Latest news with #U.N.EnvironmentProgramme
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers make game-changing breakthrough in fight against hidden health risk lurking in air and water: 'Highly accurate and affordable'
A team of researchers at McGill University has developed an innovative and affordable way to detect microplastics and nanoplastics in air and water. The technique, called HoLDI-MS (short for hollow-laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry), was recently profiled in a study published in the Nature journal Communications Chemistry. It allows scientists to detect even the tiniest plastic particles without needing a bunch of complicated lab prep. It's designed to work on samples taken from both indoor and outdoor environments, including water, soil, and air. "With HoLDI, we provide a method that is effective, quantitative, highly accurate, and affordable, making it accessible to researchers worldwide," chemistry professor and lead author Parisa Ariya said. "It requires little energy, is recyclable and costs only a few dollars per sample." Plastic pollution, especially once it breaks down into microplastics, is notoriously hard to detect, but it's everywhere. These tiny particles can be inhaled or ingested by people, and research has linked them to a range of long-term health concerns, including higher risks for cancer, respiratory problems, and cardiovascular diseases. Microplastics in the environment also pose threats across entire ecosystems, harming soil health, water quality, food webs, and wildlife. "Until now, there have been no established universal protocols for nanoplastic detection within the complex environment," Ariya said. The new platform changes that, allowing scientists around the world to analyze samples with consistent, comparable results. As part of the study, researchers identified particles including polyethylene and polydimethylsiloxanes in indoor air and outdoor contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The U.N. Environment Programme has been calling for better monitoring tools to help address the global plastic crisis, and this innovation is a major step forward. The discovery follows other promising breakthroughs in the fight against plastic, including the University of British Columbia's portable detection tool and remote technology for detecting plastic in waterways. You can join the fight against plastic pollution by using less plastic, educating yourself on how to recycle, and supporting brands with plastic-free packaging. Do you worry about air pollution in and around your home? Yes — always Yes — often Yes — sometimes No — never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coca-Cola launches global initiative to reshape supply systems: 'Catalyze long-term change'
The Coca-Cola Foundation has teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme in an effort to combat plastic waste in Sri Lanka. According to Economy Next, the UNDP is giving Sri Lanka $1.1 million to develop a system for managing the country's plastic waste. The agency's Sri Lanka office will oversee the execution of the project. "Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, and addressing it requires collaborative, scalable action," UNDP Sri Lanka deputy resident representative Malin Herwig told EN. "This project will not only help reduce plastic leakage into ecosystems but also catalyze long-term change in how plastic is managed and valued in Sri Lanka," Herwig continued. Plastic pollution is a global crisis, with a staggering 460 million metric tons of plastic waste produced each year across the globe, per the U.N. Environment Programme. Since plastic is not biodegradable, it leaches toxic chemicals into the environment that threaten the health of ecosystems. As a result, plastic waste management is essential for ensuring a safe future. Across the globe, countries are developing innovative ways to reduce plastic waste and mitigate its environmental footprint. Though this project is a step in the right direction, Coca-Cola still generates a significant amount of plastic waste. Despite its plastic waste reduction campaigns, the company is one of the world's biggest plastic polluters and has been accused of greenwashing. However, the new partnership and project with the UNDP demonstrate Coca-Cola's efforts to combat plastic waste on a global scale. Eight other countries in the region are part of the $15 million initiative: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, and Vietnam. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. "The project is expected to contribute to collecting at least 55,610 tons of plastics and support 72,100 direct beneficiaries during the implementation period across all nine participating countries," EN stated. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists uncover hundreds of unknown ocean species in historic expedition: 'We are laying the groundwork'
Scientists have discovered 866 new marine species, including a guitar shark, a deep-sea mollusk with cancer treatment potential, and the first octocoral found in the Maldives, Oceanographic Magazine reported. The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census looks to change how scientists identify new marine species by speeding up the process. This discovery marks a "significant step" in advancing our understanding of ocean biodiversity. Traditional methods can take up to 14 years, but this international collaborative effort of 800 scientists from over 400 institutions is changing the approach. Many species go extinct before they're documented. The mission's executive director explained that while oceans cover 71% of our planet, only about 10% of marine life has been discovered. By accelerating identification, scientists can better protect these species. Some of these discoveries might directly benefit your health. The newly found deep-sea mollusk produces peptides with potential applications in pain relief and cancer treatment. You can now access this information through the newly launched Ocean Census Biodiversity Data Platform. The public database was developed with the U.N. Environment Programme and showcases species found at depths ranging from one to nearly 5,000 meters. The mission has conducted 10 global expeditions and has hosted eight Species Discovery Workshops. They've found new species of sharks, sea butterflies, mud dragons, bamboo corals, water bears, shrimp, crabs, reef fish, and many more creatures from dozens of taxonomic groups. "Every new species — whether a shark or a sponge — deepens our understanding of marine ecosystems and the benefits they provide for the planet," said professor Lucy Woodall, head of science at Ocean Census. Oliver Steeds, director of Ocean Census, added: "Our estimates suggest that discovering 100,000 new species could require at least $1 billion. We are laying the groundwork to make large-scale species discovery a reality." The team plans to provide more Species Discovery Awards, undertake 10 new expeditions, and host additional workshops across the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans in the coming year. Should we be harnessing the ocean to power our homes? Absolutely Leave it be It depends I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The unexploded bombs of Gaza
By Emma Farge, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Hatem Khaled and Ramadan Abed KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip is strewn with undetonated explosives from tens of thousands of Israeli air strikes, leaving the territory "uninhabitable", according to the U.S. government. In February, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the United States take over Gaza and take responsibility for clearing unexploded bombs and other weapons, to create the "Riviera of the Middle East". The challenge to clear the lethal remnants, examined here in detail for the first time, is huge. Israel's bombardments resumed in March after a January ceasefire fell apart -- an offensive that the United Nations said has captured or depopulated two-thirds of the enclave. More bombs fall daily. By October 2024, Israel's military said, it had carried out over 40,000 air strikes on the Strip. The U.N. Mine Action Service estimates that between one in 10 and one in 20 bombs fired into Gaza did not go off. Those weapons are among more than 50 million tons of rubble which according to the U.N. Environment Programme are scattered across Gaza, a densely populated area far smaller than the State of Rhode Island. "INHUMANE" Gaza's own cleanup efforts started quickly. Near the city of Khan Younis a week after the January ceasefire, bulldozer driver Alaa Abu Jmeiza was clearing a street close to where 15-year old Saeed Abdel Ghafour was playing. The bulldozer blade struck a concealed bomb. "We were engulfed in the heat of the flames, the fire," the boy told Reuters. He said he had lost sight in one eye. Driver Jmeiza also lost sight in one eye and has burn and shrapnel injuries on his hands and legs. Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, at least 23 people have been killed and 162 injured by discarded or unexploded ordnance, according to a database compiled by a forum of U.N. agencies and NGOs working in Gaza — an estimate that aid workers say must be a fraction of the total, since few victims know how to report what has happened to them. Hamas has said it harvested some unexploded ordnance for use against Israel, but also is ready to cooperate with international bodies to remove it. However, international efforts to help clear the bombs during any lulls in the fighting have been hampered by Israel, which restricts imports into the enclave of goods that can have a military use, nine aid officials told Reuters. Between March and July last year, Israeli authorities rejected requests to import more than 20 types of demining equipment, representing a total of over 2,000 items — from binoculars to armoured vehicles to firing cables for detonations — according to a document compiled by two humanitarian demining organisations seen by Reuters. "Due to the restrictions by the Israeli authorities on mine action organizations to allow the entry of necessary equipment, the clearance process has not started," U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told Reuters. This poses "serious unnecessary challenges" to humanitarians involved, he added. Under the 1907 Hague Convention, Israel has an obligation as an occupying power to remove or help remove war remnants that endanger the lives of civilians, said the U.N. human rights office and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is an obligation that Israel accepts as binding under customary international law even though it is not a signatory, said Cordula Droege, the ICRC's chief legal officer. Israel's military declined to answer questions about what munitions it has used in Gaza for security reasons, and did not respond to a request for comment on the extent of leftover ordnance. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that oversees shipments into Gaza, did not respond to requests for comment on its role in cleanup efforts. Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said most of the explosives have been scattered by Hamas, without providing evidence. A Hamas official declined to answer a question about how many weapons it has used in Gaza or how much remains as unexploded ordnance. "We have repeatedly stressed that Gaza is uninhabitable and to force Gazans to live amongst unexploded ordnance is inhumane," said Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council. "President Trump has offered a humanitarian vision to rebuild Gaza and we continue to have discussions with regional partners on next steps," he added, without answering questions on weapons supplied by the U.S., or its plans for the clean-up. 10 YEARS, $500 MILLION Seven weapons experts participating in U.N.-coordinated discussions on clearance efforts told Reuters it is too early to estimate how many unexploded munitions are in Gaza as there has been no survey. Most asked to remain anonymous, saying that to speak publicly about the weapons contamination or clearance challenges may interfere with their chances of working in Gaza. The U.N. Mine Action Service, which removes explosive remnants, educates locals and helps victims, said its disposal teams have spotted hundreds of pieces of war ordnance on the surface, including aircraft bombs, mortars, rockets and Improvised Explosive Devices. It expects many more may be concealed either in the rubble or lodged underground as "deep-buried bombs". Reuters found a bomb more than a meter long on a trash heap in Gaza City, spoke to a man in Nuseirat who said he had to live in a refugee camp because the authorities could not remove a bomb he found in his home, and to others who were still living in a building in Khan Younis beneath which an unexploded bomb was said by police and local authorities to be buried in the sand. A U.N. report said two bombs were found at Gaza's Nuseirat power plant. Gary Toombs, an explosive ordnance disposal expert with Humanity & Inclusion, an aid group, said he had seen bomb remnants being used to prop up homeless shelters. Reuters could not verify these reports. The Egyptian foreign ministry, which has also presented a reconstruction plan for Gaza, said in March that removing unexploded ordnance would be a priority during the first six months of that project. Removing debris would continue for another two years. A foreign ministry official did not respond to a request for additional details. Even if Israel cooperated unreservedly, a forum of U.N. agencies and non-governmental organisations called "the protection cluster" estimated in a document published in December that it could take 10 years and $500 million to clear the bombs. 4,000 DUDS Explosive or not, the ruins contain elements like asbestos and contaminants, the U.N. Environment Programme says — plus thousands of bodies of Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. "The damage in Gaza is similar to an enormous earthquake and in the middle of it there's a few thousand bombs to make it more difficult," said Greg Crowther, Director of Programmes at the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation that finds, removes and destroys unexploded bombs after conflict. "You've got the incredibly long process of rebuilding and then these items mean it will take even longer." Taking Israel's reported 40,000 air strikes as a basis, a 10% failure rate implies that even if each strike contained just one bomb there would be around 4,000 duds — not including naval or ground strikes or remnants left by Hamas and its allies. Some experts like MAG's Crowther think the bombs' failure rate may be higher than one in 10 in urban centres, since bombs do not always detonate when piercing through multi-story buildings — especially ones that are already damaged. "This is the most technically challenging and worst humanitarian situation I've ever seen," said Toombs. He has demined in places including Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Lebanon over a 30-year career. "It's going to be incredibly difficult." Data on the Israeli strikes from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) shows there have been strikes on Gaza almost every day. In total, the ACLED database shows over 8,000 air strike events -- a term that can include multiple individual strikes. ACLED said that by the end of 2024, Israel had carried out more than nine times as many air strikes as a U.S.-led coalition had in the Battle of Mosul in Iraq in 2016-2017. MARK 80 BOMBS Palestinian police say they lack equipment to safely clear the debris. Salama Marouf, the head of the Hamas-run government media office, said 31 members of the police engineering division who deal with weapons clearance had been killed and 22 injured since the war, including while defusing bombs. Basem Shurrab, the mayor of Al-Qarara town where the January 27 bulldozer explosion occurred, called for international teams to come and help the cleanup. But those groups say they would need Israel to give the go-ahead for expert visas, armoured vehicles, explosives and tunnelling equipment to extract buried bombs. For now, deminers say they can only mark ordnance and seek to avoid accidents, especially involving children. Murals and posters commissioned by charities including the Red Cross and Red Crescent show colorful balloons to attract children's attention next to drawings of bombs and a skull and cross bones. One shows a boy with an alarmed expression with a thought bubble reading: "DANGER: war ordnance". The heaviest class of bombs used in Gaza are the Mark 80s, of which the Mark 84 -- a U.S.-made, 2,000 pound aircraft bomb nicknamed the "hammer" by U.S. pilots during the first Gulf War — is the biggest. The Biden administration sent thousands of Mark 84s to Israel before pausing deliveries last year over concerns about the risk to civilians -- a pause since reversed by Trump. Reuters reporters found two Mark 80s lying in the ruins of Khan Younis, surrounded by red and white warning tape. Three weapons experts identified them from Reuters images. They said they appeared to be Mark 84s, but they could not be sure without measuring them. If a Mark 84 bomb were to detonate it would leave a crater 14 meters wide, destroy everything within a 7 m radius and kill most people within a 31 m radius, according to PAX, an NGO working for peace based in the Netherlands. The blast can shower lethal shrapnel fragments nearly 400 m, according to the U.S. airforce. In a landscape as densely populated as Gaza, that could be catastrophic. LIVING WITH A BOMB Hani Al Abadlah, a 49-year-old school teacher, returned to his home in Khan Younis after the January ceasefire to discover that an unidentified bomb had pierced through all three floors without detonating. It is now believed to be nestled a few meters in the sand beneath his hallway, according to municipal officials and the police explosives engineering unit. Three weapons disposal experts said a very heavy bomb such as a Mark 84 could have plunged into the deep sand, but added that it could have been removed before Al Abadlah returned — possibly to be reharvested by armed groups. Al Abadlah said the rest of his family including his wife and children refused to move back because they were too afraid. But he prefers to live in his own damaged home with his brother and the suspected bomb rather than return to a cold tent. He sleeps on the middle floor and his brother on the floor above. "No one ... enters out of fear," he said. "We now are trying to stay in the upper floors, far from where this war remnant is."
Reuters
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Insight: The unexploded bombs of Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza, April 17 (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip is strewn with undetonated explosives from tens of thousands of Israeli air strikes, leaving the territory "uninhabitable", according to the U.S. government. In February, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the United States take over Gaza and take responsibility for clearing unexploded bombs and other weapons, to create the "Riviera of the Middle East". The challenge to clear the lethal remnants, examined here in detail for the first time, is huge. Israel's bombardments resumed in March after a January ceasefire fell apart -- an offensive that the United Nations said has captured or depopulated two-thirds of the enclave. More bombs fall daily. By October 2024, Israel's military said, it had carried out over 40,000 air strikes on the Strip. The U.N. Mine Action Service estimates that between one in 10 and one in 20 bombs fired into Gaza did not go off. Those weapons are among more than 50 million tons of rubble which according to the U.N. Environment Programme are scattered across Gaza, a densely populated area far smaller than the State of Rhode Island. Gaza's own cleanup efforts started quickly. Near the city of Khan Younis a week after the January ceasefire, bulldozer driver Alaa Abu Jmeiza was clearing a street close to where 15-year old Saeed Abdel Ghafour was playing. The bulldozer blade struck a concealed bomb. "We were engulfed in the heat of the flames, the fire," the boy told Reuters. He said he had lost sight in one eye. Driver Jmeiza also lost sight in one eye and has burn and shrapnel injuries on his hands and legs. Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, at least 23 people have been killed and 162 injured by discarded or unexploded ordnance, according to a database compiled by a forum of U.N. agencies and NGOs working in Gaza — an estimate that aid workers say must be a fraction of the total, since few victims know how to report what has happened to them. Hamas has said it harvested some unexploded ordnance for use against Israel, but also is ready to cooperate with international bodies to remove it. However, international efforts to help clear the bombs during any lulls in the fighting have been hampered by Israel, which restricts imports into the enclave of goods that can have a military use, nine aid officials told Reuters. Between March and July last year, Israeli authorities rejected requests to import more than 20 types of demining equipment, representing a total of over 2,000 items — from binoculars to armoured vehicles to firing cables for detonations — according to a document compiled by two humanitarian demining organisations seen by Reuters. "Due to the restrictions by the Israeli authorities on mine action organizations to allow the entry of necessary equipment, the clearance process has not started," U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told Reuters. This poses "serious unnecessary challenges" to humanitarians involved, he added. Under the 1907 Hague Convention, Israel has an obligation as an occupying power to remove or help remove war remnants that endanger the lives of civilians, said the U.N. human rights office and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is an obligation that Israel accepts as binding under customary international law even though it is not a signatory, said Cordula Droege, the ICRC's chief legal officer. Israel's military declined to answer questions about what munitions it has used in Gaza for security reasons, and did not respond to a request for comment on the extent of leftover ordnance. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that oversees shipments into Gaza, did not respond to requests for comment on its role in cleanup efforts. Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said most of the explosives have been scattered by Hamas, without providing evidence. A Hamas official declined to answer a question about how many weapons it has used in Gaza or how much remains as unexploded ordnance. "We have repeatedly stressed that Gaza is uninhabitable and to force Gazans to live amongst unexploded ordnance is inhumane," said Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council. "President Trump has offered a humanitarian vision to rebuild Gaza and we continue to have discussions with regional partners on next steps," he added, without answering questions on weapons supplied by the U.S., or its plans for the clean-up. Seven weapons experts participating in U.N.-coordinated discussions on clearance efforts told Reuters it is too early to estimate how many unexploded munitions are in Gaza as there has been no survey. Most asked to remain anonymous, saying that to speak publicly about the weapons contamination or clearance challenges may interfere with their chances of working in Gaza. The U.N. Mine Action Service, which removes explosive remnants, educates locals and helps victims, said its disposal teams have spotted hundreds of pieces of war ordnance on the surface, including aircraft bombs, mortars, rockets and Improvised Explosive Devices. It expects many more may be concealed either in the rubble or lodged underground as "deep-buried bombs". Reuters found a bomb more than a meter long on a trash heap in Gaza City, spoke to a man in Nuseirat who said he had to live in a refugee camp because the authorities could not remove a bomb he found in his home, and to others who were still living in a building in Khan Younis beneath which an unexploded bomb was said by police and local authorities to be buried in the sand. A U.N. report said two bombs were found at Gaza's Nuseirat power plant. Gary Toombs, an explosive ordnance disposal expert with Humanity & Inclusion, an aid group, said he had seen bomb remnants being used to prop up homeless shelters. Reuters could not verify these reports. The Egyptian foreign ministry, which has also presented a reconstruction plan for Gaza, said in March that removing unexploded ordnance would be a priority during the first six months of that project. Removing debris would continue for another two years. A foreign ministry official did not respond to a request for additional details. Even if Israel cooperated unreservedly, a forum of U.N. agencies and non-governmental organisations called "the protection cluster" estimated in a document published in December that it could take 10 years and $500 million to clear the bombs. Explosive or not, the ruins contain elements like asbestos and contaminants, the U.N. Environment Programme says — plus thousands of bodies of Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. "The damage in Gaza is similar to an enormous earthquake and in the middle of it there's a few thousand bombs to make it more difficult," said Greg Crowther, Director of Programmes at the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation that finds, removes and destroys unexploded bombs after conflict. "You've got the incredibly long process of rebuilding and then these items mean it will take even longer." Taking Israel's reported 40,000 air strikes as a basis, a 10% failure rate implies that even if each strike contained just one bomb there would be around 4,000 duds — not including naval or ground strikes or remnants left by Hamas and its allies. Some experts like MAG's Crowther think the bombs' failure rate may be higher than one in 10 in urban centres, since bombs do not always detonate when piercing through multi-story buildings — especially ones that are already damaged. "This is the most technically challenging and worst humanitarian situation I've ever seen," said Toombs. He has demined in places including Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Lebanon over a 30-year career. "It's going to be incredibly difficult." Data on the Israeli strikes from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) shows there have been strikes on Gaza almost every day. In total, the ACLED database shows over 8,000 air strike events -- a term that can include multiple individual strikes. ACLED said that by the end of 2024, Israel had carried out more than nine times as many air strikes as a U.S.-led coalition had in the Battle of Mosul in Iraq in 2016-2017. Palestinian police say they lack equipment to safely clear the debris. Salama Marouf, the head of the Hamas-run government media office, said 31 members of the police engineering division who deal with weapons clearance had been killed and 22 injured since the war, including while defusing bombs. Basem Shurrab, the mayor of Al-Qarara town where the January 27 bulldozer explosion occurred, called for international teams to come and help the cleanup. But those groups say they would need Israel to give the go-ahead for expert visas, armoured vehicles, explosives and tunnelling equipment to extract buried bombs. For now, deminers say they can only mark ordnance and seek to avoid accidents, especially involving children. Murals and posters commissioned by charities including the Red Cross and Red Crescent show colorful balloons to attract children's attention next to drawings of bombs and a skull and cross bones. One shows a boy with an alarmed expression with a thought bubble reading: "DANGER: war ordnance". The heaviest class of bombs used in Gaza are the Mark 80s, of which the Mark 84 -- a U.S.-made, 2,000 pound aircraft bomb nicknamed the "hammer" by U.S. pilots during the first Gulf War — is the biggest. The Biden administration sent thousands of Mark 84s to Israel before pausing deliveries last year over concerns about the risk to civilians -- a pause since reversed by Trump. Reuters reporters found two Mark 80s lying in the ruins of Khan Younis, surrounded by red and white warning tape. Three weapons experts identified them from Reuters images. They said they appeared to be Mark 84s, but they could not be sure without measuring them. If a Mark 84 bomb were to detonate it would leave a crater 14 meters wide, destroy everything within a 7 m radius and kill most people within a 31 m radius, according to PAX, an NGO working for peace based in the Netherlands. The blast can shower lethal shrapnel fragments nearly 400 m, according to the U.S. airforce. In a landscape as densely populated as Gaza, that could be catastrophic. Hani Al Abadlah, a 49-year-old school teacher, returned to his home in Khan Younis after the January ceasefire to discover that an unidentified bomb had pierced through all three floors without detonating. It is now believed to be nestled a few meters in the sand beneath his hallway, according to municipal officials and the police explosives engineering unit. Three weapons disposal experts said a very heavy bomb such as a Mark 84 could have plunged into the deep sand, but added that it could have been removed before Al Abadlah returned — possibly to be reharvested by armed groups. Al Abadlah said the rest of his family including his wife and children refused to move back because they were too afraid. But he prefers to live in his own damaged home with his brother and the suspected bomb rather than return to a cold tent. He sleeps on the middle floor and his brother on the floor above. "No one ... enters out of fear," he said. "We now are trying to stay in the upper floors, far from where this war remnant is."
