More than 260 Chinese fishing boats are just outside the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands. Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 4.0
Ecuador authorities are keeping tabs on a fleet of roughly 260 fishing boats near the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ecuadorian boats are patrolling to try to stop the fishing boats from entering the area, according to Reuters.
<p>The ships are just outside the perimeter of the 188-mile-wide economic zone. "This fleet's size and aggressiveness against marine species is a big threat to the balance of species in the Galápagos," Yolanda Kakabadse, former environment minister told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/chinese-fishing-vessels-galapagos-islands" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Chinese vessels travel to the region each year in search of marine species, including endangered hammerhead sharks.</p><p>"Unchecked Chinese fishing just on the edge of the protected zone is ruining Ecuador's efforts to protect marine life in the Galápagos," Roque Sevilla told The Guardian.</p>
<p>Sevilla, former mayor of Ecuador's capital, Quito, was tasked with designing a "protection strategy" for the islands, which lie 563 miles west of the South American mainland. He said the first step would be diplomatic efforts requesting the withdrawal of the Chinese fishing fleet.</p><p>Past Chinese fleets have violated international boundaries to capture marine life. In 2017, a Chinese vessel was caught in the marine reserve with 300 metric tons of wildlife, mostly consisting of sharks, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53562439" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>"We are on alert, [conducting] surveillance, patrolling to avoid an incident such as what happened in 2017," Ecuadorean Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin told reporters, the BBC reported.</p>
<p><br>So far, the Chinese fishing boats have stayed in international waters, Reuters reported.<br></p><p>In a series of <a href="https://twitter.com/Lenin/status/1287147353951162368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287147353951162368%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Fgalapagos-islands-protection-strategy-set-up-after-hundreds-of-chinese-fishing-vessels-spotted-nearby-12037768" target="_blank">tweets</a>, Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, used #SOSGalapagos to draw attention to the boats surrounding the protected islands. He described the islands as "one of the richest fishing areas and a hotbed of life for the entire planet," SkyNews reported.</p><p>BBC reported that Moreno plans to hold consultations with Colombia, Peru, Chile, Panama and Costa Rica in order to confront the threat.</p><p>Kakabadse told The Guardian that Ecuador will also try extending the economic zone to a 350-mile circumference around the islands in order to connect with the mainland's economic zone, effectively closing off the international water corridor where the Chinese fleet is currently located.</p>
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At least 27 states have warned their residents not to plant any seeds they receive from mysterious, unsolicited packages that appear to have been sent from China. Washington State Department of Agriculture / Twitter
At least 27 states have warned their residents not to plant any seeds they receive from mysterious, unsolicited packages that appear to have been sent from China, The New York Times reported Sunday.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture" target="_self">Agriculture</a> officials also told anyone who received one of the packages to alert authorities. They are worried the seeds could harm the environment by introducing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/invasive-species" target="_self">invasive species</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insect</a> pests or diseases.</p><p>"Invasive species wreak havoc on the environment, displace or destroy native <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plants" target="_self">plants</a> and insects and severely damage crops," the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in a news release Friday, as <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/27/us/unsolicited-seed-packages-china-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"Taking steps to prevent their introduction is the most effective method of reducing both the risk of invasive species infestations and the cost to control and mitigate those infestations."</p>
<div id="85bd5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e1f0df779b03596cd02d1e104d2ad755"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1287748788292071425" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VDACS urges #Virginia residents who have received unsolicited seed packets from #China not to plant the seeds & con… https://t.co/K58ogfefc1</div> — VDACS (@VDACS)<a href="https://twitter.com/VaAgriculture/statuses/1287748788292071425">1595858211.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The seed packages have been mailed to people in several states. Photos shared online by agricultural departments show they come in white or yellow packaging and have Chinese characters and the words "China Post" on the outside, according to The New York Times. Several packages falsely claimed to contain jewelry. Some reported in Louisiana claimed to contain ear buds or toys, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry said.</p><p>It is not yet clear why the seeds were sent.</p><p>"At this point in time, we don't have enough information to know if this is a hoax, a prank, an internet scam or an act of agricultural bio-terrorism," Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said, as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/seeds-from-china-mysterious-seed-landing-american-mail-boxes-usda-investigating-do-not-plant/#app" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>. "Unsolicited seeds could be invasive and introduce unknown diseases to local plants, harm livestock or threaten our environment."</p>
<p>The police department in Whitehouse, Ohio said the seeds appeared to be linked to an internet scam called "brushing," in which online vendors send cheap, unsolicited items and then write positive reviews on the part of the receiver in order to boost their business.</p><p>"Although not directly dangerous, we would still prefer that people contact us to properly dispose of the seeds," the police wrote on <a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1543895642438424&id=283704898457511" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investigating the situation and also said there was no evidence the seeds were sent for any purpose besides a brushing scam.</p><p>"USDA is currently collecting seed packages from recipients and will test their contents and determine if they contain anything that could be of concern to U.S. agriculture or the environment," the department said in a <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa-2020/sa-07/seeds-china" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
<div id="9412a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="960da07b2951c6e7b73b4858287d7f5c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1287839378274836481" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#APHIS is working closely with @CBP and State Depts of Ag re: unrequested seeds. If received, pls contact State Dep… https://t.co/xjivlSAR1P</div> — USDA APHIS (@USDA APHIS)<a href="https://twitter.com/USDA_APHIS/statuses/1287839378274836481">1595879809.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In addition to Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio, agricultural departments have issued warnings about the packages in Washington State, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Florida, Kansas and Alabama, according to The New York Times. People also received the seeds in Utah and Arizona, according to local news reports. Officials in Arkansas, Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon also put out warnings about the packages but did not say if any of their residents had received them.</p><p>Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the country's postal service had asked for the packages to be sent back to China for further investigation, but that their records appeared to have been falsified, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-seeds-idUSKCN24S2OM" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. Wenbin said the Chinese postal service worked to follow the rules for sending seeds.</p>
<p>Seeds imported into the U.S. for the first time usually follow a strict procedure overseen by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Penn State University plant pathology expert professor Carolee Bull told The New York Times.</p><p>"Say that when I import seed into the country that has not been here before — wheat seed, for example — I know they'll bring it in and they'll actually grow it out at the A.P.H.I.S. facility to check it for disease," she said.</p><p>But, in the case of the mysterious seeds, that hasn't happened.</p><p>"The reason that people are concerned is — especially if the seed is the seed of a similar crop that is grown for income and food, or food for animals — that there may be plant pathogens or insects that are harbored in the seed," Bull said.</p>
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Local women water newly planted saxaul in the desert at Mingqin county on March 27th, 2019 in Wuwei, Gansu Province, China. The trees were planted as part of Ant Forest, a green initiative on the Alipay app. Wang HE / Getty Images
By Harry Kretchmer
Since its launch in 2016, over half a billion people have used Ant Forest to convert lower-carbon activities such as using public transport into real trees.
<p>The game is helping China <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144540/china-and-india-lead-the-way-in-greening" target="_blank">lead the way</a> in re-greening the planet and is serving as a model for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tree-planting">tree-planting</a> schemes elsewhere.</p><p>It's the kind of innovation the World Economic Forum is seeking through <a href="https://www.weforum.org/uplink" target="_blank">UpLink</a>, a platform for crowdsourcing sustainable development solutions to challenges including how to plant <a href="https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a002o00000vOf09AAC/trillion-trees" target="_blank">a trillion trees.</a></p>
<h3>The Ant Forest Model</h3><p>"Ant Forest taps into the best of human ingenuity and innovation to create a better world," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme – which in 2019 gave <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/chinese-initiative-ant-forest-wins-un-champions-earth-award" target="_blank">the project the UN's top environmental award</a>.</p><p>So how does it work?</p><p>To start with, Ant Forest has plenty of potential players, being part of China's Alipay mobile payments app, which is used by more than a billion people.</p><p>Each time a user performs a lower-carbon activity, such as paying a utility bill online or cycling to work, they are rewarded with "green energy points."</p><p>However, rather than immediately spending those points on a real tree, Ant Forest turns its users <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-06-25/the-chinese-gaming-app-that-lets-users-plant-real-trees-video" target="_blank">into game players</a>. The green energy points "grow" into a virtual tree on the user's app. And users can share green energy with friends and see how their virtual forests compare with others.</p><p>For every virtual tree grown, Ant Forest donates – and plants – a real one. And this gamification has had real-world impacts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUwMzEzNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDgxNTEwMn0.KkxASSTCUOVTTgBQJ5ZYi8ccAvOlPRYHntlcE02um8Q/img.png?width=980" id="93ade" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4cb6504d3b3d13bbbf2f4d1e0900dd3b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The world is getting greener, with China and India leading the way. NASA / Nature Sustainability
<h3>A Greening China</h3><p>According to a study in Nature Sustainability, NASA satellites have revealed a 5% increase in global green leaf cover since the early 2000s – <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0220-7" target="_blank">with China leading that growth</a>.</p><p>While a third of Chinese greening is due to the expansion of agriculture, <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144540/china-and-india-lead-the-way-in-greening" target="_blank">42% comes from projects to plant forests</a>. According to the UN, Ant Forest has become the country's largest private sector tree-planting scheme – so the game is a big part of China's greening.</p><p>And the locations for planting are ambitious: arid areas of Northern China like parts of Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shanxi. Many of the 122 million Ant Forest trees have been planted in areas that have become deserts.</p><p>There has been some criticism. In 2019, the journal <em>Nature</em> reported concerns that holding back deserts with trees <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02789-w" target="_blank">could put pressure on water supplies</a>. Scientists in China responded that local conditions are taken into account. <a href="https://medium.com/alipay-and-the-world/alipay-gallery-ant-forest-tree-planting-spring-2019-dc4e0578cc7c" target="_blank">Drought-resistant varieties, such as the "saxaul" shrub,</a> are used by Ant Forest.</p><p>The project is certainly ambitious. In 2019, Alipay's parent company, Ant Financial Group, said the trees covered some 112,000 hectares. And there are sizable spillover benefits, too.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bb7267189f67a13b4a39eefe23cd4297"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZHHlWUPoppM?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<h3>Environment and People</h3><p>The young trees maintain and repair eroded <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soils</a>, as well as reduce global CO2 levels.</p><p>Another major gain from the project has been employment. Ant Financial Group said 400,000 job opportunities have been created through Ant Forest, many for local farmers.</p><p>But if the trees are donated by Ant Financial, why not simply plant the trees and cut out the virtual ones?</p><p>The reason, as the UN puts it, is "<a href="https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/planetary-health/alipay-ant-forest" target="_blank">significant behavioural change</a>." Gamification has encouraged millions of people to adopt lower-carbon lifestyles.</p><p>The success of the project has now led to <a href="https://www.gcash.com/gforest" target="_blank">a similar initiative in the Philippines</a>, launched by the mobile payments provider GCash.</p><p>The project is an encouraging step, according to the UN's Andersen.</p><p>"Although the environmental challenges we face are daunting," she said, "we have the technology and the knowledge to overcome them and fundamentally redesign how we interact with the planet."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/china-ant-forest-app-carbon-emissions-trees/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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‘Among the Most Ruinous Presidential Decisions in Recent History’: Trump Begins WHO Withdrawal
08 July
Health + Wellness
Trump sits during a meeting about safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic on July 7, 2020, in Washington, DC. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration began the formal process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), a White House official said Tuesday, even as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the country.
<p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> first began attacking the WHO's handling of the new coronavirus in April, when he made the decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-who-funding-coronavirus-2645722550.html" target="_self">halt funding</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts and Congresspeople from both sides of the aisle say leaving the organization will make Americans, and people around the world, less safe in the midst of a pandemic that has sickened more than 11 million people and killed more than 544,000, according to Wednesday morning <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">figures from Johns Hopkins University</a>.</p><p>Lawrence Gostin, who directs the WHO's Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, said the withdrawal was "among the most ruinous presidential decisions in recent history," according to a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-#link-7536f61f" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"It will make Americans less safe during an unprecedented global health crisis," Gostin, who cosigned a <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/letter-to-congress-on-who-withdrawal-from-public-health-law-and-international-relations-leaders/" target="_blank">letter</a> to Congress from 750 health and legal experts opposing withdrawal, said. "And it will significantly weaken U.S. influence on W.H.O. reform and international health diplomacy."</p>
<div id="9153d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2369a1a33aa73794a885ae5aaa19ad92"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280600975867289601" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Thread explains why US w/drawal from @WHO is unlawful & unethical, among most ruinous presidential decisions in his… https://t.co/BK4SsmPARP</div> — Lawrence Gostin (@Lawrence Gostin)<a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/statuses/1280600975867289601">1594154039.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump first announced he would pull the U.S. from the organization May 29, arguing that it had responded too slowly to the pandemic and was under the "total control" of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/07/07/888186158/trump-sets-date-to-end-who-membership-over-its-handling-of-virus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. But the organization issued its first warning about the new virus Jan. 4, just five days after the first announcement from local health authorities in Wuhan, China, The New York Times pointed out. It had completed a detailed report by the next day.</p><p>In order to withdraw from the WHO, the U.S. must pay any unpaid dues — which stood at $198 million as of June 30 — and give a year's notice, NPR explained. The UN confirmed to reporters that it had received that notice and was checking with the WHO if all the conditions for withdrawal had been met.</p><p>"On 6 July 2020, the United States of America notified the Secretary-General ... of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, effective on 6 July 2021," UN Secretary-General António Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric wrote in an email to reporters.</p>
<p>The yearlong delay means the withdrawal might not go into effect at all if Trump loses to Democratic rival and former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> in November's Presidential election.</p><p>"Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health," Biden tweeted in response to the news. "On my first day as President, I will rejoin the<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO" target="_blank"> @WHO</a> and restore our leadership on the world stage."</p>
<div id="bb485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb75831d048b6be5b5be8d58a106cd3e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280603719831359489" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will re… https://t.co/qNgyOKHOlE</div> — Joe Biden (@Joe Biden)<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/statuses/1280603719831359489">1594154693.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But it isn't only Democrats speaking out against Trump's withdrawal.</p><p>"I disagree with the president's decision," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-gives-formal-notice-withdrawal-who-n1233100" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. "Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it. Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States."</p><p>Public health experts agreed with Alexander's assessment of the risk. In their letter to Congress, the 750 health and legal experts wrote that, by leaving the organization, the U.S. would lose access to the WHO's system for sharing data and vaccines. The U.S. also contributes more funds than anywhere else to the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, which means withdrawal will cost the whole world funds for contact tracing and vaccine development.</p><p>The U.S. historically has contributed around 15 percent of the WHO's overall budget, or $450 million a year. Beyond COVID-19, that money helps fund programs fighting health concerns like polio, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.</p><p>"Pulling funding could reverse hard-won progress and erode the ability of the U.S. to shape and lead policy," the letter writers said.</p>
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The Yersinia pestis bacteria causes bubonic plague in animals and humans. Illustration based on light microscope image At 1000x. BSIP / UIG Via Getty Images
A herdsman in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia was diagnosed with the bubonic plague Sunday, The New York Times reported.
<p>The Bayannur city health commission confirmed the diagnosis and issued a third-level alert, the second from the bottom in a four-level system. Mongolian health authorities are also investigating a second suspected case involving a 15 year old who developed a fever after coming into contact with a marmot that had been hunted by a dog, China's Global Times tweeted.</p>
<div id="ca97d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0d3acda528ec4db7145434d4e65ab83"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280031821980303360" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Mongolia discovered another suspected patient infected with the bubonic plague. The 15-year-old patient had a feve… https://t.co/AHQBW0KH1X</div> — Global Times (@Global Times)<a href="https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/statuses/1280031821980303360">1594018342.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly," the local health authority said, according to <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/05/WS5f01d743a310834817257493.html" target="_blank">China Daily</a>.</p><p>The bubonic plague caused the Black Death that killed around 50 million people in Africa, Asia and Europe during the 14th century, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-china-53303457" target="_blank">BBC News</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts say it is unlikely to give the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> a run for its money as a global pandemic.</p><p>"Unlike in the 14th Century, we now have an understanding of how this disease is transmitted," Stanford Health Care infectious disease physician Dr. Shanti Kappagoda told Heathline, according to BBC News. "We know how to prevent it. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics."</p>
<p>Bubonic plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium which is spread from infected rodents to humans by fleas, according to The New York Times. In Inner Mongolia, the rodents in question are usually marmots, and the health alert put in place by Bayannur health officials warns against eating, hunting or transporting potentially infected animals and urges people to report diseased or dead rodents. The alert will remain in place till the end of the year, according to BBC News.</p><p>The plague can come in different forms, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/index.html" target="_blank">according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)</a>: bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic. The latter is consistently fatal if left untreated and can be spread person to person via respiratory droplets, according to The New York Times. The bubonic plague is fatal 30 to 60 percent of the time if not treated. Antibiotics can cure it if administered early.</p><p>Symptoms of bubonic plague include swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills and coughing, according to <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/06/asia/china-mongolia-bubonic-plague-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html?__twitter_impression=true" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Pneumonic plague infects the lungs.</p>
<p>The plague in both its forms is an example of how the exploitation of nature and the consumption of wild animals <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/nature-destruction-pandemics-2646191121.html" target="_self">can put humans at risk from deadly pathogens</a>. A 1911 pneumonic plague epidemic in northeast China, which killed around 63,000 people, is believed to have been spread by the trade in marmot fur. Last week, two brothers in Mongolia caught bubonic plague from marmot meat, and a couple in Mongolia died of the plague after eating marmot kidney last May.</p><p>Worldwide, the plague infects 1,000 to 2,000 people a year, according to World Health Organization data reported by CNN, though that is likely an underestimate.</p><p>An average of seven cases are reported every year in the U.S., <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/faq/index.html#cases" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>.</p>
<p class=""><em>Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that there are two forms of plague. There are actually different forms and three common ones, and the article has been updated to reflect this. The source of this information has also been modified.</em> </p>From Your Site Articles
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A Swine Flu in China Is Spreading to Humans With 'Pandemic Potential,' Scientists Warn
30 June
Health + Wellness
Piglets at a pig farm on May 12, 2020 in Bijie, Guizhou Province of China. Deng Gang / VCG via Getty Images
Scientists in China have identified a strain of H1N1 that is rapidly spreading amongst workers in the country's pig farms. They warn that the fast spreading strain of swine flu has pandemic potential, if it is not contained quickly, according to The New York Times.
<p>An outbreak of H1N1 caused widespread fear in 2009 when it killed 285,000 people around the world. The new strain is a derivative of H1N1, according to the scientists who published a paper on it on Monday in the scientific journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117#fn-group-1" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> (PNAS).</p><p>The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, now shows "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus," said the study, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/china-swine-flu-pandemic-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>The researchers say that the disease is not yet an immediate problem, but they noted that pig farm workers also showed elevated levels of the virus in their blood, and that "close monitoring in human populations, especially the workers in the swine industry, should be urgently implemented," as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-pigs/chinese-researchers-warn-of-new-virus-in-pigs-with-human-pandemic-risk-idUSKBN2410BU?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwAR0Du67qns-96PMAxQR78rH21UgWcutdgvhFsNQ4YA_8-rv0w2eKO_DcWFw&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University's public health school, urged the public to remain calm and not "freak out," according to CNN.</p><p>"Our understanding of what is a potential pandemic influenza strain is limited," she posted on <a href="https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1277740973087326213" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans."</p>
<p>Chinese researchers based at several institutions, including Shandong Agricultural University and the Chinese National Influenza Center, discovered the G4 virus during a pig surveillance program, according to CNN. Over a seven-year span, from 2011 to 2018, the researchers took more than 30,000 nasal swab samples from pigs in slaughterhouses and veterinary teaching hospitals across 10 Chinese provinces.</p><p>Those samples revealed 179 swine influenza viruses, but only a fraction of them posed any concern to the researchers, as several only showed up in a single year while others declined to non-threatening levels.</p><p>The strain in question though, G4 EA H1N1, has been common on China's pig farms since 2016 and replicates efficiently in human airways, according to the study. So far, it has infected some people without causing disease, but health experts worry that means the virus is lurking and mutating into something different and a sudden change can happen without warning, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>Recent evidence "indicates that G4 EA H1N1 virus is a growing problem in pig farms, and the widespread circulation of G4 viruses in pigs inevitably increases their exposure to humans," the study said.</p><p>In the last three years of the study, researchers collected blood samples from workers on various pig farms and from people in nearby households. The study found that 10.4 percent of the workers and 4.4 percent of the others tested positive for G4 EA H1N1, and that 20.5 percent of workers between the ages of 18 and 35 tested positive for the virus, as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>"It may be that with further change in the virus it could become more aggressive in people much as SARS-CoV-2 has done," said Ian H. Brown, the head of the virology department at Britain's Animal and Plant Health Agency and one of two scientists who reviewed the paper before it was published, in an email to The New York Times.</p><p>The good news is that there is no evidence yet that G4 could spread from person to person, the most promising sign so far, according to Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington who spoke to CNN.</p><p>"This is not a *new* new virus; it's been very common in pigs since 2016," he wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1277740955651588096" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. "There's no evidence that G4 is circulating in humans, despite five years of extensive exposure. That's the key context to keep in mind."</p>
<p>Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news conference on Tuesday that China was closely following developments. "We will take all necessary measures to prevent the spread and outbreak of any virus," he said, as Reuters reported.</p><p>Whether or not the virus does spread in humans remains to be seen, but it is a reminder that our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/factory-farming">animal farming</a> practices increase our susceptibility to animal diseases.</p><p>"Pig farming is a massive industry in China and pigs can be important hosts from which novel influenza viruses may emerge," said James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge, to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/china-swine-flu-pandemic-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. He added that the study was a "salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses."</p>
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The vast scale of native vegetation clearance for industrial soy cultivation in Brazil is apparent in this aerial image of the Cerrado. Jim Wickens Ecostorm / Mighty Earth (2017)
By Chris Arsenault
A first ever study has provided detailed estimates of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire soy producing agribusiness sector in Brazil. The study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, found that countries and companies in the European Union and China importing soy from Brazil have driven deforestation there, causing a marked increase in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when the soy came from certain regions.
<p>While <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">deforestation in the Amazon rainforest</a> has garnered global attention, a new wave of precipitous native vegetation loss is being seen in the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna biome, and is a major cause of concern to climate change researchers. Brazil's Cerrado grasslands are being <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/we-are-invisible-brazilian-cerrado-quilombos-fight-for-land-and-lives/" target="_blank">cleared of forest</a> at an alarming rate to expand soy plantations — along with ranches — to meet global demand.</p><p>In fact, soy exported from newly cleared lands in some savanna municipalities caused the release of as much as 200 times more greenhouse gas emissions than soy coming from other parts of Brazil, according to the new study, which was conducted by researchers from Germany, together with partners from Spain, Belgium and Sweden.</p><p>The extreme regional disparities in emissions from different parts of the country came as a surprise to the researchers, and could offer a detailed map to policymakers as to where to focus carbon emission reduction efforts to achieve the greatest benefit.</p><p>"One of the big takeaways: there is no average supply chain for soy exports from Brazil. We need to take into account these [major] regional differences," in deforestation, transportation infrastructure, and resulting emissions, said Dr. Neus Escobar, the study's lead author and a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bonn in Germany.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjUwMTAzNH0.E_nAhS8BixQgvO9eGTajXD7gjMaL7vLSF7kgIOVHGuo/img.jpg?width=980" id="7361c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="52611a957c75326960085ff694269c68" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A soy plantation in the Brazilian Cerrado. Alicia Prager / Mongabay.
<p>The new Brazil-wide soy dataset also offers insights into how countries and companies contribute to carbon emissions via deforestation occurring in Brazil. The information could help nations and the soy commodities industry reduce deforestation, and thereby emissions, by fine tuning their supply chains, purchasing decisions and climate change mitigation plans.</p><p>"This gives crucial information to stakeholders to improve environmental performance," Escobar added in an interview with Mongabay. Companies importing Cerrado soy now have been alerted that deforestation there is producing high greenhouse gas emissions, so they can work actively with soy producers to avoid <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-brazilian-agribusiness-leaving-the-amazon-forested-is-a-problem/" target="_blank">clearing new land for Cerrado plantations</a>, she said.</p><p>Total greenhouse gas emissions from Brazilian soy exports were estimated at 223 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. China was the largest importer of Brazilian soy during the study period which ran from 2010 to 2015, and responsible for 51% of associated carbon dioxide emissions, while the European Union was responsible for 30%.</p><p>But per unit of soy, Europe's carbon footprint from Brazilian imports is larger than China's, the study said. European Union imports were also more likely to cause new deforestation (causing more recent carbon releases), compared to imports from China.</p><p>"This [finding] is surprising because China is a much bigger [soy] importer," Javier Godar, a study co-author and senior researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute said in an interview with Mongabay. "In the end, Europe is importing a bit more carbon dioxide emissions associated [with] deforestation embedded in soy [production] than China."</p><p>That's because much of the soy consumed in EU countries like Spain and Germany comes from the northern Cerrado where current rates of deforestation are especially high now, Godar explained. China, on the other hand, imports most of its Brazilian soy from the southern Cerrado, which has already converted a lot of its native vegetation to croplands.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDEwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDk0NDM1M30.xffL1okBH8bwIt-H-vOrnCaEPsbqWZdnhoFRZgoC0GI/img.jpg?width=980" id="7bb22" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b4fade01f01d0e0f1b56075634b6201" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A tractor works to turn deforested land into a soy field in São Desidério, Bahia state, Brazil in 2017. Jim Wickens Ecostorm / Mighty Earth
“Underground Forest”
<p>Lucia von Reusner, campaign director at Mighty Earth, a U.S.-based environmental NGO, said the study is crucial for highlighting deforestation risks in Brazil's Cerrado. "It's one of the world's most biodiverse savannas and a huge concern for people who care about some of the world's most beautiful and threatened species." Also, "Deforestation is one of the biggest drivers of climate change."</p><p>The region has been dubbed an "underground forest" due to the complex root systems of shrubs and small trees, which retain soil and sequester tremendous sums of carbon, she added in an interview with Mongabay. "When the soy industry moves in, all of that is ripped up and burned. All the carbon stored in the roots, trees and soils is burned and released into the atmosphere."</p><p>The Cerrado, dubbed "Brazil's last agricultural frontier" has some of the highest deforestation rates in Latin America, von Reusner said, with only 50% of its native vegetation remaining. The greatest CO2 emissions occurring in the Cerrado during the 2010-15 study period arose in the so-called MATOPIBA region, comprising the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia. Though the study offered no current deforestation or carbon emission data, MATOPIBA continues to be an agribusiness powerhouse today, a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/communities-in-brazilian-cerrado-besieged-by-global-demand-for-soy/" target="_blank">center of soy production and deforestation</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDU4MzQwM30._JX9XVHy8kPS1rOAdfCBL3QglbmmtFGcTUeqpgSAqv0/img.jpg?width=980" id="6f992" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0732fb50ab8b612e78f7b69910fc958e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
This map shows total carbon dioxide emissions embedded in Brazilian soy imports for different regions between 2010 and 2015. The European Union imported 67.6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions embodied in Brazilian soy, while China imported 118.1 million tons of emissions. Escobar, N. et al.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTM0ODc1Mn0.VGim10Le1NnUJpVS4BI1T6rZbaGTM6spTTtw4ayYKyA/img.jpg?width=980" id="1f46c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a1549c121c4ab75600e1c9f70e939ce0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
This graph shows total carbon dioxide emissions embodied by Brazil soy imports in major soy importing countries from 2010 to 2015. Escobar, N. et al.
Examining Total Emissions From Soy
<p>The study is the first to provide an estimate of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire soy sector in Brazil with such a high level of detail. To come to their conclusions, researchers analyzed data from 90,000 different soy supply chains between 2010 and 2015.</p><p>Soy is the most internationally traded agricultural commodity on earth, so analyzing data and strategies to reduce its impact on climate change is crucial for policymakers who want to preserve forests while simultaneously reducing emissions.</p><p>"This study does a good job in noting where along the supply chain we can pinpoint to reduce emissions," said University of California, Santa Barbara, land systems scientist Robert Heilmayr. He researches deforestation in Brazil and was not involved in the recent study.</p><p>The depth of the paper's data helps underscore how the Cerrado is "a new frontier in deforestation," he added, and establishes the importance of including the savanna in any plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to other soy producing regions of Brazil.</p><p>In the Amazon rainforest, a moratorium on clearing new lands for soy was launched in 2006, which <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/brazils-soy-moratorium-dramatically-reduced-amazon-deforestation/" target="_blank">greatly reduced</a> the conversion of rainforests to make way for new soy plantations. The moratorium continues to work, though <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">Amazon deforestation is increasing</a> due to intense cattle ranching and mining pressures. One study found that the slowing of soy growth in Amazonia, merely <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/saving-the-amazon-has-come-at-the-cost-of-cerrado-deforestation-study/" target="_blank">shifted and intensified</a> soy production in the Cerrado.</p><p>Extending the Amazon Soy Moratorium into the Cerrado, via the so-called <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/cerrado-manifesto-could-curb-deforestation-but-needs-support-experts/" target="_blank">Cerrado Manifesto</a> or <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">other initiatives</a> — something transnational commodities companies have strongly resisted — could help reduce deforestation related to soy there, Heilmayr and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/more-companies-sign-on-to-cerrado-manifesto/" target="_blank">others contend</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA5NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTcxMTA4N30.5PEar6sGahRvQ-vumiP3U0hUOhue29M99R13__oLrDU/img.jpg?width=980" id="bf665" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a08b7a1bdbff1ed8d3cf020037c02921" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Data was gathered from 90,000 soy supply chains and shows how the amount of greenhouse gases released from soy production, processing and export varies between Brazilian municipalities, and from year to year. This map indicates carbon dioxide emissions from soy exports from around Brazil between 2010-15. Escobar, N. et al.
Complicated Supply Chains
<p>Deforestation isn't the only cause of soy-related emissions, Escobar explained. Transportation of soy from remote rural production areas to the South American coast especially by truck is another significant driver of carbon emissions.</p><p>In some inland communities in Brazil's center-west region, where poor infrastructure means soy needs to be trucked over long distances, transportation accounts for about 60% of total carbon emissions, especially from export-oriented municipalities in Goiás and Mato Grosso states. This has in part justified vigorous efforts to construct less carbon intensive <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/grainrail-2nd-revolution-in-brazilian-agribusiness-and-amazon-threat/" target="_blank">rail lines</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/battle-for-the-amazon-tapajos-basin-threatened-by-massive-development/" target="_blank">industrial waterways</a> connecting Brazil's interior with its coastal ports — though environmentalists worry about the deforestation such infrastructure might bring with it.</p><p>The global trade in agricultural food products more than doubled between 2000 and 2015, from US$600 billion to over US$1,300 billion, according to data from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But most of the soy exported from Brazil isn't actually eaten by people, explained Reusner; it's primarily used for animal feed or biodiesel.</p><p>To produce enough food for a growing global population, she said transnational companies should incentivize producers to not clear forests for new plantations, but plant soy on land that's already been degraded. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/brazil-has-the-tools-to-end-amazon-deforestation-now-report/" target="_blank">Studies have shown</a> that Brazil has plenty of degraded land to meet global commodity demands, without causing any new deforestation.</p><p>"There is enough degraded land across Latin America to meet the needs of global markets to avoid compromising some of our last remaining ecosystems," she said.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The Xinfadi Wholesale Market in Beijing, China on Aug. 6, 2018. N509FZ / CC BY-SA 4.0
Beijing, China's capital city, has reintroduced strict lockdown measures after a fresh cluster of positive COVID-19 tests was traced back to a fresh food market, according to CNN.
<p>Beijing had opened back up recently and had seen the gains it made in improving air quality quickly vanish as vehicular congestion clogged up the city's streets. Now it may see those gains return, after Beijing discovered 79 symptomatic new cases of the coronavirus since Thursday, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/14/876750764/lockdown-measures-return-to-beijing-as-testing-reveals-cluster-at-major-food-mar" target="_blank">NPR</a>.</p><p>All the new cases were traced back to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market on the city's south side. The robust market supplies the city and its surrounding areas with 1,500 tons of seafood, 18,000 tons of vegetables and 20,000 tons of fruit on a daily basis, according to the market's website, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/14/876750764/lockdown-measures-return-to-beijing-as-testing-reveals-cluster-at-major-food-mar" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f6b65b09194ab8f31c65064a8f478e27"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6r-B428QNEA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/world/asia/beijing-market-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> noted, more than 10,000 people work at the market, which supplies 90 percent of Beijing's fruits and vegetables, according to the state media. The virus was <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1191455.shtml" target="_blank" title="">reportedly detected</a> on cutting boards for imported salmon there.</p><p>China's state media described its latest effort to curb a potential outbreak in Beijing as a "wartime mechanism." Within that wartime mechanism, authorities swiftly shut down the Xinfadi market, partly or fully closed five others, and locked down 11 nearby residential communities and nine schools in the nearby area. It also started to restrict travel in and out of the city, barring tour groups from other provinces and suspending sporting events, according to <a href="http://bj.people.com.cn/BIG5/n2/2020/0613/c14540-34083986.html" target="_blank">official statements</a> and <a href="https://finance.sina.com.cn/china/gncj/2020-06-13/doc-iircuyvi8242013.shtml" target="_blank">local news</a>, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/world/asia/beijing-market-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. Additionally, across the city, plans for first through third grade students to return to school on Monday were scrapped.</p>
<p>"The risk of the epidemic spreading is very high, so we should take resolute and decisive measures," Xu Hejian, a spokesman for the Beijing city government, said at a press briefing on Monday. On Sunday, he said Beijing had entered "an extraordinary period," as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/15/beijing-lockdown-tightens-as-new-coronavirus-outbreak-spreads" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>Beijing authorities have a tall order ahead them to initiate contact tracing for people at the market several weeks ago. The first new positive COVID-19 case, which was confirmed on Thursday, came from a man who bought seafood and produce at the market on June 3. He said he did not have any recent travel history, so authorities do not know where he became infected. After he tested positive, two more cases were identified the following day, and the market was sealed off on Saturday morning, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/14/876750764/lockdown-measures-return-to-beijing-as-testing-reveals-cluster-at-major-food-mar" target="_blank">NPR</a>.</p>
<p>Even though the market was closed, the number of cases continued to rise. In addition to the 79 positive cases, authorities have identified at least 48 asymptomatic cases. Those people are being kept in quarantine.</p><p>At the market, Beijing authorities tested nearly 6,000 people working there on Saturday, as well as over 2,300 surfaces. All tested negative. Authorities are also asking everyone who has been in or near the market since May 30 to take a nucleic acid exam, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/14/876750764/lockdown-measures-return-to-beijing-as-testing-reveals-cluster-at-major-food-mar" target="_blank">NPR</a>.</p><p>On Sunday, Beijing ordered all companies to require any employees who have visited the Xinfadi market or had contact with those at the market to quarantine at home for 14 days.</p>
<p>Yang Peng, an epidemiologist with the Beijing city government, told state media the virus resembled the European strain rather than the Wuhan strain, but more investigation was needed, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/15/beijing-lockdown-tightens-as-new-coronavirus-outbreak-spreads" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"It is found that the virus came from Europe and the preliminary assessment is that the virus came from overseas. But it is not clear how the virus came into this market," Yang said, according to state media, adding that the virus could have been on contaminated meat or spread from the feces of people at the market, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/15/beijing-lockdown-tightens-as-new-coronavirus-outbreak-spreads" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p>
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Trending
Conservation 'Game-Changer': China Removes Pangolin Scales From Traditional Medicine List
10 June
Animals
A Philippine pangolin mother and pup. Shukran888 / CC BY-SA 4.0
China has offered a lifeline to the world's most trafficked non-human mammals by removing pangolin scales from its official list of traditional medicines.
<p>"This is the single greatest measure that could be taken to save the pangolins," <a href="https://wildaid.org/" target="_blank">WildAid</a> CEO Peter Knights told <a href="https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/animals/2020/06/pangolins-receive-new-protections-traditional-medicine-in-china" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>. "This sends a clear message that there are alternatives in traditional Chinese medicine and so you don't need to use pangolins."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">China raises protection for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pangolins?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pangolins</a> by removing scales from medicine list.<br>Campaigners hope the move will help end global trade in the scaly anteater, identified as a possible host for COVID-19. <a href="https://t.co/c0VaMVp80i">https://t.co/c0VaMVp80i</a> <a href="https://t.co/mFFq6I8Ulk">pic.twitter.com/mFFq6I8Ulk</a></p>— WildAid (@WildAid) <a href="https://twitter.com/WildAid/status/1270395248020160514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>All eight species of pangolin are at risk from extinction. Tens of thousands are killed every year for their meat, which is considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam, and their scales, which are used for medicinal purposes. Three of the four species native to Asia are considered critically <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/" target="_blank">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> red list, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/09/china-protect-pangolins-removing-scales-medicine-list-aoe" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>The delisting of the pangolin from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacopoeia comes a week after the State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFGA) raised their protection status. They are now at Class 1, the highest <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> level also enjoyed by pandas, National Geographic pointed out. It means almost all domestic trade and use of the animals is now prohibited.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM4MjkyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjAyOTgzNX0.vOBkLhAnZNvt2wLhDoE4OpseLDaiQJMhvENLdA83JBw/img.jpg?width=980" id="b96f3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="79bd967f3cbe7d6575efedf5500fadf4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Trafficked pangolin scales confiscated in Cameroon. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / CC BY 2.0
<p>"This shows China's rapidly strengthened commitment to protecting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>," WildAid in Beijing chief representative Steve Blake told The Guardian of the two moves.</p><p>The delisting of the pangolin was not officially announced. Instead, it was first reported by China's Health Times newspaper.</p><p>"China will often intentionally let an announcement like this come out through the press rather than a formal announcement," <a href="https://www.savepangolins.org/" target="_blank">Save Pangolins</a> co-founder and Executive Director Paul Thompson told National Geographic.</p><p>He further told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52981804" target="_blank">BBC News</a> that the decision could be a "game changer" for pangolin conservation.</p><p>"We hope China's next move will be to enforce the regulations and work to change consumer behaviour," he said.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s been an exciting week of pangolin news with the announcement of stronger protections and the removal of their species from the official list of traditional Chinese medicines. <a href="https://t.co/KujtJ5nAOO">https://t.co/KujtJ5nAOO</a></p>— Save Pangolins (@SavePangolins) <a href="https://twitter.com/SavePangolins/status/1270519463683567617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The change comes as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic has increased scrutiny of China's wildlife trade, and its trade in pangolins in particular.</p><p>The scaly animals have been found to carry a coronavirus strain similar to the one that causes COVID-19, and research is ongoing into whether or not trafficked pangolins enabled the virus to pass from another animal to humans, though no conclusions have yet been reached.</p><p>The specific wild animals sold at the Wuhan wet market where the pandemic is suspected to have started are not known, but 31 of 33 positive virus samples taken from the market were found in the wildlife area, The Guardian reported.</p><p>China <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/china-wildlife-trade-ban-2645320590.html" target="_self">banned</a> the consumption of wild meat in response to the outbreak, but there are exceptions for medicine and fur, BBC News reported.</p><p>Lixin Huang, vice president of operations and China projects at the California Institute of Integral Studies, told National Geographic that international pressure following the pandemic, as well as the longer term efforts of wildlife advocacy groups, had prompted the pangolin's removal from the TCM.</p><p>"Coronavirus was another key trigger point," she said.</p>
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Bengal Tiger, Panthera tigris, female crossing track, Bandavgarh National Park, India. David Tipling / Universal Images Group / Getty Images
By Neil Carter
Tigers are one of the world's most iconic wild species, but today they are endangered throughout Asia. They once roamed across much of this region, but widespread habitat loss, prey depletion and poaching have reduced their numbers to only about 4,000 individuals. They live in small pockets of habitat across South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Russian Far East — an area spanning 13 countries and 450,000 square miles (1,160,000 square kilometers).
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Today Asia is experiencing a road-building boom. To maintain economic growth, development experts estimate that the region will need to invest about <a href="https://www.adb.org/publications/asia-infrastructure-needs" target="_blank">US$8.4 trillion</a> in transportation infrastructure between 2016 and 2030.
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<p class="">
<em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/endangered-tigers-face-growing-threats-from-an-asian-road-building-boom-137052" target="_blank">The Conversation</a></em><em>.</em>
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<p>Major investment projects, such as China's <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13317" target="_blank">Belt and Road Initiative</a> — one of the largest infrastructure projects of all time — are fueling this growth. While roads can <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29406/when-rural-roads-benefit-poor.pdf" target="_blank">reduce poverty</a>, especially in rural areas, many of Asia's new roads also are likely to traverse regions that are home to diverse plants and animals.</p><p>To protect tigers from this surge of road building, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SquL06QAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">conservation scientists like me</a> need to know where the greatest risks are. That information, in turn, can improve road planning in the future.</p><p>In a newly published study, I worked with researchers at the University of Michigan, Boise State University and the University of British Columbia to examine how existing and planned Asian roads <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/18/eaaz9619" target="_blank">encroach on tiger habitats</a>. We forecast that nearly 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) of new roads will be built in tiger habitats by 2050, and call for bold new planning strategies that prioritize biodiversity conservation and sustainable road development across large landscapes.</p>
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Letting Humans In
<p>Road construction <a href="http://tigers.panda.org/news/asias-infrastructure-development-threatens-worlds-tigers/" target="_blank">worsens existing threats to tigers</a>, such as poaching and development, by paving the way for human intrusion into the heart of the tiger's range. For example, in the Russian Far East, roads have led to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00458.x" target="_blank">higher tiger mortality</a> due to increased collisions with vehicles and more encounters with poachers.</p><p>To assess this threat across Asia, we focused on areas called Tiger Conservation Landscapes — 76 zones, scattered across the tiger's range, which conservationists see as crucial for the species' recovery. For each zone we calculated road density, distance to the nearest road and relative mean species abundance, which estimates the numbers of mammals in areas near roads compared to areas far from roads. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522488113" target="_blank">Mean species abundance</a> is our best proxy for estimating how roads affect numbers of mammals, like tigers and their prey, across broad scales.</p><p>We also used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabd42" target="_blank">future projections of road building</a> in each country to forecast the length of new roads that might be built in tiger habitats by 2050.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cec6392b3df8ca30d414d90e477b9c60"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iFJSfOsbcDs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
More Roads, Fewer Animals
<p>We estimated that more than 83,300 miles (134,000 kilometers) of roads already exist within tiger habitats. This is likely an underestimate, since many logging or local roads are missing from the global data set that we used.</p><p>Road densities in tiger habitat are one-third greater outside of protected areas, such as national parks and tiger reserves, than inside of protected areas. Non-protected areas averaged 1,300 feet of road per square mile (154 meters per square kilometer), while protected areas averaged 980 feet per square mile (115 meters per square kilometer). For tiger populations to grow, they will need to use the forests outside protected areas. However, the high density of roads in those forests will jeopardize tiger recovery.</p><p>Protected areas and priority conservation sites — areas with large populations of tigers — are not immune either. For example, in India — home to more than <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/29/746237332/census-finds-nearly-3-000-tigers-in-india" target="_blank">70% of the world's tigers</a> — we estimate that a protected area of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_reserves_of_India" target="_blank">500 square miles, or 1,300 square kilometers</a>, contains about 200 miles (320 kilometers) of road.</p><p>Road networks are expansive. More than 40% of areas where tiger breeding has recently been detected — crucial to tiger population growth — is within just 3 miles (5 kilometers) of a nearby road. This is problematic because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.02.009" target="_blank">mammals often are less abundant</a> this close to roads.</p><p>In fact, we estimate that current road networks within tiger habitats may be reducing local populations of tigers and their prey by about 20%. That's a major decrease for a species on the brink of extinction. And the threats from roads are likely to become more severe.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE4NDIxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTc0NTM3OH0.pcm2nX06av2HMMRLuNGa0dRLEJppyx6FrKv3FEi-WmQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="dab6e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1d766502917e14ebd219933e2baabaf6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Estimated road densities for 76 tiger conservation landscapes (colored zones), with darker red indicating more roads per unit area. Neil Carter / CC BY-ND
Making Infrastructure Tiger-Friendly
<p>Our findings underscore the need for planning development in ways that interfere as minimally as possible with tiger habitat. Multilateral development banks and massive ventures like the Belt and Road Initiative can be important partners in this endeavor. For example, they could help establish an international network of protected areas and habitat corridors to safeguard tigers and many other wild species from road impacts.</p><p>National laws can also do more to promote <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27751" target="_blank">tiger-friendly infrastructure planning</a>. This includes keeping road development away from priority tiger populations and other "no go" zones, such as tiger reserves or habitat corridors.</p><p>Zoning can be used around infrastructure to prevent settlement growth and forest loss. Environmental impact assessments for road projects can do a better job of assessing how new roads might exacerbate hunting and poaching pressure on tigers and their prey.</p><p>Funding agencies need to screen proposed road developments using these tiger-friendly criteria before planners finalize decisions on road design, siting and construction. Otherwise, it might be too late to influence road planning.</p><p>There are also opportunities to reduce the negative effects of existing roads on tigers. They include closing roads to vehicular traffic at night, decommissioning existing roads in areas with important tiger populations, adding road signs announcing the presence of tigers and constructing wildlife crossings to allow tigers and other wildlife to move freely through the landscape.</p><p>Roads will become more pervasive features in Asian ecosystems as these nations develop. In my view, now is the time to tackle this mounting challenge to Asian biodiversity, including tigers, through research, national and international collaborations and strong political leadership.</p>
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A man bows in front of flowers and a photo of the late ophthalmologist Li Wenliang outside the Houhu Branch of Wuhan Central Hospital in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 7, 2020. Li, a doctor who was punished for raising the alarm about the new coronavirus, died on Feb. 7 after being infected by the pathogen. STR / AFP via Getty Images
Officials in China have revised the total death toll from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the city where the infectious disease was first reported. The new numbers that China released Friday increase the number of COVID-19 deaths by 1,290, or a 50 percent increase, as CNN reported.
<p>They also added 325 infections to the city's tally of positive cases, bringing the official number to 50,333, with 3,869 deaths. The previous reported death toll for Wuhan was 2,579, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>That pushes China's national total up to 4,600 deaths. China has confirmed nearly 84,000 coronavirus infections, the seventh-highest globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>Officials in Wuhan said the newly released numbers now include those who died at home during the beginning of the outbreak, as well as deaths that had not been properly reported by hospitals or registered on death certificates, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-f029419" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>However, those numbers seem circumspect to the international community, which has accused China of downplaying the severity of the outbreak. China, however, insists it has not covered anything up and has touted the efficacy of its restrictive lockdowns in Wuhan, which lasted for months and have only recently eased, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a>. On Friday, China reported 26 new infections, the lowest daily number in more than two weeks, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>China's handling and reporting of the outbreak has drawn the ire of several prominent political leaders around the world. Dominic Raab, Britain's foreign secretary, told Reuters on Thursday that China would have to answer "hard questions" after the crisis about how the pandemic came about and how it could have been stopped earlier. President Emmanuel Macron of France told The Financial Times that "there are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about," as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-f029419" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>On Thursday, however, China's President Xi Jinpeng responded to some of the criticism, particularly from President Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> who had recently accused China of not sharing data in a timely fashion. Xi, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called such accusations counterproductive, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. Putin agreed.</p><p>Xi said politicizing the pandemic was "detrimental to international cooperation," according to state-run news agency Xinhua, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. According to the agency, Putin said "attempts by some people to smear China" were "unacceptable."</p>
<p>Of course, the latest change in numbers to the official death toll could renew skepticism about China's openness. Officials said that the figures had been revised to show "accountability to history, to the people and the victims," as well as to ensure "open and transparent disclosure of information and data accuracy," as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The way China counted coronavirus infections actually changed three times in January and February, leading to confusion about what exactly was happening in Wuhan. One area of criticism has been the reluctance to count people who tested positive but were asymptomatic, making it impossible to compare the number of infections with international data, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>As the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported, China reported the cases to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, but WHO experts were only allowed to visit China and first investigate the outbreak on Feb. 10, when China had more than 40,000 cases.</p>
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