Explosive report calls out world leaders for enabling large-scale exploitation: 'This cannot continue'
A report from the World Wildlife Fund called out the Swedish and Finnish governments for their failure to uphold environmental agreements.
The report claimed that despite Sweden and Finland's heavily forested lands, not enough effort is being put into protecting their ancient and primary forests.
EcoWatch detailed that the WWF found that both Finland and Sweden are falling short of their commitments under the European Union's Green Deal and Biodiversity Strategy, the purpose of which is to protect old-growth and primary forests in Europe.
Finland and Sweden's forests, which are essential for biodiversity and climate stability, are facing threats from logging practices that aim to exploit policy loopholes.
Per EcoWatch, Mai Suiminen, a forest expert with WWF Finland, said in a press release, "Publicly available evidence shows both Finland and Sweden are deviating from EU policies. This cannot continue if we are serious about tackling the climate and biodiversity crises."
The WWF shed light on loopholes in forest management policies that make way for destructive logging practices. Both Sweden and Finland are facing increased pressure to allow more logging, which can undermine the integrity of their ancient forests.
The report shared that the logging industry is exploiting regulatory gaps, particularly in Sweden, where there are certain known areas that are not legally protected.
The protection of ancient forests, like those found in Sweden and Finland, is essential in maintaining biodiversity, fighting a rising global temperature, and preserving the essential services that these forests provide for the planet.
Ancient forests house a large variety of plant and animal species, many of which are rare and endangered. These ecosystems are key in preserving biodiversity and maintaining healthy and functioning ecosystems that support life.
Ancient forests can also serve as regulatory bodies for the climate, acting as "carbon sinks" and absorbing and storing large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Protecting these forests ultimately helps in the fight against a warming planet, as these trees that get cut down can release stored amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
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This is not only an environmental issue but also has significant community implications. For example, according to Swedish Forest Industries, Sweden's forestry industry supports 140,000 jobs, creating a complex challenge of balancing economic reliance on logging with the urgent need to protect these ancient forests.
The WWF is urging the Swedish and Finnish governments to take this report seriously and enhance their forest protection policies, especially considering the urgency of addressing the planet's rapid overheating.
Per Phys.org, the organization has stated plainly that both countries are "exploiting loopholes to allow logging in forests that should be safeguarded."
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CNBC
12 hours ago
- CNBC
Sweden is feeling the heat from Trump tariffs — and there's more to come
Sweden's economy and households are feeling the heat from U.S. trade tariffs, the Scandinavian country's finance minister told CNBC — before the full force of the levies has even come into play. "Our economy and the public finance are very solid. We have a low debt and we can cope with quite a lot. But eight of 10 Swedes save or invest their money in funds, stock markets and so on. So when ... the market has gone up and down, that has been costly for households," Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson told CNBC Tuesday. "[U.S. President Donald] Trump is really playing a high stakes here, and it's a game with no winners, really, and it's costly for households, and that makes me sad," she added. Uncertainty around the U.S.' trade policy has left its mark on Swedish and international financial markets. Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, noted last week that the sharp shifts in U.S. trade and security policy were causing "substantial market movements during the spring and entail greater uncertainty than usual." Other signs have emerged that the threat of tariffs is affecting the wider Swedish economy, with government data released last week showing the economy shrank 0.2% in the three months to March, on a quarterly basis. Sweden's finance ministry revised its 2025 and 2026 growth forecasts downwards last month, predicting a 1.8% expansion this year and 2.3% next year, saying tariffs and uncertainty are dampening the country's growth prospects. "We don't know whether tariffs will end, but the uncertainty and the unpredictability — that hurts our economy," Svantesson told CNBC. Market volatility is having a significant effect on savers in Sweden, a country renowned for its high level of household savings in investment funds among its 10.5 million population. The nation has actively encouraged retail savings in capital markets for decades, enabling citizens to invest in shares and investment funds and making the practice far more commonplace than in other European countries, like the U.K. Assessing the distribution and demographics of savers in Sweden, financial watchdog Finansinspektionen noted in March that savers on the younger and older ends of the spectrum tend to put their money into savings accounts. A larger portion of new savings for middle-aged Swedes is in shares and investment funds, ranging from pension schemes and fixed-income to sustainable and technology-focused funds. Swedish households held liquid financial savings — assets in bank accounts, funds, shares or other savings that generate a cash return — totaling 268 billion Swedish kronor ($27.8 billion) in 2024, with 138 billion Swedish kronor ($14.3 billion) held in investment funds, Sweden's statistics agency said in March, with the average Swede saving around 1,000 Swedish kronor every month in such funds last year. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, the total fund assets in Swedish investment funds amounted to 7.75 trillion Swedish kronor, according to the latest data from Sweden's statistics body. "Eight out of every ten Swedes save in funds, and if mandatory premium pension savings are included, we are all fund savers," the Swedish Investment Fund Association (Fondbolagens förening) — which aims to promote and protect confidence in funds as a savings format — says on its website, describing the country as a "world leader in fund saving." Trump's announcement in April that he would impose import tariffs on a wide range of trading partners, friend and foe alike, has proven a major source of market and economic uncertainty, and it's making some Swedish fund savers nervous, the association told CNBC. "Swedish fund savers are used to equity investments going up and down in the short run and have a long investment horizon," Fredrik Pettersson, chief analyst at Fondbolagens förening, told CNBC Wednesday. "Having said that, in our statistics we can see that in the beginning of this year, until now, active fund savers have sold U.S. funds, and bought European and Swedish funds," he noted. Morten Lund, Scandinavia chief economist at JPMorgan, told CNBC on Wednesday that Trump tariffs are " having a pretty clear impact on household sentiment" and that this could feed into the wider economy. "So what we can see is that household confidence has moved around the U.S. election, from being the highest across the developed markets to now it's actually plummeted to being the lowest. So it's been a pretty significant shock, and I think it's fair to say that this is very much related to tariffs uncertainty," he said. Low household confidence could filter through to consumption, Lund said, judging from the latest growth data. "We do think that there will be a hit. We did get the first GDP numbers from the first quarter, they declined, and that was a clear disappointment, and based on where the confidence numbers are now, we should also see a pretty weak number here in the current quarter," Lund noted. Sweden is an export-dependent country: exports amounted to around 55% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, according to the country's central bank, making its wider economy vulnerable to tariffs imposed on the EU by President Trump. 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Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
A ship called Madleen: Gaza's first fisherwoman inspires solidarity mission
Gaza City – As the Madleen sails towards Gaza to try to deliver life-saving aid to its people, little is known about the woman the boat was named after: Madleen Kulab, Gaza's only fisherwoman. When Al Jazeera first met Madleen Kulab (also spelled Madelyn Culab) three years ago, she had two children, was expecting her third and lived a relatively quiet life in Gaza City with her husband, Khader Bakr, 32, also a fisherman. Madleen, now 30, would sail fearlessly out as far as Israel's gunship blockade would allow to bring back fish she could sell in a local market to support the family. When Israel's war on Gaza began, the family was terrified, then heartbroken when Israel killed Madleen's father in an air strike near their home in November 2023. They fled with Madleen nearly nine months pregnant to Khan Younis, then to Rafah, to Deir el-Balah and then Nuseirat. Now, they are back in what remains of their home in Gaza City, a badly damaged space they returned to when the Israeli army allowed displaced people to head back north in sits on a battered sofa in her damaged living room, three of her four children sitting with her: baby Waseela, one, on her lap; five-year-old Safinaz beside her; and three-year-old Jamal – the baby she was expecting when Al Jazeera first met her – at the end. She talks about what it felt like to hear from an Irish activist friend that the ship trying to break the blockade on Gaza would be named after her. 'I was deeply moved. I felt an enormous sense of responsibility and a little pride,' she says with a smile. 'I'm grateful to these activists who have devoted themselves, left their lives and comforts behind, and stood with Gaza despite all the risks,' she says of the group of 12 activists, who include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. 'This is the highest form of humanity and self-sacrifice in the face of danger.' Khader sits on another sofa with six-year-old Sandy. He holds out his phone with a photo of the Madleen on it, flying the Palestinian flag. Madleen has been fishing since she was 15, a familiar figure heading out on her father's boat, getting to know all the other fishermen and also becoming well-known to international solidarity activists. In addition to bringing home the fish, Madleen is also a skilled cook, preparing seasonal fish dishes that were so famously tasty that she had a list of clients waiting to buy them from her. Especially popular were the dishes made with Gaza's ubiquitous sardines. But now, she can't fish any more and neither can Khader because Israel destroyed their boats and an entire storage room full of fishing gear during the war. 'We've lost everything – the fruit of a lifetime,' she says. But her loss is not just about income. It's about identity – her deep connection to the sea and fishing. It's even about the simple joy of eating fish, which she used to enjoy '10 times a week'. 'Now fish is too expensive if you can find it at all. Only a few fishermen still have any gear left, and they risk their lives just to catch a little,' she says. 'Everything has changed. We now crave fish in the middle of this famine we're living through.' After the air strike near the family home in November 2023, Madleen's family's first displacement was to Khan Younis, following Israeli army instructions that they would be safer there. After searching for shelter, they ended up in a small apartment with 40 other displaced relatives, and then Madleen went into labour. 'It was a difficult, brutal birth. No pain relief, no medical care. I was forced to leave the hospital right after giving birth. There were no beds available because of the overwhelming number of wounded,' she says. When she returned to the shelter, things were just as dire. 'We didn't have a mattress or even a blanket, neither me nor the kids,' she said. 'I had to sleep on the floor with my newborn baby. It was physically exhausting.' She then had to tend to four children in an enclave where baby formula, diapers and even the most basic food items were almost impossible to find. The war, she says, has reshaped her understanding of suffering and hardship. In 2022, she and Khader were struggling to make ends meet between Israel's gunship blockade and the frequent destruction of their boats. There was also the added burden of being a mother with small children and undertaking such physically taxing work. But now, things have gotten far worse. 'There's no such thing as 'difficult' any more. Nothing compares to the humiliation, hunger and horror we've seen in this war,' she the war, Madleen remained in touch with international friends and solidarity activists she had met through the years. 'I would share my reality with them,' she says. 'They came to understand the situation through me. They felt like family.' Her friends abroad offered both emotional and financial support, and she is grateful for them, saying they made her feel that Gaza wasn't forgotten, that people still cared. She is also grateful for being remembered in the naming of the Madleen, but she worries that Israeli authorities will not let the ship reach Gaza, citing past attempts that were intercepted. 'Intercepting the ship would be the least of it. What's more worrying is the possibility of a direct assault like what happened to the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in 2010 when several people were killed.' Regardless of what happens, Madleen believes the mission's true message has already been delivered. 'This is a call to break the global silence, to draw the world's attention to what's happening in Gaza. The blockade must end, and this war must stop immediately.' 'This is also a message of hope for me. They may have bombed my boat, but my name will remain – and it will sail across the sea.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Greta Thunberg and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition are sailing to Gaza, but will they make it?
There are a number of things that could cause the ship to turn around, like lack of food and water or problems with the engine. The well-known Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is sailing to Gaza as of June 5. According to reports, she is aboard the Madleen, a sailboat that the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is operating. A report at Democracy Now noted that when the ship sailed from Catania in Sicily, it had 12 people on board, including actor Liam Cunningham, known for his role in the series Game of Thrones. The ship is named for 'Gaza's first fisherwoman,' the report said. According to The Marine Executive, the boat 'corresponds to a UK-registered 18-meter (59-foot) sailing vessel named Barcarole.' The vessel left port on June 1 on what is thought to be an estimated 2,000 km trip. The boat has a website devoted to tracking it. 'In partnership with Forensic Architecture, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has equipped the Madleen with an advanced tracking system. This technology plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of those on board, maintaining transparency about the vessel's location, and holding potential aggressors accountable for their actions,' the Freedom Flotilla said. As of June 5, the tracker had stopped working. Israel has said the sailboat will not be allowed to dock in Gaza. This is not the first time a group of activists has tried to sail to Gaza. In 2010, hundreds of activists boarded six ships off Turkey and tried to get to Gaza. The IDF carried out a raid on their lead ship, the Mavi Marmara. Nine people were killed in the melee with the IDF, and the ship was towed to Ashdod. In 2015, another attempt to sail to Gaza was frustrated when a ship was damaged at a Greek port. The 2025 group that is trying to reach Gaza already had issues off Malta. In May, the Conscience ship claimed to have suffered damage and loss of power off Malta before heading to Gaza. Activists claimed the ship was hit by drones. This explains why the crew of the Madleen, while sailing off the coast of Crete, were afraid on the evening of June 3-4 when they thought a drone was circling the ship. Activists posted videos and claimed to be in distress. It turned out, according to reports, that the drone was from the Greek coast guard. The Madleen was around 68km outside of Greece's territorial waters. For Thunberg, this is not her first long voyage at sea. She also did transatlantic voyages in 2019 to get to a climate conference in New York. Therefore, she is experienced at sailing long distances. It is not clear if all the other members of the crew have the same experience. A long journey of 2,000 km can take many days. A sailing vessel may make around six to twelve knots an hour, meaning it may sail between 100 nautical miles and 250 a day. Therefore, it can take more than four days to make the journey. When one is sailing at sea in the open ocean, a boat doesn't usually stop. This is because there is wind, and even when the wind drops, the boat can continue on its journey on a diesel engine. On the engine alone, it could also make around 200km a day or more. A sailboat won't usually use its diesel engine for a long period of time because it doesn't want to waste fuel. On a long journey like this boat is embarking on, it won't want to go to port, so it will want to conserve fuel. The reason that the Madleen won't want to put into port in Greece or Cyprus is likely because they will fear sabotage to their boat or that authorities will prevent their journey. Greece and Cyprus are both close friends of Israel. The boat won't want to stop in Egypt because it is an authoritarian state, although Egypt is an option. Turkey could also be an option because Ankara tends to back Hamas. The vessel could also divert to Lebanon or Syria. Sailing at sea over numerous days is challenging. A vessel may have GPS and satellite phones; however, sailing at night is complex. This is because a small sailboat has to cross shipping lanes. It will be near large ships. It is hard to see a sailboat at night. A sailboat usually will have red and green lights, one on each side at the front, indicating port and starboard. It will have a white light on the stern and may also place lights on the mast. A white light on the mast will indicate the vessel is under engine power. According to Marine Traffic, a vessel called Barcarole appeared to be south of Crete on June 5 in the afternoon. It also appeared to be heading slowly west at 1.5 knots. This means it is drifting or has stopped. It is unclear why. The photo for Barcarole shows a vessel that looks the same as the Madleen, with a Palestinian flag. The vessel appears to be a ketch, a type of two-masted sailboat with a mainmast that is taller than the smaller mizzenmast toward the rear. If the sailboat is off Cyprus, it will still have several days of sailing to reach the coast off Israel. Since the ship has been at sea for five days now, it means they will need to make sure they have enough food and water for the crew. They will also need to continue making contingency plans in case issues happen with their engine or other equipment. The vessel appears to be in a sealane near a number of large container ships. The Horae crude oil tanker is to the west, and a barge carrier and a cargo ship are to the east. The crew may be suffering from boredom, seasickness, or crowding on a ship like this. Being at sea for so long with so many people can become a difficult experience, even for seasoned and veteran sailors. It remains to be seen what other challenges they face.
