- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
- Scientists unlock secret of 'Girl With Pearl Earring'
- Dolphins flash friendly grins when they're ready to play
- Facing backlash, EU moves to delay deforestation rules
- US private sector adds more jobs than expected in September: ADP
- Boys out of critical condition after Zurich stabbings
SCS | -1.98% | 12.62 | $ | |
NGG | -2.7% | 66.97 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.16% | 24.74 | $ | |
BCC | -0.9% | 138.29 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 58.93 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 24.89 | $ | |
RIO | -1.42% | 69.83 | $ | |
GSK | -2.81% | 38.37 | $ | |
BCE | -1.77% | 33.84 | $ | |
RELX | -1.46% | 46.61 | $ | |
JRI | -0.6% | 13.3 | $ | |
AZN | -2.12% | 77.93 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.15% | 6.98 | $ | |
VOD | -0.52% | 9.69 | $ | |
BP | 0.28% | 32.46 | $ | |
BTI | -2.45% | 35.11 | $ |
Turf wars stall Ireland's green agenda
In the aftermath of the hottest day in Ireland for more than 130 years this week, small family groups picked their way across the Bog of Allen in the country's midlands collecting sun-dried turf.
The briquettes of peat, which are liquorice black when hewn wet from the ground, had turned a toasted brown in the soaring July temperatures and were ready to be stored and burnt as winter fuel.
But the bog, like others across Ireland, has become a frontline in a struggle to cut carbon emissions and conserve peat lands, pitting rural communities against urban policy makers.
"There's very deep anger and resentment that the likes of the Green Party and urban members of the Green Party think... they can run riot over the country people of Ireland," John Dore a spokesman for the Kildare Turf Cutters Association told AFP.
Fourteen percent of the Irish population use turf, a smoky fuel, to heat their homes, according to Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
For those who rely on the traditional energy source, which has been cut and burnt in the country for centuries, turf is a birthright.
"It's a very cultural and community activity," Dore explained. "We're fuel independent. It's about being independent as well."
During a visit to Japan on Tuesday, Ireland's prime minister Micheal Martin said his government needed to focus on emissions as it looks to set legally binding targets by the end of the month.
"I think what the heatwaves are showing, it's bringing it home to people the enormity of the consequences of climate change," he told reporters in Tokyo.
"It's here now."
- 'Back to the bog' -
EPA figures released on Thursday showed a 4.7 percent rise in greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 compared to 2020 -- and up 1.1 percent on 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
Martin's three-party governing coalition, which includes Ireland's Greens, has been licking its wounds after it tried to place curbs on the sale of turf earlier this year.
A series of heated debates on the restrictions triggered a rebellion among the government's rural deputies.
One independent lawmaker from Tipperary, Mattie McGrath, said ministers needed a "trip back to the bog" to realise the impact of proposed restrictions on low-income families living in rural areas.
As he unveiled revised plans to curb the retail sale of turf last week, Green Party Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said controversial measures restricting the sale of turf to within communities of less than 500 people had been dropped.
Under the new rules, sales of turf to family, friends and neighbours will continue as before.
But sales at retail outlets and online will be banned, along with the advertisement of turf sales in traditional media.
For Patsy Power, a turf cutter whose family has rights to cut and remove turf on the Bog of Allen, the changes will make virtually no difference to the way he operates.
"We've been taking turf from here all my life time," said Power, 60, who has seven siblings who gather turf from the same plot.
"We wouldn't be selling it anyway, it's merely for domestic use and it'll merely be family," he added as he took a break from throwing clods into the back of his truck.
- 'Not worth the heat' -
Dore called the government's retreat a "bit of a victory".
But he said the compromise had also been driven by factors such as rising energy prices and fuel insecurity from the war in Ukraine rather than concern for rural communities.
The spokesman, who also cuts and stores turf at his home nearby, said he understood Ireland had international climate commitments but characterised targeting turf farmers with curbs as "starting with the small guys".
Conservationists have urged the government to grasp the nettle of turf cutting over the damage it does to bogs, which are natural carbon sinks and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"There's no onus on turf cutters to restore the habitat or manage emissions from when they're draining the bog," said Tristram Whyte, policy officer for the Irish Peatland Conservation Council.
"Along with that all the peat silt enters the waterways and with the emissions there's biodiversity loss.
"It's the most emitting source of fuel that you can use... the effects from burning peat is not worth the heat."
Y.Uduike--CPN