A better way to get around in the Amazon - solar-powered canoes

One of the solar-powered boats in the river at the Wayusentsa community, Kapawi, Ecuador. A growing fleet of electric boats ferries Indigenous people through the heart of the Ecuadorean Amazon, providing a cheaper and greener alternative to gas-powered vessels. Photo / Federico Rios Escobar, the New York Times
On a sweltering Sunday morning, 20 Indigenous men in the Ecuadorian Amazon boarded a canoe in their community near the border with Peru.
Their destination was a neighbouring village 45 minutes away by river.
They were athletes, headed to an inter-village sports competition, a cherished tradition that strengthens community

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In the spirit of Thor Heyerdahl and Kon-Tiki, Japanese researchers built a canoe to follow another ancient route

NZ Herald

5 days ago

NZ Herald

In the spirit of Thor Heyerdahl and Kon-Tiki, Japanese researchers built a canoe to follow another ancient route

Two new studies published yesterday in the academic journal Science presented the results of those experiments. In one report, advanced ocean models recreated hundreds of virtual voyages to pinpoint the most plausible routes for the crossing. 'We tested various seasons, starting points and paddling methods under both modern and prehistoric conditions,' Kaifu said. The other paper charts the 45-hour journey that Kaifu's crew made from eastern Taiwan to Yonaguni Island in the southern Ryukyus. The mariners, four men and one woman, paddled the 7.6m canoe, a hollowed-out cedar log christened Sugime, for 122 nautical miles on the open sea, relying solely on the stars, sun, and wind for their bearings. Often, they could not see their target island. 'Yosuke Kaifu's team has found the most likely answer to the migration question,' said Peter Bellwood, an archaeologist at the Australian National University who was not involved in the undertaking. Dawn, on the second morning of the voyage in 2019. Photo / Yosuke Kaifu via the New York Times Such a crossing between islands, he said, would have been one of the oldest, and among the longest, in the history of Homo sapiens up to that period, exceeded only by the migration to Australia from eastern Indonesia some 50,000 years ago. Early humans most likely used land bridges and watercraft to travel from mainland Asia to the Japanese archipelago. Three main paths had been proposed: Korea to Kyushu, Russia to Hokkaido, and Taiwan to Okinawa. Relics from six islands within the 1210km Ryukyu chain indicate that people migrated there between 35,000 and 30,000 years ago, arriving from both the north, via Kyushu, and the south, via Taiwan. 'The islands were always located at least 50 miles [80km] from the East Asian coastline, even during the last ice age with its low sea levels, and up to 110 miles [177km] apart from each other,' Bellwood said. Geologic records suggest that the Kuroshio, also known as the Black Stream, has remained stable for 100,000 years or more. Kaifu got the idea for the migration project in 2013, but lacked the funds to make it happen. Three years later, he persuaded Japan's National Museum of Science and Nature, where he worked as a researcher, to act as a sponsor. Financed largely by crowdfunding and counselled by sea kayakers, his team attempted the 40-nautical-mile route from the Yonaguni to the Iriomote islands in boats made from cattail reeds. The attempt was unsuccessful. The vessels proved stable but were too slow to handle the strong currents. In 2017, with the support of Taiwan's National Museum of Prehistory, the scientists toyed with rafts made of bamboo and rattan. A prototype was durable but, as was the case with the reed crafts, not fast enough to negotiate the Kuroshio. A second, lighter version was prone to cracking and did not last long in the high seas. After calculating that crossing the Kuroshio would require a speed of at least 2 nautical miles per hour, Kaifu searched for heavier materials. A canoe, christened Sugime, was cut and hollowed from a cedar tree using an edge-ground stone axe with a wooden handle. Photo / National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, via the New York Times A large Japanese cedar was felled and carved using stone axes modelled after tools from about 28,000 BC. 'The idea was to replicate the canoe-building methods that prehistoric seafarers may have used,' Kaifu said. Six summers ago, the Sugime set off from Taiwan. This time, the voyage was a success. Kaifu does not believe a return journey would have been possible. 'If you have a map and know the flow pattern of the Kuroshio, you can plan your return,' he said. 'But such things probably did not take place until much later in history.' Did the ancient mariners reach the Ryukus by accident or through deliberate navigation? Kaifu noted that the islands could be spied from the top of one of Taiwan's coastal mountains, indicating intentional travel. To test this, his team set 138 satellite-tracked buoys adrift and found that only four came within 20km of any of the islands, and those had been driven by storms. 'What that tells us is that the Kuroshio directs drifters away from, rather than toward, the Ryukyu Islands,' Kaifu said. 'It also tells us that those male and female pioneers must have been experienced paddlers with effective strategies and a strong will to brave the unknown.' In his view, the Japanese islanders of antiquity were not mere passengers of chance, but die-hard explorers. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Franz Lidz Photographs by: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, and Yousuke Kaifu ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES

Hopeful New Way To Measure Human Progress

Scoop

5 days ago

Scoop

Hopeful New Way To Measure Human Progress

In response to the climate crisis, a new way to measure how well people and nature are living together has been announced in Nature. A hopeful new way to think about human progress has been announced today in the world's leading scientific journal Nature. Rather than focusing on what we're doing wrong, the new global framework offers a way to measure how well people and nature are thriving together. Led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and created by a group of international experts in various disciplines, the Nature Relationship Index (NRI) will track countries' progress in three key areas: a thriving and accessible natural world, responsible and respectful use of nature, and protection from pollution and harm. It builds on the success of the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures average achievements in a country in three broad categories: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. The University of Auckland's Peter Kraus Professor of Philosophy Krushil Watene (Te Hikutu, Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei, Tonga) is one of the researchers who contributed to the novel framework, bringing both a philosophical and Indigenous perspective. 'The NRI takes our relationships with nature as foundational to the way we should think about well-being, development, and justice,' she says. 'Such a philosophical shift requires our commitment to the realisation of social and environmental justice, and to fostering new concepts, practices, and institutions – both locally and globally.' Just as the HDI transformed global development thinking, Watene says researchers hope the NRI will redefine progress to include healthy human-nature relationships, not just economic growth. The Nature Relationship Index is planned to be prominently featured in the 2026 Human Development Report, with annual updates planned for all countries thereafter. Its authors, who include leading marine ecologists, psychologists, economists, environmental scientists and policy specialists, believe it represents a hopeful and inclusive approach to environmental stewardship, rooted in the belief that when people work together, humanity and nature can thrive. 'Ultimately,' says Watene, 'the NRI values and relies on the diversity in our knowledges and knowledge-making, pluralism in our diverse and distributed social practices, and solidarity, grounded in the rich and interdependent networks of stewardship that exist – and that could yet emerge – across all corners of the globe.' An aspirational approach to planetary futures by Erle C. Ellis, Yadvinder Malhi, Hannah Ritchie, Jasper Montana, Sandra Diaz, David Obura, Susan Clayton, Melissa Leach, Laura Pereira, Emma Marris, Michael Muthukrishna, Bojie Fu, Peter Frankopan, Molly K. Grace, Krushil Watene, Nicholas Depsky, Josefin Pasanen and Pedro Conceição is published in Nature (June 2025).

NZ Herald

6 days ago

NZ Herald