By Nathanael Johnson on Feb 19, 2021 at 6:45 am Get weekly climate politics updates from Grist

Palm oil is a dirty word for many environmentalists. Thousands of acres of forest, and the carbon-dense peat soils beneath, have gone up in flames, clearing the way for rows of oil palm trees. For decades, governments of Southeast Asia gave agricultural companies the rights to develop vast swathes of forest, and those companies turned wilderness into plantations as fast as they could.

That was the depressing story since the 1990s, but things have recently changed for the better. In areas dominated by the palm-oil industry, deforestation has plummeted. Plantation owners used to burn and cut an area the size of Yosemite National Park every year, but they leveled less than a fifth of that in 2020, according to the latest analysis by the supply-chain watching nonprofit, Chain Reaction Research. And this isn’t just a statistical blip. “This is the fourth straight year that palm-oil deforestation has been at a fraction of historic levels, and trending down,” said Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of the environmental nonprofit, Mighty Earth.

Continue reading “How to stop runaway deforestation? Look at Indonesia.”

text by Damian Wilson via RT. illustrations added shared with thanks

Millions of Spaniards still remember life under fascism. Now, with lockdown’s limits on freedom compounded by the erosion of free speech under Franco-style laws, as seen by Pablo Hasél’s jailing, a new generation is fighting back.

Riots that played out across Spain for the third night in a row over the jailing of rapper Pablo Hasél show a growing appetite for dissent, and are further proof that the shadow of former dictator Francisco Franco – dead for nearly 50 years now – has cast a long shadow.

In a scene recalling the repression of the White Terror years of Spain’s civil war in the 1930s, as he was led away from his holding cell, Hasél cried, “It is the fascist state that is arresting me. Death to the fascist state!”

Continue reading “Spanish riots escalate: free speech crackdown and rapper’s jailing reveal struggle to escape Franco’s legacy”

From Antiwar.com Home By Dave DeCamp

The US war state has no right to continue it’s military occupation in Iraq, against the wishes of the Iraqi people. It doesn’t even need the oil..

On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance is increasing its military presence in Iraq.

“The size of our mission will increase from 500 personnel to around 4,000 and training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg said after a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers.

NATO describes its presence in Iraq as a “security training mission.” Stoltenberg said the alliance’s presence “is conditions-based and increases in troop numbers will be incremental.”

 

Continue reading “NATO Increasing Troops in Iraq From 500 to 4,000”

via Anarchist News from CrimethInc. shared with thanks

Anarchists and punks in Belo Horizonte in the 1990s: “Love doesn’t follow rules—Viva sexual liberty!—Punks against homophobia.”

In the following interview, two longtime anarcho-punks recount the reemergence of anarchism in Brazil after the end of the military dictatorship, trace the fortunes of social movements through the rise and fall of the left Workers Party government, and describe the situation for Indigenous peoples and Indigenous solidarity efforts under the far-right Bolsonaro regime today.

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Andreza and Josimas have been involved in anarchism and activism for several decades—playing in bands, organizing events, and releasing records and zines and books. Josimas was one of the people who founded Germinal (2000) and Andreza participated in founding Espaço Impróprio (2003), two important autonomous anarchist collectives in São Paulo.

Josimas has played in the bands Execradores, Metropolixo, Clangor, Diskontroll, and Amor, protesto e ódio. Andreza has played in Skirt, One Day Kills, Out of Season, and Retórica. In addition, they have played together in Você Tem que Desistir and TuNa.

Their current projects include Semente Negra (“Black Seed”), an ecological project in the Atlantic rainforest and the location of Cultive Resistência (“Cultivate Resistance”), a collective promoting do-it-yourself culture, permaculture, anarchism, punk, feminism, anti-racism, veganism, LGBTQIA+ issues, and Indigenous rights;

Continue reading “From Punk to Indigenous Solidarity: Four Decades of Anarchism in Brazil”

By UNDP https://www.modernghana.com/news/1061278/empowering-women-in-climate-action-with-alternativ.html shared with thanks

Like many people in rural communities in Ghana, Mali Yakubu and her family in Tampion in the Northern Region are not able to farm during the dry season. This situation is deteriorating as agriculture is a climate-sensitive sector and the Northern zone of Ghana is more impacted by climate change.

Subsistence female farmers like Mali often bear much of the brunt of climate change impacts—drought, desertification, erosion and flooding, because they are mostly at the frontline, striving to feed their families. Due to limited access and control of resources such as irrigation facilities, land and technology, and limited income opportunities, women like Mali are struggling to adapt.

Continue reading “Empowering women in climate action with alternative livelihood options”