UNITED NATIONS LEADERS CALL ON THE SAUDI-LED COALITION TO FULLY LIFT BLOCKADE OF YEMENI RED SEA PORTS

UN warns of a "massive humanitarian tragedy."

The partial lifting of the blockade of Yemen’s Red Sea ports by the Saudi-led coalition in recent days is allowing humanitarian organizations to resume the provision of life-saving assistance to people in desperate need. Given the massive scale of Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, however, all this does is slow the collapse towards a massive humanitarian tragedy costing millions of lives. It does not prevent it. Without the urgent resumption of commercial imports, especially food, fuel and medicines, millions of children, women and men risk mass hunger, disease and death.

Nations agree to ban fishing in Arctic Ocean for at least 16 years

Science

Nine nations and the European Union have agreed to place the central Arctic Ocean off-limits to commercial fishers for at least the next 16 years. The pact will give scientists time to understand the region’s marine ecology and the potential impacts of climate change. Story here.
Fishing boat in the Arctic.
Photo by Josef Knecht

Feces from entangled North Atlantic right whales reveals 'sky-high' stress levels

ScienceDaily

Endangered Species Research journal publishes pioneering whale feces research; also being used to investigate unprecedented number of right whale deaths this summer. Story here.

A North Pacific right whale.
Photo by John Durban, NOAA

Supreme Court rules in favour of Yukon First Nations in Peel watershed dispute

CBCnews

Unanimous decision returns planning process to earlier stage, requires additional consultation. Story here.

Boreal forest in the broad valley of the Hart River, (Peel Watershed). Photo: Juri Peepre

Neurotoxin found in some Lake Winnipeg algae

CBCnews

UBC researchers found BMAA toxin in high concentrations in 25% of algal blooms tested in Manitoba lake. Story here.

Lake Winnipeg. Greenpeace photo.




A FOOTNOTE: In the interests of fairness and accuracy, it should be pointed out that it was Eva Pip,

a long-time water expert at the University of Winnipeg, and a colleague who are on the record as first confirming BMAA in Lake Winnipeg, NOT the BC research team referenced in the CBC story.  

PinP

Find Prof. Pip's research here.

Global response to malaria at crossroads - WHO report shows gains are levelling off

World Health Organization

After unprecedented global success in malaria control, progress has stalled, according to the World malaria report 2017.  There were an estimated 5 million more malaria cases in 2016 than in 2015. Malaria deaths stood at around 445 000, a similar number to the previous year.

A female malaria mosquito (Anopheles albimanus), feeding on a human host. 

Photo Credit: James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control

“In recent years, we have made major gains in the fight against malaria,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “We are now at a turning point. Without urgent action, we risk going backwards, and missing the global malaria targets for 2020 and beyond.”

The WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria[ii] calls for reductions of at least 40% in malaria case incidence and mortality rates by the year 2020. According to WHO’s latest malaria report, the world is not on track to reach these critical milestones.

A major problem is insufficient funding at both domestic and international levels,  resulting in major gaps in coverage of insecticide-treated nets, medicines, and other life-saving tools.

RELATED: Malaria response at ‘crossroads,’ risks backward slide – UN

Proposed fossil fuel development threatens yet another caribou herd - by Larry Powell.

Antlers of the barren ground caribou can be a meter tall. 

The majestic animals have traditionally provided food for subsistence hunters. 
A Wikimedia Commons photo. 

According to the magazine Science, US politicians may be about to put the continent’s biggest and healthiest caribou herd at risk. That’s because a US Senate committee has just voted to allow drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The coastal plain region of the sprawling refuge happens to be the calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo credit - 

US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Republicans supporting drilling say its footprint will be small. Environmental groups disagree, saying roads and pipelines will dissect the animals' habitat. 

A Canadian wildlife ecologist quoted in the story, Chris Johnson of the University of Northern BC (Prince George), says the consensus that industrial activity disturbs the animals is “pretty strong.” It has already been observed that caribou stay away from industrial activity, including diamond mines in Canada and will even move their calving grounds, as a result.

It is estimated that the Porcupine herd may consist of as many as 200 thousand animals.

US Republicans have been trying to open up the refuge to drilling for decades.

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Yet another of Earth's creatures faces extinction. - by Larry Powell

It’s not looking good for the vaquita. 

Photo: C. Faesi / Proyecto Vaquita 1992.

The vaquita are porpoises which measure only about 1.5 meters, fully grown. They’re among the smallest of the cetaceans, an order of marine mammals which includes porpoises, dolphins and whales. Their numbers have now dwindled to fewer than 30 in Mexico’s Gulf of California, where they live. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports vaquita numbers have declined an astonishing 92% since 1997. Gill net fishing is the main culprit. The vaquita have become “collateral damage” as poachers target a fish whose swim bladder fetches $20 thousand dollars per kilogram for use in Chinese medicine.

Mexico has imposed a permanent ban on the taking of vaquita. But authorities have been unable to enforce the law sufficiently to make a difference.

Now, the magazine, Science is reporting, an eleventh-hour bid by a team of conservationists, to bring them back from the brink, has been a heartbreaking failure.

A rescue team has been trying for some two years now to capture enough live animals to breed them in captivity, so their numbers can recover. But the vaquita have proven so sensitive to the stress of capture, two females have now died. And the rescuers have decided it's just not worth risking the death of any more. So the effort has been called off with no plans for another.

The rescuers do not regret having tried. They’re just sorry they hadn’t started sooner.

So where does this leave these vulnerable, intelligent, innocent creatures? 

According to the author of the Science article - in “extreme peril.”

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Nebraska approves alternative route for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline

NATIONAL

OBSERVER

PinP photo.

Nebraska regulators approved passage of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline Monday, clearing the last major regulatory hurdle for the controversial $10-billion project but creating a new wrinkle by choosing an alternative route for the pipeline. STORY HERE.

Controversial glyphosate weedkiller wins new five-year lease in Europe

theguardian

EU votes to reauthorise the pesticide, ending a bitterly fought battle that saw 1.3 million people sign a petition calling for a ban. STORY HERE.

A Wikimedia Commons photo.

RELATED: Field of Nightmares - Ottawa continues to embrace the widespread use of Roundup on Canadian farms by letting corporate seduction trump scientific evidence.

Climate change could increase volcano eruptions

ScienceDaily

Shrinking glacier cover could lead to increased volcanic activity in Iceland, warn scientists in a new report. Story here.

The Mayon volcano, Philippines.1984.
Photo by C.G. Newhall