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21.12.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

At COP15 in Montreal, nations agreed on four goals and 23 targets to protect biodiversity

Earlier this year, the environmental issues have been growing, ranging from devastating floods to extreme heat and drought in the northern hemisphere. The preservation of biodiversity is crucial to sustaining human life on Earth. On this topic, countries have reunited in Montreal, Canada, from December 7 to 19 at the UN COP15 conference. The conference was presided over by China. The premises of this meeting called for prompt action to preserve biodiversity: the latest WWF's Living Planet Report warned that global wildlife populations declined by 69% on average from 1970 to 2018. The accelerating loss of nature has already impacted human well-being and economies. Healthy ecosystems also play indispensable roles in tackling climate change, and biodiversity loss weakens our resilience. In response, nations agreed on four goals and 23 targets to protect biodiversity. The four goals are: (1) to maintain genetic biodiversity, increase the natural ecosystem's areas and reduce extinction rate and risk tenfold (2) to support the restoration and maintenance of biodiversity (3) to share the monetary and non-monetary benefits equitably from utilizing genetic resources, including with indigenous populations and local communities (4) to guarantee adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, and technical and scientific cooperation. A few of the 23 targets for 2030 supporting these goals are undoubtedly relevant. It is agreed to reach the conservation of at least 30% of the world's lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans (today, only 17% and 10% of the world's terrestrial and marine areas are under protection). Further, a target mentions reducing the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance to near zero, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity. It is also agreed to cut global food waste in half and reduce overconsumption and waste generation. Financial targets also mentioned phasing out subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year while mobilizing by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private. Although all the targets agreed upon in Montreal are impressive, it is fair to question if they will be achieved. In fact, in 2002, nations committed "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss". They failed. In 2010 they met in Japan and agreed on a new plan, which included the 20 Aichi Targets. But not one of these targets was fully satisfied by the 2020 deadline. It is worth noting that, being these targets non-binding by law, they are rather guidelines to support objectives. Despite the ambition demonstrated at COP15 leaving hope, it remains true that just earlier this year, a monumental occasion to protect biodiversity failed miserably. At the end of last August, after 15 years of negotiations, nations could not agree on a binding pact to preserve Earth's oceans' biodiversity in another UN meeting in New York - probably the biggest of the lost occasions to preserve our marine ecosystems.

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20.12.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

Oil drilling may soon destroy the unique ecosystem of the Amazon Reef

In the 1970s, the biologist Rodrigo Moura completed a study on fishing on the continental shelf and wanted to expand his research by locating the reefs where he caught the fish. When Moura found the fish he caught around the Amazon Reef and in the mouth of the Amazon River, he saw this as an indication that there must be biodiversity underneath. A few decades later, a group of students from the University of Georgia noted that Moura's article did not contain GPS coordinates and used Moura's sound waves and seafloor samples to locate the reef. Finding the reef took about three years before an official announcement was made about its discovery. The Amazon River is home to about 20 per cent of the world's freshwater supply, placing the Amazon Reef at the mouth of the largest river in the world, where every day, one-fifth of the world's water flows into the ocean from the Amazon River. Because of this, the Amazon Reef is less biologically diverse compared to other reefs of its kind. It is a unique ecosystem, and researchers say it could contain many unknown species of medicinal or scientific value, some of which are being studied for their anti-cancer properties. The Amazon reef is unusual because it lies in deep water and is sometimes hidden by the muddy waters flowing into the sea from the world's largest river. Some species may appear only in that area and nowhere else in the world. Brazilian scientists say today that this unique reef habitat is threatened by government plans to drill for oil. The scientists worry that the Brazilian oil company Petrobras plans to drill for oil close to the reef could cause an oil leak that would devastate the ecosystem. Petrobras is planning this month to carry out a test to learn more about how oil diffuses in the case of a leak. If that satisfies Brazil's environmental protection agency, Ibama, exploration wells could follow soon afterwards, 160km (100 miles) from the shore, but much closer to the reef. "This area has one of the strongest currents on the planet and a tidal range that can be greater than 10m (33ft). These are environmental conditions that challenge any engineering work, making it very risky," says Rodrigo Leão de Moura, professor at the Institute of Biology at the University of Rio de Janeiro and the leading scientist involved in the reef's discovery. Brazil is also not new to environmental disasters due to oil drilling. An oil spill that hit the coast of northern Brazil in 2019 also casts a long shadow. On that occasion, tons of thick black crude began washing up at a thousand locations, bringing the tourism industry to a halt. Overnight the biggest market for locally caught fish also disappeared since buyers stopped buying for fear of contamination.

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18.12.2022
THEME: SPORT

The most corrupted soccer World Cup has concluded in Qatar and Argentina won it

Today Argentina won over France at the play-offs by a score of 7-5, conquering the 2022 Soccer World Cup disputed this year for the first time in the Arabian peninsula, specifically in Qatar. The team that reached the third position was Croatia beating Morocco yesterday. The teams played, giving their best on the playfield in a spectacle that, technically, is the most followed sports tournament in the world. Unfortunately, this year the World Cup held in Qatar did not certainly offer a triumphant image of sport for what it should be outside of the playfield: unifying, fair, and honest. From its early days, worrisome elements emerged about the Qatar World Cup. During a major corruption scandal involving FIFA - Federation Internationale de Football Association - in 2015, several claims indicated that the Gulf country obtained the successful 2022 Qatari World Cup Bid by bribing committee members. After winning the bid, Qatar was further under scrutiny as there were many claims of abuse of human rights behind the construction works needed to prepare the country - whose land area is mainly made up of flat, low-lying desert - for the event. It is challenging to verify how many migrant workers have died from work on projects connected to the tournament. The Guardian reported last year that 6,500 South Asian migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010, most of whom were involved in low-wage, dangerous labour, often undertaken in extreme heat. In July, three human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, wrote to FIFA's 14 corporate partners and World Cup sponsors "urging them to call on the football body to remedy abuses of migrant workers linked to preparations for the World Cup." According to Amnesty, four sponsors – AB InBev/Budweiser, Adidas, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's – stated their support for financial compensation to migrant workers and their families who suffered death or injury, wage theft or debt from illegal recruitment while preparing the tournament. Corruption linked to the Qatar World Cup has reached in these days also high members of the European Parliament, who were being paid to speak publicly in favour of Qatar as an exemplary evolving country and influence some EU political decisions. On December 9, the Belgian federal prosecutor announced four arrests, including of members of the parliament, after 600,000 euros in cash was discovered in raids within the capital Brussels. Curiously, the four detained people were either Italian citizens or originally from Italy. The prosecutor's statement said that investigators "suspected a Gulf country (of influencing) the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament". It alleged this was done "by paying large sums of money or offering large gifts to" influential figures in the European parliament. Among the arrested, there is also the Greek socialist Eva Kaili, one of 14 European Parliament vice-presidents, in connection with an investigation into criminal organization, corruption, and money laundering involving Qatar. Moreover, two journalists (one from the US and the other Qatari) were found dead in mysterious circumstances during the tournament. Despite all these scandals, on December 16, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced proudly at a press conference that the organization has made record revenues from the World Cup in Qatar. Infantino said the tournament was the "best World Cup ever" and had shown the cohesive power it had. Responding to this comment, Stephen Cockburn, Head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, said: "Gianni Infantino has announced that FIFA made $7.5 billion from the 2022 World Cup cycle, more than $1 billion more than expected. He also forecasted FIFA to make over $11 billion over the next four years. Yet he offered nothing new to many workers and their families who continue to be denied compensation for stolen wages and lost lives. The migrant workers behind this World Cup have contributed hugely to FIFA's incredible wealth, and FIFA has a clear responsibility to compensate them for their losses. Rather than continue to ignore workers' calls for justice. The organization's proposed new Legacy Fund must ensure remedy to everyone who made this tournament possible, including the families of those who lost loved ones for it."

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