decade, but especially since 2022, clearly demonstrates that the spirit of the 1951 Geneva Convention — and not that of the 1967 Protocol — continues to set the tone across the Union.

Border Violence in Tunisia

The fact that the arming of Libyan and Egyptian police authorities or militias in Sudan was imposed with hardly a whimper of protest clearly demonstrates that the language of humanitarianism and legalism fails when seeking to stir up outrage around border externalization deals like the most recent one with Tunisia. That said, the sheer scale of the new agreement with Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian President Kais Saïed goes far beyond all previous police equipment and training programmes provided by the EU and its member states.

It was only a few months ago, in February 2023, that a statement by Saïed rife with racist agitation and absurd conspiracy theories triggered a weeks-long wave of violence against refugees and migrants across Tunisia, which has since pushed them to flee the North African country at unprecedented levels.

Meanwhile, the EU thanks Saïed for his violent and polemic stance against refugees and migrants by stabilizing his presidency in the form of political support, loans, budgetary aid, as well as police and surveillance equipment deliveries — at a time when the Ministry of the Interior in Tunis is re-emerging as a powerful anti-democratic force. The veritable exodus of refugees, now trying to reach safety on rickety boats headed for Italy in large numbers, continues unabated.

Failing to Spark an Uproar

The pattern is familiar: despite detailed, documented human rights crimes by Libyan authorities involved in anti-migration projects, the EU and its member states began equipping the so-called “Libyan Coast Guard” years ago. The same applies to the Egyptian police and intelligence services, notorious for their systematic human rights violations across the country, or the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese militia responsible for serious crimes against humanity in Darfur in the 2000s and currently waging a bloody war across the country. Nevertheless, the RSF was incorporated into the EU border regime in North and East Africa.

If denouncing the torture practices of al-Sisi’s regime in Cairo, the violence against detained refugees by Libyan militias, or the crimes of the RSF fails to attract attention as it is, and some 600 deaths off the Greek coast in June vanish from headlines in only a few days, then trying to cause a scandal over border externalization deals with Tunisia and border violence in the country will not work, either. The times when a humanitarian uproar could be sparked over such developments are over.

We need new counter-strategies — against deals with autocrats, the CEAS, and the exclusionary understanding of refugee rights and protection currently being revived.

Sofian Philip Naceur is a project manager at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s North Africa Office and works as a freelance journalist.

Ottawa air quality rising to 'very high risk' again due to forest fires

CGTN
 26-Jun-2023

Smoke from forest fires reaching to the center of Ottawa, Canada, June 25, 2023. /CFP

The air quality in the capital region of Canada started out bad and got worse over Sunday, rising to 10+ or "very high risk," the federal air quality index's highest level.

"High levels of air pollution have developed due to smoke from forest fires. Smoke plumes from forest fires in Quebec have moved into the area, resulting in deteriorated air quality," said Environment Canada in a special air quality statement.

In response, organizers of two out of the four major festivals in Ottawa have decided to cancel events, while the City of Ottawa has taken the step to cancel its outdoor programs and close wading and outdoor pools.

Air quality readings are expected to drop to a level seven on Monday, which is still a high risk, returning to a moderate risk at night.

Current weather conditions could worsen forest fires in Quebec and spark new ones, the Minister of Public Security announced on Saturday morning.

According to a statement from the ministry, several parts of the province are currently experiencing a flammability index ranging from "very high" to "extreme," indicating a significant risk of burning. The heightened risk is attributed to decreased levels of precipitation and rising temperatures, which have intensified the threat of forest fires.

Several regions are currently under close surveillance including Abitibi-Temiscamingue, the North Shore, northern Quebec and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

SOPFEU, Quebec's forest fire agency, is actively engaged in combatting 81 fires across the province, with 25 of them being classified as out of control. Presently, the agency has prioritized its resources towards managing 43 fires.

Several municipalities have had to evacuate in the last few days, including some parts of the northwestern city of Senneterre. On Friday afternoon, authorities issued an evacuation order of 60 cottages in a rural area, around 30 kilometers north of the city centre.

Later in the day, evacuation orders were also issued for certain sectors of Beaucanton, Val-Paradis and Lac Pajegasque in the northwestern parts of the province.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there were five new wildfires burning in Canada on Sunday, bringing the total across the country this year to 2,880.

Wildfires have so far devoured about 74,000 square kilometers of land in Canada, making 2023 one of the worst years for wildfires on record, according to the center.

This year record fires have resulted in Canada deploying around 550 armed forces personnel and more than 1,700 international firefighters, paid for by the provinces, to beef up its stretched crews. As more wildfires threaten communities, provincial agencies are also increasingly leaning on structural firefighters to help protect homes.

But of the 126,000 structural firefighters in Canada, 90,000 are volunteers, according to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, who are bearing the strain of protecting their own communities while also holding down day jobs.

(With input from agencies)

Montreal has worst air of any major city as wildfires rage: monitor

Agence France-Presse
June 26, 2023

A man surfs in the St. Lawrence river with smoke caused by wildfires in northern Quebec in the background in Montreal, Canada on June 25, 2023 (ANDREJ IVANOV)

Forest fires in Canada left Montreal blanketed with smog on Sunday, giving it the worst air quality of any major city in the world, according to a pollution monitor.

Quebec province's most populous city had 'unhealthy' air quality according to IQAir, which tracks pollution around the globe, as hundreds of wildfires burned across the country.

Environment Canada issued smog warnings in several Quebec regions due to the fires, saying, "high concentrations of fine particulate matter are causing poor air quality and reduced visibilities," with conditions to persist until Monday morning.

The agency urged residents to avoid outdoor activities and wear face masks if they must go outside.

Outdoor pools and sports areas have been closed and multiple outside events, including concerts and sports competitions, have been cancelled due to the unhealthy smog.

"It's really like a fog, except it's smoke from the forest fires. It's really hard to breathe, and it stings the eyes a bit too," said 18-year-old Fauve Lepage Vallee, lamenting that a festival she was due to attend had been cancelled.

There are 80 active forest fires in Quebec, according to Quebec's forest fire protection agency, SOPFEU, with several growing over the weekend due to dry weather and high temperatures.

"The extent of the smoke is making it particularly difficult for air tankers and helicopters to be effective," SOPFEU said.

However, "significant amounts" of rain are expected on Monday or Tuesday in the northwest of the province, it added.

On Wednesday, 119 French firefighters are due arrive in Quebec to relieve a contingent of their compatriots in the field since early June.

"They will also be deployed to Roberval," 250 kilometers (150 miles) north of Quebec City, for a 21 day mission, said Stephane Caron, a spokesman for SOPFEU.

Across the country, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) lists more than 450 active fires, some 240 of which are deemed out of control.

Canada is experiencing an unprecedented year of fires, with more than 7.4 million hectares burned since the beginning of January.

Montreal public health says air quality 5 times worse than before

Jun. 26, 2023, 8:35 AM

People with heart and lung conditions should stay inside, health experts say

Visit The Weather Network's wildfire hub to keep up with the latest on the active start to wildfire season across Canada.

Smoke from fires burning in northern Quebec has coated Montreal, again, leading to poor air quality that is five to six times worse than in early June, according to a medical director at Montreal Public Health.

Environment Canada reported that the air quality health index (AQHI) for Montreal was 10+ on Sunday, which corresponds to a "very high risk" level. It went down to nine on Monday, which corresponds to a "high health risk."

Wildfire smoke spreads fine particles in the air that can get in people's lungs and make it difficult to breathe. Breathing in these particles can lead to chest pain, headaches and a general feeling of being unwell.

SEE ALSO: Chibougamau mayor says town will not be evacuated due to forest fires Sunday

David Kaiser, a medical director at Montreal Public Health, said in an interview that people with heart and lung conditions are particularly vulnerable, but with this much smoke and pollution in the air, everyone can feel its effects.

"So you go for a jog yesterday morning or this morning, you may start to feel some chest tightness, some shortness of breath. That's a sign that probably should stop, get inside, take a break because like I said, at these levels anybody can start having those impacts," said Kaiser.

Stay indoors, wear a mask

Kaiser recommends people stay inside with doors and windows shut and the air conditioner running if possible. Avoiding exposure is key, he says.
Content continues below

Environment Canada recommends using an air purifier with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter air inside and wearing a well-fitted respirator-type mask outside.

It also recommends checking up on people who may be more vulnerable to smoke.

People should be aware of their mental health as it is normal to feel anxious or isolated during a smoke event, says Environment Canada.

Rain and thunderstorms forecast

Montreal is expecting showers and thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday, with a rainfall of about 20 to 40 millimetres expected.

The rain may help dissipate the fine particles and improve air quality. Environment Canada says Montreal's AQHI should go down to two on Tuesday, which represents a "low health risk."


This article was originally written by and published for CBC News, with files from Chloë Ranaldi.

IT'S NOT OVER YET

Op-Ed: Will Canadians bounce back after the worst wildfire season ever?

By Karen Graham

DIGITAL JOURNAL
Published June 24, 2023

The heating of the planet is turning landscapes into tinderboxes, and more extreme weather means stronger, hotter and drier winds to fan the flames - Copyright AFP Brendan SMIALOWSKI

Wildfires across Canada this year have burned 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres), raising concern over Canada’s ability to rebuild.

The 6.5 million hectares burned this year during the spring wildfire season is a figure higher than the entire 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2022 seasons combined, The Guardian is reporting.

Folks don’t want to be reminded, but warmer and drier months are still to come. Climate change and a warming planet have led to an elevated wildfire threat that appears to represent a new normal.

More extreme weather patterns make for harsher drought conditions, even in places such as Canada’s eastern seaboard, which is far less accustomed to wildfire fallout than other areas of the country.

Annual national wildfire protection and suppression costs topped C$1 billion for six of the last 10 years, according to federal government data, and have risen about C$150 million per decade since 1970.

The Tumbler Ridge Fire – The BC Wildfire Service continues to respond to the West Kiskatinaw River (G70645) and Peavine Creek (G70644) wildfires in the Dawson Creek Zone. These incidents both experienced aggressive fire behavior and growth over the past 24 hours.

 Source – BC Wildfire Service

Only scratching the surface

One billion dollars a year to fight wildfires is enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. But this figure is only scratching the surface. With over 200 structures destroyed by the fires and scores of people displaced for days on end, there is the human cost.

Modern Farmer suggests the downstream effects of wildfires are almost incalculable. Farmers have lost crops, been forced off their land for days at a time, and farmers’ markets were closed.

Another big concern is recruiting firefighters, and it is becoming increasingly difficult due to tight labor markets and the tough nature of the job, provincial officials say.

Limited resources could threaten Canada’s ability to fight fires, which are expected to get bigger and fiercer in the future, risking more damage to communities and disrupting the country’s oil and gas, mining, and lumber industries.

Now in all fairness, some of the burden in costs to farmers over a lost crop, or livestock is picked by the province – Nova Scotia delivered $2,500 emergency grants to its wildfire-affected farmers – and some by insurance carriers.

Insurance carriers are getting antsy over insurance payouts, and it is not just the loss of a house from a wildfire. There is flooding or extreme weather events to consider.

Lytton’s Welcome sign before the fire in 2021. 

Source – Andybremner2012, CC SA 4.0.

Yet much of the heavy lifting in the moment falls to local systems, community organizations, and friendly neighbors.

Not all communities are getting rebuilt. This leads to a collective failure to rebuild and raises questions about the preparedness of governments to respond to large crises.

Earlier this year, the Fraser Valley Current reported on the slow efforts to rebuild Lytton. The village “remains a flattened heap of dirt and concrete”, it reported, with much of the space fenced off.

Residents complained of bureaucratic delays and a feeling they had been forgotten. Work crews have found Indigenous artifacts at excavation sites, further slowing the process. As a result, next to nothing has been rebuilt yet.

Firefighters with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency work to put out fires in the Tantallon area of Nova Scotia – Copyright Nova Scotia Government/AFP Handout

Firefighters needed desperately

A Reuters survey of all 13 provinces and territories showed Canada employs around 5,500 wildland firefighters, not including the remote Yukon territory, which did not respond to requests for information.

Mike Flannigan, a professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia and a wildfire specialist says that’s roughly 2,500 firefighters short of what is needed.

“It’s hard work, it’s hot work, it’s smoky work, and there are real issues with health impacts longer-term,” Flannigan said. “It’s getting harder to recruit and retain people.”

Yes, firefighters have long days – 12 to 14 hours – up to two weeks at a time. The environment is smoke-filled, and high-stress, often in remote wilderness areas.

The seasonal work, longer fire seasons, and uncompetitive basic pay – ranging from C$30 ($22) an hour in British Columbia to C$.74 an hour in Manitoba – also deter people.

“We’re in competition with a whole bunch of other labor markets. It’s demanding physical work and it’s mentally taxing,” said Rob Schweitzer, executive director of BC Wildfire Service.

_______________________

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/op-ed-will-canadians-bounce-back-after-the-worst-wildfire-season-ever/article#ixzz85jCp7GgN

THE FOGG OF WAR 

Russians Approve Terrorist Attack Plan on NPP, Explosives Found Near Four Power Units, Ukraine’s Intel Chief Says

OR I LEFT MY FALSE FLAG AT HOME

The situation has never been as serious as it is now, Budanov said. The world’s attention to the existing Russian threat at the Zaporizhzhia NPP is still insufficient, Zelensky added.

by Kyiv Post | June 26, 2023, 1:35 pm

A view of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on June 15, 2023. 

Olga MALTSEVA / AFP

The head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), General Kyrylo Budanov, warned again that Russia has plans prepared for a terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhia NNP (ZNPP) in an interview with The New Statesman on June 25. According to him, Russian forces have placed equipment with explosives near four of the six power units.

“The plan for a terrorist attack on the ZNPP is fully drafted and approved. They can use technical means to accelerate the catastrophe,” Budanov said.

“The situation has never been as serious as it is now,” he stressed.

According to him, the order to commit a terrorist attack on the ZNPP could be triggered by the defeat of the Russian occupation forces on the left bank of the Dnipro River. He says that Russia may see their creation of a nuclear disaster zone as a way of halting Ukraine’s forces and preventing attacks on Russian positions.


There is also a risk that Moscow may attack the ZNPP with a radiation leak as a “preventive measure” to stop a major push in Ukraine’s summer offensive before it begins, thereby freezing the front line in its current location.

On June 25, following Budanov’s statements, President Volodymyr Zelensky held a series of international conversations with US president Joe Biden, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, and Polish president Andrzej Duda.

Zelensky said that he had informed his partners that the occupiers had mined the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

Ukrainian Forces Seize Ground Including an Area Occupied by Russia Since 2014

Ukrainian troops take control new parts of Russian-controlled territory as Kyiv’s infantry attacks progress field-by-field deeper into Kremlin’s defenses.

“I told them [international partners] about the information we have, our intelligence, about the Russian scenario with the mining of Zaporizhzhia NPP, which has been approved for terrorists,” the president said.

The president noted that the world must take steps to prevent a nuclear disaster.

“Just as the [world’s] reaction to the Russian explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the deliberate attempt of Russian terrorists to hit the dam of another reservoir in Kryvyi Rih was insufficient.

“We must take very concrete steps together in the world to prevent any radiation incidents,” Zelensky said.

German Prosecutors Admit to Tapping Climate Activists' Phones


TEHRAN (FNA)- The wiretapping was ordered as part of an investigation over suspicions that members of the group were "forming or supporting a criminal organisation", a spokesman for the Munich public prosecution's office said.

The Last Generation, known for gluing themselves to roads to draw attention to the climate crisis, condemned the eavesdropping, calling it "absurd", AFP reported.

Conversations between members of the group and journalists making media enquiries were among the calls monitored, the prosecutors' spokesman said.

While the journalists themselves were not targeted, they "were affected by the measures due to calls made via the monitored telephone numbers", he said.

The Sueddeutsche newspaper first revealed the wiretapping on Saturday, reporting that the surveillance had begun last October. The surveillance included monitoring emails, voice mail accounts and logging the GPS data of mobile phones, the paper reported.

Reacting to the news, The Last Generation group wrote on Twitter, "We protest showing our names and faces, publish our plans, accept the legal consequences."

"Nevertheless, the Bavarian LKA (police) logged telephone calls, emails and movement profiles. Even our press phone was monitored. That is absurd!" the group said.

It was unclear whether the surveillance was still ongoing, the group added.

Lars Castellucci, an MP from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling Social Democrats (SPD), said the wiretapping "raises questions about proportionality".

Dietmar Bartsch, parliamentary leader of the far-left Linke opposition party, called the surveillance "completely inappropriate".

As part of a criminal investigation, police raided the homes of several Last Generation activists in May and also seized two bank accounts.

The activists have nevertheless vowed to continue their protests.

The group, whose direct action has delayed flights and blocked road traffic, has divided public opinion with its tactics.

Earlier this month, Last Generation protesters spray-painted a private jet orange, several activists gluing themselves to the plane and the tarmac.

What’s driving some Somali mothers to poison their babies

The worst drought in four decades, devastating floods and more than 30 years of conflict have forced families to engage in inhumane and unthinkable acts.

By Fathi Mohamed Ahmed

Special to the Star
Sun., June 25, 2023


MOGADISHU, Somalia—Makka Madeey Ibrahim used to have a comfortable life with her husband and seven children on a farm in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region.

Now she poisons her baby with detergent in order to feed her family.

Somalia has been wracked by the worst drought in four decades, devastating floods and more than 30 years of conflict. This year has set a record for displacements, with more than a million people fleeing their homes in just 130 days. It brings the total number of internally displaced people to nearly four million, which is close to a quarter of the country’s population.

In the face of such punishing conditions, some of the desperate have engaged in inhumane, unthinkable acts.

Like Ibrahim and her family, most of the displaced live in makeshift camps on the outskirts of Somalia’s biggest cities.

After years of recurrent droughts killed off Ibrahim’s herd of goats and dried up the once fertile fields where she grew fruit and vegetables, the family abandoned their ruined farm and moved to a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu.

Despite arriving in Mogadishu with nothing but a sick husband and her young children, there was no humanitarian assistance available for Ibrahim and her family. She hustled for work washing other people’s clothes but the few dollars she earned were not enough.

This was when she decided to force-feed her 11-month-old daughter with a mixture of washing powder and salty water. This led to explosive diarrhea leaving the child dehydrated and weak.

Ibrahim then took her sick baby to as many mother and child health centres as she could. Each one gave her high-energy biscuits and porridge to help revive her daughter.

She did not give this food to her child. She sold it in the local market, then used the money to buy food and other essentials for the whole family.

“I know this is not a good thing to do, but I have no other way of feeding my family,” said Ibrahim. “My husband is too ill to look for work and my children are always hungry.”

Poisoning her daughter and taking her to as many clinics as possible so she can obtain the maximum amount of free food has become Ibrahim’s only way of making an income. Sometimes the clinics give her money, too.

“I feed my baby detergent and salty water as often as I can because that is my livelihood,” she said. “The health workers at the clinics say she needs long-term care because the frequent bouts of diarrhea have made her malnourished. But I have no other choice.”

There have been reports of dozens of such cases within camps for the internally displaced, with an increasing number emerging as word of the practice spread.

Arfon Aden Ali and her family were also forced by drought to abandon their home in Lower Shabelle and move to a camp outside Mogadishu. Like Ibrahim, Ali force-fed her daughter with detergent.

Three months ago, her daughter died shortly after swallowing the mixture.

“My life is a nightmare now. I am full of remorse,” said Ali, who has suffered deep bouts of guilt and depression since the death of her child.

“I made this poisonous drink with my own hands and gave it to my daughter. All I wanted was to feed my family. I will never forget what I did to my daughter. I will never forgive myself.”

Ali said that when she arrived at the camp, other mothers told her how they made children sick with detergent. There were no jobs in the camp and no humanitarian assistance. Ali said that in her mind poisoning a child to feed the family was the only option.

Health workers must educate themselves about the growing problem of deliberate poisoning of children, said Ifrah Ahmed, acting chair of the Women’s Leadership Network at the Ministry of Women and Human Rights.

“Those who work in community health centres should monitor closely the condition of the children to make sure they distinguish the cases where they have been poisoned from those when they are naturally unwell,” she said.

Dr. Jibril Malin, a Mogadishu-based pediatrician, said feeding babies and children detergent mixed with salty water can lead to serious long-term health problems as well as diarrhea and vomiting.

“The cleaning powder contains dangerous chemicals,” he said. “They can erode the intestines and stomach lining, leading to the collapse of the digestive system.

“Salty water will bloat the child,” he added. “When mixed with detergent, it leads to vomiting and acute diarrhea. A child can succumb to these complications.”

There is a lack of community awareness.

“Mothers who do this to their children do not know about the life-threatening dangers,” said Nasteha Salad Omar, a health worker.

“More needs to be done to inform the community,” she said. “If the root causes are not addressed, children‘s lives will continue to be endangered because women will do anything to feed their families.”


As Somalia has been in a state of conflict for more than three decades, government is weak, many of its institutions destroyed. Local and international aid organizations struggle to reach those in need due to insecurity.

This leaves families such as Ibrahim’s and Ali’s resorting to desperate measures.

Displaced people have been selling off their young daughters for marriage and sending their young children out to work or leaving them to look after their siblings while they search for food.

Others rent their children to beggars who take them out in the streets all day and share their takings with the child’s parents.

Some children are recruited by armed groups.

A September 2022 study by the United Nations refugee agency found that nearly 20 per cent of children who worked were engaged in sexual transactions, while others worked in factories or as porters, domestic servants or street vendors.

According to the United Nations, about two-and-a-half million school-aged children in Somalia have been affected by the current drought, with about 30 per cent of them at risk of not returning to class.

With global powers focusing on other crises, especially the war in Ukraine, countries like Somalia get left behind. During Somalia’s devastating drought of 2022, 50 aid agencies made a desperate appeal after only two per cent of an emergency appeal to donor nations was funded.

Unless urgent steps are taken to increase international assistance, reduce the impact of climate change and bring greater stability to Somalia, the fear is that parents like Ibrahim and Ali will decide they have no choice but to put their babies’ lives at risk in order to keep their families alive.

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed, is chief editor of Bilan, Somalia’s first all-women media house, which is supported by UNDP and hosted by Dalsan Media Group in Mogadishu.