AFP UK

Climate-driven extremes have highlighted the costly impacts of a warming world for developing nations

UN climate talks entered their last day Friday with rich and developing nations deadlocked over creating a fund for countries devastated by the impacts of global warming — and the EU warning its offer was final. 

Representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered at the COP27 in Egypt for two weeks with the aim of driving forward action on climate change as the world faces a worsening onslaught of extreme floods, heat waves and droughts.

The daunting list of urgent tasks includes finding agreement — and funds — for the emissions cuts needed to limit average warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is a safer guardrail to avoid the most dangerous impacts.

For many developing countries — and small island states most threatened by sea level rise — the defining issues at the conference is money for the “loss and damage” caused by climate change impacts.

A cascade of climate-driven extremes in recent months — from floods in Pakistan and Nigeria to heatwaves and droughts across the world — have shone a spotlight on the ferocious impacts of a warming world for developing nations that are also struggling with debts and surging inflation.

Disagreement over creating a specific loss and damage fund has threatened to derail the entire summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, though negotiations could go into overtime through the weekend.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said late Thursday there was “clearly a breakdown in trust” between developed and emerging economies as he called for deal on loss and damage, warning that “the blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction”. 

– ‘This is our final offer’ –

Developing countries have pushed for COP27 to agree on creating the funding facility — an idea that has faced reluctance from richer polluters wary of liability.

The European Union, however, made an offer late Thursday to create a fund to help the most vulnerable countries that would be part of a “mosaic” of options for providing money from a range of sources.

That would potentially include China and other nations that have become wealthier since they were listed as developing countries in 1992.

“I have to say this is our final offer,” European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters on Friday.

“This is where the (EU) member states can find an agreement and I have to thank all of them for for the courage to go this far. But this is it,” he said.

Earlier in the week, the 130-nation group known as G77+China issued a proposal to create the fund at the COP27 and agree on the nitty-gritty details at the next UN climate talks in Dubai in 2023.

But their offer stated that the fund would assist “developing nations” in broader terms than the EU’s proposal and be funded by developed nations.

Timmermans said the EU offer had two “very important” conditions: that the funds should be for “the most vulnerable” nations and the money should come from a “broad funder base” — code for countries including China.

– US silence –

A draft outline of positions on loss and damage published on the COP27 website late Thursday included some key elements of the main proposals on the issue, providing a starting point for negotiations to begin in earnest.

But a separate 10-page draft of the COP27 final statement released Friday morning only had a placeholder for a “funding arrangement responding to loss and damage” — signalling that nations had yet to agree on the final text.

It includes, however, a line reaffirming the aspirational goal of limiting warming to 1.5C, a key demand from the United States and European Union.

The United States, which had opposed a loss and damage mechanism in the past over concerns about liability, has said it was willing to discuss the issue, but it has yet to publicly comment on the EU proposal.

Timmermans said he explained the EU proposal to US delegates who were “very interested in seeing” that reaffirming the need to step up efforts to cut emissions to reach the 1.5C target be reflected in the conclusions.

“We’ve always fought together with the Americans to get strong language on mitigation because we all know if we don’t reduce our emissions, all the other efforts will come to nought,” he said.

The Balkan lynx is among the world's most endangered mammals

In mountains overlooking an azure lake in southeast Albania, wildlife experts are tracking the Balkan lynx as part of last-gasp efforts to save the species from extinction.

The “forest ghost” which lives in tree-covered mountains straddling Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, is now among the world’s most endangered mammals, scientists warn.

The victim of deforestation and poaching, there are less than 40 of these solitary wild cats in the three Balkan countries, analysis last year showed.

Albania is home to fewer than 10, down sharply from more than 200 in the 1980s.

“We are very much concerned that if we do not manage to raise its numbers and distribution very soon, we will lose it forever,” said Manuela von Arx of the Swiss foundation Kora, which is a part of the Balkan lynx recovery programme.

For the past 15 years, the NGO Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) has been trying to save the animal also known locally as the “Balkans tiger”.

– Timid and elusive –

On the Mali i Thate mountain overlooking Lake Prespa, two experts taking part in the Balkan lynx recovery programme carefully install automated cameras at lynx height on oak trees.

They hope to capture the images of the timid and elusive carnivore that sleeps during the day and hunts at night for deer, hare, chamois and rabbit.

“It is difficult to get a good image,” forest engineer Ilir Shyti said as he and colleague Melitjan Nezaj checked the cameras’ positions.

The camera must be positioned well to cover the path used by the lynx.

In November 2021, cameras in the area caught a lynx arriving from North Macedonia, which experts hailed as a good sign for the resilience of the species.

“We are hoping that it will pass through again this year and, if we are lucky, we will be able to take a photo of another lynx,” said Nezaj, a biologist.

Subtle differences on the animal’s spotted coat and tufts of hair on the tips of its ears enable experts to identify them individually.

The meticulous tracking of the lynx is a key part of its protection, said Blendi Hoxha, a coordinator of the PPNEA lynx project.

“You have to observe it and understand its movements,” he told AFP.

“Any documented evidence of the presence of the lynx is watched for since it gives hope for (its) survival.”

The almond-eyed animal is threatened by the degradation of its habitat and significant deforestation, which are depleting the game they feed on and fragmenting its population.

Although it is strictly protected, the lynx has been the victim of poaching despite a hunting ban  in Albania since 2014.

At least 14 lynx have been killed in Albania since 2006, according to the PPNEA.

– Stuffed trophies –

The last one, shot in 2020, was stuffed and mounted in a bar in Elbasan, south of the capital Tirana, displayed alongside the stuffed skins of other wild animals.

Trade in poached animals is punishable by up to seven years in jail, but the justice system is completely uninterested in the problem, said PPNEA lawyer Gentian Rumano.

The NGO filed a complaint against the bar but the case was dropped due to “lack of evidence” despite what it said was a report proving that it was the same Balkan lynx killed in 2020.

But the PPNEA has carried on with the fight, filing a complaint against the prosecutors in a bid to have the investigation relaunched.

Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia have joined forces within the Balkan lynx recovery programme, funded by foreign foundations like Kora, Euronatur and Mava. 

The three countries created “new zones of protection where the lynx is present and where it can breed,” PPNEA chief Aleksander Trajce said.

They also try to educate hunters and the general population about the threat of extinction.

An information centre, which serves as a summer school for the region, was opened in 2020 in Gorica.

But the battle is far from being won, especially since the animal’s low population has left it with an impoverished genetic pool.

Their shrinking numbers and isolation undermine genetic diversity which leads to health and breeding problems, warned Hoxha from the PPNEA lynx project.

“Small population equals inbreeding,” echoed Dime Melovski, of the Macedonian Ecological Society.

One way to ease the problem, he said, could be to bring males from other lynx populations to breed in the Balkans.

The Balkan lynx is among the world's most endangered mammals

In mountains overlooking an azure lake in southeast Albania, wildlife experts are tracking the Balkan lynx as part of last-gasp efforts to save the species from extinction.

The “forest ghost” which lives in tree-covered mountains straddling Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, is now among the world’s most endangered mammals, scientists warn.

The victim of deforestation and poaching, there are less than 40 of these solitary wild cats in the three Balkan countries, analysis last year showed.

Albania is home to fewer than 10, down sharply from more than 200 in the 1980s.

“We are very much concerned that if we do not manage to raise its numbers and distribution very soon, we will lose it forever,” said Manuela von Arx of the Swiss foundation Kora, which is a part of the Balkan lynx recovery programme.

For the past 15 years, the NGO Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) has been trying to save the animal also known locally as the “Balkans tiger”.

– Timid and elusive –

On the Mali i Thate mountain overlooking Lake Prespa, two experts taking part in the Balkan lynx recovery programme carefully install automated cameras at lynx height on oak trees.

They hope to capture the images of the timid and elusive carnivore that sleeps during the day and hunts at night for deer, hare, chamois and rabbit.

“It is difficult to get a good image,” forest engineer Ilir Shyti said as he and colleague Melitjan Nezaj checked the cameras’ positions.

The camera must be positioned well to cover the path used by the lynx.

In November 2021, cameras in the area caught a lynx arriving from North Macedonia, which experts hailed as a good sign for the resilience of the species.

“We are hoping that it will pass through again this year and, if we are lucky, we will be able to take a photo of another lynx,” said Nezaj, a biologist.

Subtle differences on the animal’s spotted coat and tufts of hair on the tips of its ears enable experts to identify them individually.

The meticulous tracking of the lynx is a key part of its protection, said Blendi Hoxha, a coordinator of the PPNEA lynx project.

“You have to observe it and understand its movements,” he told AFP.

“Any documented evidence of the presence of the lynx is watched for since it gives hope for (its) survival.”

The almond-eyed animal is threatened by the degradation of its habitat and significant deforestation, which are depleting the game they feed on and fragmenting its population.

Although it is strictly protected, the lynx has been the victim of poaching despite a hunting ban  in Albania since 2014.

At least 14 lynx have been killed in Albania since 2006, according to the PPNEA.

– Stuffed trophies –

The last one, shot in 2020, was stuffed and mounted in a bar in Elbasan, south of the capital Tirana, displayed alongside the stuffed skins of other wild animals.

Trade in poached animals is punishable by up to seven years in jail, but the justice system is completely uninterested in the problem, said PPNEA lawyer Gentian Rumano.

The NGO filed a complaint against the bar but the case was dropped due to “lack of evidence” despite what it said was a report proving that it was the same Balkan lynx killed in 2020.

But the PPNEA has carried on with the fight, filing a complaint against the prosecutors in a bid to have the investigation relaunched.

Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia have joined forces within the Balkan lynx recovery programme, funded by foreign foundations like Kora, Euronatur and Mava. 

The three countries created “new zones of protection where the lynx is present and where it can breed,” PPNEA chief Aleksander Trajce said.

They also try to educate hunters and the general population about the threat of extinction.

An information centre, which serves as a summer school for the region, was opened in 2020 in Gorica.

But the battle is far from being won, especially since the animal’s low population has left it with an impoverished genetic pool.

Their shrinking numbers and isolation undermine genetic diversity which leads to health and breeding problems, warned Hoxha from the PPNEA lynx project.

“Small population equals inbreeding,” echoed Dime Melovski, of the Macedonian Ecological Society.

One way to ease the problem, he said, could be to bring males from other lynx populations to breed in the Balkans.

Climate-driven extremes have highlighted the costly impacts of a warming world for developing nations

Talks at a UN climate conference enter their final day Friday, gridlocked by a make-or-break tussle between rich and developing nations over money for countries in the crosshairs of increasingly intense and costly impacts of global warming.

Representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered at the COP27 in Egypt for two weeks with the aim of driving forward action on climate change as the world faces a worsening onslaught of extreme floods, heat waves and droughts.

The daunting list of urgent tasks includes finding agreement — and funds — for the emissions cuts needed to limit average warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is a safer guardrail to avoid the most dangerous impacts.

For many developing countries — and small island states most threatened by sea level rise — the defining issues at the conference is money for the “loss and damage” caused by climate change impacts.

A cascade of climate-driven extremes in recent months — from floods in Pakistan and Nigeria to heatwaves and droughts across the world — have shone a spotlight on the ferocious impacts of a warming world for developing nations that are also struggling with debts and surging inflation.

– ‘Not where we need to be’ –

But negotiations have been gridlocked by the issue, with developing countries unifying behind a call for COP27 to create a specific loss and damage fund — an idea that has faced reluctance from richer polluters wary of liability.

“We are not where we need to be in order to close this conference with tangible and robust outcomes,” said Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, late Thursday night as he urged delegates to act with “urgency”. 

In a proposal to delegates late Thursday, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said the European Union was open to the creation of a fund to help the most vulnerable countries, favouring a “mosaic” of options for providing money from a range of sources.

That would potentially include China and other nations that have become wealthier since they were listed as developing countries in 1992.

Earlier at the meeting, the 130-nation group known as G77+China issued a proposal to create the fund at the COP27 and agree on the nitty-gritty details at the next UN climate talks in Dubai in 2023.

A draft outline of positions on loss and damage published later Thursday included some key elements of the main proposals on the issue, providing a starting point for negotiations to begin in earnest.

– ‘Blame game’ –

With the two-week conference officially due to wrap up on Friday but little progress made on loss and damage by late Thursday, negotiators in Egypt said the talks would likely go into overtime. 

UN chief Antonio Guterres said there was “clearly a breakdown in trust” between developed and emerging economies, after returning to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik late Thursday from a meeting of G20 leaders in Indonesia.

Guterres called for an “ambitious and credible agreement” on loss and damage and financial support for vulnerable countries, including progress on an unmet pledge of $100 billion a year by 2020 from wealthy countries. 

“This is no time for finger pointing,” he said. “The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction.” 

Hong Kong is one of the world's largest markets for shark fin, which is often served as a soup at expensive banquets

Hong Kong’s controversial shark fin trade may face its biggest shakeup in years if conservationists get their way in securing tighter regulations at an international wildlife conference in Panama.

The city is one of the world’s largest markets for shark fin, which is viewed by many Chinese communities as a delicacy and often served as a soup at expensive banquets.

While domestic consumption has shrunk after years of activist campaigning, Hong Kong remains a vital trade hub for shark fins — both legal and illegal — headed for the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia.

“Last year, over 90 percent of shark fin imports in Hong Kong were re-exported, and a major market is mainland China,” said Loby Hau, oceans sustainability assistant manager at WWF-Hong Kong.

The city regulates its shark fin trade using an international treaty on endangered species, meaning certain types of fins must have export permits showing they were sustainably captured.

The latest meeting of the 184-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which began in Panama on Monday, may add protections for two major shark families.

Researchers say the proposals, if passed, will protect a huge number of shark species and place further pressure on Hong Kong’s law enforcement, which is already battling a surge in illicit shark fins.

Hong Kong seized 27.5 tonnes of legally regulated shark fins in 2021 and 29.5 tonnes the year before, a government spokesman told AFP. In 2019, the figure was just 6.5 tonnes.

– Tough enforcement –

Marine biologists estimate that upwards of 100 million sharks are killed each year, pushing vital apex predators towards extinction and ocean ecosystems to the brink of collapse.

The fins are usually sliced from their bodies and the animals thrown back into the sea where they suffer a slow death.

There are signs Hong Kong consumers have become more aware. 

A survey in 2009 found that 73 percent of respondents had eaten shark fin in the preceding year, but a decade later that number fell to 33 percent.

The government, major caterers and image-conscious brands have also been keen to bolster their environmentalist credentials by ditching shark fin from banquet menus.

But in Hong Kong’s “Dried Seafood Street”, where shops display shark fins behind glass like trophies, business remains steady.

“Fewer people want to buy shark fins nowadays, but we have our regulars, mostly the elderly,” said one shopkeeper who declined to be named, adding that her customers spend an average of HK$2,500 ($320) per catty (a measurement equal to 605 grams).

A nearby restaurant was offering a range of shark fin soups that maxed out at HK$980 per bowl.

It is hard to tell the level of compliance among import-export firms and retail vendors, according to Stan Shea, marine programme director for the BLOOM Association Hong Kong.

“As an ordinary citizen, the only thing you can do is ask the shopkeeper, ‘Are your fins legal?'” he told AFP. “(Sellers) are not required to label their goods and very few do.”

Once a piece of shark fin is skinned and processed, the only reliable way to check if it belonged to an endangered species is DNA analysis — which Shea and other researchers conducted in 2014.

More than 10 percent came from sharks regulated by CITES at the time. 

A more recent 2020-2021 study by Shark Guardian in Taiwan found half of shark fin traders were selling protected species. 

– Broad proposal –

Blue sharks — which industry representatives argue have stable populations — are the most commonly found among fin traders.

But that could change if a CITES proposal backed by more than 40 countries to regulate all species of requiem sharks is successful.

“If the proposal is passed, and assuming the market composition hasn’t changed since 2014, then 90 percent of shark fins on the market will need to have export permits,” Shea said.

Over the past five years, Hong Kong has prosecuted five people for importing endangered shark fin without a licence — an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a HK$10 million fine.

The government last year expanded the law on organised crime to cover wildlife smuggling, but no such prosecutions have taken place.

Hau, of WWF-Hong Kong, called on authorities to conduct more inspections and impose mandatory record-keeping for shark fin vendors.

“If this Panama conference adds more species to (CITES regulations), the government should pay close attention,” he told AFP. 

“Wildlife smuggling has become very systematic and organised, so investigations need to be dialled up.”

Farmer Jesus Chaviano displays his coffee beans at his plantation in Jibacoa, Villa Clara province, Cuba

In the lush, fertile mountains of Cuba, farmer Jesus Chaviano dreams of adding his arabica beans to a list of specialty coffees the country hopes will lift an industry in decline.

It’s harvest time on Chaviano’s eight-hectare (20-acre) plantation in the central Guamuaya mountain range, and his 42,000 coffee plants burst with ripe reddish fruit in the shadow of avocado and banana trees.

At 800 meters (2,600 feet) altitude, conditions are ideal for the eight varieties of high-quality arabica coffee beans he planted with his “own hands.”

While Cuba has been growing coffee for almost 300 years, it has never produced the specialty coffees beloved worldwide for their unique flavor profiles that come from careful cultivation in a specific terroir.

In the past two decades, the appeal of high-end coffee has soared, and so has its price on the international market.

“I think that needs to be the path we take: going after specialty coffees. Not large quantities… small batches that we can sell well,” said Chaviano, 46.

As the island catches on to the appeal of high-end coffee, the first five specialty coffees will be unveiled in December at the first-ever Cuba-Cafe producers fair, which is being held in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

The name and origins of the chosen coffees are being kept secret.

“We are taking the first concrete steps to add value to this coffee,” said Ramon Ramos, the scientific director of Cuba’s National Institute for Agroforestry Research. He added that “with the same production, the same yield, it will be sold at a much higher price.”

-‘It’s the future’-

According to Ramos, the price for 1,000 kilograms of commercial coffee varies between $4,000 and $5,000. Meanwhile, a kilogram of specialty coffee can sell for “up to $10,000.”

According to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) a coffee must score above 80 points on a 100-point scale to reach the required standard, after being evaluated by “a certified coffee taster.”

The final score will influence the price at which it is sold.

“It’s the future,” says Chaviano, who built his house in the middle of his plantation, in the style of the French colonists who fled Haiti in the 18th century and brought the culture of coffee cultivation to Cuba.

In 1960, Cuba produced more than 60,000 tonnes of coffee. Last year, this figure stood at only 11,500 tonnes, less than half of what is consumed locally.

According to official figures, only 1,365 tonnes were exported.

Experts say climate change — drastically reducing coffee-growing areas worldwide — is partly to blame for the drop in production.

In Cuba, the emigration of plantation workers has also impacted the industry.

“Why did the country once produce a lot of coffee, but now it can’t produce coffee?” asked Chaviano.

“I’m focused on doing it right and demonstrating that it’s possible to produce coffee, and quality coffee,” but “you have to put your heart into it,” he added.

In 2021, his yield was one tonne of coffee per hectare, four times the national average.

– ‘We can do it’-

Some 25 kilometers from his farm, researchers at the Jibacoa Agroforestry Research Station, have been tasked with training and providing technology to producers to improve their yields.

Director Ciro Sanchez, said the goal is to produce 30,000 tonnes of coffee by 2030.

To achieve this, the aim is to recover some plantations in areas affected by climate change, by planting more resistant varieties of coffee. Sanchez also wants to prioritize the growth of “high-quality arabica” in mountainous areas.

Chaviano is optimistic that one day his coffee will be one of the feted specialty brands being exported from Cuba.

“We can do it. We just need to work!” he said. 

The hammerhead shark is among creatures set to receive a higher protection status from a CITES conference in Panama

A global wildlife summit in Panama took an important step Thursday towards upgrading protection for sharks, the ancient ocean vertebrates targeted for their fins used in a status-symbol soup.

A committee voted to approve a proposal to include Requiem and Hammerhead sharks on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  

The appendix lists species that may not yet be threatened with extinction but may become so unless their trade is closely controlled.  

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), advocating for the sharks’ inclusion on the appendix, says the Requiem shark family makes up at least 70 percent of the fin trade.

According to Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society, “we are in the middle of a very large shark extinction crisis.” 

He said sharks, which are vital to the ocean’s ecosystem, are “the second most threatened vertebrate group on the planet.” 

Shark fins — which represent a market of some $500 million per year — can sell for about $1,000 a kilogram in East Asia for use in shark fin soup, a delicacy.  

The Requiem shark family includes species such as the Tiger shark, Silky shark and Grey Reef shark.  

Also before the CITES gathering underway in Panama City, is the inclusion on Appendix II of freshwater stingrays and Guitarfish, among other species. 

The conference is considering 52 proposals to amend protection levels for species that also include crocodiles, lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles and several species of plants and trees.

A final decision will be taken at the closing meeting of the CITES conference of parties (COP-19) on November 25.  

CITES, in force since 1975, regulates trade in some 36,000 species of plants and animals and provides mechanisms to help crack down on illegal commerce. 

It sanctions countries that break the rules. Its members are 183 countries and the European Union.

The hammerhead shark is among creatures set to receive a higher protection status from a CITES conference in Panama

A global wildlife summit in Panama took an important step Thursday towards upgrading protection for sharks, the ancient ocean vertebrates targeted for their fins used in a status-symbol soup.

A committee voted to approve a proposal to include Requiem and Hammerhead sharks on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  

The appendix lists species that may not yet be threatened with extinction but may become so unless their trade is closely controlled.  

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), advocating for the sharks’ inclusion on the appendix, says the Requiem shark family makes up at least 70 percent of the fin trade.

According to Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society, “we are in the middle of a very large shark extinction crisis.” 

He said sharks, which are vital to the ocean’s ecosystem, are “the second most threatened vertebrate group on the planet.” 

Shark fins — which represent a market of some $500 million per year — can sell for about $1,000 a kilogram in East Asia for use in shark fin soup, a delicacy.  

The Requiem shark family includes species such as the Tiger shark, Silky shark and Grey Reef shark.  

Also before the CITES gathering underway in Panama City, is the inclusion on Appendix II of freshwater stingrays and Guitarfish, among other species. 

The conference is considering 52 proposals to amend protection levels for species that also include crocodiles, lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles and several species of plants and trees.

A final decision will be taken at the closing meeting of the CITES conference of parties (COP-19) on November 25.  

CITES, in force since 1975, regulates trade in some 36,000 species of plants and animals and provides mechanisms to help crack down on illegal commerce. 

It sanctions countries that break the rules. Its members are 183 countries and the European Union.

Protesters demand the world stick to the target of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged rich and developing nations to stop the “finger pointing” at deadlocked climate talks on Thursday and reach a deal on covering the losses suffered by vulnerable countries battered by weather disasters.

With the two-week COP27 conference in Egypt officially due to wrap up on Friday, negotiators faced a long night as they scrambled to find a compromise over the contentious issue of “loss and damage” and prevent the talks from collapsing.

Guterres said there was “clearly a breakdown in trust” between developed and emerging economies, adding that the most effective way to build confidence would be to find an “ambitious and credible agreement” on loss and damage and financial support for vulnerable countries.

“This is no time for finger pointing. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction,” he said, after flying back to Egypt from Bali where he had attended a G20 leaders meeting.

“The time for talking on loss and damage finance is over — we need action.” 

Developing nations least responsible for global emissions are pushing rich polluters to agree at COP27 on the creation of a fund to compensate countries facing huge losses from climate impacts.

After dragging their feet over loss and damage over concerns it would leave rich nations legally exposed to open-ended demands for compensation, the United States and European Union somewhat softened their position by agreeing to discuss the issue at COP27.

Hours after Guterres’s intervention, Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, urged delegates to approach the last hours of talks with “urgency”.

“We are not where we need to be in order to close this conference with tangible and robust outcomes,” he said at a session late Thursday.   

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans proposed the establishment of a “loss and damage response fund for the most vulnerable countries” as a compromise.

But he also said that the funding should come from a “broad donor base” — code for China, the world’s top polluter and second biggest economy, to participate.

– US silence –

An earlier proposal from China and some 130 developing nations — known as G77+China — limits the donor base to a list of two-dozen rich nations drawn up in 1992.

Timmermans has said that countries such as China, which were poorer 30 years ago, should not be left “off the hook” now that they have grown wealthier.

The G77+China proposal also says the fund would be used to assist “developing nations” in broader terms than the EU’s proposal.

“For us, the success of COP27 depends on what we get on loss and damage,” G77+China lead negotiator Nabeel Munir of Pakistan said after Timmermans spoke.

The United States, the world’s second biggest carbon emitter, did not address the open meeting while a Chinese representative did not directly mention loss and damage in his intervention.

A draft text published later on the COP27 website included some of the language in both proposals, without going into details into who would have to pay into the fund.

Earlier, Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island of Vanuatu, warned that walking out of the talks “was discussed as an option” if developing nations come away empty handed.

“We are out of time and we are out of money and we are out of patience,” he said at a news conference.

Protests held within the conference compound have sought to keep up the pressure on delegates, with small but vocal crowds of demonstrators chanting: “What do we want? Climate justice!” 

– ‘The clock is ticking’ –

The deadlock on loss and damage is holding up agreement on a broad range of issues that nations are hoping to address at COP27.

Developed countries want countries to reaffirm their commitment to meeting the aspirational goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a tough target as CO2 emissions are expected to hit an all-time high this year.

Timmermans said that for the EU, the 1.5C target and loss and damage “are two sides of the same coin”.

“We sincerely hope that by this offer that we are making tonight, we can bring parties closer together because we believe it is urgent that we show to all our constituents that we want this COP to succeed,” he said.

Developing nations have also sought assurances at COP27 that rich countries will finally fulfil promises to provide $100 billion a year to help them green their economies and adapt to future impacts.

“The climate clock is ticking, and trust keeps eroding,” Guterres said. 

“The parties at COP27 have a chance to make a difference –- here and now. I urge them to act — and act quickly.”

Two of the farthest galaxies seen to date of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744 are seen in a handout image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) released by NASA and STScl

The first galaxies may have formed far earlier than previously thought, according to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope that are reshaping astronomers’ understanding of the early universe.

Researchers using the powerful observatory have now published papers in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, documenting two exceptionally bright, exceptionally distant galaxies, based on data gathered within the first few days of Webb going operational in July.

Their extreme luminosity points to two intriguing possibilities, astronomers on a NASA press call said Thursday.

The first is that these galaxies are very massive, with lots of low-mass stars like galaxies today, and had to start forming 100 million years after the Big Bang which occurred 13.8 billion years ago. 

That is 100 million years earlier than the currently held end of the so-called cosmic dark age, when the universe contained only gas and dark matter.

A second possibility is that they are made up of “Population III” stars, which have never been observed but are theorized to have been made of only helium and hydrogen, before heavier elements existed. 

Because these stars burned so brightly at extreme temperatures, galaxies made of them would not need to be as massive to account for the brightness seen by Webb, and could have started forming later.

“We are seeing such bright, such luminous galaxies at this early time, that we’re really uncertain about what is happening here,” Garth Illingworth of the University of California at Santa Cruz told reporters.

The galaxies’ rapid discovery also defied expectations that Webb would need to survey a much larger volume of space to find such galaxies. 

“It’s sort of a bit of a surprise that there are so many that formed so early,” added astrophysicist Jeyhan Kartaltepe of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

– Most distant starlight –

The two galaxies were found to have definitely existed approximately 450 and 350 million years after the Big Bang.

The second of these, called GLASS-z12, now represents the most distant starlight ever seen.

The more distant objects are from us, the longer it takes for their light to reach us, and so to gaze at the distant universe is to see into the deep past.

As these galaxies are so distant from Earth, by the time their light reaches us, it has been stretched by the expansion of the universe and shifted to the infrared region of the light spectrum. 

Webb can detect infrared light at a far higher resolution than any instrument before it.

Illingworth, who co-authored the paper on GLASS-z12, told AFP disentangling the two competing hypotheses would be a “real challenge,” though the Population III idea was more appealing to him, as it would not require upending existing cosmological models.

Teams are hoping to soon use Webb’s powerful spectrograph instruments — which analyze the light from objects to reveal their detailed properties —  to confirm the galaxies’ distance, and better understand their composition.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a ground telescope in northern Chile, might also be able to help in weighing the mass of the two galaxies, which would help decide between the two hypotheses. 

“JWST has opened up a new frontier, bringing us closer to understanding how it all began,” summed up Tommaso Treu of the University of California at Los Angeles, principal investigator on one of the Webb programs.