AFP UK

Haiti has seen more than 1,200 confirmed cases of cholera

Climate change is fuelling a global cholera upsurge, the WHO said Friday, warning the situation was compounded by vaccine shortages and will only worsen unless it is stamped out soon.

The World Health Organization is responding to cholera outbreaks in 29 countries, including Haiti, which has more than 1,200 confirmed cases, more than 14,000 suspected cases and more than 280 reported deaths.

This week, Haiti received almost 1.2 million doses of oral cholera vaccines.

But the WHO said that vaccine stockpiles were extremely low — and that manufacturers were not enthusiastic about producing a vaccine chiefly aimed at some of the poorest countries in the world.

“If we don’t control the outbreak now, the situation will get worse and worse,” Philippe Barboza, the WHO’s team lead on cholera, told reporters in Geneva.

He said fatality rates are extremely high for most of the countries for which the UN health agency has data.

Cholera is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.

It causes diarrhoea and vomiting, and can be especially dangerous for young children.

“The factors which drive cholera are still the same: poverty, vulnerability and people who do not have access to clean water,” Barboza said.

These are amplified by conflict, humanitarian crises and natural disasters, which reduce access to drinking water.

– Vaccine shortage –

“But this year, we have a factor which is even more important: the direct impact of climate change, with a succession of major droughts, unprecedented floods in certain parts of the world, and cyclones which have amplified most of these epidemics,” he said.

Barboza said that while there had been big epidemics in certain countries before, they had not happened simultaneously, as now.

Although cholera can kill within hours, it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, and antibiotics for more severe cases.

But many people lack timely access to such treatment.

Outbreaks can be prevented by ensuring access to clean water and improving surveillance.

“It is not acceptable in the 21st century to have people dying of a disease which is very well-known and very easy to treat,” said Barboza.

Around 36 million cholera vaccine doses were produced this year.

Barboza said that making these doses was not very attractive to manufacturers as it is “a vaccine for poor countries”.

But he insisted that the mortality rate could be reduced by prioritising timely access to medical aid.

“The fight against cholera is not lost. We can win it,” he said.

More than 60 people had been found safe, authorities said, after the landslide near the town of Batang Kali, just outside the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur

Nearly 20 people, including four children, were killed when a landslide struck a campsite at a Malaysian farm on Friday, officials said, with rescuers scouring the muddy terrain for those still missing.

“The total is 19 people (dead),” Norazam Khamis, director of the Selangor state fire and rescue department, told reporters.

Two of the victims were “believed to be a mother and her child in a state of embrace buried under the earth”, he said, adding that 14 people were still missing.

According to Nga Kor Ming, the local government development minister, 61 people so far have been found safe after the predawn landslide near the town of Batang Kali, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur and near a mountain casino resort.

Veronica Loi, who was camping at the site overnight and survived the landslide, told AFP that her family was sleeping when they heard a sudden, loud sound. 

“We saw the tent beside us was totally gone,” she said.

Hundreds of government personnel including police and rescuers were seen at the gates leading to the campsite compound, while an excavator was seen entering the area from the main road. 

Authorities said rescue efforts would be on-going but if it rained, they would have to stop.

– ‘No licence’ –

The farm where the campsite was situated — “Father’s Organic Farm” — changed its Facebook profile picture to all black on Friday.

Nga said the “campsite is operating without a licence”, and that the operators would be punished if found guilty by the court.

Videos and photos circulating online showed large fallen trees and crushed vehicles, as well as search and rescue personnel wearing headlamps and digging with shovels, and searching for survivors by a fallen structure.

Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year. However, there were no heavy rains recorded overnight in Batang Kali.

The government has imposed strict rules with regards to hillside development, but landslides have continued to occur after bouts of bad weather.

In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

In one of the deadliest such incidents, a huge mudslide in 1993 brought on by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building outside the capital to collapse, killing 48 people.

More than 60 people had been found safe, authorities said, after the landslide near the town of Batang Kali, just outside the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur

At least 16 people were killed when a landslide struck a campsite at a Malaysian farm on Friday, officials said, with rescuers scouring the muddy terrain for nearly 20 people still missing.

Nor Hisham Mohammad, director of the operations division at the fire and rescue department, told reporters that “as of 1 pm (0500 GMT), 16 victims have died. The search now is focused on the remaining 17.”

According to Nga Kor Ming, the local government development minister, 61 people so far have been found safe after the predawn landslide near the town of Batang Kali, just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur and near a mountain casino resort.

Veronica Loi, who was camping at the site overnight and survived the landslide, told AFP that her family was sleeping when they heard a sudden, loud sound. 

“We saw the tent beside us was totally gone,” she said.

Hundreds of government personnel including police and rescuers were seen at the gates leading to the campsite compound, while an excavator was seen entering the area from the main road. 

The farm where the campsite was situated — “Father’s Organic Farm” — changed its Facebook profile picture to all black on Friday.

Nga said the “campsite is operating without a licence”, and that the operators would be punished if found guilty by the court.

Videos and photos circulating online showed large fallen trees and crushed vehicles, as well as search and rescue personnel wearing headlamps and digging with shovels, and searching for survivors by a fallen structure.

Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year. However, there were no heavy rains recorded overnight in Batang Kali.

The government has imposed strict rules with regards to hillside development, but landslides have continued to occur after bouts of bad weather.

In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

In one of the deadliest such incidents, a huge mudslide in 1993 brought on by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building outside the capital to collapse, killing 48 people.

Critics say the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam threatens the 'Volta Grande,' or Big Bend, in the Brazilian Amazon's Xingu river, a biodiversity hot spot whose fragile ecosystem depends on seasonal flooding

Holding a dead fish, Junior Pereira looks grimly at a puddle that used to be part of Brazil’s Xingu river, a mighty Amazon tributary that has been desiccated here by the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam.

Pereira, a member of the Pupekuri Indigenous group, chokes up talking about the impact of Belo Monte, the world’s fourth-biggest hydroelectric complex, which locals say is killing one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth and forcing them to abandon their way of life.

“Our culture is fishing, it’s the river. We’ve always lived on what the river provides,” says Pereira, 39, who looks like a man trapped between two worlds, wearing a traditional Indigenous necklace and a red baseball cap.

He gazes at the once-flooded landscape, which Belo Monte’s water diversion has made a patchwork of puddles dotted with stranded fish.

“We’ve lost our river,” he says.

“Now we have to buy food in the city.”

– ‘Like a permanent drought’ –

Stretching nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), the Xingu ebbs and flows with the rainy season, creating vast “igapos,” or flooded forests, that are crucial to huge numbers of species.

They are also crucial to an estimated 25,000 Indigenous people and others who live along the river.

Belo Monte diverts a 100-kilometer stretch of the Xingu’s “Volta Grande,” or Big Bend, in the northern county of Altamira to power a hydroelectric dam with a capacity of 11,233 megawatts — 6.2 percent of the total electricity capacity of Latin America’s biggest economy.

Built for an estimated 40 billion reais ($7.5 billion) and inaugurated in 2016, the dam diverts up to 80 percent of the river’s water, which scientists, environmentalists and residents say is disastrous for this unique ecosystem.

“The dam broke the river’s flood pulse. Upstream, it’s like it’s always flooded. Downstream, it’s like a permanent drought,” says Andre Oliveira Sawakuchi, a geoscientist at the University of Sao Paulo.

That is devastating fish and turtle populations whose feeding and reproduction cycles depend on the igapos, he says.

Sitting by the Xingu’s breathtaking Jericoa waterfalls, which the Juruna people consider sacred, Indigenous leader Giliarde Juruna describes the situation as a clash of worldviews.

“Progress for us is having the forest, the animals, the rivers the way God made them. The progress white people believe in is totally different,” says Juruna, 40.

“They think they’re doing good with this project, but they’re destroying nature and hurting people, including themselves.”

– Lula under scrutiny –

Proposed in the 1970s, Belo Monte was authorized under ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) — who just won a new term in Brazil’s October elections.

As Lula, 77, prepares to take office again on January 1, the project is drawing fresh scrutiny from those hoping the veteran leftist will fulfill his promise to do a better job protecting the Amazon than outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, who presided over a surge in deforestation.

Touted as a clean-energy source and engine of economic development, Belo Monte has not exactly lived up to expectations.

According to the company that operates it, Norte Energia, the dam’s average output this year has been 4,212 megawatts — less than half its capacity.

A recent study meanwhile found its operations tripled the region’s greenhouse gas emissions — mainly methane released by decomposing forest that was killed by the flooding of the dam reservoir.

– A new plan –

In 2015, researchers from the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) conservation group teamed up with the Juruna to document the devastation.

They have devised a new, less-disruptive way for Belo Monte to manage water, the “Piracema” plan — named for the period when fish swim upriver to spawn.

Researchers say the plan is a relatively small tweak to the dam’s current water usage, adapting it to the natural flood cycles. 

Brazil’s environmental regulator is due to rule soon whether to order Norte Energia to adopt it.

The company declined to comment on the proposal, saying in a statement to AFP that it instead “recognizes the plan established in the plant’s environmental licensing.”

The decision is vital, says biologist Camila Ribas of the federal government’s National Institute for Amazon Research.

“When you completely alter the flood cycle, forests die,” she says.

“These are incredibly intricate, interlinked systems. If Belo Monte and other hydroelectric projects disrupt them too much, it could spell the end of the Amazon.”

"A brilliant Canadian artist, Joni Mitchell, sent us a message in a song — that we have 'paved paradise and put up a parking lot,'" said Canada's environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, a former environmental activist

The world’s environment ministers began the final phase of crunch talks at a UN summit in Montreal on Thursday aimed at sealing a historic “peace pact with nature.” 

New international funding commitments from some wealthy donor countries could help lift the mood after negotiations appeared to be in trouble, though significant work is still needed to drag the deal across the finish line.

At stake is the future of the planet and whether humanity can roll back habitat destruction, pollution and the climate crisis, which are threatening an estimated million plant and animal species with extinction.

The thorny issue of how much money the rich nations will pay lower income countries to preserve their ecosystems is perhaps the biggest sticking point.

But the matter received a boost Thursday after Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United States all announced increased pledges, joining Germany, France, the EU, the United Kingdom and Canada who previously revised upward their commitments.

“This step forward is extremely important,” European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius told AFP.

“These new announcements and reminder of existing commitments are a good signal of the much-needed political will in Montreal,” said Claire Blanchard, head of global advocacy at WWF International.

– Long way to go –

But it isn’t clear the new promises will be enough to satisfy countries of the Global South, home to most of the world’s remaining biodiversity.

Dozens of nations, including Brazil, India, Indonesia and many African countries are seeking much more ambitious funding of $100 billion yearly, or one percent of global GDP, until 2030 — compared to the current figure of around $10 billion.

Developing countries also want a new global biodiversity fund (GBF) to help them meet their goals, for example by setting up protected areas.

But rich countries are opposed — and propose instead making existing financial mechanisms more accessible. The disagreement triggered a temporary walkout earlier.

“Funding proposals put forth by developing countries to generate new and additional funding dedicated specifically to biodiversity-related initiatives need to be taken seriously,” Jorge Viana, representing Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, wrote in a letter.

He added the impasse could yet tank a possible deal.

“The idea, which is quite condescending, is the Global North thinking that they are doing the Global South a favor by providing money,” Joseph Onoja of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation told AFP.

– 30 by 30 –

Other draft targets include a cornerstone pledge to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and seas by 2030, reducing environmentally destructive subsidies, and how poor countries should be compensated for the exploitation of their natural resources, whose genetic information is stored in digital libraries.

“We must work together to promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a video message that opened the high-level segment involving 200 ministerial-level delegates.

China is chairing the summit, known as COP15, but is not hosting because of its strict Covid rules, leaving Canada to step in and hold the meeting in Montreal, one of North America’s coldest cities, in deep winter.

“A brilliant Canadian artist, Joni Mitchell, sent us a message in a song — that we have ‘Paved paradise and put up a parking lot,'” said Canada’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, who was nicknamed “Green Jesus” during his days as an activist.

“We listened to her music and sang along but didn’t really understand her message. We must live in harmony with nature, not try and dominate it,” he added.

Beyond the moral implications, there is the question of self-interest: $44 trillion of economic value generation — more than half the world’s total GDP — is dependent on nature and its services.

A video grab from a NASA feed shows a coolant leak from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft

Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.

The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially impact a return flight to Earth by three crew members.

Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and the US space agency said the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS.

“The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak,” NASA said.

It said ground teams were evaluating “potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”

“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action,” NASA said.

The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak may have been caused by a tiny meteorite striking Soyuz MS-22.

“The cause of the leak may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”

“No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” Krikalev said.

– Coolant pressure drop –

NASA later added that the crew on the station “completed normal operations Thursday, including… configuring tools ahead of a planned US spacewalk on Monday.”

Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.

It is scheduled to bring them back to Earth in March and another vessel would have to be sent to the ISS if Soyuz MS-22 is unavailable.

Prokopyev and Petelin had been making preparations for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was discovered.

“The crew reported the warning device of the ship’s diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system,” Roscosmos said. “At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating normally, the crew is safe.”

NASA said the leak had occurred on the “aft end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is secured to the space station.

There are currently four other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.

NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the ISS in October aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the two countries.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

A wild giraffe grazes next to a quarantine area for elephant calves at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in drought-hit Samburu, Kenya in October 2022

The United States is committing support to promote sustainable safaris in Africa, hoping to prevent environmental destruction as the tourism sector recovers, officials said Thursday.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) made the announcement at a three-day summit that brought nearly 50 African leaders in Washington.

The nascent Africa Conservation and Communities Tourism Fund, led by investors and conservationists, aims to raise $75 million to fund safari operators across the continent.

USAID said it was committing $2.5 million to reduce risks and jumpstart the fund, which it estimated would benefit 44,000 people.

The fund will work with safari operators in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.

A notice on the project earlier this year by advisors Impact Align said that ecotourism operators had been devastated by Covid-19, which shut down international travel.

“The fate of millions of acres of wildlands and wildlife hangs in the balance,” it said.

“If operators fail to financially recover, once protected wildlands will be at high risk of destruction which would worsen planetary health, exacerbate climate change and deprive local communities of employment and management opportunities.”

The United States during the summit has laid out some $55 billion in funding over the next several years including to improve health infrastructure, promote green energy and stave off hunger.

TC Energy restarted a portion of the Keystone Pipeline, but the part of the pipeline where the oil spill occurred was still off line

Canada’s TC Energy has restarted a portion of the Keystone Pipeline, which was shut down last week following a large spill of heavy crude oil in Kansas.

The company on Wednesday night resumed the flow of diluted bitumen, a heavy crude oil, from Hardisty, Alberta to Wood River/Patoka, Illinois, TC Energy said on its website.

The southern portion of the pipeline — which extends to Texas and includes Washington, Kansas where authorities are attempting to limit the spill’s environmental damage — remains off line.

The restored portion pipeline will operate at “reduced capacity,” said TC Energy. 

“We continue to progress our response and oil recovery effort,” the company said.

TC Energy said it has recovered 3,035 barrels of oil from the creek. The initial estimated spill volume was 14,000 barrels, said an order from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

A total of 414 personnel reported to the oil spill site on Wednesday, including emergency staff from TC Energy and state and federal agencies, according to an Environmental Protection Agency news release.

EPA said that there were four deceased mammals recovered from the site, along with 71 fish.

A video grab from a NASA feed shows a coolant leak from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft

Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially impact a return flight to Earth by three crew members.

Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and the US space agency said the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS.

“The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak,” NASA said.

It said ground teams were evaluating “the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”

“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action following the ongoing analysis,” NASA said.

The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak may have been caused by a tiny meteorite striking Soyuz MS-22.

“The cause of the leak may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”

“No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” Krikalev said.

Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.

It is scheduled to bring them back to Earth in March and another vessel would have to be sent to the ISS if Soyuz MS-22 is unavailable.

Prokopyev and Petelin had been making preparations for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was discovered.

“The crew reported the warning device of the ship’s diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system,” Roscosmos said. “At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating normally, the crew is safe.”

– White particles –

NASA said the leak had occurred on the “aft end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is secured to the space station.

Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.

There are currently four other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.

NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the ISS in October aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the two countries.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

The International Space Station photographed from a Soyuz spacecraft in November 2018

Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially impact a return flight to Earth by three crew members.

Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and the US space agency said the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS.

“The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak,” NASA said.

It said ground teams were evaluating “the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”

“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action following the ongoing analysis,” NASA said.

The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak may have been caused by a micrometeorite striking Soyuz MS-22.

“The cause of the leak may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”

“No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” Krikalev said.

Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.

It is scheduled to bring them back to Earth in March and another vessel would have to be sent to the ISS if Soyuz MS-22 is unavailable.

Prokopyev and Petelin had been making preparations for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was discovered.

“The crew reported the warning device of the ship’s diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system,” Roscosmos said. “At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating normally, the crew is safe.”

– White particles –

NASA said the leak had occurred on the “aft end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is secured to the ISS.

Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.

There are currently four other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.

NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the ISS in October aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the two countries.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.