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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed a rule to slash the use of a potent climate-warming gas commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners by 85% over the next 15 years, a move it said will play a big part in U.S. plans to halve its greenhouse gas emissions this decade.
FILE PHOTO: Michael Regan testifies before a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on his nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Brandon Bell/Pool
The proposal to curb the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) would keep the equivalent of 900 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from reaching the atmosphere over that period, it said, a climate impact similar to preventing the combustion of a trillion tons of coal.
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INDRAMAYU, Indonesia (Reuters) - Caked in mud up to their knees, a small group of Indonesian youngsters plant mangrove saplings along a stretch of exposed coastline next to the Java Sea under the watchful eye of local environmentalist Samsudin.
A former school teacher, Samsudin has now dedicated his life to conservation and uses puppetry and storytelling to spread his message to the young about the importance of protecting mangroves in an area suffering massive coastal erosion.
“To keep tides from hitting us, we plant mangroves, forests for animals and oxygen for us to live. I weave everything into my stories,” said Samsudin, 50, as he mused how some people in the area saw mangroves as a “nuisance” and would pull them out.
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TORONTO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Protecting and restoring nature can reduce the risk of armed conflict around the world, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said on Wednesday.
Over the last 30 years, countries have been more prone to conflict when natural resources like agricultural land and water become scarce or degraded, such as in areas where droughts are frequent, said a report released by the organisation, which brings together governments, green groups and scientists.
It comes as a coalition of countries pushes to conserve global biodiversity by protecting at least 30% of land and oceans by 2030, ahead of a key United Nations conference in Kunming, China, set to take place in October.
By Reuters Staff
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DAKAR (Reuters) - Ireland’s government confirmed on Wednesday that an Irish citizen, wildlife NGO founder Rory Young, was killed by unidentified gunmen along with two Spanish journalists in an ambush in Burkina Faso this week.
The three foreigners and a member of the Burkinabe armed forces went missing on Monday after an attack on a convoy of security forces, forest rangers and expatriates, according to Burkina Faso’s government.
“Mr. Young was part of a group that on Monday morning was attacked by unknown assailants in the eastern part of Burkina Faso,” the Irish foreign ministry said in a statement.
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JAKARTA, April 21 (Reuters) - Indonesian farmer Albertus Wawan hopes a new government regulation means the small plot of land where he grows palm oil trees in a forest reserve on Borneo may be recognised as a legal plantation and eligible to access funding.
But the hopes of thousands of smallholders like Wawan for the acceptance of their farms inside designated forest areas is alarming green groups and comes at time when palm oil is under scrutiny in some Western countries for its links to deforestation.
The changes, part of President Joko Widodo’s sweeping liberalisation of regulations to boost Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, illustrate the trade-offs countries make to protect the environment or provide jobs to raise living standards.