Dear friends and co-fighters,
Welcome to the next issue of Positive News. Let you spread it among
your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth.
I will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the
fields and offices.
Sviatoslav
Zabelin, SEU coordinator
Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for January 15,
2021.
Climate change
The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly
eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize
within just a couple of decades, scientists say. For
many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for
generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists
on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in
the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be
runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions
were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the
atmosphere. But more recent understanding of the implications of getting to
net-zero emissions is giving hope that the warming could be more swiftly
curtailed. http://www.envirolink.org/2021/01/10/global-heating-could-stabilize-if-countries-go-net-zero-emissions-scientists-say/
Siberia
Hundreds of thousands of hectares of virgin forest have been saved in
Yakutia, according to Alexander
Zhurakovsky, co-chairman of the public environmental movement "Protect the
Nature of Yakutia". Two logging companies, LLC "Woodland24" and LLC "Angara",
decided to voluntarily abandon the land plots in the Aldan district that were
leased following the auction. The companies filed claims to the Arbitration
Court of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for
invalidation of past auctions for the right to conclude land lease agreements in
the Aldan district and the application of the consequences of the
invalidity of the transaction. They indicated quite a lot of reasons for
termination of contracts. The companies also filed lawsuits against the Regional
Ministry of Ecology, stating that "during the auction for the right to conclude
a lease agreement, the defendant provided false information about the absence of
encumbrance of the forest plot." The termination of the lease agreements of
Woodland24 LLC and Angara LLC was prompted by a wide public
outcry.
In 2021, a reserve for the reproduction of wild reindeer
will appear on the territory of
Yakutia. This is reported by the
Ministry of Ecology of the Republic. A specially protected natural area of
regional significance will be created in the Bulunsky district of the republic.
It will help to preserve the breeding stock of wild reindeer of the Leno-Olenek
population. The total area of the reserve will be more than 64.1 thousand
hectares. According to the Ministry of Ecology, it will be placed within the
Chekanovsky ridge, where the main breeding stock is concentrated (about 90%). In
addition, 64 species of birds live there, and 260-280 species of higher vascular
plants grow there.
"Sakhalin Ecowatch " finally won another court in the
protection of nature and indigenous peoples! As a
result, the huge burial ground of Rosneft's oil waste near the
village of Val in the north of Sakhalin
is finally closed. The court's decision finally came into force. It was hard
work, it took five years, and there was a lot in it - representative round
tables (organized jointly with the Public Chamber of the Sakhalin Region),
rallies and public hearings in the village of Val, dozens of public raids and
inspections, clashes with the security of the oil burial ground, another court
won in 2017 and a war with bailiffs who sabotaged the execution of its decision,
one court lost by us and another ongoing court case (the oil service company
filed against us and www.sakhalin.info a lawsuit for the protection of business
reputation) and many other things.
Reforestation
Indigenous agroforestry revives profitable
palm trees and the Atlantic
Forest. Highly popular in Brazil because of its
delicious heart, the jussara palm was eaten nearly to the brink of extinction.
The Indigenous Guarani people from the São Paulo coast
are traditional consumers of jussara palm hearts, and decided to reverse the
loss by planting thousands of palm trees inside their reserve.With more than
100,000 jussara palms planted since 2008, the community now sells hearts and
seedlings to tourists and beach house owners. The next step is to start
extracting the pulp from jussara berries — similar to açaí berries, the popular
superfood — which the group hopes will generate enough income to keep the palm
trees standing. The palms grow among native trees in an ancient and increasingly
popular agricultural technique called agroforestry, which combines woody trees
with shrubs, vines, and annuals, in a system that benefits wildlife, builds
water tables and soil, provides food, and sequesters carbon. https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/indigenous-agroforestry-revives-profitable-palm-trees-and-the-atlantic-forest/
New food for humans
Yellow mealworm finger foods, smoothies, biscuits, pasta and burgers
could soon be mass produced across Europe after the
insect became the first to be found safe for human consumption by the EU food
safety agency. The delicacies may not be advisable for everyone, however. Those
with prawn and dustmite allergies are likely to suffer a reaction to the
Tenebrio molitor larvae, whether eaten in powder form as part of a
recipe or as a crunchy snack, perhaps dipped in chocolate. The conclusion of
scientists at the EU food safety agency, following an application by the French
insect-for-food production company, Agronutris, is expected to lead to
EU-wide approval within months of yellow mealworm as a product fit for
supermarket shelves and kitchen pantries across the continent. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/13/yellow-mealworm-safe-for-humans-to-eat-says-eu-food-safety-agency
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