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Yahoo
a day ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Might Canadian wildfire smoke become part of our new summertime normal? Yes, experts say
For days now, what should be sunny, blue, summertime skies in Michigan have instead been a dull, chalky near-white. The smoke from some 77 out-of-control wildfires in Canada is making its way into our skies — again. The smoky scene calls to mind the record-shattering Canadian wildfire summer of 2023, with smoke that choked Michigan and much of the U.S. for days at a time. Researchers say wildfire smoke is becoming a more regular part of Michigan summers. "I don't think it's uncertain that the kind of smoke conditions we have observed more recently might be the new norm we observe going forward," said Chad Papa, director of the forest carbon and climate program in Michigan State University's Department of Forestry. Several factors are colliding: Human-driven climate change is causing rising summer temperatures and reduced soil moisture, with particularly pronounced drought in the heavily forested western United States and Canada. As populations have settled in and near forests, more than a century of fire suppression to protect homes and businesses has broken the natural cycles of smaller wildfires, leading to unprecedented buildups of fire fuel. It has led to more intense wildfires burning larger areas in recent years in both the United States and Canada. Canada has plenty to burn, summer after summer — the largest remaining intact forestland in the world, even larger than the Amazon rainforest. Canada's 1.4 million square miles of forest is 15 times the surface area of all of the Great Lakes combined. "One of the big impacts of climate change is increased heat and changing humidity. Our forests are drying out, and a lot of that is happening in the northern latitudes," said Alexandra Paige Fischer, an associate professor in the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability and a researcher with the school's Western Forest and Fire Initiative, an academic working group collaborating with counterparts in the West on the problems associated with increasing wildfire risks in a warming climate. More wildfires are in our future, Fischer said. "With warmer winters, we are going to have more pests and diseases, which is going to stress forests to greater mortality — and more heat is a cause of greater mortality as well," she said. "Forests are going to be more stressed; there are going to be more dead trees, and under hot, dry conditions, stressed forests with a lot of dead trees catch on fire. "Not necessarily every year, but it's definitely going to be a more characteristic issue in our northern forests." And, therefore, for Michigan, more wildfire smoke in summer wildfire seasons. "Because of air circulation patterns, we just end up receiving a lot of smoke from Canada," Fischer said. More: 'We were not prepared': Canada fought nightmarish wildfires as smoke became US problem More: Canada looks to centuries-old indigenous use of fire to combat out-of-control wildfires The level of air quality degradation will vary from year to year — 2023 was a particularly bad year for wildfire smoke over Michigan; last year not so much. And in 2025, the smoke has returned. Wildfire smoke's tiny particulate matter — soot — can bypass the body's defenses and lodge deep within the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing a host of adverse health effects, especially among susceptible populations, including elderly people, pregnant women, and those with preexisting conditions and/or suppressed immune systems. Increased exposure to wildfire smoke has also been connected to increases in dementia. More: Wildfire smoke can cause health problems, even death Summertime is a particularly active outdoor time in Michigan, and in the short term, people can still go about their daily routines without necessarily being constrained by wildfire smoke in the skies, Fischer said. But it could be having negative health effects, she said. "There is a lot of research coming out right now that supports the hypotheses about wildfire smoke in particular being associated with poor health outcomes," she said. "But it's hard for people to feel motivated to change their behavior, because people can keep doing the things they need to do in the smoke." Individual households will have to adapt on smoky summer days to better protect their health, and public health agencies must better help people understand risks and what they can do to protect themselves such as limiting outdoor exposures, better sealing windows and using HVAC or other filtration systems that remove harmful particles from indoor air, Fischer said. For more information on health-protecting tips, go to and search "wildfire smoke." As for the forests, there are no short-term solutions, Papa said. "It requires an increase in private and public support for activities that can reduce fire risks — trying to reduce some of that fuel load, destocking stands to decrease the risk there," he said. "As well as preparation, thinking about the first response when there is a wildland fire, and preparedness in that wildland firefighting — to at least try to alleviate some of the negative consequences that people across the whole continent will have to try to grapple with as we deal with fires getting worse in the future." Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Canadian wildfire smoke to become more frequent unwanted summer visitor
Daily Maverick
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Parliament pushes for urgent action on Mawana's roaming elephant herd
In a heated and emotionally charged session of the South African Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Environment this week, community members from KwaZulu-Natal's Ulundi region described the ongoing crisis caused by a herd of roaming elephants from the privately owned Mawana Game Reserve. The session culminated in a set of urgent resolutions, including a mandated follow-up meeting among key stakeholders and a formal report due to Parliament by 7 July 2025. The issue was described as having escalated into a human-wildlife conflict, with reports of injuries, crop destruction, school disruptions and mounting community frustration over years of perceived government inaction. At the centre is a population of more than 30 elephants — possibly over 50, according to some estimates — which have repeatedly escaped from Mawana's deteriorated fencing and encroached into communal lands. Unsafe environment Community representative Xolani Msimango, a state advocate speaking in his personal capacity, described harrowing incidents that have taken place over several years. He recounted how villagers foraging in the forest had been chased by the elephants and told the story of Mr Buthelezi, a local villager, who was severely trampled in March 2024 and lay injured in the bush overnight before being rescued. Msimango accused the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, KZN Wildlife and a conservation NGO of systemic failure. He stated that repeated attempts to seek help were met with silence or circular referrals. 'We feel that the government through its organs is failing us,' he told the committee. 'The environment we live in is not safe.' He also alleged that a private individual, Grant Fowlds, has exploited the situation to expand his Loziba Game Reserve. According to Msimango, Fowlds was neither an owner of the land he wished to expand into nor welcomed by local communities, yet had interfered with elephant monitoring efforts and was raising funding for conservation from international sources while neglecting local safety. 'We have no idea who controls this process, but he is the one who is creating the problems.' He said the community had made it clear to Fowlds that there was no land available to him to expand his reserve. 'Now he is saying the elephants are in danger of being killed by the community. He is using elephants to (solicit) millions from overseas countries.' Wildlife agency responses In response, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife acknowledged the seriousness of the crisis, but defended their handling of the matter, pointing to legal complexities and ongoing infrastructural work. Vuyiswa Radebe, the Executive Manager of Biodiversity Conservation Operations at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, explained that because the elephants were res nullius (without a legal owner), the state had taken responsibility for their management. He said that nine elephants were destroyed in August 2024 under the province's standing permit to deal with damage-causing animals — a controversial move that sparked a national backlash. He insisted lethal force was a last resort following failed attempts to corral or translocate the animals. As a non-lethal intervention, a temporary 8,300-hectare emergency enclosure was being constructed by removing internal fences between private properties. According to Radebe, only six kilometres of fencing remained to be completed. However, Msimango denied these claims, saying the fenced area included up to 20 homesteads and that community members had already chased construction teams away due to lack of consultation. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Deputy Minister Maggie Sotyu acknowledged these tensions and promised that 'the department will be hands-on on this', proposing daily briefings on the matter and a potential in-person visit to the community. The department also committed to funding additional monitors to track elephant movements and to complete the emergency fence by the end of June. Calls for clarity Despite these promises, members of the portfolio committee expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of coordination, transparency and coherent data. Honourable Dave Bryant (DA) questioned whether all non-lethal options had truly been exhausted, citing the existence of national elephant management strategies that emphasised coexistence. He also flagged the absence of precise data on elephant numbers, asking why an application to collar more elephants, submitted in December 2024, had not yet been processed. The Loziba development plan. (Source: Loziba Wildlife Reserve) He and other MPs demanded clarity on the role of Fowlds and whether he legally owned any land in the area. They also queried why a private game reserve's failure had been allowed to burden public institutions and terrorise communities, and why earlier compliance notices had not led to prosecution or decisive action. Brent Corcoran, speaking for KZN Wildlife, admitted that the enforcement process had been severely delayed due to legal uncertainties following the death of the original owner, Kerneels van der Walt, in 2017 and neglect on the reserve that followed. The estate took years to resolve and only recently did the elephants become legally ownerless. Attempts to issue compliance notices were met with appeals, and internal confusion over the status of the elephants further stalled enforcement. The road ahead After several hours of debate, the Portfolio Committee reached several conclusions: The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ezemvelo, the Mawana Family Trust, Fowlds and representatives from the affected community must convene before the end of June. The department must submit a written report to Parliament by 7 July 2025 detailing the progress of the meeting, the status of fencing and the management plan for the elephants. The deputy minister is to take personal responsibility for overseeing developments, with daily briefings from officials. Several MPs called for a site inspection by the portfolio committee to verify claims, assess risks, and consult broadly with residents, not just one representative. Parliament wants full clarity on land ownership, the legal authority of Fowlds and whether the fencing efforts are legally viable. Any future destruction of elephants must be fully justified with records showing that all alternatives had been exhausted, in line with national elephant norms and standards. Don's view The situation at Mawana is not simply an environmental issue — it's a collision of land rights, conservation ethics, legal ambiguity and rural safety. It shows the frayed edges of a system where private reserves, conservation NGOs and under-resourced communities are bound together in uneasy coexistence. As Parliament steps in to untangle this saga, its outcome could set a precedent for how South Africa balances wildlife conservation with human security in a rapidly shifting landscape. For the community in Ulundi, however, the crisis remains urgent and unresolved: 'There will be no fencing that will be up by the end of June,' warned Msimango. 'There will be no elephant that will be secured at any time soon.' DM
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Jnanabharathi Campus to be a heritage site?
heritage site declaration Jnanabharathi Campus Bangalore University The Jnanabharathi campus is Bengaluru's biggest lung space, in 2002-2003, we planted seven lakh trees belonging to 700 species, which are today acting as the biggest carbon sink –Dr AN Yellappa Reddy, an environmentalist urban mini-forests Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre has instructed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Forestry, Ecology and Environment to submit a proposal for declaring the Bangalore Universityas a heritage site under the Biological Diversity Act (BDA), step is being taken after various proposed development activities have been declared in the recent past, posing a threat to the campus's proposal highlighted that there are many large trees on theJnanabharathi Campus, and underscored the department's responsibility in safeguarding its rich biodiversity. It emphasised the need to protect the campus's green belt, ensuring its preservation for future generations and contributing to the city's environmental sustainability. 'However, efforts are being made to cut down these trees to undertake various construction works, it is hereby directed to submit a proposal in the file, if it is possible to declare this green campus of Bangalore University as a heritage site under the Biodiversity Act, 2002,' read the letter by the Minister. The Minister also clarified that the step is being taken after an appeal from environmentalists to protect biodiversity on the Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar's pet project – South Asia's tallest skydeck, is also planned on 25 acres of land at the campus that is teeming with to renowned environmentalist Dr AN Yellappa Reddy, who created the forest cover and bioparks on the campus nearly two decades ago, all the proposed development projects on the campus, including the skydeck, should be scrapped and the campus should be declared a heritage site on the lines of Nallur Tamarind Grove in Devanahalli.'The Jnanabharathi campus is Bengaluru's biggest lung space. In 2002-2003, we planted seven lakh trees belonging to 700 species, which are today acting as the biggest carbon sink,' he said. He highlighted that contour bunds were also created to preserve rainwater on campus, which has led to an improvement in the groundwater table by nearly ten feet. 'The campus is home to hundreds of birds and other flora and fauna. All these measures were then taken with public contribution, and all native species of the Western Ghats are growing ex-situ on the campus. It is only apt that the campus is declared a heritage site,' he said that if taken forward, the move will ensure that the educational campus does not turn into a tourism center.'Plantation across the campus was taken up systematically more than two decades ago. A yoga center proposed a few years ago was vehemently opposed to ensure that the green cover is intact,' said Dattatreya Devare, trustee of Bangalore Environment Trust, noting that today, the native forest on the campus, along with its biodiversity, are thriving, and declaring it a heritage site is a step in the right the Biodiversity Act (section 37), areas of biodiversity importance can be notified as heritage sites, and measures can be taken for the management of such sites. Such areas are notified based on the recommendations of the State Biodiversity Nishant, a member of Bengaluru's Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), said that the benefits of biodiversity parks on the campus and ecosystem services provided to the environment and society are unmatched. 'BMC has been looking at analysing ecosystem services that the Jnanabharathi forest provides to the citizens of Bengaluru. Theseshould be conserved and not subjected to any developmental activities. In case a developmental activity cannot be avoided, it should be done vertically. We will soon meet the BU administration to discuss the living resources on the campus and the important role they play as Bengaluru's lung space,' said Nishant.
Daily Maverick
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Commercial fishers red-flag looming conflict with small-scale sector amid abalone quota uncertainty, dwindling catches
Commercial permit holders are worried about the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment's proposed plan to give quotas to small-scale fishers. Fishers from Western Cape coastal communities like Hawston, Hermanus, and Gansbaai depend on abalone (perlemoen) for their livelihoods. But those with commercial abalone permits believe their trade could be threatened if a greater share of the limited quota is given to the small-scale fishing sector. Public comment on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)'s intention to allocate abalone to the small-scale fishing sector opened in the Eastern Cape in February. It is not clear when this process will start in the Western Cape. But there's been no date set yet for consultations over the future of abalone fishing in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, according to DFFE spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa. He added that 'no decision has been made on whether abalone fishing rights will be allocated to the small-scale fishing sector' or what the potential quota would be. Since the early 2000s, about 300 commercial abalone fishers have been allocated abalone fishing rights. When the rights period ended in 2014, these fishers were granted yearly exemption permits, which allowed them to continue diving for abalone according to their quota. Currently, there are about 100 commercial exemption permit holders. This is far fewer than the previous fishing season with about 300 permits, most of whom are from poor communities. The DFFE recently announced the suspension of many of the 300 permits, pending criminal investigations into alleged 'serious offences in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act'. But some fishers who still dive for their quota are worried about the already dwindling number of abalone. The small-scale fishing sector rights took years and were only finalised at the end of 2023, establishing about 62 small-scale fishing cooperatives in the Western Cape, with thousands of small-scale fishers. Losing a lifeline Abalone diver and exemption permit holder from Hermanus, Anton Kruger, said the allowable catch has decreased so much over the years that there'll barely be enough should the small-scale sector be given allocations. Kruger explained how he has seen the resources dwindle underwater over the years. Two years ago, he was given a quota of 10kg to dive in the Hangklip area. After diving for six hours he only caught seven abalone. After spending four hours diving in Kommetjie, he only left with one abalone, he said. Just after the Covid lockdown he went diving at St Helena Bay and couldn't find any abalone, hours later, after three dives. He said he found a patch of abalone and 'filled the quota' there. But when he returned the following year, 'there was nothing'. 'It was gone,' he said. In 2001, the total allowable catch (TAC) was set at 475 tonnes. Fishers like Kruger were allocated a yearly TAC of 300kg. Those without an additional lobster quota had higher TAC amounts of up to 500kg. This TAC decreased over the years as the abalone numbers plummeted. Kruger's current quota is 94kg. At the time, the then Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that the allocation of abalone rights to the commercial sector aimed to introduce 'a new system of co-management, and to effectively address the threat of the illegal harvesting and over-catching of abalone'. However, the estimated number of poached abalone is much higher than the yearly TAC. TRAFFIC, an illegal wildlife trafficking organisation, estimates that between 2,000 and 2,016 – just more than 2,100 tonnes – abalone are poached per year. More recent figures by TRAFFIC estimate that poached abalone peaked in 2018 with just more than 5,000 tonnes and then saw a drop to about 2,400 tonnes poached in 2022. A commercial exemption permit holder from Hawston, Frederick Fisher, said he is worried about his livelihood if the abalone quota is slashed even further or given to the small-scale sector. After costs such as boats and transport he takes home about R80,000 per year. Perlemoen is the only thing he catches and the only way he makes a living, he said. Fisher, who was born and raised in Hawston, said poaching was rife in his community. 'You can't blame the people. They don't have work,' he said. 'Abalone is in any case on the edge of collapse… If they make the mistake of giving small-scale the abalone,' he said. Another commercial rights holder from Gansbaai, Sammy Brett, blamed socioeconomic circumstances in coastal communities as the root cause of poaching. He added that making arrests was not enough to curb poaching and that it 'shows no humanity towards these people'. Decreasing the abalone TAC could mean an even lower quota for those with permits, he said. Brett said he was sceptical that bringing in the small-scale sector would help to bring fishing communities out of poverty. Small-scale fishing representative organisation, Masifundise, said there is a demand from small-scale fishers to access abalone rights, but they also have 'important concerns' that should be addressed. 'Particularly given that these communities are often excluded from decisions that affect their livelihoods.' The department's Mbelengwa added that the concerns raised by commercial exemption permit holders regarding potential conflict in the fishing community 'are premature and pre-emptive' since the formal consultation process regarding the future of the abalone sector has 'not yet commenced'. He said the department has consistently talked to various fishing sectors, including the abalone permit holders, and that further engagements would take place. DM
Eyewitness News
13-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Battle looms over abalone quota
WESTERN CAPE - Fishers from Western Cape coastal communities like Hawston, Hermanus, and Gansbaai depend on abalone (also known as 'perlemoen') for their livelihoods. But those with commercial abalone permits believe their trade could be threatened if a greater share of the limited quota is given to the small-scale fishing sector. Public comment on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)'s intention to allocate abalone to the small-scale fishing sector opened in the Eastern Cape in February. It is not clear when this process will start in the Western Cape. There's been no date set yet for consultations over the future of abalone fishing in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, according to DFFE spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa. He added that 'no decision has been made on whether abalone fishing rights will be allocated to the small-scale fishing sector' or what the potential quota would be. Since the early 2000s, about 300 commercial abalone fishers have been allocated abalone fishing rights. When the rights period ended in 2014, these fishers were granted yearly exemption permits, which allowed them to continue diving for abalone according to their quota. Currently, there are about 100 commercial exemption permit holders. This is far less than the previous fishing season when there were about 300 permit holders, most of whom are from poor communities. The DFFE recently announced the suspension of many of the 300 permits, pending criminal investigations into alleged 'serious offences in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act'. Some fishers who still dive for their quota are worried about the dwindling number of abalone. The small-scale fishing sector rights took years and were only finalised at the end of 2023, establishing about 62 small-scale fishing cooperatives in the Western Cape, with thousands of small-scale fishers. Losing a lifeline Abalone diver and exemption permit holder from Hermanus, Anton Kruger, said the allowable catch had decreased so much over the years that there would barely be enough if the small-scale sector is given allocations. Kruger said he had seen the resource dwindle over the years. Two years ago, in the Hangklip area, after diving for six hours, he only caught seven abalone. After spending four hours diving in Kommetjie, he only left with one abalone, he said. Soon after, he went diving at St Helena Bay and couldn't find any abalone, hours later, after three dives. He said he found a patch of abalone and 'filled the quota' there. But when he returned the following year, 'there was nothing'. 'It was gone,' he said. In 2001, the total allowable catch (TAC) was set at 475 tons. Fishers like Kruger were allocated a yearly TAC of 300kg. Those without an additional lobster quota had higher TAC amounts of up to 500kg. This TAC decreased over the years as the abalone numbers plummeted. Kruger's current annual quota is 94kg. At the time, the then-Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that the allocation of abalone rights to the commercial sector aimed to introduce 'a new system of co-management, and to effectively address the threat of the illegal harvesting and over-catching of abalone'. However, the estimated number of poached abalone is much higher than the yearly TAC. TRAFFIC, an organisation which monitors wildlife trafficking, estimates that between 2000 and 2016 just over 2,100 tons of abalone were poached per year. More recent figures by TRAFFIC estimated that poached abalone peaked in 2018 with just over 5,000 tons and then saw a drop to about 2,400 tons poached in 2022. Commercial exemption permit holder from Hawston, Frederick Fisher, said he is worried about his livelihood if the abalone quota is slashed even further or given to the small-scale sector. After paying costs like boats and transport, he takes home about R80,000 per year. Perlemoen is the only thing he catches and the only way he makes a living, he said. Fisher, who was born and raised in Hawston, said that poaching was rife in his community. 'You can't blame the people. They don't have work,' he said. 'Abalone is in any case on the edge of collapse … If they make the mistake of giving small-scale the abalone,' he said. Another commercial rights holder from Gansbaai, Sammy Brett, blamed socio-economic circumstances in coastal communities as the root cause for poaching. He said making arrests was not enough to curb poaching and 'shows no humanity towards these people'. Decreasing the abalone TAC could mean even less quota for those with permits, he said. Brett said that he was sceptical that bringing in the small-scale sector would help to bring fishing communities out of poverty. Small-scale fishing representative organisation, Masifundise, said there is a demand from small-scale fishers to access abalone rights, but they also have 'important concerns' that should be addressed. 'Particularly given that these communities are often excluded from decisions that affect their livelihoods.' The department's Mbelengwa added that the concerns raised by commercial exemption permit holders regarding potential conflict in the fishing community 'are premature and pre-emptive' as the formal consultation process about the future of the abalone sector has 'not yet commenced'. He said that the department has consistently talked to various fishing sectors, including the abalone permit holders, and that further engagements would take place. This article first appeared on GroundUp. Read the original article here.
