World

Mankind marks a dubious milestone Thursday, the day by which humanity has consumed all earth can sustainably produce for this year, with NGOS warning the rest of 2022 will be lived in resource deficit.

The date — dubbed “Earth Overshoot Day” — marks a tipping point when people have used up “all that ecosystems can regenerate in one year”, according to the Global Footprint Network and WWF.

“From January 1 to July 28, humanity has used as much from nature as the planet can renew in the entire year. That’s why July 28 is Earth Overshoot Day,” said Mathis Wackernagel, president of the Global Footprint Network.

He added: “The Earth has a lot of stock, so we can deplete Earth for some time but we cannot overuse it for ever. It’s like with money; we can spend more than we earn for some time until we’re broke.”

It would take 1.75 Earths to provide for the world’s population in a sustainable way, according to the measure, which was created by researchers in the early 1990s.   

Global Footprint Network said Earth Overshoot Day has fallen ever sooner over the last 50 years.

– Uneven burden –

In 2020, the date moved back three weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The burden is not evenly spread. If everyone lived like an American, the date would have fallen even earlier, on March 13, Wackernagel said.

The two NGOs point the finger at the food production system and its “considerable” ecological footprint.

“In total, more than half of the planet’s biocapacity (55 percent) is used to feed humanity,” the two NGOs said.

“A large part of the food and raw materials are used to feed animals and animals that are consumed afterwards”, said Pierre Cannet of WWF France.

In the EU, “63 percent of arable land… is directly associated with animal production”, he said.

“Agriculture contributes to deforestation, climate change by emitting greenhouse gases, loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems, while using a significant share of fresh water,” the NGOs said.

Based on scientific advice, they advocate reducing meat consumption in rich countries. 

“If we could cut meat consumption by half, we could move the date of the overshoot by 17 days,” said Laetitia Mailhes of the Global Footprint Network.

“Limiting food waste would push the date back by 13 days, that’s not insignificant,” she added, while one-third of the world’s food is wasted.

Hundreds of supporters of powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr danced and sang in parliament Wednesday after storming Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone in protest at a rival bloc’s nomination for prime minister.

Police fired barrages of tear gas in a bid to stop the protesters from breaching the gates of the heavily fortified Green Zone, but the crowds surged forward and entered parliament.

“I am against the corrupt officials who are in power,” said protester Mohamed Ali, a 41-year-old day labourer, one of the hundreds who entered the zone that is home to both government buildings and diplomatic missions, before later leaving peacefully.

The protests are the latest challenge for oil-rich Iraq, which remains mired in a political and a socioeconomic crisis despite soaring global energy prices.

Sadr’s bloc emerged from elections in October as the biggest parliamentary faction, but was still far short of a majority and, nine months on, deadlock persists over the establishment of a new government.

Crowds wandered around the parliament building waving national flags, taking photographs, chanting and cheering.

– ‘Rejection of injustice’ –

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi called on the protesters to “immediately withdraw”, warning that the security forces would ensure “the protection of state institutions and foreign missions, and prevent any harm to security and order”.

But it took orders issued by the Shiite leader Sadr before the crowds of protesters started to leave nearly two hours later.

“Revolution of reform, and rejection of injustice and corruption,” Sadr wrote on Twitter, in support of the protesters.

“Your message has been heard… you have terrorised the corrupt”, he added, calling on the demonstrators to say a prayer “before returning home safe and sound”.

“We obey the Sayyed,” the crowds chanted as they calmly left parliament, a term honouring Sadr by acknowledging him as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in last year’s election, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament. But since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled.

The protesters oppose the candidacy of Mohammed al-Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, who is the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s pick for premier.

The Coordination Framework draws lawmakers from former premier Nuri al-Maliki’s party and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance, the political arm of the Shiite-led former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi.

– ‘Reject the political process’ –

“I am against Sudani’s candidacy, because he is corrupt,” added protester Mohamed Ali.

“We reject the whole political process”, said Bashar, a protester in parliament, giving only his first name.  “We want an independent person who serves the people”.

Iraq was plunged deeper into political crisis last month when Sadr’s 73 lawmakers quit en masse.

Sadr had initially supported the idea of a “majority government” which would have sent his Shiite adversaries from the Coordination Framework into opposition.

The former militia leader then surprised many by compelling his lawmakers to resign, a move seen as seeking to pressure his rivals to fast-track the establishment of a government.

Sixty-four new lawmakers were sworn in later in June, making the pro-Iran bloc the largest in parliament.

Earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers loyal to Sadr attended a Friday prayer service in Baghdad, in a display of political might.

The huge turnout came despite scorching heat and the Shiite cleric not being there in person — an indication of his status as a political heavyweight, as well as a key religious authority.

The mercurial cleric’s sermon took aim at rivals from other Shiite factions.

“We are at a difficult… crossroads in the formation of the government, entrusted to some we do not trust,” Sadr said in the speech on July 15, read out by Sheikh Mahmud al-Jayashi.

Sadr’s sermon took particular aim at the Hashed al-Shaabi, which has been integrated into the army, but is seen by many Iraqis as an Iranian proxy.

Hashed supporters last year protested near the Green Zone, demonstrating against what they said was vote “fraud”.

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Ukraine on Wednesday said it had restarted operations at its blockaded Black Sea ports as it moved closer to resuming grain exports with the opening of a coordination centre to oversee a UN-backed deal. 

Progress towards fulfilling the landmark agreement came as Kyiv’s artillery struck a key bridge in Moscow-controlled territory in south Ukraine, damaging an important supply route as Ukrainian forces look to wrest back the Kherson region.

And as German authorities said Russia drastically reduced gas deliveries to Europe in a move seen as revenge for Western sanctions over the invasion, Ukraine announced plans to increase its electricity imports to Europe.

Ukraine and Russia last week agreed a plan with the help of Turkey and the United Nations to allow grain stranded by Moscow’s naval blockade to be exported from three ports.

Kyiv has said it hopes to begin sending out the first of millions of tonnes of grain this week despite a missile strike by Russia over the weekend on the port in Odessa. 

Ukraine’s navy said “work has resumed” at the export hubs to prepare for ships to be escorted through the mine-infested waters to reach world markets.

As part of the deal, a coordination centre involving Ukrainian and Russian representatives opened in Istanbul to monitor the safe passage for shipping along established routes and oversee inspections for banned weapons. 

The blockage of deliveries from two of the world’s biggest grain exporters has contributed to a spike in prices that has made food imports prohibitively expensive for some of the world’s poorest countries.

– ‘Leave Kherson’ –

Fighting has continued to rage on the ground in Ukraine despite the push to get the grain out, and Kyiv struck back by hitting the vital Antonivskiy bridge over the Dnipro river in a move that threatens to cut supply lines to Russian troops. 

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on Twitter the strikes on bridges over the Dnipro created an “impossible dilemma” for Russia: “retreat or be annihilated by the Ukrainian army”.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed regional administration in Kherson, confirmed the bridge had been hit overnight and traffic had been halted.

But he sought to downplay the damage, insisting that the attack would not affect the outcome of the hostilities “in any way”.  

Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory in the Kherson region, which fell to Russian forces easily and early after their invasion launched on February 24.

Their counter-offensive, supported by Western-supplied long-range artillery, has seen its forces push closer to Kherson city, which had a pre-war population of under 300,000 people.

Russian forces “should leave Kherson while it is still possible. There may not be a third warning,” Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Twitter after the attack.

Meanwhile the leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine called on Moscow to conquer key cities across the country. 

“Today the time has come to liberate Russian cities, founded by Russians: Kyiv, Chernigiv, Poltava, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk,” Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.

Russia sought to capture the capital Kyiv in the early days of its invasion but later retreated, focusing its efforts on Ukraine’s east Donbas region. 

In the battered Donetsk region — part of the Donbas — AFP journalists saw a house hit in an intense artillery exchange around the ravaged frontline city of Bakhmut.

A worker was inside the courtyard when the shell hit and was saved by emergency rescuers who cut a hole in a steel fence using an axe. 

“I heard a whistle. And I don’t remember anything. It exploded and I was thrown into the barn by the explosion,” 51-year-old Roman told AFP.

Ukraine’s emergency services said that Russian artillery had hit a hotel in Bakhmut, leaving two people dead and five injured.

– Gas ‘power play’ –

Deepening an energy crisis in Europe sparked by the war, Germany’s energy regulator said flow of Russian gas via the key Nord Stream pipeline had dropped to 20 percent of capacity on Wednesday from 40 percent.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed EU sanctions for the limited supply, but Berlin has dismissed the explanation and government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann called the reductions a “power play” by Moscow.

The European Union has been bracing for energy cutbacks and on Tuesday agreed a plan to reduce gas consumption by 15 percent this winter to break its dependence on Russia.

Reacting to Europe’s energy concerns, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced plans to boost Ukrainian electricity supplies to European consumers.

“Our export not only allows us to generate foreign currency revenues, but also help our partners withstand the energy pressure from Russia,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation Wednesday evening.