Extinction Rebellion has expressed its regret over ugly scenes in east London during Thursday’s rush hour, after an activist was dragged to the ground from the top of a Tube train.

The group acknowledged the action at Canning Town Tube station was “divisive” and said several of its members had acted “autonomously”. But it maintained that the actions were planned within their core principles of compassion and non-violence.

Furious commuters at the crowded station lobbed drinks at one protester before he was yanked from the train to the platform floor, much to the apparent delight of the cheering crowd.

Divide

Video shared on social media showed protesters holding a sign which read “Business as usual = death”, while the activist pulled to the floor appeared to kick out at the commuter who pulled him down.

In a statement, Extinction Rebellion said: “It is regretful that there was violence at today’s action at Canning Town tube station. We would like to express our sadness that events escalated this way.

“We are aware that one of our activists responded in self-defence in a moment of panic when confronted by a threatening situation. He acknowledges his accountability for this action and we offer gratitude for members of the public who helped to protect him.”

The group apologised for the disruption caused to commuters, but said the incident should not create “unnecessary division”.

“Rather than let this incident divide, at this moment of heightened attention, we think it is right to reach out to you, to invite you to have a conversation about what happened today,” the statement added.

Work

“In light of today’s events, Extinction Rebellion will be looking at ways to bring people together rather than create an unnecessary division.

“The people involved today did not take this action lightly. They were a grandfather, an ex-Buddhist teacher, a vicar and a former GP, among others, who acted out of rational fear for the future as this crisis deepens.”

British Transport Police said eight people had been arrested on suspicion of obstructing the railway on Thursday morning, and also urged commuters not to “take matters into their own hands”.

A member of Transport for London (TfL) staff appeared to intervene to stop people from attacking the male XR activist further by holding them back.

One man yelled: “I need to get to work, I have to feed my kids,” while others shouted insults at activists.

Disruption

British Transport Police also said they were investigating the response from commuters, and acting chief constable Sean O’Callaghan added: “It is important that commuters and other rail users allow the police, who are specially trained, to manage these incidents.”

XR spokesman Howard Rees, 39, told the PA news agency: “Was it the right thing to do? I am not sure. I think we will have to have a period of reflection. It is too early to say. I think we need to take stock of it.”

Mr Rees, a PR worker from London, said the intention was not to “inconvenience hard-working people”, and said he did not think the apparently unsympathetic mood on the platform was indicative of a decrease in public support, despite many posts on the XR London Facebook page expressing concern that the stunt was counterproductive and should not have gone ahead.

He said: “It is not our intention to target individuals or inconvenience hard-working people. We’re in a life or death situation right now. The only thing the Government is interested in is money, so that’s why the transport system was targeted.

“If you’re causing disruption but people are impacted, it is nothing compared with the disruption that is coming down the line, let me tell you.”

Activist

He said the protests were carried out by activists “affiliated” to Extinction Rebellion, meaning anyone with the same ideals could act under the XR banner.

The action is the latest in a series from the anti-climate change group, who have been banned from protesting in London. A legal bid to overturn the order was expected to reach the High Court on Thursday.

Activists also arrived at Gatwick airport at about 11am on Thursday, but made no attempt to disrupt passengers.

The group of about 20 rebels, including a caped flautist, played music and offered flyers to passengers passing through the international arrivals hall at Gatwick’s South terminal.

Steve McDonald, 63, who has been a climate activist for more than 20 years, said he was saddened by the incident at Canning Town but said those involved had been well intentioned.

Decarbonise

Speaking to PA, he said: “It wasn’t good what happened this morning, but the people who did that are passionate people and they decided that that was what they wanted to do. The policy of XR is, you have to disrupt.

“Obviously it went wrong, that was never our intention, but I don’t condemn those people.”

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association said: “I am extremely saddened that Extinction Rebellion protesters have today targeted London’s public transport network.

“I have seen pictures of protesters on the roofs of Tube trains. This is extremely dangerous not just for them but also for the travelling public.

“If we are going to effectively decarbonise we need more people using our public transport network and more investment in the green alternatives this provides.”

This Author

Mike Bedigan is a reporter with PA.

There are deep, interconnected and systemic crises threatening life on earth. These climate and biodiversity crises are the result of a system that privileges the profit of transnational corporations and disregards peoples’ rights and the environment. 

Transnational corporations continue to trample unabated over the planet, monopolizing lands, territories and waters, displacing peoples, destroying livelihoods and violating human rights. 

Environmental and human rights defenders stand on the frontline of this offensive. They endure systematic attacks of intimidation, silencing and even murder – a criminal strategy used by corporations to impose their own power and secure their profit. Women, in particular Indigenous women and peasants, suffer the brunt of violence in the hands of transnational corporations. 

System change

Transnational corporations’ destructive activities are imposed on the world against the will of those who have historically defended the environment. Now they are adding insult to injury by insisting that the commodification and privatization of nature is a solution to the very crises they have caused with their exploitative model.

The real solution is system change – creating societies based on peoples’ sovereignty and environmental, social, economic and gender justice. System change means addressing the issue of transnational corporations and their flagrant trampling of human rights and the environment.

We cannot, therefore, overemphasize the historical importance of the UN treaty on transnational corporations with respect to human rights, in negotiation in Geneva from 14-19 October 2019. We have to achieve a legally binding international instrument that will enable us, once and for all, to put an end to the impunity of transnational corporations and ensure access to justice for all those affected. 

Over the last few years, as part of the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power together with social movements and affected peoples, we have built a Treaty proposal, which is summarised in the following seven demands. These are essential if the new instrument is to be truly effective for the peoples: 

Demands

Demand #1: Scope of the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational corporations

This treaty must focus specifically on transnational corporations, and their global value chains, which are currently beyond any national or International law.

Demand #2: Primacy of Human Rights over trade and investment

This treaty must establish the hierarchical superiority of human rights over trade and investment agreements, ensuring that human rights and States’ sovereignty come before investors’ rights.

Demand #3: Direct Obligations for Transnational Corporations

This treaty must directly and legally obligate transnational corporations, not just States, to comply with International Human Rights Law, International Environmental Law and international labour standards.

Demand #4: Transnationals’ responsibility for human rights violations throughout their value chains

This treaty must cover all transnational activities throughout the supply chain. The supply chain consists of companies outside the transnational corporation that contribute to its operations, including contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and the investors that provide its capital.

Demand #5: An International Court for Transnationals

National courts are most often unable to hold transnational corporations accountable for their human rights violations.This treaty necessitates strong implementation mechanisms, including an international court, to ensure that the obligations set out by the Treaty are enforced. This court must be capable of receiving, investigating, judging and enforcing its decisions.

Demand #6: Rights of Affected Communities

This Treaty must recognize the moral and legitimate authority of peoples affected by the activities of transnational corporations. The Treaty must establish the right to reparation, information, justice and guarantees of non repetition of any human rights violations, and their right to say NO to any projects that might affect them.

Demand #7: Protection from Corporate Capture

The Treaty must prevent the influence of transnational corporations during its preparation, negotiation and implementation. The treaty cannot allow transnational corporations to continue to write their own rules. 

We need to come together, as civil society, social movements, affected peoples and states to ensure we have a strong and effective binding treaty.

We all need to support local and international resistance, engage in popular mobilization, engage states across the world, strive for policy change and upscale the real solutions, the solutions of the people.

This Author 

Karin Nansen is chair of Friends of the Earth International. Image: Victor Barro/Amigos de la Tierra

Climate breakdown doesn’t stop at spurring on more severe weather patterns, it impacts human health. 

Weather changes increase the degree of pain people feel and the severity of the allergies they experience. Global warming even impacts the nutritional value of our food.

Climate change raises global temperatures. Warmer temperatures create ripe conditions for infectious diseases, especially when paired with increased humidity. 

Disease and pain

Certain disease-bearing insects thrive in warmer conditions. For example, mosquitoes flourish in warmer climates.

In 2017, two million more people fell ill with malaria than in 2016. Additionally, current fracking operations drill deep into the earth where bacteria unseen for decades remain dormant. Many scientists express concerns our obsession with fossil fuels could result in the spread of diseases medical professionals have never seen and do not know how to treat. 

Talk to nearly anybody suffering with chronic pain and they’ll tell you that inclement weather negatively impacts the severity of their symptoms. Scientists remain uncertain exactly how weather influences pain levels, but most doctors recognize the correlation between storms and an influx of patients. 

One theory about why inclement weather increases pain severity focusses on the central nervous system. For example, arthritis strips away the cartilage lining your joints, exposing nerve fibres. When bad weather strikes, changes in barometric pressure can increase the sensitivity of a person’s nerves, exacerbating symptoms. 

Another theory states when the barometric pressure changes, your tendons expand and contract. As these tendons shift, it causes more severe pain symptoms. 

Respiratory problems 

As global temperatures rise, this traps ground-level ozone pollution within the atmosphere. The result is the signature smog hovering over many US cities. It also exacerbates the symptoms experienced by allergy and asthma sufferers. 

Scientists agree that ozone pollution increases the number of premature deaths. Exposure to air pollution also increases your risk of developing lung cancer and certain neurological conditions. Even those who try to benefit their health by walking or jogging outdoors could damage it by inhaling too much-polluted air. 

​​​​​​​If you have a heart condition, you know that exposure to heat can induce a heart attack. And climate change already raised worldwide temperatures and threatens to continue to do so. 

And it’s not only the heat that proves deadly. As the northern ice caps melt, wind vortexes push frigid polar air south. This results in colder, harsher winters for the continental US, particularly across the northeast and midwest. Medical professionals long knew heart attack frequency rises during periods of prolonged cold weather. 

​​​​​​​Recently, Hurricane Dorian ravaged the Bahamas, leaving some islands more than 50 percent underwater. Officials list 2,500 residents missing from the area since the catastrophe and the death toll is expected to continue rising. The storm moved on to strike the Carolina coast. Hurricane Maria devastated much of southern Florida and Hurricane Harvey affected large swathes of Texas, among other regions. 

Hunger

Hurricanes represent only one natural disaster exacerbated by climate change. The 2018 Camp Fire, which officials suspect started when high winds knocked down electrical wires, claimed 86 livesand utterly destroyed the town of Paradise, CA. Across the west, multiple wildfires burn, including in Alaska. 

These devastating fires pale in comparison to the destruction of the Amazon. Farmers, desperate to feed their families, set large acres of priceless rainforest ablaze to clear fields for crops to feed livestock.

Even though scientists have debunked the statistic that the Amazon rainforest creates 20 percent of the world’s oxygen, the real problem is carbon emissions from the burning. These emissions threaten to accelerate global warming.

Those concerned about the planet do well to reduce their meat consumption, decreasing demand. 

​​​​​​​One recent study of global legume and vegetable production indicates greenhouse gasses could reduce crop yields by 35 percent by the year 2100. Social scientists estimate over 800 million people worldwide already suffer from hunger. Decreased crop yields will impact the poorest and most vulnerable and add millions more to the ranks of the starving. 

Sustainable future 

Additionally, climate change threatens to turn once arable land into deserts. Regions such as the American southwest produce a huge percentage of the nation’s food supply because their mild temperatures make year-round crop growing possible.

However, the region remains arid, and further decreases in the water supply will leave many farmers unable to irrigate. As a result, food supply companies will need to import fruits and vegetables from foreign sources, meaning higher transportation costs, less nutritious foods (as nutrients dissipate over time) and additional carbon emissions. 

​​​​​​​Combatting climate change is not solely a matter of simply preserving ecological resources. If we are to safeguard human health from the detrimental effects of global warming, we need to take affirmative action now to end our dependence on fossil fuels.

We also need to institute behavioral changes like cutting back on meat consumption. Only when we begin to truly take this issue seriously as a society will we be able to work toward creating a sustainable future for ourselves, our planet and the organisms we share that planet with.

This Author

Kate Harveston is a vegan health and sustainability writer and the editor of women’s wellness blog, So Well, So Woman.

Extinction Rebellion activists began protesting at a number of east London stations early on Thursday morning – the penultimate day of two weeks of its “Autumn uprising”. 

Assistant Chief Constable Sean O’Callaghan said BTP the force had “engaged” with XR members to prevent the planned “disruptive and potentially criminal” action on the transport network.

British Transport Police said just after 7am: “At this time we have three separate incidents involving Extinction Rebellion protest action at Stratford, Canning Town, and Shadwell. Arrests have already been made and officers are working quickly to resume services.”

Banning

Commuters were seen dragging one of the protesters from the roof of the train at Canning Town. In a clip posted on Twitter, one of the activists was pulled from the train by his foot, and ended up on the ground surrounded by train users who shouted at him.

A member of TfL staff appeared to stop people from attacking the male activist further by intervening and holding them back.

The latest action comes as XR’s bid to defy the blanket protest ban on its protests across the whole of London will come before the High Court on Thursday.

Those bringing the court action on behalf of the group, including Caroline Lucas MP and Guardian columnist and activist George Monbiot, are seeking to overturn the order imposed by the Met.

They argue that the order is an “unprecedented and disproportionate curtailment” of the right to free speech and free assembly which risks criminalising protest about the climate and ecological emergency in the capital, and want the High Court to rule that the decision to impose the ban is unlawful.

Lawyers representing the climate protesters will argue in a preliminary session that a full hearing of the case should happen ‘as a matter of urgency’. They will argue that the section 14 order imposed by the Met effectively banning all XR protests in London is unlawful.

Peaceful

A Green Party co-leader was among the latest people to be arrested as Extinction Rebellion protesters continued to defy a police ban yesterday.

Jonathan Bartley was also arrested after joining climate change protesters on Whitehall. Protesting on his birthday, Mr Bartley said: “We cannot go on with HS2 destroying acres and acres of countryside.

“We cannot go on with subsidising fossil fuels, we cannot go on with our road building programme, we cannot go on even with our nuclear programmes.”

After his arrest, a Green Party spokesman said: “Climate chaos will end ecosystems and collapse our society. We have just 10 years to reduce our C02 emissions to safer levels and climate protesters are drawing attention to that.

“We all have a right to peaceful protest and we will continue to act to protect that right and draw attention to instances where democracy is threatened.”

Listen

George Monbiot, a columnist at The Guardian and climate change activist, joined more than 500 Extinction Rebellion activists in Trafalgar Square.

Mr Monbiot, who had written a column in Wednesday’s newspaper vowing to get arrested, was detained by police after lying down in the road at Whitehall.

During his arrest, Mr Monbiot, 56, said: “I’m here because this is the right thing to do. We have to stand up, we have to make a stand against the destruction of our life support systems.”

Hundreds of activists in Trafalgar Square put black tape over their mouths, to symbolise the silencing of their protests by police.

Councillor Andree Frieze, Green Party candidate for Richmond South, who took part, said: “This symbolises the way our voices are being shut down, our voices are not being listened to.”

Assembled

Elsewhere, Extinction Rebellion mothers and babies blockaded Google HQ in London over what they say are donations to climate change deniers. Around 100 mothers and babies blockaded one side of the building by staging a mass feed-in, the group said.

In 10 days of protests to call for urgent action on climate change and wildlife losses, Extinction Rebellion activists have shut down the areas around Parliament and the Bank of England, and targeted City Airport and government departments.

The Met Police used section 14 of the Public Order Act initially to restrict the Extinction Rebellion protest action to Trafalgar Square, but following “continued breaches” of the order officers moved in to clear the area. Any assembly of more than two people linked to the XR Autumn Uprising action is now illegal in London.

By Wednesday morning 1,642 protesters had been arrested, and 133 charged. XR’s stated tactics are to overwhelm the capacity in police custody, including by refusing bail after being arrested.

Before Wednesday’s action Mr Taylor warned activists that they would be arrested if they assembled in Trafalgar Square.

Legal

On Thursday XR activists plan to target the Tube network, which the senior officer called “unacceptable”.

He said: “That will cause huge disruption for London and we consider that wholly unacceptable, and obviously will be policing that with our partners at British Transport Police.”

A Government spokesman said: “The UK is already taking world-leading action to combat climate change as the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to global warming entirely by 2050.

“While we share people’s concerns about global warming, and respect the right to peaceful protest, it should not disrupt people’s day-to-day lives.”

The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Laurence Taylor, who is leading the policing of the demonstrations, has insisted the order is legal.

Galvanise

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, announced during the protests that he will chair a new Cabinet committee on climate change to drive environmental action across government.

It will bring together ministers responsible for domestic and international climate change and provide a forum to hold departments to account for their actions to tackle the problem.

It is hoped it will drive further action across Government to cut emissions, protect the environment and improve air quality.

The statement comes after plans to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by cutting emissions to net-zero by 2050 were enshrined in law in the summer.

The committee will play a key role in co-ordinating the move to net-zero, and will oversee the UK’s preparations to host a major UN climate summit in November 2020, Number 10 said.

Mr Johnson said: “I’m announcing today that I will personally chair a new cross-government Committee on Climate Change, bringing together my ministers to galvanise action to tackle the great environmental challenges we face.”

Political will

But  Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth chief executive, said: “With the planet facing a climate emergency, we need urgent action not just warm words.

“The Prime Minister’s pledge to make the UK a global leader on the climate crisis will only be realised if slashing climate-wrecking emissions is at the very heart of every government policy.

“This means scrapping plans for a third runway at Heathrow, halting the multi-billion pound road-building programme and abandoning support for fossil fuel development at home and abroad.

“The solutions for building a carbon-free future already exist – but has Boris Johnson got the political will to make it happen?”

These Authors

Emily Beament, Margaret Davis and Laura Parnaby are reporters with PA. Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire. 

We can feed the world a healthy diet using nature-friendly farming, and there is no alternative if we are not to erode the ecological foundations of farming and of life itself.

That’s what we heard this week at the inaugural Peter Melchett Memorial Lecture, held in memory of the much-loved and much-missed environmental activist and organic farming champion, who was policy director at the Soil Association for 17 years.

Food and farming is under the spotlight on climate change as never before. There are calls for so-called ‘sustainable intensification’ of food production to free up land for bioenergy and afforestation at the same time as doubling yields to ‘feed the world’.

Interconnected crises

But what would this mean for nature? And is doubling yields of livestock feed and commodity crops like maize really the priority for feeding the world a healthy diet?

Currently across Europe, 58 percent of cereals and 68 percent of oilseed crops are grown to feed intensive livestock – we need to bring things back in balance.

The UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published a devastating Global Assessment of Biodiversity earlier this year and called for governments worldwide to wake up to the biodiversity crash and land degradation crisis, and to give them equal weighting with climate change in farming and land use policy.

But despite these warnings, governments are failing to join the dots between the interconnected climate crisis, the nature crisis and the dietary health crisis. By not doing so we risk making things worse not better.

The future of farming and land use lies at the heart of these three crises with a huge opportunity to tackle climate change, restore nature and soil health and normalise healthy diets, but we must act now. The next ten years are crucial.

Solution

Keynote speaker and ‘bee man’ Professor Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at Sussex University, painted a worrying picture that confirmed global insect decline.

A million species are at risk of extinction and abundance of all wildlife, from pollinating insects to farmland birds and mammals is in decline. Scientists attribute this decline to rising pesticide use and habitat loss associated with intensive farming.

“We need to find a way to grow food and promote biodiversity at the same time, pivoting from a crisis to a workable solution,” said Professor Goulson.

As our focus on climate deepens and we move towards COP26, we need to keep the other crises in view. Half our soils worldwide are degraded and the 2018 Global Nutrition Report found 88% of countries have overlapping burdens of obesity and under-nutrition due to poor quality diets.

But there is a solution. Keynote speaker Sébastien Treyer, Executive Director of IDDRi, an independent French policy research institute, shared thought-provoking – and alarming – insights into these crises of our time, backed up by a solution.  

Beef

We need profound ecological transformation of food and farming– and the IDDRI model shows it’s possible. The Ten Years Transition to Agroecology in Europe report models a future where farming in Europe can respond to climate change, phase out pesticides and maintain vital biodiversity, whilst providing a sufficient and healthy diet for a growing population.

There is now strong interest in a UK-specific IDDRI model to show the pathway to agroecology, and the role that the best of British farming can play.

A groundswell of farmers are looking for ways to cut their reliance on agri-chemicals and nurture the soil and biodiversity of their farms. They urgently need government support to do so from redirected farm subsidies. They also urgently need a source of advice that is independent from the agri-chemical companies.

It isn’t just farmers and policy makers who need to make changes. Any sustainable future means making some changes to our diets and lifestyles.

Cutting down on intensively produced beef, chicken and pork fed on soya linked to deforestation is the priority when we join the dots between the climate crisis, the nature crisis and the health crisis.

Passionately

Intensive livestock farming is also a major driver of the antimicriobial resistance crisis, as the outgoing chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has done so much to highlight.

The IDDRI model highlights that grass-fed beef, lamb and dairy can be part of the solution, however, in helping sequester carbon in grassland soils and reduce our reliance on artificial fertilisers, which in turn drive up pesticide use.  

This research brings hope, as does the RSA Commission on the Future of Food, Farming, with its recommendations for a Ten-Year Transition to Agroecology and for world-leading procurement to make healthy and sustainable diets normal.

There’s a huge opportunity, if funders and thinkers and do-ers across climate, nature and health come together, to unlock a ten-year transition for food and farming that reverses the climate crisis, restores nature and soil health and normalises a healthier diet. Nothing less will suffice.

The Ten years to a farming future that works for climate, nature and health lecture was the first in a series of annual lectures that will stimulate fresh thinking on the causes Peter Melchett cared about so passionately.

This author 

Joanna Lewis is policy and strategy director at the Soil Association and chair of the Food Ethics Council. She can be found tweeting at @JoLewisSA.

September offered desperately needed relief for the Amazon, according to new data from Brazil’s State Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA). The world’s largest rainforest still saw over 3,000 fires last month, but that number represents a 55 percent drop in fires from August and a 39 percent drop from the same period in 2018.

These numbers are a relief to environmentalists after Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s shocking speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where he rejected the idea the Amazon represents “part of a global heritage” and denied his country’s ecological crisis.

While the worst of this year’s fires may be over, Bolsonaro’s rhetoric and the destructive behavior it encourages demand an urgent reformulation of how environmentalists advocate for environmental protection.

Political project 

Fortunately, creative initiatives in Brazil and other major tropical forest zones – including Senegal on the other side of the Atlantic – offer a way forward.

Despite Bolsonaro’s claims, the Amazon basin, home to around one million indigenous people, over three million species of plants and animals, and an estimated 10 percent of the world’s known biodiversity, is an indispensable ecological resource whose role in mitigating global carbon emissions matters for the entire planet.

How, then, can the international community protect these invaluable forests, when Brazil’s own leader resists outside involvement? Answering that question requires understanding that the fires across the Amazon are largely manmade, by farmers and loggers clearing land for crops and grazing.

This recent spate of destruction has been facilitated by political leaders, with both Bolsonaro and Bolivian President Evo Morales sacrificing rainforest for myopic business and electoral interests.

Weakening legal protections for the Amazon and its indigenous populations was key to Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign; Morales has expanded the amount of forestland farmers can clear by “controlled” burning.

Conservation paradigm

The combination of weak environmental policies and fertile land has left conservationists at loggerheads with both politicians and the business community. Overcoming this impasse requires a rethinking of the prevailing approach to conservation, which holds that tropical forests are “pristine” and must remain untouched.

This has created a false dichotomy between protecting ecosystems and human prosperity, driving conservation strategies that restrict human interaction with nature and create “conservation refugees” from the Amazon to East Africa.

It has manifested itself in the development of separate indicators for biodiversity and human well-being, forcing governments to choose between GDP rankings and world development indicators on the one hand, and the IUCN Red List index on the other.

Unsurprisingly, policymakers usually prioritize the former, ensuring conservation strategies fall short of expectations. This comes despite research suggesting areas like the Amazon were once densely populated by large communities who have moulded the ecology of the region’s vast ‘wilderness’ over millenia.

If humans once lived and worked side by side with the Amazon, can we do it again? 

Agroforesty in Brazil

This is the thinking behind ‘agroforestry’ programmes in the Amazon. Agroforestry mimicks nature, using a ‘polyculture’ of trees to regenerate land and restore biodiversity whilst also producing crops. Ultimately, it creates a healthy ecosystem and spares farmers the choice between nature and livelihoods.

A notable example is Olhos D’Água (‘Tears in the Eyes’), an agroforestry farm on 350 hectares of Amazonian land originally cleared for intensive logging. Olhos D’Água, almost indistinguishable from a natural forest, hides a complex system of trees and crop species, producing crops that like the highest quality cocoa beans in the world – without having a destructive impact on the rainforest around it.

This and other agroforestry initiatives have helped the practice gain recognition in academic and policy circles as a viable way to reconcile conservation and development, but other countries facing similar challenges have already demonstrated how proactive policies and public awareness can reverse deforestation.

The mangrove forests of West Africa, particularly those in Senegal, offer an excellent parallel to the situation in the Amazon.

Senegal’s successes

Like rainforests, mangrove forests are indispensable. They protect coral reefs and shorelines, dramatically reducing flooding by reducing the height of waves, and absorb enormous amounts of carbon. A 2018 study estimated mangrove soil trapped 6.4 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide in 2000.

Unfortunately, mangroves are also declining: scientists estimate at least 35 percent of global mangrove habitat was lost between 1980 and 2000. From 2000-2015, as much as 122 million tons of carbon may have been released into the atmosphere by mangrove deforestation.

These losses contribute to desertification, making countries like Senegal even more vulnerable to climate change.

Fortunately, Senegal’s government has opted for a proactive approach. President Macky Sall’s administration has embraced efforts to galvanise private actors, such as Danone and Crédit Agricole, to invest in replanting mangroves to offset their carbon emissions and earn carbon credits.

One such replanting programme in the Saloum Delta, reputedly the largest such initiative in the world, has used funding from 10 multinational sponsors to plant 79 million trees and restore 7,920 hectares of mangrove forest.

Civil society

Civic groups have also played a critical role. Haidar el Ali, Macky Sall’s minister of environment from 2012-2014, is a key member of the Senegalese environmental NGO Oceanium and the public face of grassroots efforts to replant Senegal’s mangroves. Between 2006-2012, Oceanium worked with villagers and devised a planting system to restore 35,000 acres of mangrove forest in its homebase of Casamance.

How do mangrove reforestation programmes like Oceanium offer a roadmap for tropical forest zones worldwide?

Unlike Bolsonaro, the Senegalese government is working with civil society groups to restore a natural resource critical to both the country’s environment and economy. Local communities benefit first and foremost, as residents earn a living from guarding, restoring and producing crops which depend on healthy mangrove systems. This creates a vested interest in protecting mangroves for generations to come.

Brazil and other governments should learn from these successful conservation strategies, which improves the life quality of local residents in conservation zones beside securing the priceless natural habitats they call home. The choice has never been between conservation and development – the two must go hand in hand.

This Author

Natasha Foote is an environmental journalist and writer, specialising in conservation and agriculture. She holds a BSc in Biological Sciences and an MA in Environment, Development and Policy.

Image: Neil Palmer / CIAT for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

It’s almost impossible to argue the jobs versus climate debate without mentioning Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Outside the town of Morwell, the gargantuan Hazelwood power station, which once employed 1,000 people, has sat dormant since 2017. Beside it the immense brown coal mine swallows the gaze of onlookers down into its ashen bowels.

To some, Hazelwood was just the most polluting coal fired power station in the Southern Hemisphere, to others it was the lone source of jobs in an increasingly bleak sector.

Tone deaf

Years before its closure, Hazelwood had been a focal point for climate activists willing to take the 150 kilometre trip East from Melbourne to protest the Valley’s carbon emissions.

In a famous action in 2009 hundreds bearing placards arrived to stage a mock closure. It was a move considered by most locals as tone deaf to the two decades of economic depression that had beset the area. At the real closure of the power station one worker responded by attaching a “F*** the Greens” sign to the station’s shut chainlink gate. 

But around the corner from Hazelwood is an industrial park where a venture aims to cut the ever tightening knot between jobs and climate. It is called Earthworker, and has already begun creating green jobs for the area.

Earthworker’s co-founder Dave Kerin conceived of the project in Melbourne but realised early the need to target the Latrobe Valley. 

“It would have been a hell of a lot easier for us to push ahead in Dandenong [an outlying industrial suburb of Melbourne] but we have responsibility within our nation to these families who have been there for generations, who have provided power – we have a responsibility to put these new transitional jobs in place in those areas.”

Having opened a factory last year, they have six part-time employees building high-grade solar hot water heaters for households and businesses around the country, most recently for Father Bob Maguire Hospices.

Old knowledge

Employees Dickie Savva and Graeme Donald take great pride in the quality of their work: “We have a polyethylene casing on the tank – you could roll it down the paddock it might scuff but it won’t damage. They are a durable item and that’s another reason I was really attracted to the philosophy of this organisation.”

Dickie, who does most of the talking, is 58, which he explains is nearing the end of his career, while Graeme, the quieter of the two, is only 30 but so experienced that employers think he is 50 from his resume.

Their opinions frequently differ but the two find common ground in their love for the Australian bush, pride in quality craft and their ability to repair and reuse rather than throw away.

All these are unified within Earthworker’s ethos. Both put in unpaid overtime to get the old welding machines back in operation after receiving them second-hand.

Waste is not just the physical waste thrown into landfill, which, Dickie said, “we all end up paying for it in the long run,” but it’s also wasted talent and human potential.

Earthworker must start training people from the valley – particularly those once employed by the power industry. Graeme explained: “There’s a lot of old knowledge and a lot of skills that need to be passed on otherwise it’ll be lost and you’ll end up with nothing but more problems.” Both people have lived in the area most of their lives and are familiar with the meaning of economic decline.

Innovative challenge 

While the Earthworker Energy Manufacturing Cooperative Factory is small scale, it’s tensile strength comes from its model, an innovative challenge to the conventions of capitalism.

Earthworker is a worker owned coop, meaning the enterprise is owned and managed by the workers themselves, rather than a board and shareholders. Their business decisions have the community in mind. This is what Dave Kerin calls “democratic economics” which he offers as a solution to environmental catastrophe.

Kerin explained: “We want a quadruple bottom line economics, the social, the ecological and the economic but we also want to make sure that we create a democratic ownership by ordinary people – only then you get the engagement you need to deal with the climate emergency and species extinction.”

This attitude reflects Earthworker’s roots in Australia’s famous Green Bans in the 70s. Then unions and neighbourhood groups banded together to stop developers clearing bushland or developing greenspace. The Green Bans resonated worldwide.

In fact, the term ‘Greens’ applied to political parties came when German Politician Petra Kelly witnessed them on a tour of Australia. They also set a vital precedent for Earthworker, and now the tradition of combining industrial and environmental action to oppose the inertia and waste of globalised capitalism is embedded in its DNA.

“You can’t do that with a multinational corporation – that relationship is transactional – we need relationships that are much deeper.”

Ecosystem of support

For Dickie’s part, he appreciates Earthworker’s flatness: “We are all equal and that is unique – it’s a new concept. We are all the bosses.”

To him this strength in numbers is in stark contrast to the insecurity of today’s manufacturing and industrial sector: “I’ve worked and did my training with some guys who have been in the same factory for 45 years. That’s changed now. Throughout the world.”

This worker-owner structure extends throughout the Earthworker Cooperative network, of which the solar hot water enterprise is but one. Within Earthworker are Red Gum Cleaning Cooperative, an energy retailing coop and plans for hemp manufacturing and a journalists’ coop.

Professor Katherine Gibson of the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney, has studied Earthworker, cooperatives and the Latrobe Valley in depth. She says that while the need for community enterprises is great, coops have always been considered fringe: “So whether that can be shifted around is through demonstration, that’s what Earthworker is doing.”

Gibson also believes their best hope for a bright future lies in developing a network of cooperatives: “Their potential is to build an ecosystem of support around them. A lot less thinking of the enterprise in isolation. This is a really interesting experiment that is creating jobs for a lot of people.”

Mobilising wages

Dave Kerin also has plans to harness the immense capital of Australian workers’ super to fund environmentally and socially responsible projects like Earthworker: “The minute we can mobilise our superannuated wage behind some big projects and then do some joint venturing with the super of North American workers, the super of European workers then we’ll have a critical mass of capital.”

He then cites Simon Sheikh, Founder of Ethical Super’s statistic that 7.7 percent of Australian super could create 100 percent of renewables in this country.

It’s a discussion better suited for the glass towers of Melbourne’s CBD than in a repurposed factory on the outskirts of Morwell. Sparks fly as Graeme and Dickie weld a seam on a hot water heater due out tomorrow morning.

Dickie confessed, “stainless steel can be tricky,” as he checks the join then drops his welding mask. They’ll be working overtime tonight to get an order out, a union member’s system that burst earlier.

The Maritime Union of Australia is negotiating an Earthworker clause in contracts where members can have an Earthworker hot water system installed as part of a wage increase. This sort of bootstrapping could one day see theirs grow into something like Spain’s sprawling Mondragon network of 257 companies. But right now, there’s work to be done. 

This Author 

Kurt Johnson is a writer and journalist who has written for the ABC, Crikey! and published a book – The Red Wake – about travelling through the post-Soviet landscape. His current focus is deindustrialisation and the opportunities and pitfalls that a transition to a carbon free economy offers society. He has a weekly radio show for 3CR Melbourne.

European Union (EU) and Finnish NGOs have obtained a document produced by Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture which reveals that Finland is secretly attempting to renegotiate its way out of accounting for its deforestation. The document tarnishes the country’s carefully crafted green image.

The document, obtained by EU forests and rights NGO Fern and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC), relates to the notoriously complex issue of Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). It is dated 2 October 2019 and outlines the Finnish’s government’s policy position.

Under the EU’s LULUCF Regulation, Member States must account for emissions from forests, wetlands and agricultural land in order to ensure that the land continues to store carbon and cool the climate. Without such measurements, a country could claim that activities such as burning forests for bioenergy or turning forests into plastic packaging was carbon neutral and thereby appear to be a green leader.

Hide emissions 

During negotiations around the LULUCF Regulation in 2017, Finland lobbied – and obtained- flexibility for how it accounts for emissions from the forestry industry. It also attempted to obtain additional allowance to compensate for deforestation. The latter was rejected by other EU Member States.

According to the document that Fern and FANC are making public, Finland is now pressuring the EU Commission to allow them to be able to release 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from deforestation, something that was flatly rejected by Member States earlier.

Kelsey Perlman, Forest and Climate Campaigner at Fern, said: “The only way to meet the new EU targets is to maintain and restore European forests to increase their health and biodiversity. Secret Finnish attempts to hide their own emissions from deforestation puts the whole process at risk.”

The IPCC points to efforts to end deforestation as crucial in limiting temperature rise. Finland is however hesitant to end one of their most harmful practices of clearing peatland forests for more agricultural land.

Undermine credibility 

Hanna Aho, conservation expert at FANC said: “Using the limited additional compensation to cover emissions caused by deforestation or agricultural land is not in line with the Regulation which is binding EU law.

“Finland’s actions therefore undermine the credibility of their Presidency. Finland can’t just talk about its climate ambition, it must deliver on its commitments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and end deforestation. This is what our citizens voted for in our April elections and demanded on the streets.”

The recently elected Finnish government led by Social Democrats was swept in on a wave of demand for climate action by its citizens, and up until this point has been recognised as a leader on EU climate action.

While Finland has been negotiating their secret deal, Eastern European countries including the Visegrad region, Romania and Slovenia have also been calling for exemptions.

Kelsey Perlman said: “This region has seen an upturn in climate related forest degradation, this is partly due to poor land management. Countries have asked for both financial support to protect and restore these forests, and for the right to log their way out of the problem. There’s a clear mismatch.”

Combat deforestation

Finland’s lobbying is particularly concerning as EU President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has stated her support to increase EU emissions reduction targets from 40 to 55 per cent. Continued deforestation in countries like Finland would take the EU in the opposite direction and jeopardise its position as a global climate leader.

Finland presently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU and has been playing a lead role in developing the Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore Forests. The communication proposes actions to combat deforestation.

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from Fern. 

Extinction Rebellion activists are launching legal action against the police over a London-wide ban on their protests.

The move comes amid growing criticism of the ban, made under public order legislation already used to restrict the action to Trafalgar Square.

Activists continued protests in the capital in defiance of the police order, targeting the Department for Transport and locking themselves to a caravan on Millbank, prompting more arrests.

Necessary

Human rights lawyer Tobias Garnett, working for Extinction Rebellion, said the group would be filing a High Court claim challenging the ban on the grounds it is “disproportionate and unlawful”.

The group was planning to file a claim on Tuesday afternoon, and was seeking an expedited hearing.

On Tuesday evening, Mayor Sadiq Khan – who oversees the Metropolitan Police, said he had asked officers to find a way for those who wanted to protest to be able to do so legally and peacefully.

He said he had “received assurances that Extinction Rebellion are not banned from protesting in our city”, adding: “Neither I nor the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime was informed before the Metropolitan Police took the operational decision to impose a Section 14 order on Extinction Rebellion Autumn Uprising last night.

“I’ve met with senior officers today to seek further information on why they deemed this necessary.”

Unacceptable 

Mr Garnett said the police order limiting protests “risks criminalising anyone who wants to protest in any way about the climate and ecological emergency that we face”.

Under the current order, any assembly – classed as a gathering of two or more people – linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’ in London is unlawful.

Lawyers have questioned the legality of ban, aimed at halting further protests after more than a week of disruption by the environmental activists in London, while a number of politicians expressed outrage over the move.

Responding to the ban, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted: “If standing up against the climate and ecological breakdown and for humanity is against the rules then the rules must be broken.”

Protect

Anti-Brexit barrister Jo Maugham QC claimed the move was a “huge overreach” of police powers, human rights lawyer Adam Wagner called it “draconian and extremely heavy-handed”, and Allan Hogarth from Amnesty International said it was “unacceptable”.

Jeremy Corbyn, speaking about the London-wide ban of Extinction Rebellion protesters by police on Monday night, said: “Concerns have been expressed about this.

“Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon are contacting the Metropolitan Police to discuss this, as indeed Sadiq Khan has as the Mayor of London.

“I think it’s important to protect the right of free speech, and the right to demonstrate in our society – obviously in a non-violent way.”

The Labour leader said Mr Khan had no involvement in the “operational decision” by police to remove the protesters.

Risk

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “This ban is completely contrary to Britain’s long-held traditions of policing by consent, freedom of speech, and the right to protest.”

Green Party MEP Ellie Chowns, who was arrested in Trafalgar Square, Green MP Caroline Lucas and shadow policing and crime minister Louise Haigh also spoke out against the move.

But Home Secretary Priti Patel backed the police in a tweet, saying: “Officers from around the country have done a fantastic job policing XR protests. Supporting our Police is vital.

“Labour support the law breakers who have disrupted the lives and businesses of Londoners. They cannot be trusted in Downing Street or the Home Office.”

Police moved in to clear Trafalgar Square on Monday evening, telling protesters to leave the site by 9pm or risk arrest.

Location

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the protest ban was brought in after “continued breaches” of the condition limiting the demonstration to Trafalgar Square.

He said: “I want to be absolutely clear, the conditions put in place yesterday afternoon do not in any way ban protests from London, nor do they ban the activities of Extinction Rebellion as a group.

“These conditions specifically state that any assembly linked to Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Autumn Uprising’ must now cease.

“The decision to impose further conditions was made in order to help us get London moving again. It is a lawful decision which we felt is entirely proportionate and reasonable to impose after nine days of sustained, unlawful assembly and protest by Extinction Rebellion.”

The Met said that using Section 14 to limit the location and duration of protest action was “not unusual”.

Arrested

Extinction Rebellion activists defied the order and on Tuesday morning, the group’s co-founder, Gail Bradbrook, was arrested after action to target the Department for Transport in Westminster over HS2 and airport expansion.

Police also dealt with a road block near Baker Street and told a number of protesters camped in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to move on or risk arrest.

Protesters locked themselves to a caravan parked by Millbank tower in central London, with police spending more than two hours trying to free them using electric saws.

The protest outside the MI5 headquarters aimed to highlight the issue of food security.

Ilya Fisher, a fine art photographer from Cornwall, said she was taking part despite never having been arrested before.

Highway

She said: “I’m doing this because I want other people to see ‘why is such a boring ordinary person doing this?’ and they will look into the climate science.

“The government isn’t protecting us. If we wait until 2050 for the carbon emissions to be reduced it’s way too late.”

By Tuesday afternoon, police said 1,489 people had been arrested in connection with the “Autumn Uprising”.

And 92 people had been charged for offences including failing to comply with a condition imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, criminal damage, and obstruction of a highway.

These Authors

Emily Beament, Margaret Davis and Tom Pilgrim are reporters with PA.

Extinction Rebellion activists are launching legal action against the police over a London-wide ban on their protests.

The move comes amid growing criticism of the ban, made under public order legislation already used to restrict the action to Trafalgar Square.

Activists continued protests in the capital in defiance of the police order, targeting the Department for Transport and locking themselves to a caravan on Millbank, prompting more arrests.

Necessary

Human rights lawyer Tobias Garnett, working for Extinction Rebellion, said the group would be filing a High Court claim challenging the ban on the grounds it is “disproportionate and unlawful”.

The group was planning to file a claim on Tuesday afternoon, and was seeking an expedited hearing.

On Tuesday evening, Mayor Sadiq Khan – who oversees the Metropolitan Police, said he had asked officers to find a way for those who wanted to protest to be able to do so legally and peacefully.

He said he had “received assurances that Extinction Rebellion are not banned from protesting in our city”, adding: “Neither I nor the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime was informed before the Metropolitan Police took the operational decision to impose a Section 14 order on Extinction Rebellion Autumn Uprising last night.

“I’ve met with senior officers today to seek further information on why they deemed this necessary.”

Unacceptable 

Mr Garnett said the police order limiting protests “risks criminalising anyone who wants to protest in any way about the climate and ecological emergency that we face”.

Under the current order, any assembly – classed as a gathering of two or more people – linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’ in London is unlawful.

Lawyers have questioned the legality of ban, aimed at halting further protests after more than a week of disruption by the environmental activists in London, while a number of politicians expressed outrage over the move.

Responding to the ban, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted: “If standing up against the climate and ecological breakdown and for humanity is against the rules then the rules must be broken.”

Protect

Anti-Brexit barrister Jo Maugham QC claimed the move was a “huge overreach” of police powers, human rights lawyer Adam Wagner called it “draconian and extremely heavy-handed”, and Allan Hogarth from Amnesty International said it was “unacceptable”.

Jeremy Corbyn, speaking about the London-wide ban of Extinction Rebellion protesters by police on Monday night, said: “Concerns have been expressed about this.

“Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon are contacting the Metropolitan Police to discuss this, as indeed Sadiq Khan has as the Mayor of London.

“I think it’s important to protect the right of free speech, and the right to demonstrate in our society – obviously in a non-violent way.”

The Labour leader said Mr Khan had no involvement in the “operational decision” by police to remove the protesters.

Risk

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “This ban is completely contrary to Britain’s long-held traditions of policing by consent, freedom of speech, and the right to protest.”

Green Party MEP Ellie Chowns, who was arrested in Trafalgar Square, Green MP Caroline Lucas and shadow policing and crime minister Louise Haigh also spoke out against the move.

But Home Secretary Priti Patel backed the police in a tweet, saying: “Officers from around the country have done a fantastic job policing XR protests. Supporting our Police is vital.

“Labour support the law breakers who have disrupted the lives and businesses of Londoners. They cannot be trusted in Downing Street or the Home Office.”

Police moved in to clear Trafalgar Square on Monday evening, telling protesters to leave the site by 9pm or risk arrest.

Location

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the protest ban was brought in after “continued breaches” of the condition limiting the demonstration to Trafalgar Square.

He said: “I want to be absolutely clear, the conditions put in place yesterday afternoon do not in any way ban protests from London, nor do they ban the activities of Extinction Rebellion as a group.

“These conditions specifically state that any assembly linked to Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Autumn Uprising’ must now cease.

“The decision to impose further conditions was made in order to help us get London moving again. It is a lawful decision which we felt is entirely proportionate and reasonable to impose after nine days of sustained, unlawful assembly and protest by Extinction Rebellion.”

The Met said that using Section 14 to limit the location and duration of protest action was “not unusual”.

Arrested

Extinction Rebellion activists defied the order and on Tuesday morning, the group’s co-founder, Gail Bradbrook, was arrested after action to target the Department for Transport in Westminster over HS2 and airport expansion.

Police also dealt with a road block near Baker Street and told a number of protesters camped in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to move on or risk arrest.

Protesters locked themselves to a caravan parked by Millbank tower in central London, with police spending more than two hours trying to free them using electric saws.

The protest outside the MI5 headquarters aimed to highlight the issue of food security.

Ilya Fisher, a fine art photographer from Cornwall, said she was taking part despite never having been arrested before.

Highway

She said: “I’m doing this because I want other people to see ‘why is such a boring ordinary person doing this?’ and they will look into the climate science.

“The government isn’t protecting us. If we wait until 2050 for the carbon emissions to be reduced it’s way too late.”

By Tuesday afternoon, police said 1,489 people had been arrested in connection with the “Autumn Uprising”.

And 92 people had been charged for offences including failing to comply with a condition imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, criminal damage, and obstruction of a highway.

These Authors

Emily Beament, Margaret Davis and Tom Pilgrim are reporters with PA.