Ontario college faculty get salary boost after Bill 124 struck down


Wed, August 16, 2023 at 8:25 a.m. MDT

TORONTO — College faculty members represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union will be receiving an additional 6.5 per cent in salary increases over three years.

They are the latest group of public sector workers to see their pay boosted due to an Ontario court finding a provincial wage restraint law known as Bill 124 unconstitutional.

The Progressive Conservative government's 2019 law capped salary increases for broader public sector workers' next set of contracts at one per cent a year for three years.

The government appealed after the court declared the law unconstitutional last year, but in the meantime many workers have been awarded additional wages due to "reopener" clauses in their contracts that were triggered when the law was struck down.

The 16,000 full-time and partial-load college faculty represented by OPSEU will now be receiving wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years of their 2021-2024 contract and 3.5 per cent in the third year, after the union and the College Employer Council reached a mediated settlement.

Other workers to have received higher wage increases after Bill 124 was overturned include hospital registered nurses, other hospital workers such as dietary aides and personal support workers, and paramedics at the Ornge air ambulance service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2023.

The Canadian Press

ALBERTA/MONTANA
International study examining water apportionment between St. Mary and Milk Rivers


Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 16, 2023 

“For over a century, the United States and Canada have shared the waters of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers through agreements negotiated by both countries,” Carole Smith, Policy, Programs, and Communications for the International Joint Commission, said. “Over time, many things have changed.”

Smith says that factors including changes to climate, the growing season, and the adequacy of canals and other structures that are used to store and move water have impacted water apportionment since the International Joint Commission issued its initial Order more than 100 years ago in 1921. An example of things that have affected apportionment, Smith says, include an incident in May 2020 when a portion of the St. Mary Canal in Montana temporarily stopped the flow of water into the Milk River. Fortunately, Smith says, due to the hard work of many stakeholders, the structure was repaired, and the canal was reopened in October 2020.

The Government of Alberta website explains that the 1921 Order established the St. Mary River at the international boundary and the Milk River at the eastern crossing as the places where apportionment happens. The roles for Accredited Officers for both the St. Mary and Milk Rivers were also established and clearly outlined along with the treaty. Both Canada and the U.S. appointed one officer to measure and apportion water, including the flow volumes and shares for each country.

In April 2003, the website says, the Government of Alberta requested that the International Joint Commission conduct a review of the 1921 order and in response, the International Joint Commission held four public information sessions in 2004 to gather information about water sharing associated with the Milk River and St. Mary River. As a result of those meetings, the International St. Mary/ Milk Rivers Administrative Measures Task Force, with four members from Canada and four members from the U.S., was established. The task’s force first report was released on the International Joint Commission’s website in 2004 and 2006. Their 2004 submission included contributions from Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and Alberta Environment. More information about those reports can be found on the Government of Alberta website under the ‘Water Management’ section.

Smith states that all of these events, as well as other factors, resulted in the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers study being launched in the fall of 2021. The study, Smith says, was launched with the support of the governments of Canada and the United States who are also helping to fund the work. Smith states that the study is a four-year effort (2021-2025) to assess whether options are available to enhance each country’s access to their share of the water.

Smith says that the technical working groups who are involved in the study started their work by gathering and analyzing existing data about the basin including climate, hydrology, irrigation infrastructure, water rights, water use, and ecology, among other relevant baseline information.

“They are now evaluating and configuring the models that will be used to evaluate different structural and administrative options,” Smith said. “They are also working to define indicators that can be used to assess the performance and impact of different modelling scenarios.”

Since the study is focused on ways of improving each country’s access to their share of water from the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, Smith says, the findings and recommendations may ultimately benefit water users in the Municipal District of Taber and other municipalities along the watershed, which includes irrigation farmers and municipal users.

The study’s first annual progress report was actually published by the study board in September 2022, and another one is anticipated in the fall of 2023.

The study involves not only communication with the IJC, Smith says, but also Advisory Groups including a Public Advisory Group and Indigenous Advisory Group, Smith says.

“They are kept informed about the study and its progress, and their input and assistance are invited to guide its work, particularly with respect to the identification and development of performance indicators,” Smith said.

A newsletter, Smith says, is also associated with the study and is published by the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board. It publishes this semi-annual newsletter to help keep the public informed about the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study. The first newsletter was published in June, Smith says, and is available for viewing in the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board website’s Library. The public can also subscribe to future newsletters through the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board’s website.

“The study board’s newsletter is a valuable tool for communicating with people involved directly and indirectly with the study, including the public,” Smith said.

According to the Board’s website, the whole idea for the project originated in 2019 when the accredited officers of St. Mary and Milk Rivers communicated with the International Joint Commission about a proposed study regarding administrative procedural changes and structural options that could potentially improve the access to the St. Mary and Milk Rivers by Canada and the U.S. The communication from the accredited officers included providing documents to the International Joint Commission that outlined details associated with a four-year study of the rivers and surrounding areas. In June 2021, the U.S. and Canadian governments wrote a letter supporting the creation of the study.

“The study will present its final report to the International Joint Commission in June 2025,” Smith said. ““The Commission will then review the report and make recommendations to the governments of both countries for their consideration. Until then, water apportionment will continue to occur under the existing framework.”

Heather Cameron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Taber Times

https://ijc.org/en/watersheds/oldman-milk-rivers

St. Mary and Milk Rivers | International Joint Commission 

Mary Canal was constructed in 1917 and is used to divert water through a series of syphons from the St. Mary River to the North Milk River for use in the lower ..

https://ablawg.ca/2022/08/24/the-milk-and-st-mary-apportionment-a-next-step

The Milk and St. Mary Apportionment: A Next Step? - ABlawg 

Aug 24, 2022 ... The Milk River is part of the Mississippi Basin. It rises in Montana, flows north and east into Alberta, and then crosses the border again ...

UK

Third of migrants quit asylum camp at former RAF base


Charles Hymas
Tue, 15 August 2023

The development at RAF Wethersfield is a fresh blow to the Government’s plans to move migrants onto larger sites and out of asylum hotels - David Rose for the Telegraph

A third of the migrants in an asylum camp at a former RAF base have quit the site, claiming to be potential victims of modern slavery or turning their back on the conditions.

Sixteen of the first 46 Channel migrants to be moved to the camp at RAF Wethersfield, near Braintree in Essex, last month have been transferred to hotels by the Home Office or decided to leave so they can live with relatives.

Those who have left to stay with relatives are required to provide evidence of addresses and answer to immigration bail.

It is understood that up to a dozen of the migrants were from Eritrea and are said to have been potential victims of modern slavery, which made them “unsuitable” for the camp under the Home Office’s rules.

The Home Office could have been left open to legal challenge if it had kept them on the 800-acre site, with officials understood to have decided to move them into hotels.

It is a fresh blow to the Government’s plans to move migrants onto larger sites and out of asylum hotels, which are costing taxpayers £6 million a day.

It follows last week’s evacuation of 39 asylum seekers from the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, after the discovery of Legionella bacteria, which can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal form of pneumonia.


Wethersfield is one of two disused RAF bases being converted by the Home Office into the UK’s first dedicated asylum camps. It is expected to hold up to 1,700 adult male migrants. RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire, is due to take its first residents in October and will house up to 2,000 men.

Both have been designated by the Home Office to take migrants directly after their arrival on small boats across the Channel, but are subject to High Court legal challenges by local councils seeking to shut them. The councils claim they are in remote, inappropriate locations that place unsustainable pressure on local services.

The rules for determining who is housed in former Ministry of Defence bases, barges or other vessels could open up the Home Office to more modern slavery claims.

They advise Home Office officials that migrants are unsuitable for such sites or room sharing if they may be a victim of modern slavery, torture, rape or physical violence, or if they are disabled or elderly.
‘Slapdash approach’

Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, which supported more than 50 asylum seekers who refused to go onto the Bibby Stockholm, said: “We understand that several of those seeking asylum who are housed at Wethersfield have suffered from torture, modern slavery and trafficking.

“Even the Government’s own guidelines state that individuals who have experienced such horrors are not suitable for housing in barracks and barges. This slapdash approach is shameful.”

It is understood that a further 50 migrants have been moved onto the camp in the past week, with numbers expected to pass 100 in the coming week.

Senior Tory MPs said there was no reason why victims of modern slavery should not be housed on the former airbases. On said: “They are safe, secure and protected, with police available for any interviews.”

A Home Office spokesman said the £6 million a day spent on housing 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels was unacceptable. “We continue to ensure the accommodation provided is safe, secure, leaves no one destitute and is appropriate for an individual’s needs,” they said.

UK

SNP TO THE LEFT OF LABOUR

'Disgrace': Fury as Keir Starmer says Labour will use rape clause 'more fairly

Xander Elliards
Tue, 15 August 2023 

Keir Starmer (left) and Anas Sarwar appearing at Rutherglen Town Hall (Image: PA)

SIR KEIR Starmer’s claim that a UK Labour government would implement the two-child benefit cap and the associated rape clause “more fairly” than the Tories has been met with outrage.

Katy Loudon, the SNP’s candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West – where Starmer was campaigning when he made the comment - called it a “disgrace”.

Loudon said: “There is no world in which a policy that makes a woman prove if a child was conceived through rape is fair – and for Keir Starmer to say so proves that Labour is just as cruel and out-of-touch as the Tories.

READ MORE: Mhairi Black: Keir Starmer should be 'embarrassed' to campaign in Scotland

“Saying they will implement the evil Tory policy more fairly seems to be the compromise UK Labour and their Scottish branch office have reached in their desperation to hide the growing list of divisions within the party. It's a disgrace.”

Speaking at a Q&A session at Rutherglen Town Hall, where the majority of the pre-selected questions were asked by Labour councillor Kirsty Williams, Starmer had insisted that economic growth had to come before anything else.

“We’ve picked very carefully and number one is growth,” the Labour leader said of his party’s priorities. “Economic growth, everywhere across the United Kingdom, the highest sustained growth in the G7.”

Starmer said that a Labour government’s anti-poverty strategy would focus on this economic growth rather than “specific arguments about this benefit or that benefit”.

The National: Anas Sarwar and Sir Keir Starmer

The Labour leader repeatedly refused to commit to scrapping the two-child limit, suggesting that doing so without costing it beforehand would lead to economic turmoil similar to that which followed in the wake of Liz Truss’s mini-budget.

Asked why Labour did not simply calculate the cost of scrapping the benefit cap, Starmer said that any money created by taxation changes had already been allocated.

Appearing alongside Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, Starmer also looked to play down any talk of division within the Labour party.

Starmer claimed he and Sarwar were “welded” together on key issues, despite Scottish Labour opposing the two-child cap on benefits brought in by the Conservative UK Government.

Confusion has surrounded the campaign from Michael Shanks – the Labour candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West – who has insisted he will both join Starmer’s Westminster group and oppose it on issues such as the two-child cap.

Loudon said: “The two-child cap and rape clause is a heinous and inhumane policy – and the Labour party agreed with us on that until they started to get a sniff of power. The Labour candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West knows this, which is why he has attempted to distance himself by saying he will vote against it.

“The SNP is clear that the only way to make the two-child cap and rape clause fair is to scrap it immediately.

“A vote for the SNP means real opposition to cruel Tory policies, cost-of-living support and real change with independence.”

N.B. child advocate says LGBTQ policy in schools violates Charter rights of kids

The Canadian Press
Tue, August 15, 2023 



FREDERICTON — New Brunswick's child and youth advocate says changes to the province's policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools violate the Charter rights of children.

Kelly Lamrock released his findings today, saying the Education Department did not seriously consider the legal consequences of its changes to Policy 713.

One of the changes requires children under 16 to have parental consent before they can officially change their preferred first names or pronouns at school.

Lamrock says that refusing to use the preferred names and pronouns of students is a violation of their rights under the Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Premier Blaine Higgs has defended the changes, arguing that parents have the right to know whether their children are questioning their gender identity.

But Higgs's government has faced strong criticism for the policy, including within his own cabinet and from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Florida students and professors say a new law censors academic freedom. They're suing to stop it

Tue, August 15, 2023 



College students and professors in Florida are suing education officials over a new law spurred by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' war on “woke," saying it violates their constitutional rights by censoring academic freedom.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court Monday by students and professors at New College, a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community that was taken over earlier this year by DeSantis and his allies, who claimed it was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

Florida now leads the United States “in efforts to censor academic freedom and instruction in its college classrooms,” according to the lawsuit, which is seeking a court order to block the law from being enforced.

The measure, passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature this year, outlaws spending on diversity programs, curbs professors’ tenure security and prohibits the teaching of “identity politics” in Florida public schools.

The new law also directs university leaders to monitor against programs that are based on theories “that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

The suit alleges that the law is unconstitutional because it is overly broad and chills free speech. Specifically, it says the law jeopardizes courses at the honors college on gender studies, queer studies, race, sociology, feminist philosophy and other subjects that affect the school’s curriculum, textbooks, classroom teachings, research and students’ educational experiences.

“In dictating to faculty and students what ideas are true and false, Florida runs headlong into the Bill of Rights,” the complaint states.

The suit names as defendants Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz; the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state's universities; and the trustees at New College, which is located in Sarasota. The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to the education commissioner's office and the Board of Governors' office.

When DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, and his allies took over the school earlier this year, they placed conservative trustees on its board and appointed an interim president who was a former Republican speaker of the Florida State House and DeSantis’ first commissioner of education.

Mike Schneider, The Associated Press

Pioneering coach thanks Sierra Leone boss Keister after leg amputation


Mohamed Fajah Barrie - BBC Sport Africa, Sierra Leone
Tue, August 15, 2023 

The first woman to coach an elite men's football club in Sierra Leone has thanked national team boss John Keister after he funded a life-saving operation to amputate her leg.

Pioneer Victoria Conteh, who played in Sierra Leone's first ever women's international in 1994, also made history when appointed coach of men's top-flight side East End Tigers ahead of the 2019-20 season.

Described by Keister as "like a sister" and a "trusted lieutenant", the 48-year-old first began experiencing an issue with her left foot in July 2022, going on to lose a considerable amount of weight as a result of the gradually developing pain.

"It started like a boil on two of my toes and was itching," Conteh tells BBC Sport Africa.

"I didn't take it seriously until I started feeling pain."

It was Keister who first advised Conteh, who is also a policewoman, to see a doctor.

"I went to the police hospital in Freetown and was treated After some time, I started feeling pain again and it got severe for close to four months," she added.

"Seeing that I had lost weight and was deteriorating, John took me to a doctor. After the diagnosis, the doctor told us the reason for the pain was because my foot had been badly infected by a poison I stepped on.

"I don't know where and when it happened but it was really painful."
'He's like a brother to me'

Surgeons amputated Conteh's leg in November last year. Once again, Keister was involved, breaking news of the decision to operate.

"It was John who the doctor first told about how severe my condition was," says a tearful Conteh.

"The best thing to do to save my life was to amputate my leg.

"When John called me on the phone and told me about it, I nearly collapsed. I can't even explain how I felt at that moment.

Sierra Leone men's national team head coach John Keister played a crucial role in Conteh seeking and receiving treatment on her left leg

"I was feeling pain inside. Even when my daughter brought me food, I wasn't able to eat.

"I didn't have the courage to break the news to her and my two sons. It was a sad moment for me.

"But it's the will of God, I have to accept it."

Keister says he funded Conteh's treatment because of the close bond the two have built up over the years.

"She's one of my trusted friends and a trusted lieutenant," says the 52-year-old, who guided Sierra Leone to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

"She's like a sister to me. It was difficult to absorb the news and to break it to her after the doctor told me about the amputation. I cried."

'I love challenges' - Keister on Afcon qualification


Keister reveals squad selection death threats

Now learning to live with her disability, Conteh, who has also coached Sierra Leone's women at under-20 level, remains grateful to Keister for his emotional and financial support.

"He's a good man. We are close friends and he's like a brother to me," she says.

"I was down and frustrated, even after the successful operation. But with encouraging calls from people and prayers, I calmed down.

"I'm thankful to God that I'm still alive and I'm also grateful to coach Keister for paying for my surgery."
A coaching pioneer

As a player, Conteh featured for top-flight side Ascentonians when Sierra Leone's women's league first began in the early 1990s, going on to also play for Prisons, Lioness and Soccer Angels, and earning six caps for her country.

Part of a footballing family living in the capital Freetown, she developed her love of the game at an early age - against the wishes of her mother.

"My father, uncle and two cousins played football," she explains.

"I started playing football during my primary school days. I usually hid my boots from my mum.

"She was totally against it because there was the belief at the time that football was meant for the men and not the women.

"But my elder brother pleaded with my mum, to persuade her by reminding her that football was in me because I came from a football family and I was born and raised in a football community.

"So my mum gave me the green light. That is how I became a player."

Decades later, Conteh became the only female coach in Sierra Leone to hold a top-level A Licence issued by the Confederation of African Football before East End Tigers added to the list of firsts by appointing her as their manager in the National Premier League.

Sadly for Conteh, fate intervened when her first season in charge was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic and she was subsequently ordered by her superiors with the police to take the reins with Police FC following their promotion to the top-flight in 2021.
A new role in football

Conteh's ordeal has affected her "emotionally, physiologically and physically".

"Sometimes, when I sit and look at my amputated leg, I feel bad," she says.

"I don't go out frequently nowadays as I spend most of my time in my house.

"I won't be on the touchline anymore giving instructions to players and I'm not happy about it because I like my coaching job. Nevertheless, I'll now serve as a technical adviser."

Keister, too, is coming to terms with what has happened to his good friend and is pleased to hear she has no plans to give up football entirely.

"I'm missing her a lot because we used to be together all the time. But I'm glad that she's coping."

Unbelievable video shows Tesla electric semitruck go head-to-head with a diesel 18-wheeler — see who won

Sara Klimek
Mon, August 14, 2023

So far, electric vehicle giant Tesla has focused on developing the next generation of passenger vehicles. But, a video released on Twitter shows the power and capacity of Tesla’s new Semi truck as it easily drives up a steep hill on the Donner Pass.

Conventional diesel semitrucks have historically struggled to get up to highway speed going up steep slopes. Many of them may reach only 60 miles per hour within 30 seconds, which can block other motorists from passing and slow down the speed of traffic. The Tesla Semi, in comparison, can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 20 seconds.

Tesla currently uses its semitrucks to carry materials between its California and Nevada facilities. Therefore, it’s likely the Semi recorded in the video was carrying freight.

Besides the apparent benefits of traversing across graded surfaces, Tesla’s Semi may also revolutionize the trucking and hauling industry in terms of emissions. Combination trucks account for nearly 18% of motor vehicle emissions nationwide. Tesla’s Semi has a smaller footprint and opens up the opportunity to be powered by alternative renewable sources like solar and wind.

The Semi uses 2 kilowatt hours of energy per mile and can travel up to 500 miles before needing a charge. Like its smaller EV counterparts, the Semi needs to charge for only 30 minutes to recover 70% of its range capacity.

Trucking companies will see drastic financial returns from purchasing electric Semis rather than diesel vehicles. The company estimates buyers will save more than $200,000 on fuel in the first three years of ownership. The remote diagnostic system also decreases the maintenance and repairs needed on the vehicle, suggesting that the long-term cost of owning one may be more optimal than an internal combustion engine.

The first Tesla Semis were sold to PepsiCo in 2022, and Tesla remains one of the predominant users of the vehicles for its own trucking purposes. The company expects more of its Semis to be on the road in the coming years.

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a ‘glorified tape recorder’ and people’s fears about it are overblown

Sawdah Bhaimiya
Mon, August 14, 2023 at 5:33 AM MDT·2 min read

Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, says AI can't distinguish true from false.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

A theoretical physicist shut down the fears around AI saying it's just a "glorified tape recorder."


Michio Kaku said chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT can't even distinguish true from false.


An AI godfather also said that fears about AI threatening humanity are "preposterously ridiculous."

A theoretical physicist shut down the hype around the dangers of AI saying chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT are just "glorified tape recorders."

Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center, was interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria about his thoughts on AI.

"It takes snippets of what's on the web created by a human, splices them together, and passes it off as if it created these things," he said. "And people are saying: 'Oh my God, it's a human, it's humanlike.'"

Kaku explained that chatbots cannot distinguish true from false: "That has to be put in by a human."

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard are able to hold conversations and do powerful mathematical calculations, among other skills.

This has triggered concerns about the capabilities and risks associated with AI. Chatbots are usually based on large language models that are fed large amounts of information. They are also trained by humans to help improve their responses.

In March, billionaire Elon Musk and multiple AI experts signed an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of AI more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4. It cited the potential risk of AI causing the loss of control of civilization.

Yann LeCun, dubbed an AI "godfather" and Meta's chief AI scientist, shared similar sentiments with Kaku saying that fears about AI posing a threat to humanity are "preposterously ridiculous."

"Will AI take over the world? No, this is a projection of human nature on machines," LeCun said at a press event in Paris in June, per BBC News.

INDONESIA
Burning mangrove trees for a living: 'I'd quit tomorrow if I could'

Raja Lumbanrau and Lorna Hankin - BBC World Service
Mon, August 14, 2023 

Nurhadi uses the two furnaces he owns in the village of Batu Ampar, Indonesia for charcoal production

Indonesia has more mangrove trees than any other country but there's growing concern about the "dangerous" rate they are being cut down, turned into charcoal and exported to places such as Europe, China and Japan. People involved in the work know the trees are important for the environment and would like to quit but they see no other way to survive.

Inside a wooden hut, near his house on the island of Borneo, Nurhadi keeps two furnaces burning all year round. The 68-year-old employs at least a dozen people.

Four men cut up wood collected from mangrove trees, while another throws it into a furnace made from earth and stones. Once burned, the wood is cooled and packaged, ready to be sold.

Mangrove wood is very hard and dense but not very durable, which makes it ideal for charcoal production and particularly good for barbeques. But it is a resource-intensive process with little return.

Sixteen tonnes of raw material only produces three tonnes of charcoal. "If I produce less than three tonnes, it's a loss," Nurhadi says. Once costs are taken into account, he estimates he only makes a profit of about $1,250 (£1,000) per year.

"There's no money in cutting down mangroves. Nobody gets rich from charcoal furnaces. We do this to have food on our plate," he explains.

A conversation he once had with a government official sums up his predicament: "He asked me: 'Are you ready to leave the charcoal business?' I answered: 'If you can provide farming land or other opportunities, I'd quit tomorrow.'"

Almost half of the 9,000 people in Nurhadi's village, Batu Ampar, rely on mangrove charcoal for a living, a tradition dating back to the 1940s. Some families like Nurhadi's have been doing this for generations - his father and grandfather owned the same furnaces, so he says this is the only work he knows.

Indonesia is home to 20% of the world's mangroves, and Nurhadi's area, the Kuba Raya Regency has the biggest mangrove forest in the western part of Indonesian Borneo.

But the number of furnaces is increasing - in 2000 there were 90 but today there are at least 490 - and that is speeding up deforestation.


BBC graphic showing deforestation in the region from 2006 to 2020

Arsyad Al Amin, who is involved in a local research project, predicts that the Batu Ampar mangrove forest will only last for another 74 years if things carry on as they are. "It will all be gone in 2096," the researcher from the Bogor Agricultural Institute says.

Thick, dense forest areas of mangrove canopy have decreased so much that bare patches can now be seen from planes overhead.

"If there is no effort to accelerate rehabilitation, this is dangerous. We desperately need intervention," he warns.
Mangrove forests:

Tackle climate change, by reducing carbon in the atmosphere - some do this up to 10 times better than forests on land


Protect people from coastal erosion, storm surges and tsunamis


Provide nurseries for tropical fish


Shield coral reefs from storms and heat waves


Boost economies of many developing countries

Source: The Ocean Agency

Deep in the forest, an hour north of Batu Ampar village by boat, dozens of mangrove trees have been cut down. The people living along the river breathe in air mingled with the smoke coming from rows of furnaces.

There are areas in this forest where it is legal to take wood, but as the number of furnaces grows, it gets harder to source raw materials and loggers venture further into the protected areas.

Among the sound of monkey chatter and birdsong is the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw revving up.

We speak to some men who are cutting down an average-sized mangrove tree. "We would not cut down the big trees," says one lumberjack who refuses to reveal his name because he is operating in a protected forest. He's wearing minimal safety gear. "A logger died from being crushed by wood when cutting," he says. "This is a high risk job, but my children need to eat."

Local officials claim action against illegal logging is hard to enforce

The local environment and forestry agency claims it's been hard to enforce the regulations on illegal logging.

"There are too many home furnaces and a large number of locals involved in this activity," spokesman Adi Yani says.

He also thinks that if they impose the rules strictly "it has the potential to cause social unrest".

"Repressive law enforcement" was carried out a few years ago against loggers and furnace owners in Batu Ampar village, says an official with the local government, Herbimo Utoyo. But, he adds, "it never reached court because it is viewed as a tradition, a culture".

He also says the government has offered to train people how to farm honey from the forest and produce palm sugar to try to move them away from the charcoal industry, but he admits: "It hasn't been successful yet. It's hard to break something that has been done from generation to generation."

Illegal logging has turned many of Indonesia's forested areas sparse

But one man who quit the charcoal business says the government needs to do more. "We feel like we were left alone without the government's support. If they do have programmes, maybe they only came to the head of the village. No-one came to us," 39-year-old Suheri says.

Ten years ago, he used to run two furnaces but decided to stop after a peatland fire smothered his village in smoke. "I thought that if the fire happened in our mangrove forest, we'd be devastated," he explains.

Before the pandemic, he tried farming mud crab in mangrove aquaculture, but the venture failed. "I suffered a huge loss, and I am in debt because of it," he says. Now he collects honey from the forest's bees instead.

Suheri uses his boat to navigate the waterways and can spend hours looking for beehives that are ready to be harvested.

When he spots one, he puts on a homemade hat with a veil, climbs up the tree and uses smoke from burned nipah leaves to distract the bees. "There are many risks with collecting honey - mud, wild animals, snakes and crocodiles. The least of the risks is getting stung by the bees," he says with a little laugh.

Suheri says he is determined not to return to charcoal production

If he is lucky, Suheri can collect up to five bottles of honey in a day, with one bottle of raw, wild forest honey selling for $10 (£8). It's a very good price but he says he can't count on just honey for a living because "the harvesting season is uncertain".

When he's not in the forest looking for honey, Suheri breeds croaker fish but the eggs are expensive and there is a high chance they will die.

Even thought it's not easy, he says he is determined to find something other than the furnaces to make money, in the hope it inspires others in his village to stop cutting down mangrove trees to make charcoal.

"I have to do better... If I want people to change, I have to succeed!" he exclaims.