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ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday launched the start of construction on a controversial canal aimed at easing congestion on the Bosphorus but which critics say courts environmental disaster. The “Canal Istanbul” is a gigantic waterway running parallel to the Bosphorus Strait connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean. “Today we are opening a new page in the history of Turkish development,” Erdogan said during […]
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AFP) — A critically endangered giant barking deer has been spotted in Cambodia for the first time, in a boost for the country’s wildlife preservation efforts, officials said Friday. The giant muntjac — known for its long antlers — was captured on a hidden camera in April in northeast Cambodia’s Virachey National Park in Ratanakiri province, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said. But the discovery was only made recently after Cambodian authorities […]
by Natsuko FUKUE Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Kimiko Hirata has spent nearly half her life fighting to wean Japan off its dependence on coal, and now isn’t the time to slow down, the award-winning activist warns. “I’m hopeful, but we have no time to waste,” said Hirata, the international director of Japan’s Kiko Network NGO. “Our future will be gone if we don’t act now,” she told AFP. It’s a message that Hirata, […]
by Agnes ANYA JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Alarmed by the mountains of plastic waste leaching into Indonesia’s waters, two best friends are taking on the environmental menace by turning crisp bags and shampoo packets into paving bricks. Ovy Sabrina and Novita Tan launched Rebricks after their country drew headlines as the second-biggest producer of marine waste in the world, behind China. Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by some 75 percent over the next […]
by Laurent BANGUET OROVILLE, United States (AFP) — With chronic drought drying up rivers earlier than usual this year, California is scaling up a drastic operation to help its famous Chinook salmon reach the Pacific — transporting the fry by road in dozens of large tanker trucks. The tasty migratory fish are typically born in rivers, swim to the ocean where they reach maturity and can remain for several years, before returning to their native […]
by Layal Abou Rahal QSAYBEH, Lebanon (AFP) — The scenic region of Mount Lebanon has long produced pine seed, a regional delicacy, but harvests have collapsed amid an exotic insect infestation experts say is accelerated by climate change. Lebanon, wedged between the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, is best known for the iconic cedar tree depicted on its national flag — but it also has pine trees that make up nearly 10 percent of total […]
by John BIERS WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday it was halting petroleum development activity in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing a move by former president Donald Trump to allow drilling. The Interior Department said it was notifying firms of the freeze, pending a comprehensive environmental review that will determine whether leases in the area known as ANWR should be “reaffirmed, voided or subject to additional mitigation measures,” […]
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — Iceland’s glaciers have lost around 750 square kilometers (290 square miles), or seven percent of their surface, since the turn of the millennium due to global warming, a study published on Monday showed. The glaciers, which cover more than 10 percent of the country’s land mass, shrank in 2019 to 10,400 square kilometers, the study in the Icelandic scientific journal Jokull said. Since 1890, the land covered by glaciers has decreased […]
by Laurent BANGUET OROVILLE, United States (AFP) — Summer has not even begun and Lake Oroville, the second-largest reservoir in California that provides drinking water to more than 25 million people, is at less than half of its average capacity at this time of year. It is a worrying indication of the worsening drought conditions in the northern part of the Golden State. “When we go into a year like this with the reservoir low […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled a forest fire near Athens for a third day on Saturday but brought the main front of the blaze under control as weather conditions improved. The fire, on the Geraneia mountain range, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of the capital, is “one of the biggest in the past 20 to 30 years, and has come early in the season,” fire chief Stefanos Kolokouris told ANT1 […]
by Laura BONILLA NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A new public park skimming the surface of the Hudson River atop 132 concrete “tulips” opened Friday for New Yorkers eager to emerge from a year of onerous pandemic restrictions. Little Island, which can be accessed free-of-charge by two pedestrian bridges, offers lush green spaces and scenic views into southern Manhattan and New Jersey for those who want to get away without getting away. Its opening […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon hit a record last month, the government reported Friday with figures that belie President Jair Bolsonaro’s pledge to crack down on such destruction. The area of the rainforest that was destroyed — 580 square kilometers (225 square miles) — marked a new high for the month of April and a 42.5 percent on-year rise, according to satellite monitoring by the Brazilian space agency INPE. […]
