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AsiaOne
an hour ago
- General
- AsiaOne
Sierra Leone chimp refuge shuts doors to tourists to protest deforestation, Lifestyle News
FREETOWN — The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa's largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone. Authorities acknowledge that the country's rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors. "A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary," Amarasekaran told Reuters at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges. "(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary's existence, because it's too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this," said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39 per cent of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch. The Western Area Peninsula, home to the capital Freetown and Tacugama, lost more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of tree cover during that same period. Amarasekaran said deforestation in the area was fuelled by "land grabbing" for development. The consequences of rapid deforestation were highlighted by a mudslide on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf in 2017 that killed an estimated 1,000 people. A 2019 paper published by the Geological Society of London blamed the incident on a mix of heavy rain, deforested slopes and unchecked construction. It said tree loss had weakened the soil's ability to absorb water and hold together, worsening the mudflow. "It's a serious problem, an existential problem," Sierra Leone's Information Minister Chernor Bah told Reuters. "We regret that the Tacugama authorities have taken the step that they have taken to shut down here, but it's one that we understand." Amarasekaran said President Julius Maada Bio's government had dispatched a task force to conduct some raids on illegal logging operations, but complained about a lack of follow-up operations. Bah said the government was committed to protecting the peninsula's forests. [[nid:720722]]
The Star
2 hours ago
- General
- The Star
Sierra Leone chimp refuge shuts doors to tourists to protest deforestation
FILE PHOTO: The entrance to Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, closed to the public, is pictured in Freetown, Sierra Leone June 21, 2025. REUTERS/Hickmatu Leigh/File Photo FREETOWN (Reuters) -The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa's largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone. Authorities acknowledge that the country's rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors. "A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary," Amarasekaran told Reuters at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges. "(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary's existence, because it's too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this," said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39% of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch. The Western Area Peninsula, home to the capital Freetown and Tacugama, lost more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of tree cover during that same period. Amarasekaran said deforestation in the area was fuelled by "land grabbing" for development. The consequences of rapid deforestation were highlighted by a mudslide on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf in 2017 that killed an estimated 1,000 people. A 2019 paper published by the Geological Society of London blamed the incident on a mix of heavy rain, deforested slopes and unchecked construction. It said tree loss had weakened the soil's ability to absorb water and hold together, worsening the mudflow. "It's a serious problem, an existential problem," Sierra Leone's Information Minister Chernor Bah told Reuters. "We regret that the Tacugama authorities have taken the step that they have taken to shut down here, but it's one that we understand." Amarasekaran said President Julius Maada Bio's government had dispatched a task force to conduct some raids on illegal logging operations, but complained about a lack of follow-up operations. Bah said the government was committed to protecting the peninsula's forests. (Reporting by Umaru Fofana and Ibrahim Miles Kamara;Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet;Editing by Helen Popper)
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- General
- Straits Times
Sierra Leone chimp refuge shuts doors to tourists to protest deforestation
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FREETOWN - The eco-lodges and tree-covered footpaths of West Africa's largest chimpanzee refuge have been devoid of tourists for more than two months as its founder stages a protest about rampant deforestation in Sierra Leone. Authorities acknowledge that the country's rich wildlife is threatened by land seizures and illegal logging, but the founder of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Bala Amarasekaran, says they have not yet done enough about it to convince him to reopen to visitors. "A few months back, we could see the land grabbing and the encroachment coming closer to the sanctuary," Amarasekaran told Reuters at the refuge, which is home to more than 100 mainly orphaned chimps and normally lets guests stay in its lodges. "(Deforestation) is really threatening the sanctuary's existence, because it's too dangerous when people come close to a wildlife preserve like this," said Amarasekaran, who founded the refuge 30 years ago and has led it through crises including civil war and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone lost approximately 2.17 million hectares (5.36 million acres) of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, representing about 39% of the total in 2000, according to online tracker Global Forest Watch. The Western Area Peninsula, home to the capital Freetown and Tacugama, lost more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of tree cover during that same period. Amarasekaran said deforestation in the area was fuelled by "land grabbing" for development. The consequences of rapid deforestation were highlighted by a mudslide on the slopes of Mount Sugar Loaf in 2017 that killed an estimated 1,000 people. A 2019 paper published by the Geological Society of London blamed the incident on a mix of heavy rain, deforested slopes and unchecked construction. It said tree loss had weakened the soil's ability to absorb water and hold together, worsening the mudflow. "It's a serious problem, an existential problem," Sierra Leone's Information Minister Chernor Bah told Reuters. "We regret that the Tacugama authorities have taken the step that they have taken to shut down here, but it's one that we understand." Amarasekaran said President Julius Maada Bio's government had dispatched a task force to conduct some raids on illegal logging operations, but complained about a lack of follow-up operations. Bah said the government was committed to protecting the peninsula's forests. REUTERS
Euronews
18-07-2025
- Climate
- Euronews
Is climate change fuelling Europe's early, extreme wildfire season?
An area almost the size of Luxembourg has been burnt by wildfires in Europe so far this year, according to the EU's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). As of 15 July, the cumulative total of scorched land stands at 231,539 hectares - 119 per cent above the long-term average of 105,586 hectares for this time of the year. In recent weeks, wildfires have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes and claimed at least three lives in Türkiye, necessitated lockdowns in Catalonia, led to mass evacuations from Crete, and caused havoc around Marseille. This list is not exhaustive, and is certain to extend as summer swelters on. 'We can see that it's looking fairly extreme this year,' explains Sarah Carter, a research associate at Global Forest Watch. 'This is perhaps what's to be expected because we know that 2023 was the warmest year on record, 2024 was the warmest year on record, so we're expecting that these hot, dry conditions are just going to continue,' she says. 'It's this kind of perfect storm of heatwaves, drought, and also the way that we manage our forests, which are driving forest fires.' How is climate change fuelling more wildfires? EFFIS data shows the weekly cumulative number of fires is significantly above average, too. It stands at 1,230 as of 15 July, compared to the average of 478 for this time of year. However, most of this increase was felt in February and March due to dry and warm conditions in western and central Europe. The same is true of the unusually high figure for total area burned. A European Commission official clarified that figures for burned areas after March are very similar to the long-term average. Carter isn't totally sure why some fires are moving earlier in the year. But, broadly speaking, she attributes it to the trend of summers getting warmer and hotter for longer, due to the rise in greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. 'If a fire season is normally concentrated in a couple of very hot months in the middle of the summer, it's going to expand either side of that because of the way that the climate is warming,' she explains. 'The warm summer season is basically expanding.' Increased carbon emissions in the atmosphere drive hotter conditions with less rain. This dries forests out, making them more prone to fires, and meaning that larger areas go up in smoke. Up to 16 July, the total estimated carbon emissions from wildfires across all EU countries are 1.9 megatonnes of carbon, according to Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). That's based on CAMS' data from its Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS). Emissions from wildfires feed into a devastating cycle, making forests even more vulnerable, and so fires more extreme. Which countries have been particularly scarred by wildfires this year? In Türkiye, wildfires in late June and early July have resulted in record burned area figures for this time of the year, the EU Commission official says. This record figure has been driven by the large scale of some of the fires. These huge blazes have pushed emissions to a record high in the 22 years of the GFAS dataset, Parrington adds. They are currently around twice the average for the time of year, as fire emissions typically increase at the end of July and into August for Türkiye. Fire emissions from the UK have also reached their highest annual total of the past 22 years, he says, following large fires in Scotland. In wildfire-prone Greece, fires have resulted in a higher-than-usual total burned area for this time of year, too. But it's Romania that leaps out of the bar chart when looking at the EFFIS data for the percentage of the country's area burned by wildfires. Around 23,000 hectares are burnt on average each year, while for 2025 the figure stands at 123,000 hectares. Again, officials link this to the anomalous dry and warm fire-spreading conditions from February to March. Since April, burned area figures in Romania have stabilised. It can seem 'like the whole of Europe is on fire,' says Carter, 'but actually northern Europe is fairly resilient to fire.' According to GFW's annual tree cover loss data, only 3 per cent of tree cover loss in Europe last year was due to fire; the vast majority was instead caused by forestry. But in southern Europe, it's a different story. The impact can be devastating, with huge proportions of forest loss caused by wildfires in Portugal, Greece, and Spain in recent years. Some fires are becoming unfightable Better forest management involves embracing a mosaic model, says Carter, with diverse levels of vegetation, and steering clear of flammable species like eucalyptus. Keeping moisture in the soil is key, as is creating fire breaks by removing any flammable material. But in some areas, the combination of dry conditions and strong winds means 'some fires now are just not going to be able to be fought.' This makes early warning systems essential to keeping people safe. Using EFFIS data, the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) issues fire alerts, while the Global Forest Watch also provides 'disturbance alerts'. 'I don't really expect anything much different to business as usual this summer,' says Carter. 'So I think people have got to be prepared for worsening air quality, for dangers to their houses, livelihoods, businesses, and tourists going to these southern areas have to be aware.'
The Star
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Slow down, for haven's sake
A nickel stockpile towers over farmer Moharen Tambiling's rice paddy in Palawan, evidence of a mining boom that locals hope a new moratorium will tame. 'They told us before the start of their operations that it wouldn't affect us, but the effects are undeniable now,' Tambiling said. 'Pangolins, warthogs, birds are disappearing. Flowers as well.' A biodiversity hotspot, Palawan also holds vast deposits of nickel, needed for everything from stainless steel to electric vehicles. Once the world's largest exporter of the commodity, the Philip-pines is now racing to catch up with Indonesia. In 2021, Manila lifted a nine-year ban on mining licences. Despite promised jobs and tax revenue, there is growing pushback against the sector in Palawan. In March, the island's governing council unanimously passed a 50-year moratorium on any new mining permits. 'Flash floods, the siltation of the sea, fisheries, mangrove areas ... We are witnesses to the effects of long-term mining,' Nieves Rosento, a former local councillor who led the push, said. A worker shovelling leftover nickel ore minerals at a pier in the village of Rio Tuba. — AFP Environmental rights lawyer Grizelda Mayo-Anda said the moratorium could stop nearly 70 proposed projects spanning 240,000ha. 'You have to protect the old-growth forest, and it's not being done,' she said. From 2001 to 2024, Palawan – dubbed the country's 'last ecological frontier' – lost 219,000ha of tree cover, more than any other province, in part due to mining, according to Global Forest Watch. In southern Palawan's Brooke's Point, a ship at a purpose-built pier waits for ore from the stockpile overlooking Tambiling's farm. Mining company Ipilan says increased production will result in greater royalties for Indigenous people and higher tax revenues, but that means little to Tambiling's sister Alayma. The single mother-of-six once made 1,000-5,000 pesos (RM78-RM375) a day selling lobster caught where the pier now sits. 'We were surprised when we saw backhoes digging up the shore,' she said, calling a one-time compensation offer of 120,000 pesos (RM8,990) insulting. 'The livelihood of all the Indigenous peoples depended on that area.' On the farm, Tambiling stirred rice padi mud to reveal reddish laterite he says is leaking from the ore heap and poisoning his crops. Above him, swathes of the Mantalingahan mountains have been deforested, producing floods he describes as 'fearsome, deep and fast-moving'. Ipilan has faced protests and legal challenges over its logging, but its operations continue. Calls to parent company Global Ferronickel Holdings were not returned. For some in Palawan, the demand for nickel to power EVs has a certain irony. 'You may be able to ... eliminate pollution using electric vehicles,' said Jeminda Bartolome, an anti-mining advocate. 'But you should also study what happens to the area you are mining.' In Bataraza, the country's oldest nickel mine is expanding, having secured permission before the moratorium. Rio Tuba employees armed with brooms, goggles, hats and scarves are barely visible through reddish dust as they sweep an access road that carries 6,000 tonnes of ore each day. Company senior vice-president Jose Bayani Baylon said mining turned a barely accessible malarial swamp into a 'first-class municipality'. 'You have an airport, you have a port, you have a community here. You have a hospital, you have infrastructure which many other communities don't have.' He dismisses environmental concerns as overblown. With part of its concession tapped out, the company is extending into an area once off-limits to logging but since rezoned. Thousands of trees have been cleared since January, according to locals, but Baylon said 'under the law, for every tree you cut, you have to plant 100'. The company showed AFP a 9ha plot it spent 15 years restoring with native plants. But it is unclear to what degree that will be replicated. Baylon concedes some areas could become solar farms instead. Indigenous resident Kennedy Coria says mining has upset Mount Bulanjao's ecosystem. 'Honeybees disappeared where we used to find them. Fruit trees in the forest stopped bearing fruit,' the father-of-seven said. A fifth of the Philippines' Indigenous land is covered by mining and exploration permits, according to rights group Global Witness. Legally, they have the right to refuse projects and share profits, but critics say the process is rarely clear. 'There are Indigenous peoples who have not received any royalties for the past 10 years,' said Rosento. Coria, who can neither read nor write, said he must sign a document each year when accepting what he is told is his share of Rio Tuba profits. 'We get about four kilos of rice from the community leader, who tells us it came from the company,' he said. Rio Tuba said funds are distributed in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), meant to represent the communities. But some say it acts in the interests of miners, attempting to persuade locals to accept concessions offered by companies. The NCIP referred questions to multiple regional offices, none of which replied. The government's industry regulator declined interview requests. While Palawan's moratorium will not stop Rio Tuba's expansion or Ipilan's operations, supporters believe it will slow further mining. Ryan Maminta, a councillor who backed the moratorium, said it already halted one expansion. There are looming legal challenges, however. A recent Supreme Court decision struck down a mining ban in Occidental Mindoro province. Backers remain confident though, and Rosento said the council would stand firm. 'Responsible mining is just a catchphrase,' she said. — AFP
