JORDANIAN HEALTH  MINISTER STEPS DOWN OVER DEATHS FROM OXYGEN SHORTAGE

SALT, Jordan — Jordan’s health minister stepped down Saturday after at least seven patients in a hospital COVID-19 ward died due to a shortage of oxygen supplies, state media reported  

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Hours later, King Abdullah II arrived at the Salt government hospital to help calm angry families who had gathered outside.

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh ordered an investigation into the deaths early Saturday morning at the hospital in the town of Salt, 20 kilometres (13 miles) north of the capital Amman.

King Abdullah has ordered the hospital’s director also suspended, according to Al-Mamlaka TV, which added that all of the dead were coronavirus patients.

The Al-Rai newspaper, a government mouthpiece, confirmed that Health Minister Nathir Obeidat had resigned.

Jordan, home to 10 million people, is grappling with surging coronavirus infections and deaths and struggling to secure vaccines.

About 150 relatives of the patients gathered outside the hospital, which was surrounded by a large deployment of police and security officers, who prevented the families from entering.

One of those waiting anxiously outside was Fares Kharabsha, whose parents are COVID-19 patients. He was inside when the oxygen ran out in the ward and said medical and civil defence workers and people from outside the hospital rushed in with portable oxygen devices to try to prevent more deaths. “They resuscitated a large number of people, including my father and mother,” he said. “I do not know how many, but I saw people who died.”

The oxygen outage lasted for over 40 minutes, according to the reports.

Another relative, Habis Kharabsha, complained of a lack of sufficient services at the hospital. “At the isolation department, there was only one doctor and two nurses for 50 or 60 patients; this is mad,” he said.

The Middle Eastern kingdom has reported over 465,000 cases and more than 5,200 deaths during the pandemic. Last month, it tightened restrictions, restoring a weekend lockdown and nighttime curfews, to curb the spread of the virus.

Jordan launched its vaccination drive in mid-January with plans to inoculate over 4 million residents in 2021. On Friday, the country received 144,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine delivered through the global COVAX initiative.

The COVAX alliance aims to share COVID-19 vaccines with more than 90 lower- and middle-income nations. However, the program is facing delays, underfunding and limited supplies.

The EU has allocated 8 million euros to support Jordan’s purchase of vaccines. A second shipment from COVAX is expected in April.

Police detain participants in Russian opposition forum

THANKS TO PUTIN'S PROVACATUER;NAVALNY

3/14/2021
MOSCOW — Police in Moscow detained about 200 people participating in a forum of independent members of municipal councils on Saturday, an action that came amid a multi-pronged crackdown on dissent by Russian authorities.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Police showed up at the gathering shortly after it opened at a Moscow hotel, saying all those present would be detained for taking part in an event organized by an “undesirable” organization. A police officer leading the raid said the detained individuals would be taken to police precincts and charged with administrative violations.

Moscow police said in a statement that they moved to stop the meeting because it violated coronavirus restrictions since many participants failed to wear masks. They said about 200 participants were detained, some of them allegedly members of an unspecified “undesirable” organization.

OVD-Info, an independent group monitoring arrests and political repression, posted a list of more than 180 people who were detained. They included Ilya Yashin, an opposition politician who leads one of Moscow's municipal districts; former Yekaterinburg mayor Yevgeny Roizman; and Moscow municipal council member Yulia Galyamina.

Police started releasing the detainees after handing them court summons for participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization, which is an offence punishable by a fine. It was unclear how many remained in police custody on Saturday night.

“Their goal was to scare people away from engaging in politics,” Andrei Pivovarov, a politician who helped organize the forum, said in a video recorded while he was in a police van.

Pivovarov has played a leading role in Open Russia, a group funded by self-exiled Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky moved to London after spending 10 years in prison in Russia on charges widely seen as political revenge for challenging President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

A 2015 law introduced criminal punishment for membership in “undesirable” organizations. The government has used the law to ban about 30 groups, including Open Russia.

An earlier law obliged non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding and engage in activities loosely described as political to register as “foreign agents.”

The laws have been widely criticized as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to stifle dissent, but Russian authorities have described them as a fit response to alleged Western efforts to undermine the country.

The police crackdown on Saturday's forum follows the arrest and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most determined political foe was arrested on Jan. 17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.

Last month, Navalny was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany — charges he dismissed as a Kremlin vendetta. His arrest and imprisonment triggered a wave of protests across Russia, to which the authorities responded with a massive crackdown.

The government has intensified its crackdown on the opposition ahead of parliamentary elections set for September as the popularity of the main Kremlin-backed party, United Russia, has dwindled.

Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press

Climate crisis: An invisible, odorless gas is pitting Texas against the Biden administration

By Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent

3/126/2021


Deep in the heart of Texas, above an oil patch about the size of Kansas, a little team in a small plane is trying to reveal a big problem.

© Julian Quiñones/CNN Signs of old and new power: an oil pumpjack sits among wind turbines outside of Odessa, Texas.

They are methane hunters. With an infrared camera and a Picarro Cavity Ring-Down Laser Spectroscope, they fly spirals over pumps and compressor stations that stretch to both horizons. With each tight corkscrew, the little airplane sniffs out and measures planet-cooking, climate-changing pollution as the region below braces for an energy revolution amid a cold civil war.

The Picarro spectrometer is so sensitive, it caught the number of carbon dioxide molecules in my breath as we walked around the hangar. In the sky, it counts the density of carbon dioxide molecules on their way to heating up the sea, land and sky for the next 300 to 1,000 years.

More importantly, it also measures methane, which is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the next 20 years. You know it better as natural gas. Heating and cooking are not the only methane culprits. Two-thirds of emissions come from belching cows, factory farms and rotting landfills. But as any Texan will tell you, it's a lot easier to control gas coming out of the ground than gas coming out of cows.

The "greenhouse effect" was discovered before women could vote (by a suffragist, in fact) but in 2021, the indoor gardening metaphor doesn't match the emergency. Instead, imagine a baby in a hot car. Carbon dioxide is like the steel and glass holding in the sun's rays as they bounce through the windshield. Methane provides the equivalent of cranking up the heater inside the car; it works much faster but is easier to control in the long term. Planet Earth, of course, is the baby.

Without the tools of a methane hunter, you can't see or smell natural gas but virtually all of Earth's peer-reviewed scientists agree that for life on Earth to survive with any semblance of today, it must go the way of the dodo along with coal and oil. Climatologists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tell us that deadly changes will only get worse until people stop using fuels that burn and leak.

But in Texas, methane is so plentiful and cheap, it escaped largely unseen and unmeasured until both the Environmental Defense Fund and oil producers started using tools like the Picarro spectrometer. Scientific Aviation, based in Boulder, Colorado, owns this one and will sniff the sky for all kinds of customers, but only the EDF makes the data public.

"What we found here in the Permian Basin is that operators are wasting enough gas to heat about 2 million homes a year," says Kelsey Robinson, project manager for the EDF's PermianMAP Project.

Sometimes the methane leaks from faulty equipment or the tens of thousands of orphaned wells. Sometimes, when there is no one to buy it, they just burn it in a practice called flaring. Former President Donald Trump tried to remove all regulations on methane, a move so extreme that even ExxonMobil opposed it. But until President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency can navigate the legal booby traps left by the Trump administration's giveaways to methane leakers, it is up to oil and gas companies to fix a problem no one can see or smell.

"We found that the Permian Basin is emitting more than double any other oil and gas region in the United States," Robinson said.


Banning all bans

Named after Earth's biggest mass extinction event, the Permian Basin is so flat you'd swear you can see the curvature of Earth standing in the bed of a pickup. When oily, gassy, flammable proof of the Great Dying — the nickname given to the mass-extinction event that marked the end of the Permian geologic period — was found under the red dirt, Midland and Odessa grew into the vena cava of the state's oil industry, the setting for "Friday Night Lights" and the perfect place for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to fire the first shot in a methane civil war of 2021.

"I'm in Midland to make clear that Texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack launched from Washington, DC," Abbott said, days after Biden signed his first round of executive orders aimed at a climate in crisis.

Then the Republican governor signed an executive order of his own, commanding every state agency to bring him every reason to sue and stop the Biden administration's clean energy efforts. In calling out cities like San Francisco, where a movement to ban natural gas heaters and appliances from new construction is growing, Abbott vowed to ban all bans.

"In Texas, we will not let cities use political correctness to dictate what energy source you use," he said. "So I am supporting legislation that prohibits cities and counties from banning natural gas appliances."

But as a sign of the changing times, Abbott's fierce opposition to the Paris Accord puts him at odds with the statements and soundbites of Big Oil's biggest lobbyist.

"We think the threat of climate change is very real," Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), told CNN. "We support both industry actions and actions by the federal government in the United States and around the globe to address this very important issue that we know is existential in nature."

As more European energy companies embrace a green transition, France's Total became the first oil giant to tear up its API membership, citing differences over a carbon tax, electric car subsidies and ... methane. In October, the French government stepped in to block a $7 billion deal, deciding that liquified natural gas from Texas is too dirty for their standards.

But Sommers says the API is willing to work with the Biden administration on regulating new and existing sources of methane.


A call for more pipelines

As for Biden being an existential threat to oil and gas, Sommers seems less worried and argues that there is no need to transition them to geothermal, solar or wind because the world will demand fuels that burn and leak for generations.

"This industry provides about 60% of the world's energy today," he said. "And the trend there is going to be a transition in energy. But I'm also confident that this industry is going to be around for a long time."

To fix the methane problem, he argues that if America only had more pipelines, industry wouldn't have to needlessly burn so much natural gas.

"I think the biggest challenge that we have from an emissions perspective, honestly, is getting our infrastructure right," Sommers said. "We need to make sure that we have pipelines in place to get these products to market as quickly as possible. And what that means is we need a regulatory structure that allows these pipelines to be built."

Kelsey Robinson of the EDF has a simpler idea. "Reducing methane emissions is actually a job creator in and of itself because we need people to go out to survey these sites and then take steps to fix those leaks."

"It doesn't make sense to burn it," said Texas state geologist Scott Tinker as we stroll the elaborate rock garden map of Texas outside his office. "They don't have the gathering systems to collect it. So rather than leaking the methane, they burn it and leak CO2. CO2 is better as a product than methane if you're going to put something into the atmosphere. But it'd be much better to gather it."

After the 2008 recession, Tinker says the fracking boom caught West Texas by surprise. Years of oil field decline saw a renaissance when the new method of injecting water into shale doubled oil production and created gushers of invisible methane with no way to catch it.

"The conversation is shifting," Tinker says, after public and stockholder pressure. "It's happening, but it's slow, takes a lot of money, takes approval for the pipelines. It takes an industry and a regulatory system that caused that to happen in the first place."

Sommers insists that his API members are taking the problem seriously, with 70% of onshore producers joining the Environmental Partnership, which is all about reducing methane emissions within the oil and gas industry, he said.

"It brings together producers, large and small, to share technology and to share best practices on how to reduce methane emissions," he said. "And it's working."


Checking in from space

But far beyond the methane problem, the only way to save both life on Earth and the fossil fuel industry is to rabidly develop carbon capture and storage technology on a mind-boggling scale. This would require sophisticated, expensive methane catchers to be built around the smokestacks of every petrochemical works, power plant and steel mill in the world.

Hopes for such a miracle fix took a major setback this week, when the Petra Nova plant outside of Houston shut down indefinitely. Backed by a $190 million grant from the Department of Energy, the four-year plant set out to capture 90% of the carbon dioxide pumping out of a 240-megawatt, coal-fired power plant. It was the only major carbon-capture project in the U.S. after a $7.5 billion project in Mississippi was shuttered before ever going online.

Exxon Mobil says they are working on 20 new carbon capture projects around the world, including one in Texas, as part of a new $3 billion investment in a business they call ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.

But Robinson and her flying methane hunters have heard promises before. Without enforceable regulations for producers big and small, she says profit motive almost always wins.

"ExxonMobil and some of the other big producers have set some pretty lofty goals for how they want to keep their emissions," Robinson said. "But we found that here in the Permian Basin, the methane leak rate is over 10 times higher than what a lot of companies have set out to do."

In the meantime, she says she'll keep her little team flying, sniffing and measuring methane while the airplane will soon have some high-altitude backup. After a $100 million grant from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Earth Fund, the EDF will soon launch their own methane-hunting satellite.





a group of people standing around a plane: 

This plane operated by Scientific Aviation is equipped with technology to measure climate-changing gases like methane.N
4 SLIDES © Julian Quiñon

This plane operated by Scientific Aviation is equipped with technology to measure climate-changing gases like methane.

Attorneys general from 21 states 

sue to to overturn President Biden’s cancellation of the  Keystone XL 

oil pipeline from Canada.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Attorneys general from 21 states on Wednesday sued to to overturn President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.

Led by Ken Paxton of Texas and Austin Knudsen of Montana, the states said Biden had overstepped his authority when he revoked the permit for the Keystone pipeline on his first day in office.

Because the line would run through multiple U.S. states, Congress should have the final say over whether it's built, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Texas.

Construction on the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometre) pipeline began last year when former President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Obama administration.

It would move up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Biden cancelled its permit over longstanding concerns that burning oil sands crude would make climate change worse.

Some moderate Democratic lawmakers also have urged Biden to reverse his decision, including Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana.

The Associated Press

Funding gained for commercial pilot to test radio frequency oilsands tech: Acceleware

CALGARY — A company investigating the use of radio frequency energy as a cleaner and cheaper way to produce bitumen from the oilsands says it has the financial means to proceed with a commercial pilot project.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A recent commitment of $5 million from Alberta Innovates, a provincial research agency, brings its direct funding to $19 million and fully funds its proposed pilot, Calgary-based Acceleware Ltd. said Wednesday.

Its other funders include Suncor Energy Inc. and an unnamed second major oilsands producer with up to $2 million each, $5.25 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and $5 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta.

"The COVID year was pretty good for us because we were able to secure a site for that commercial pilot, we were able to get it approved by the Alberta Energy Regulator and now with this last little bit of funding, we've got all the financial resources we need to pull it off," said CEO Geoff Clark in an interview.

"Now it's just executing, drilling some wells, putting some equipment on site and seeing if it works."

The company says a test site at Marwayne in east central Alberta has been cleared, equipment and materials have been ordered and service company partners selected.

When its backing was announced in December, Suncor senior vice-president Sandy Martin said the company is innovating to meet evolving energy needs and environmental challenges.

“There isn’t an easy or quick solution to transform to a low-carbon energy future. It will take original thinking, collaboration and commitment,"' he said at the time.

Acceleware's RF XL process uses electromagnetic energy to heat an underground oil-bearing reservoir to mobilize the heavy oil and allow it to flow into a parallel well to be pumped to surface, thus eliminating the need for injecting steam as is currently extensively done in the oilsands.

The company says it expects construction at the site to be completed by June, followed by about six months of reservoir heating.

"We'd like to produce some oil … but really what we want to do is be monitoring that temperature downhole and see if it matches our simulations," Clark said.

The company says the technology eliminates the need for fresh water, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, uses no added solvents and requires less land use.

Clark said the technology's potential customers include existing oilsands producers planning bolt-on expansions and smaller newcomers looking for a cheaper, scalable way to begin production. It's hoped the process will also attract attention from other domestic and international heavy oil producers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSXV:AXE)

Dan Healing, The Canadian Press

AGRICULTURE REMAINS ALBERTA'S #1 INDUSTRY
Plant-based protein industry set to grow in Alberta with new Calgary facility
Pamela Fieber CBC

3/17/2021

© Elizabeth Chorney-Booth/CBC, Nancy Russell/CBC Agrifood analyst says more people are turning to plant-based proteins as a supplement to meat in their diets.

The plant-based meat alternative market is expected to be worth $140 billion by 2029 — and some producers say Calgary is the ideal place to set up shop.

"Everyone thinks beef when they think of Alberta, or oil and gas, but they don't necessarily think yellow peas," said Chris Shields, general manager at Lovingly Made Ingredients.

The plant based meat facility has been producing plant based ingredients at its flagship facility in the northeast since earlier this month.

The company is a subsidiary of Meatless Farm, out of the U.K.

The facility processes textured plant protein ingredients for things like burgers and sausages.

Agrifood experts say while Alberta's reputation for beef is alive and well, that doesn't mean the province shouldn't expand into plant-based production.

"Whenever we can add more processing in the province it's a positive, right? It's local … which is a big thing in consumers' minds nowadays," said Robert Semeniuk, the chair of Alberta Pulse Growers.

"It's an interesting product that they're going to be putting forward. I think it's going to be nothing but positive for pulse production in Alberta, [and] just plant-based protein production in general."

Semeniuk says the fewer export hurdles to deal with, the better, and the more product, the better.

"We don't have tariffs to deal with … you don't have shipping issues. You know, coastal, you don't have ports to deal with," said Semeniuk.

"You can have it right here."

Semeniuk said the pulse industry is looking to innovate.

"Our vision is pulses on every farm, on every plate. We're really trying to lead through innovation and collaboration to get more value for Alberta pulse farmers," he said.

"So this really works, this Lovingly Made plant ... whenever there's an end use for our product, it's a big help."

Sylvain Charlebois, an agrifood analyst with Dalhousie University, says it's a sign of the times.

"More and more people are looking for different options for a variety of reasons. And I would say the top three are health, the environment and animal welfare," he said.

Charlebois says people are not necessarily moving away from animal proteins but they are looking for different options at the meat counter.

"During the last four months, the trifecta of meats, chicken, pork and beef, it remains popular, but we're also seeing an increase in sales for specialty meats and, of course, plant based products as well."

Charlebois says the industry has seen a 30 per cent increase in demand for plant-based products over last year.

"I think it's a clear message about a shift in paradigm," he said.

"I think it's more about selling value to consumers. People may decide to eat steak one day, while on Tuesday, Wednesday they may opt for something else [like] chickpeas … which is great. And so I think the relationship that consumers will have with livestock is going to change for the better."

Charlebois said the change will be good for both the livestock industry and the agriculture industry.

"You do have a lot of farmers out there farming, producing great vegetable proteins that we do export across across the world," he said.

#ENDFURFARMING

Quarantined B.C. farms where over 1,000 mink died resume breeding stock

VICTORIA — Two mink farms that are still quarantined after COVID-19 outbreaks have begun annual breeding programs along with seven other farms in British Columbia.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Agriculture Ministry said the province's chief veterinarian Dr. Rayna Gunvaldsen has approved the resumption of breeding while the farms remain under quarantine to reduce the risk of the virus spreading.

Staff are in contact with all licensed mink farms to ensure precautions are in place to minimize any transmission of COVID-19 from humans to animals or from animals to humans, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

About 200 mink died late last year at the first farm to test positive, and Gunvaldsen has said the animals were likely infected after eight employees became ill.

A breeder at a second property in the Fraser Valley decided to euthanize about 1,000 mink in January after three of the animals died at the farm.

The B.C. chapter of the SPCA has called for a moratorium on mink farming, saying the animals are kept in tightly packed cages where infection spreads quickly and they shouldn't be killed for clothing.

A non-profit society called The Fur-Bearers has also said it's time to end the practice of using fur for apparel, especially because the industry is not a big economic driver for the country.

Alan Herscovici of the Canada Breeders Association said years of research has gone into the optimal raising of mink, and animal rights group that have opposed fur farming for years are now using COVID-19 to spread fear against a mostly family-run "artisanal" industry.

“That’s really irresponsible and not true and not fair,” he said from Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que.

“This is not a time to be attacking farmers. It’s a time to be supportive. Frankly, it’s offensive. And it’s all happening because of what happened in Denmark,” he said of the world's largest supplier of mink fur, where at least 15 million mink were culled last year to reduce the spread of COVID-19 from farm to farm.

Canada is known for producing some of the highest-quality mink fur in the world, as is the United States, Herscovici said.

“That’s only done with excellent care for the animals.”

Sixty mink farms across the country established strict precautions last year to restrict visitors, require employees to wear personal protective equipment and tell them not to come to work if they are feeling sick.

“They’ve apparently been very successful because we’ve only had these two farms in all of Canada where COVID was brought to the animals and the animals were infected,” Herscovici said.

Four mink farms also experienced outbreaks in separate U.S. states, and all of them followed similar procedures, he added.

The National Farm Animal Care Council develops codes of practice, the same for other livestock, he said, and provincial governments license and inspect the farms.

Most of Canada’s mink farms are in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

— By Camille Bains in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

The Canadian Press

How Industrial Fishing Creates More CO2 Emissions Than Air Travel
Aryn Baker

TIME

3/17/2021

It’s been well established by now that the agricultural systems producing our food contribute at least one fifth of global anthropogenic carbon emissions—and up to a third if waste and transportation are factored in. A troubling new report points to a previously overlooked source: an industrial fishing process practiced by dozens of countries around the world, including the United States, China, and the E.U.

© Getty Images

The study, published today in the scientific journal Nature, is the first to calculate the carbon cost of bottom trawling, in which fishing fleets drag immense weighted nets along the ocean floor, scraping up fish, shellfish and crustaceans along with significant portions of their habitats.

According to calculations conducted by the report’s 26 authors, bottom trawling is responsible for one gigaton of carbon emissions a year—a higher annual total than (pre-pandemic) aviation emissions. Not only does the practice contribute to climate change, it is extremely damaging to ocean biodiversity—the “equivalent of ploughing an old-growth forest into the ground, over and over and over again until there is nothing left” according to lead author Enric Sala, a marine biologist who is also National Geographic’s Explorer in Residence.

Bottom trawling is also one of the least cost effective methods of fishing. Most locations have been trawled so many times, there is little left worth catching, says Sala. “Without government subsidies, no one would be making a penny.” But Sala didn’t set out to condemn bottom trawlers when he designed the research project back in 2018. He was looking for the incentives that just might make the fishing industry, and governments, give up on the practice on their own. The carbon findings may just do the trick.

Read more: Why This Year Is Our Last, Best Chance for Saving the Oceans

The study, which breaks the entire ocean down into 50-km-square units, measures how much each so-called “pixel” contributes to global marine biodiversity, fish stocks and climate protection, based on a complex analysis of location, water temperature, salinity and species distribution, among other factors. It also tracks how much CO2 each pixel is capable of absorbing as a carbon sink. (Overall, the ocean absorbs about a quarter of global CO2 emissions a year, though the amount fluctuates between regions).

By mapping those pixel-level baselines the study can then calculate the impact of increasing or decreasing fishing and other human activities. The overall goal was to develop a map of ocean locations that, if protected, would produce the maximum benefits for humans in terms of increased fish stocks, biodiversity and carbon absorption while minimizing a loss of income for the fishing industry. “The reason why we only have seven percent of the ocean under protection is because of the conflict with the fishing industry,” says Sala.

Refuting a long-held view that ocean protection harms fisheries, the study found that well placed marine protected areas (MPAs) that ban fishing would actually boost the production of marine life by functioning as fish nurseries and biodiversity generators capable of seeding stocks elsewhere. According to the study results, protecting the right places could increase the global seafood catch by over 8 million metric tons a year, despite the challenges of overfishing and climate change.

Bottom trawling, however, would have to stop, says Sala. While mangroves, kelp forests and sea grass meadows are good at capturing carbon, the bottom of the ocean, piled deep with marine animal debris, is a far greater carbon sink. But when the trawlers’ weighted nets scrape the sea floor that carbon is released back into the water. Excess carbon in water turns it acidic, which is damaging to sea life.

Worse still, the practice also impacts the ocean’s ability to absorb atmospheric carbon: if the water is already saturated from sources down below, it will be unable to absorb human-caused emissions from above, hamstringing one of our best assets in the fight against climate change. By combining publicly-available data on global bottom trawler activity with pixel-level assessments of carbon stored in the top layers of ocean sediments, Sala and his team were able to calculate the amount of emissions produced by the technique, down to the level of national fleets. The European Union, for example, releases 274,718,086 metric tons of marine sediment carbon into the ocean a year, while Chinese fleets release 769,294,185 metric tons, and the United States releases 19,373,438.

If, as a 2018 study on the economics of fishing the high seas points out, bottom trawling is the least profitable method of harvesting the ocean’s bounty while producing the most carbon, it makes little sense for industry to continue, says Sala. Now, armed with the science along with the math, countries could conceivably put a halt to bottom trawling while selling the offsets to pay for marine protection.

Technological innovations such as green power generation and battery storage are vital for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. But we still need to reduce atmospheric carbon, and so far technology has not been able to do that affordably and at scale. The oceans have been absorbing carbon for millennia, says Sala. The best way to reduce global emissions is to allow them to keep doing their jobs. “Most people still see the ocean as a victim of climate change. What people don’t realize is that nature is half of the solution to the climate crisis.”

Canadians not near death gain access to assisted dying as Senate passes Bill C-7


OTTAWA — Intolerably suffering Canadians who are not near the natural end of their lives now have the right to seek medical assistance in dying.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

And that will eventually include people suffering solely from grievous and irremediable mental illnesses.

The expansion of Canada's assisted dying regime went into effect Wednesday night after the Senate accepted a revised version of Bill C-7.

The bill received royal assent a few hours later — just over a week ahead of a final March 26 deadline imposed by the court, which had granted four extensions to bring the law into compliance with a 2019 Quebec Superior Court ruling.

With royal assent granted, intolerably suffering Canadians who aren't near death immediately gained the right to seek medical assistance in dying.

People suffering solely from mental illnesses will have to wait two years to gain the same right.

The government had originally intended to impose a blanket ban on assisted dying for people suffering solely from mental illnesses. But, under pressure from senators who believed that exclusion was unconstitutional, it subsequently put a two-year time limit on it.

In the meantime, the government committed to setting up an expert panel to advise on the safeguards and protocols that should apply to people with mental illnesses.

The government rejected a Senate amendment to allow people who fear losing mental competence to make advance requests for an assisted death.

But it committed to launching within 30 days a joint parliamentary committee to review that issue and other unresolved matters, including whether mature minors should have access to the procedure.

"For Canadians who are suffering intolerably, this process has taken too long, but their wait is now over," Justice Minister David Lametti tweeted shortly after the bill received royal assent.

"This is an important milestone but there is more work to do."

The bill was triggered by two Quebecers with severe disabilities who went to court to successfully fight for their right to choose an assisted death even though their natural deaths were not "reasonably foreseeable."

But disability rights groups have strenuously opposed the bill, arguing it devalues the lives of people with disabilities, particularly those who are Black, racialized, Indigenous or otherwise already marginalized and face discrimination in the health system. They fear such vulnerable people will be pressured — either directly or indirectly through societal attitudes and lack of support services — to end their lives prematurely.

Many mental health advocates have also weighed in against the eventual inclusion of people suffering solely from mental illnesses. They argue that it's harder to predict the outcomes of mental illnesses, many of which can be treated, and point out that a wish to die is often a symptom of these illnesses.

But Sen. Stan Kutcher, a psychiatrist and member of the Independent Senators Group who first proposed a time limit on the mental illness exclusion, argued that all competent Canadians suffering from irremediable and grievous illnesses, physical or mental, deserve the right to make their own choice.

"It is not for us to decide if a person's suffering is intolerable to them," he told the Senate shortly before the vote.

Dying with Dignity Canada welcomed the Senate's sign-off on the bill, calling it "a momentous day for end-of-life rights in Canada."

All 20 Conservative senators voted against the bill, several because they believed it didn't go far enough but most were fundamentally opposed to expanding the assisted dying regime, particularly to those with mental illnesses.

In an emotional speech just before the vote, Conservative Senate leader Don Plett pleaded with his colleagues to reject the bill.

"If there was ever a time to exercise sober second thought, it is now," he told the Senate.

"It is not often that we can truly say that with this vote we have the opportunity to save lives, to prevent the unnecessary premature death of the vulnerable, to offer hope to those who have lost it. But today we do."

For people who are near the natural end of life, the bill relaxes some of the rules for getting an assisted death.

It drops the requirement that a person must be able to give final consent immediately before the procedure is performed. That's intended to ensure that someone who has been approved for the procedure won't be denied if they lose mental capacity before it can be carried out.

It also drops the requirement that a person must wait 10 days after being approved for an assisted death before receiving the procedure. And it reduces the number of witnesses required to one from two.

People not near death will face higher hurdles.

Among other things, they'll face a minimum 90-day period for assessments of their requests for an assisted death. They'll have to be made aware of all alternatives, including counselling and they'll have to be able to give final consent immediately before receiving the procedure.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

Mounties enforced racist policies, RCMP commissioner says

OTTAWA — The Mounties have enforced racist and discriminatory legislation and policies, with some incidents leaving generational scars, and they should do better in the future, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said Wednesday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

"As an institution of the government we acknowledge that the RCMP is obviously part of social structures and systems that have perpetuated racism in Canada," Lucki told a virtual forum on First Nations policing hosted by the Assembly of First Nations.

"I am completely committed to reconciliation, both as an individual and as the commissioner of the RCMP."

The national police force is at the beginning of a very long journey to regain the confidence of First Nations, she said, noting that developing a respectful relationship is going to take time.

"Building trust is a shared journey but it's also bigger than words," she said. "We have to show actions. Then we have to work hard together to build and maintain relationships based on trust."

Last October, AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he had "lost confidence" in Lucki after months of unrest and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to replace her. This came as the RCMP faced heavy criticism for its response to violence toward a disputed Mi'kmaq moderate livelihood lobster fishery in Nova Scotia.

Lucki had already faced calls for her resignation earlier last year, when she said in an interview that she believed there is "unconscious bias'' in the RCMP but she was "struggling with the definition of systemic racism.'' She later reversed herself in a written statement that said systemic racism does exist, though she had trouble citing examples.

Those remarks came at a time when there was an outcry over violence against Indigenous people in encounters with police, alongside a renewed focus on racism following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday, Bellegarde said there is a need to work with the RCMP to ensure policing is beneficial for Indigenous people.

He said the RCMP should adopt a zero-tolerance policy for excessive use of force by members, as well as put in place better recruitment processes and proper training on de-escalating confrontations.

"It means a policy change," Bellegarde said.

Bellegarde also called on the federal government to strengthen civilian oversight for the RCMP and provide the necessary human and financial resources to deal with complaints about the Mounties. He also said there should be "incentives to keep experienced people in the communities rather than the inexperienced young rookies coming in."

Bellegarde noted the marching orders contained in the mandate letter that Public Safety Minister Bill Blair received from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on tackling systemic inequities involving the RCMP and the communities it serves. These also include unconscious-bias training, body-worn cameras and a move to community-led policing.

"RCMP need to work with our people in order to bring that about," Bellegarde said.

Lucki said the Mounties are focused on thoughtful action based on what they have been hearing in conversations with advisory groups, Indigenous communities and Indigenous employees.

"As part of our plan, the RCMP in each province and territory are using a trauma-informed approach to co-develop reconciliation strategies," she said, adding there are also courses on cultural awareness and humility, along with anti-racism training.

She said learning is really just one step on the path of reconciliation.

"We have a new Indigenous lived experience advisory group, which is now providing us with advice on how to advance reconciliation and address systemic racism issues," she said.

"We're partnering with Indigenous women's groups, initiating an equity, diversity and inclusion strategy. And we are now in the midst of formalizing a brand new office for RCMP indigenous collaboration, co-development and accountability."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

REST IN POWER
Federal, B.C. New Democrat politician Ian Waddell remembered for his passion, desire

3/17/2021

VANCOUVER — Federal and provincial leaders are among those offering condolences at the passing of long-serving British Columbia politician Ian Waddell.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The former lawyer, New Democrat member of Parliament and member of the B.C. legislature died Monday at his Vancouver home at the age of 78.

B.C. Premier John Horgan says in a social media post that Waddell approached everything with a "passion and desire to make progress for people," while federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Waddell was a champion of social justice who always lifted up those around him.

Waddell earned law degrees from the University of Toronto and London School of Economics and worked as a prosecutor, defence lawyer and council to the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry before making a successful jump to federal politics.

Waddell served 14 years as an New Democrat MP, representing the ridings of Vancouver-Kingsway and Port Moody-Coquitlam, before turning to provincial politics from 1996 to 2001.

After losing provincially in 2001 and suffering defeat in an attempted federal comeback in 2004, Waddell worked as a documentary film producer.

Social media posts show him working out, skiing and golfing with friends in the weeks before his death.

He maintained an interest in politics with recent Twitter posts remarking on passage of the United States' COVID relief plan and the 2020 presidential election.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also on the receiving end of Waddell's online advice in a message dated Jan. 25.

"My choice for new Governor General is Judge Murray Sinclair. Are you listening Justin," he tweeted.

In his last message, one day before he died, Waddell posted a photo from the balcony of his Vancouver home, with Stanley Park and the Coast Mountains in the distance.

His final sentence: "Paradise."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Scientists: Climate-whipped winds pose

 Great Lakes hazards

This undated photo provided by Josef Daniel Ackerman of the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, shows researchers aboard the research vessel Keenosay deploying scientific instruments in Lake Erie. Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers. (Aidin Jabbari/University of Guelph via AP)More

JOHN FLESHER
Mon, March 15, 2021

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.

Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie's central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.

Such events have happened more frequently since 1980 and particularly in recent years, scientists with the University of Guelph said in a paper published last week in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

“As temperatures increase overall, we will get higher winds and larger waves," said Josef Ackerman, a professor of physical ecology and aquatic sciences with the Canadian university who led the study.

The findings underscore the need to limit phosphorus overloading that fuels algae-like bacterial blooms in Lake Erie's western basin, he said — an elusive goal despite pledges by Michigan, Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario to achieve a 40% reduction from 2008 levels by 2025.

“We can't control the winds but maybe we could double down on our efforts to reduce inputs into the lakes to keep the ecosystems healthy," Ackerman said. “If so, the winds won't have as bad an impact.”

Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission who didn't take part in the study, said it illustrates the complexity of Great Lakes ecosystems and the need for better models that can forecast how weather can disrupt them.

“Any change that’s happening like this needs to be understood by fishery managers who are making decisions on a daily basis about stocking and harvests,” Gaden said Monday.

The report adds to a growing body of scientific evidence that human activity is affecting the Great Lakes in unforeseen ways.

Some nearshore areas have too much phosphorus because of runoff from overfertilized croplands and releases from sewage plants. In others, invasive quagga mussels that were brought to the lakes in ship ballast water are trapping the nutrient in shallow waters.

Yet deeper areas of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario and eastern Lake Erie are running short of phosphorus needed to feed algae that form a key link in food chains. Again, the mussels are suspected of playing a role.

A February study by University of Minnesota Duluth scientists found that quagga mussels, which filter phosphorus from the water and then excrete it, have become the biggest factor in determining concentrations of the nutrient in all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior.

Meanwhile, climate change resulting from emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane is believed to be warming the lakes and causing heavier storms, which also affect water quality.

Lake Erie, shallowest of the Great Lakes, is deep enough in its central basin to have two distinct temperature levels. The lower, colder level has little oxygen and lots of phosphorus. Low or depleted oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia, can cause fish die-offs.

Unusually strong winds, which usually happen in August, can be powerful enough to propel that unhealthy water into the western basin even though Erie's prevailing current moves eastward, Ackerman said.

Those extreme events, which formerly happened a couple of times a year, more recently have happened three or four times annually, he said. In the past decade, they've increased more than 40 percent. They can alter lake chemistry within hours.

While adult fish can swim away from those low-oxygen, high-phosphorus zones, younger ones might be trapped and die, Ackerman said. Another victim is the mayfly, an important food for prized fish such as perch and walleye.

He said extreme gusts also might have similar effects in other waters that have experienced hypoxia, such as Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, Lake Michigan's Green Bay and Muskegon Lake, which opens into Lake Michigan.

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Climate Change Is Behind Ghost Forests Along the Coast


Matthew Hart
Wed, March 17, 2021,

Over the past few months, scientists have continued to publish research outlining the destruction climate change may wreak soon. What could happen to Yellowstone’s Old Faithful geyser, for example, is kind of heartbreaking. Now, in an even darker report, scientists say climate change is causing a rise in “ghost forests” along the northeast coast of the US. And yes, they look super creepy.

Earther picked up on the new report, which researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey recently released. The US Department of Agriculture hired on the researchers to surmise “the current state of knowledge” concerning how Northeastern US coastal forests are responding to impacts from climate change.

Scientists say so-called "ghost forests" are on the rise on

the East Coast of the U.S. thanks to climate change.

NC Wetlands

Upon inspection—which consisted of analyzing scientific literature, interviewing forestry and biology experts, and convening relevant scientists—the researchers found that climate change is causing the ocean to eat into the East Coast; flooding coastal forest land from Virginia up to Massachusetts, and threatening other areas.

As the ocean water floods into these forests, it displaces native fresh water, which deciduous trees rely upon for sustenance. The salt water subsequently poisons the living trees, leaving a “ghost forest” of dead and dying timber in its wake. To make the scene even more eery, the barren trees stick around; becoming purgatory versions of their former selves.

Scientists say so-called "ghost forests" are on the rise on the East Coast of the U.S. thanks to climate change.

Wing-Chi Poon

The affected forests “have a ghostly, spectral character,” Richard Lathrop Jr., who directs Rutgers University’s Center for Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis and was a co-author of the new research, wrote in an email to Earther. “This is happening up and down the East and Gulf Coasts, especially in coastal areas where there is low lying, gently sloping land adjacent [to] coastal bays,” Lathrop added.

Along with the encroaching salt water, the forests also face storm surges, which too leave behind an inundation of salt. Which, like the ocean water, not only kills current trees, but leaves the forests inhospitable for future ones.

Scientists say so-called "ghost forests" are on the rise on the East Coast of the U.S. thanks to climate change.

Bill Rand

The researchers say there are possible ways to mitigate the rise of these ghost forests, however. If the US more cautiously plans how coastal land is used, for example, that could cut down on ghost forests. Expanding the forests inland, likewise, could help them to survive the onslaught of saltwater. Which all sounds great, because the fewer parts of the US that look like the backdrop for an episode of True Detective, the better.

The post Climate Change Is Behind Ghost Forests Along the Coast appeared first on Nerdist.

Climate change: Jet fuel from waste 'dramatically lowers' emissions

Matt McGrath - Environment correspondent
BBC
Tue, March 16, 2021

contrail

A new approach to making jet fuel from food waste has the potential to massively reduce carbon emissions from flying, scientists say.

Currently, most of the food scraps that are used for energy around the world are converted into methane gas.

But researchers in the US have found a way of turning this waste into a type of paraffin that works in jet engines.

The authors of the new study say the fuel cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 165% compared to fossil energy.

This figure comes from the reduction in carbon emitted from airplanes plus the emissions that are avoided when food waste is diverted from landfill.

The aviation industry worldwide is facing some difficult decisions about how to combine increased demand for flying with the need to rapidly cut emissions from the sector.

In the US, airlines currently use around 21 billion gallons of jet fuel every year, with demand expected to double by the middle of the century. At the same time, they have committed to cutting CO2 by 50%.

With the development of battery-powered airplanes for long haul flights a distant prospect at this point, much attention has focussed on replacing existing jet fuel with a sustainable alternative.

In fact the UK government has just announced a £15m competition to encourage companies to develop jet fuel from household waste products.
Making paraffin from wet-waste

Current methods of making green jet fuel are based on a similar approach to making biodiesel for cars and heavy goods vehicles.

It normally requires the use of virgin vegetable oils as well as waste fats, oil and grease to make the synthetic fuel.

At present, it is more economical to convert these oils and wastes into diesel as opposed to jet fuel - which requires an extra step in the process, driving up costs.

Now, researchers say that they have developed an alternative method able to turn food waste, animal manure and waste water into a competitive jet hydrocarbon.

Much of this material, termed wet-waste, is at present is turned into methane gas. However, the authors found a way of interrupting this process so it produced volatile fatty acids (VFA) instead of CH4.

The researchers were then able to use a form of catalytic conversion to upgrade the VFA to two different forms of sustainable paraffin.

Food waste is a global problem and a major cause of global warming emissions

When the two forms were combined they were able to blend 70% of the mixture with regular jet fuel, while still meeting the extremely strict quality criteria that Federal authorities impose on aircraft fuels.

"There's exciting jet fuels that rely on burning trash and dry waste but this actually works for those wastes that have high water content, which we normally dispose of in landfill," said Derek Vardon, a senior research engineer at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the lead author on the study.

"Being able to show that you can take these volatile fatty acids, and that there's a really elegant, simple way to turn it into jet fuel - that's where I see the broader applicability of this one, and folks can continue to develop and refine it."

The new fuel has a potentially significant impact on emissions as it not only limits the CO2 that comes from fossil sources used by the airlines, but it also gets rid of the methane that would bubble up from landfill if the waste food was just dumped.

Another major advantage is that this new fuel produces around 34% less soot than current standards. This is important because soot plays a key role in the formation of contrails from airplanes which adds a powerful warming effect to CO2 coming from the engines.

"That's where we see the most potential for this technology is that you're preventing methane emissions, and dramatically lowering the carbon footprint of jet fuel. And you just can't do that with fossil fuels without getting into things like offsets," said Derek Vardon.

The research team say they are planning to scale up the production of the new fuel and aim to have test flights with Southwest Airlines in 2023.

Many environmental groups are sceptical about attempts to develop sustainable aviation fuels, believing that it amounts to green-washing. They argue that people should just fly less.

"Sustainable aviation fuel is not a silver bullet," Derek Vardon says.

"So we do want to definitely emphasise that reduction is the most important and most significant change you can make. But there's also pragmatism and need for aviation solutions now, so that's where we want to strike a balance as we need a basket of measures, to really start getting our carbon footprint down in a variety of sectors, including aviation."

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Follow Matt on Twitter.

Scientists unearth meteorite from the birth of the solar system

   

The meteor, known as Erg Chech 002, was discovered in May 2020by researchers working in the Algerian Sahara desert. Guillaume Souvant AFP/File.

Issued on: 16/03/21
Paris (AFP)

Scientists believe they have identified a meteorite formed in the first million years of our solar system, making it the oldest known meteor of volcanic origin.

The space rock, which began its journey some 4.5 billion years ago, has already proved an "exceptional" witness to the building blocks of the planets.

Known as Erg Chech 002, the meteorite was discovered in May 2020 by meteor hunters in the Algerian Sahara desert. It had rested undisturbed for "at least 100 years", according to Jean-Alix Barrat, a geochemist at France's Brest University.

In a recent study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences journal, Barrat and his colleagues describe its discovery and several rare features.

There are 43 officially documented fragments, but "probably about a hundred" either still in the ground or unaccounted for, said the study. The largest ones are "as big as a fist," Barrat told AFP.

With its greenish exterior and brownish interior, Erg Chech 002 might not appear extraordinary at first glance. But it is, in fact, extremely rare.

Of the roughly 65,000 meteorites so far documented on Earth, only around 4,000 contain what is known as "differentiated matter". This means they came from celestial bodies large enough to have experienced tectonic activity.

Of those 4,000, 95 percent come from just two asteroids. But Erg Chech 002 is among the remaining five percent.

"It's the only one out of 65,000 meteorites that is like it is," said Barrat.

"Such rocks were quite common at the very beginning of the history of the solar system."

There are two possible explanations for Erg Chech 002's rarity.

The type of protoplanet from which it originated provided raw material "for the growth of terrestrial planets" such as Earth, said Barrat.

Others were pulverised in the great cosmic billiard game of the formation of the solar system.

The surface of the Moon, pockmarked with innumerable asteroid impacts, is a relatively recent witness to this second type of protoplanet.

"No asteroid shares the spectral features of EC 002, indicating that almost all of these bodies have disappeared, either because they went on to form the building blocks of larger bodies or planets or were simply destroyed," the study said.

- 'Thrown into space' -

The so-called "parent body" of Erg Chech 002 could have measured around 100 kilometres across.

It was formed in the first million years of the solar system, according to the study's co-authors, March Chaussidon, from the Paris Globe Institute of Physics and Johan Villeneuve, a researcher from France's National Centre for Scientific Research at the University of Lorraine.

Metallic meteorites "correspond to the nuclei of protoplanets," said Barrat.

But Erg Chech 002 is volcanic in origin, meaning that it was part of the crust of a protoplanet, rather than its core.

The experts believe that its unique composition was the result of a string of fortunate events.

On the protoplanet in question, lava must have accumulated on the surface, fuelled by the heat of its aluminium core.

The crust containing the meteorite solidified briefly but -- because it showed evidence of a sudden cooling -- instead of remaining on the parent body, some violent force cast it asunder.

"The rock was thrown into space," said Barrat.

Further investigation into its composition found that Erg Chech 002 was formed around 4.65 billion years ago.

It travelled through the aeons, "in a gravel shell, protected from solar radiation," said Barrat.

Then, around 26 million years ago, the rock was dislodged, continuing its journey until colliding with Earth.

 

France protests: Students take to the streets over health crisis

French university #students protested Tuesday in #Paris to demand to be allowed back to class, and to call attention to mental health issue and financial troubles among students cut off from friends, professors and job opportunities amid the #pandemic. FRANCE 24's Wassim Cornet tells us more.

Rumours of wrestler involvement in Senegal protests stoke anger


Supporters of main opposition candidate, Ousmane Sonko protested after his arrest 

Issued on: 17/03/2021 - 

Dakar (AFP)

Senegal's traditional wrestlers, who are revered by millions of adoring fans, have reacted in anger to rumours that they were behind the violence that recently shook the West African nation.

Usually seen as a haven of stability in a volatile region, Senegal was rocked by a week of deadly clashes between opposition supporters and police in early March.

At least five people were killed in the unrest, sparked by the arrest of the country's opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, a government critic popular with Senegalese youth.



Thousands of young protesters also looted shops, hurled stones at police and torched cars during demonstrations across the country.

In the confusion, rumours swirled that practitioners of Senegal's centuries-old wrestling tradition -- mostly heavy-set, muscled men -- were behind some of the mayhem.

Some on social media suggested that the government had hired wrestlers to quell demonstrations. And the government itself suggested that wrestlers were among the protesters.

Senegal's Justice Minister Malick Sall, for example, said in an interview this month that coronavirus restrictions explained the unrest and pointed to wrestlers as an example.

"The young people, many of them were in the wrestling stables," he said, explaining that young wrestlers had spent their days training and fighting.

"This allowed them not only to let off steam but to earn a living. And that is something they have been deprived of for almost a year," he added.

But the minister touched a nerve, appearing to cast doubt on fighters who are lionised throughout the country, where wrestling is a major spectator sport.

Senegal's wrestling world has rejected suggestions that fighters were drawn into the violent politics of recent weeks.

"Not a single licensed wrestler took part in the rallies," said Khadim Gadiaga, the head of a respected wrestling stable in the capital Dakar.

He also denied that any fighters had worked as state-sponsored thugs, saying that wrestlers had never marched "in the history of this country".

- 'Not a penny' -

Like many other sports, wrestling has suffered since the onset of the pandemic, according to some fighters.

Group training has been banned to curb infections, alongside traditional bouts -- where hulking fighters dressed in loincloths face off in packed stadiums, performing mystic rituals in the sand before going toe-to-toe.

The restrictions have put some 8,000 professional wrestlers out of a job.

Ibrahima Dione, the president of Senegal's national wrestling association, told AFP that "for a year now, the fighters have had nothing, not even a penny".

"Many of them have lost hope and are taking canoes to Spain," he said, referring to the Atlantic Ocean migration route from Senegal to Europe.

But to Dione, the ministers' words stung, since so many young wrestlers have seen their livelihoods disappear.

"It's dangerous for the youth who have lost hope," he said. "The state has an obligation to help us. All wrestlers are really angry".

- 'People need it' -

For his part, Aliou Sane, a spokesman for Senegal's protest group 'Y'en a marre' -- meaning 'we've had enough' -- said at a recent news conference that wrestlers had taken to the streets.

Demonstrators were "citizens who are thirsty for democracy, for the rule of law, for freedom," he said. "And among these citizens, yes, there are wrestlers".

But Gaston Mbengue, a celebrated fight promoter, thinks the debate about wrestlers' involvement in the unrest is misplaced.

"It's all politics," he said.

The solution, according to Mbengue, is to bring back wrestling. "The people have been locked up for a year. The people need it," he said.