Regulated rail fares in England will be slashed by a third from next month if Labour wins the General Election, the party has pledged.

Jeremy Corbyn intends to re-nationalise the railways when contracts expire if he wins the December 12 vote and has announced plans to cut regulated rail fares by 33 percent from January 2020.

The party estimates the policy would save the average commuter more than £1,000 a year, and says it would represent the biggest ever reduction in rail fares. The policy is likely to encourage people out of their cars, reducing carbon emissions and contributing to efforts to prevent climate breakdown. 

£1.5 billion

It comes after Britain’s train companies confirmed over the weekend that they will hike prices by an average of 2.7 percent next year.

Children aged 16 and under would receive free rail travel under the party’s plans, while part time workers would be guaranteed “fair” fares.

Labour has also pledged to deliver a simple, London-style ticketing system across the nation – with “islands” within which zonal rail fares will apply across all modes of public transport.

There would be a daily price cap so travellers can pay as they go using bank cards or mobile phones.

Labour estimates that the policy will cost £1.5 billion per year and would come from existing Department for Transport budgets, drawn from Vehicle Excise Duty.

Young

Mr Corbyn said: “Travelling by train is my favourite way of getting around the country but for too long a fragmented and privatised rail system has ripped-off passengers.

“Taking back control of our railways is the only way to bring down fares and create a railway network that is fit for the future.

“Labour will bring about real change on the railways because we are on the side of passengers.”

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald added: “Privatisation has created one of the most complex, exploitative and expensive ticketing systems in the world.

“Labour will scrap the bewildering and outdated fares and ticketing system that discriminates against part-time workers, discourages rail travel and excludes the young and low paid.

Punctuality

“Labour is on the side of passengers which is why we will introduce a simpler, fairer and more affordable system for all, integrated with other forms of public transport.

“Rail passengers who want to save hundreds or thousands of pounds next year need to vote Labour on December 12.

“Labour will deliver a railway in public ownership for the many, not the few.”

Responding to the announcement, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “This is another desperate attempt from Labour to distract from their inability and unwillingness to be straight with people on where they stand on Brexit, and the fact they would raise taxes on low and middle income workers across the country.

“The Conservatives will improve punctuality by integrating parts of the rail network, make ticketing and pricing more transparent and will invest £500 million in reopening branch lines closed under Labour.

Ownership

“You simply cannot trust Corbyn to deliver what he claims. His ideological plans would wreck our economy, cost people their livelihoods and with the help of Nicola Sturgeon would waste the whole of next year on two more chaotic referendums.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, commenting on behalf of train operators, said: “Rail companies have been calling for some time for changes in regulation to enable an easier to use, better value range of fares but it’s a red herring to suggest that reforming fares needs a change of ownership.

“Overall fare levels will always be a matter for elected politicians in deciding the balance of farepayer and taxpayer funding.

“Train companies would obviously support a reduction for passengers as long as it is funded on an ongoing basis so that investment to improve the railway can continue.”

Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union said: “A third off fares in the new year and making travel free for under 16s will not only save passengers thousands of pounds, it will transform travel for the future, increasing rail passenger numbers and rail jobs to help fight the climate crisis.

“This is rail public ownership that delivers real change to benefit everyone.”

This Author

Harriet Line is the PA deputy political editor. 

England would become one of the best countries in the world for walking and cycling if Labour wins the general election, the party has promised.

A new healthy streets programme, modelled on towns in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, would aim to make towns and cities cleaner and greener.

Labour pledged yesterday to double cycling journeys by both adults and children, build 5,000km of cycleways, and create safe cycling and walking routes to 10,000 primary schools.

Pleasant

The party said it will also deliver universal affordable access to bicycles and grants for e-bike purchase, as well as providing cycle training for all primary school children and their parents.

There are also plans to extend training to secondary schools and make it available for all adults.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday: “I love walking and cycling so I’m proud of the policies we’ve announced today to give millions of people the freedom to walk and cycle along convenient, attractive routes, safe from traffic danger.

“These policies will slash carbon emissions, tackle air pollution, save our NHS billions and boost our high streets by making towns and city centres more pleasant.

Dutch

“Our plans will transform opportunities so that travelling actively and healthily is an option for the many, not just the bold and fearless.”

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: “Walking and cycling are essential forms of transport, but have been neglected by nine years of Tory Britain.

“Making more of our everyday trips by walking and cycling is crucial to reducing transport emissions and tackling the climate emergency.

“We could cut up to one third of carbon emissions from car journeys if we had the same quality of segregated cycle infrastructure and cycling culture as the Dutch, and simultaneously we would cut the obesity and diabetes crisis that is threatening to overwhelm the NHS.

“Labour’s plans will make England one the best countries in the world for walking and cycling.”

This Author

Catherine Wylie is a reporter with PA.

Regulated rail fares in England will be slashed by a third from next month if Labour wins the General Election, the party has pledged.

Jeremy Corbyn intends to re-nationalise the railways when contracts expire if he wins the December 12 vote and has announced plans to cut regulated rail fares by 33 percent from January 2020.

The party estimates the policy would save the average commuter more than £1,000 a year, and says it would represent the biggest ever reduction in rail fares. The policy is likely to encourage people out of their cars, reducing carbon emissions and contributing to efforts to prevent climate breakdown. 

£1.5 billion

It comes after Britain’s train companies confirmed over the weekend that they will hike prices by an average of 2.7 percent next year.

Children aged 16 and under would receive free rail travel under the party’s plans, while part time workers would be guaranteed “fair” fares.

Labour has also pledged to deliver a simple, London-style ticketing system across the nation – with “islands” within which zonal rail fares will apply across all modes of public transport.

There would be a daily price cap so travellers can pay as they go using bank cards or mobile phones.

Labour estimates that the policy will cost £1.5 billion per year and would come from existing Department for Transport budgets, drawn from Vehicle Excise Duty.

Young

Mr Corbyn said: “Travelling by train is my favourite way of getting around the country but for too long a fragmented and privatised rail system has ripped-off passengers.

“Taking back control of our railways is the only way to bring down fares and create a railway network that is fit for the future.

“Labour will bring about real change on the railways because we are on the side of passengers.”

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald added: “Privatisation has created one of the most complex, exploitative and expensive ticketing systems in the world.

“Labour will scrap the bewildering and outdated fares and ticketing system that discriminates against part-time workers, discourages rail travel and excludes the young and low paid.

Punctuality

“Labour is on the side of passengers which is why we will introduce a simpler, fairer and more affordable system for all, integrated with other forms of public transport.

“Rail passengers who want to save hundreds or thousands of pounds next year need to vote Labour on December 12.

“Labour will deliver a railway in public ownership for the many, not the few.”

Responding to the announcement, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “This is another desperate attempt from Labour to distract from their inability and unwillingness to be straight with people on where they stand on Brexit, and the fact they would raise taxes on low and middle income workers across the country.

“The Conservatives will improve punctuality by integrating parts of the rail network, make ticketing and pricing more transparent and will invest £500 million in reopening branch lines closed under Labour.

Ownership

“You simply cannot trust Corbyn to deliver what he claims. His ideological plans would wreck our economy, cost people their livelihoods and with the help of Nicola Sturgeon would waste the whole of next year on two more chaotic referendums.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, commenting on behalf of train operators, said: “Rail companies have been calling for some time for changes in regulation to enable an easier to use, better value range of fares but it’s a red herring to suggest that reforming fares needs a change of ownership.

“Overall fare levels will always be a matter for elected politicians in deciding the balance of farepayer and taxpayer funding.

“Train companies would obviously support a reduction for passengers as long as it is funded on an ongoing basis so that investment to improve the railway can continue.”

Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union said: “A third off fares in the new year and making travel free for under 16s will not only save passengers thousands of pounds, it will transform travel for the future, increasing rail passenger numbers and rail jobs to help fight the climate crisis.

“This is rail public ownership that delivers real change to benefit everyone.”

This Author

Harriet Line is the PA deputy political editor. 

England would become one of the best countries in the world for walking and cycling if Labour wins the general election, the party has promised.

A new healthy streets programme, modelled on towns in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, would aim to make towns and cities cleaner and greener.

Labour pledged yesterday to double cycling journeys by both adults and children, build 5,000km of cycleways, and create safe cycling and walking routes to 10,000 primary schools.

Pleasant

The party said it will also deliver universal affordable access to bicycles and grants for e-bike purchase, as well as providing cycle training for all primary school children and their parents.

There are also plans to extend training to secondary schools and make it available for all adults.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday: “I love walking and cycling so I’m proud of the policies we’ve announced today to give millions of people the freedom to walk and cycle along convenient, attractive routes, safe from traffic danger.

“These policies will slash carbon emissions, tackle air pollution, save our NHS billions and boost our high streets by making towns and city centres more pleasant.

Dutch

“Our plans will transform opportunities so that travelling actively and healthily is an option for the many, not just the bold and fearless.”

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: “Walking and cycling are essential forms of transport, but have been neglected by nine years of Tory Britain.

“Making more of our everyday trips by walking and cycling is crucial to reducing transport emissions and tackling the climate emergency.

“We could cut up to one third of carbon emissions from car journeys if we had the same quality of segregated cycle infrastructure and cycling culture as the Dutch, and simultaneously we would cut the obesity and diabetes crisis that is threatening to overwhelm the NHS.

“Labour’s plans will make England one the best countries in the world for walking and cycling.”

This Author

Catherine Wylie is a reporter with PA.

The latest round of United Nations climate talks get under way on Monday with governments facing pressure to ramp up action to cut emissions.

The meeting of 196 countries, and the European Union, comes in the wake of increasingly dire warnings about the state of the climate and at the end of a year which has seen severe weather extremes and increasing calls for action.

UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa (pictured) said: “This year, we have seen accelerating climate change impacts, including increased droughts, storms and heatwaves, with dire consequences for poverty eradication, human health, migration and inequality.

Extreme

“The world’s small window of opportunity to address climate change is closing rapidly.”

She said the conference must be the “launchpad” for more climate ambition.

It was due to be held in Santiago, Chile, but was moved at short notice to Madrid, Spain, because of ongoing civil protests in the Chilean capital.

In the week leading up to the start of the talks, the World Meteorological Organisation revealed levels of climate-warming greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide had hit record levels in 2018.

And the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) exposed a dramatic “emissions gap” between the action countries had pledged to curb emissions that drive global warming and what is needed to avoid the worst of climate change.

UNEP said emissions would have to fall by 7.6 percent per year up to 2030 to keep the world on track to limit temperature rises to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – beyond which there will be severe impacts of rising seas, extreme weather and threats to water and food security.

Curb

Further reports released during the talks will reveal how hot the world has been in 2019, and the amount of carbon pollution countries have pumped into the atmosphere this year.

Despite the growing public concern over climate change, which saw millions of people take to the streets in September to demand urgent action on the crisis as part of the school strike movement, few new climate plans are expected.

But there will be pressure at the talks – attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres – on governments to signal that they will be unveiling more ambitious targets and plans in 2020.

Next year sees the next major round of UN climate talks, which are set to be held in Glasgow towards the end of the year.

The Paris Agreement on tackling climate change comes into force in 2020 and countries are expected to come forward with more ambitious plans to meet their commitments under the deal to curb global warming.

Oceans

The UK’s former clean growth minister, Claire Perry O’Neill, who is set to be president of next year’s talks, will be attending the meeting in Madrid, along with Lord Duncan and delegates from government and devolved administrations.

But the UK is unlikely to play a particularly high-profile role as the general election takes place on what is scheduled to be the penultimate day of the meeting.

Meanwhile Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist who inspired the global school strike movement, is sailing back across the Atlantic for the talks.

She had travelled to New York by yacht with plans to make her way down to Chile to attend the talks in Santiago without flying, but had to find a way home when the meeting was moved.

In the nitty-gritty of the negotiations, countries are trying to finalise rules around carbon markets, and agree how to help at-risk countries such as low-lying island nations cope with climate impacts they cannot adapt to.

And they will look at how to use recommendations in recent UN science reports on the world’s land and oceans.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

Living within 50 metres of a major road in may increase your risk of developing lung cancer by up to 10 percent, a new report written by King’s College London has found. The report was released by a coalition of fifteen health and environment NGOs, including ClientEarth, the British Lung Foundation, and the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change which represents 650,000 health professionals in the NHS.

The levels of recorded roadside air pollution stunt lung growth in children by  approximately 14 percent in Oxford, 13 percent in London, 8 percent in Birmingham, 5 percent in Bristol, 5 percent in Liverpool, 3 percent in Nottingham, and 4 percent in Southampton. One third (33 percent) of Londoners – around 3 million people – are estimated to live near a busy road. 

The new research shows an increased risk of cardiac arrest, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and  bronchitis as well as reduced lung function in children. 

Reducing emissions 

Ahead of the General Election on 12 December, the group is calling for all political parties to commit to adopting a legally-binding target to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for particulate matter pollution by 2030 and take steps to immediately reduce illegal air pollution across the UK.

The existing UK legal limits for particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) are still more than double the WHO guideline levels.

To date, none of the political parties have explicitly committed to meet the guidelines by 2030. The fear is that without a clear deadline and timetable, many more people will die and face debilitating health conditions. 

The group are also urging the introduction of a national network of Clean Air Zones across the UK.

London’s own clean air zone, the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, launched earlier this year has already had an impact on reducing air pollution, with levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) falling by 29 percent. 

Lung cancer

This is the first time that such a wide range of health conditions and cities have been analysed in one report, with the research comparing 13 different health outcomes including heart disease, lung cancer, strokes and bronchitis across 13 cities in the UK and Poland.

Previous research has tended to concentrate on deaths or hospital admissions, but this report also includes symptoms that affect a larger number of people such as chest infections (‘acute bronchitis’) and reduced lung function in children.

The report shows that cutting air pollution by one-fifth would reduce the number of lung cancer cases by 7.6 percent in London, 6.4 percent in Birmingham, 5.9 percent in Bristol, 5.3 percent in Liverpool, 5.6 percent in Manchester, 6.7 percent in Nottingham, 6 percent in Oxford and 5.9 percent in Southampton. 

Living near a busy road can trigger bronchitic symptoms amongst children with asthma. If pollution was reduced by one-fifth, there would be 3,865 fewer cases of children with bronchitic symptoms every year in London, 328 in Birmingham, 94 in Bristol, 85 in Liverpool, 85 in Manchester, 134 in Nottingham, 38 in Oxford and 69 in Southampton. 

‘Deeply worrying’

Andrea Lee, clean air campaigns and policy manager at ClientEarth, said: “Toxic air puts an unfair burden on people’s lives. The good news is that solutions are available. The UK’s first clean air zone in London is already having an impact. But much more needs to be done to help people across the country move to cleaner forms of transport.

“To better protect people’s health, the next UK Government also needs to raise the bar by making a binding commitment to meet stricter WHO guidelines by 2030.

“If politicians were not already convinced by the abundant evidence that air pollution seriously harms our health, could this new research be the tipping point?” 

The call is being echoed by parents and leading health professionals who are warning of the “unsustainable burden on the NHS” of air pollution. A group of parents from across the country affected by air pollution, the Clean Air Parents’ Network, are writing to general election candidates asking them to commit to urgent action to protect children’s health as well as meeting WHO targets and setting up Clean Air Zones in the most polluted towns and cities. 

Lucy Harbor, mum, and founder of Clean Air 4 Schools, who lives in North London, said: “These findings are deeply worrying, as me and my family live by the A10 and my kids go to a school on a busy main road. Sadly, this report confirms many of my worst fears – that where we live and go to school could seriously be affecting our health.

“We are these statistics – one of my  children was hospitalised with pneumonia and has had asthma. That my children’s lung growth could be stunted by 12.5 percent makes me seriously question whether enough is being done to urgently bring pollution levels down on main roads in London.”

Unsustainable burden

Dr Sandy Robertson, Emergency Medicine Registrar at the Homerton University Hospital London and Council Member of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, said: “It’s clear to see the effect of air pollution on the demand for emergency care in A&E waiting rooms. This study from Kings College quantifies the staggering scale of that link.

“Children in London are 4.2 percent more likely to be hospitalised by asthma on days of high pollution – resulting in an extra 74 child admissions.

Air pollution is not only an individual tragedy for those whose health suffers, it is also an unsustainable burden on our NHS. But we can make a difference. In the lead up to this General Election, it’s essential that all political parties commit to supporting a legally binding target to meet WHO air quality limits by 2030.”

Dr Rob Hughes, Senior Fellow at the Clean Air Fund, said: “Air pollution makes us, and especially our children, sick from cradle to grave, but is often invisible.

“This impressive research makes this public health crisis – which affects people all across the UK – visible, and shows the urgency with which all political parties must prioritise cleaning up our air.”

This Author

Marianne Brooker in The Ecologist’s content editor. This article is based on a press release from King’s College London. 

Social movements were organising their opposition to COP25 – in which those most affected by climate violence would be sidelined – even before the popular mobilisation started in Chile and Sebastián Piñera suspended the talks. 

A gathering in Chile in September brought together frontline defenders to discuss the climate crisis, a just energy transition from the mining extractivist model that is killing Chileans and people all over the global South.

Now, following the brutal repression of the uprising and Piñera’s attempts to avoid scrutiny, their analysis is more important than ever.

In the declaration that follows, Latin American climate justice movements and their allies state their opposition to the neoliberal extractivist model, and propose a justice-oriented approach to solving the climate crisis that will not sacrifice the peoples of the global South.

Declaration 

The ‘Regional Gathering: Climate crisis, energy transition and mining extractivism in Latin America’ was held from September 26 to 28 in Santiago, Chile.

Faced with the undeniable climate crisis and the false solutions proposed by multilateral spaces that have been co-opted by the transnational business sector and supported by governments, the meeting was organised by the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), the Observatory of Mining Conflicts of Latin America (OCMAL) together with War on Want and Mining Watch Canada.

We consider:

That national and transnational companies and governments, mainly of the industrialised North, are those truly responsible for environmental breakdown due to their extractive activities in search of capitalist accumulation and the promotion of consumerism.

That the current discourse around the climate crisis places the blame on individual responsibility, thereby distracting the attention from those most responsible.

That the peoples, communities and organisations that resist these extractive activities – in defence of life, water and territories – are stigmatised, repressed, criminalised and murdered.

That companies and extractivist governments are the ones who commit true criminal acts against all forms of life, violating Human Rights and the Rights of Nature.

That mining extractivism in all its phases causes ecocide and ethnocide in the different territories where it operates. 

That hidden behind the discourse of the ‘energy transition’ is a program of economic growth for the Global North which threatens to exponentially increase sacrifice zones under the auspices of guaranteeing the supply of minerals for so-called ‘green’ technologies. This will come at the cost of the exploitation of our territories and communities, all while intensifying the ecological crisis. 

That the recent panic surrounding the climate crisis in the Global North can only ever be understood in the context of the struggles present in our urban and rural communities of the Global South, who have been resisting the intersecting social and ecological crises since the inception of colonialism. This panic cannot impose false solutions or reproduce extractivism.

That the climate crisis, as part of an ecological crisis, is a condition of the capitalist world development model.

We denounce:

Any attempt by mining companies to benefit from the climate crisis using deceptive initiatives such as: “inclusive tailings”, and the ‘adoption’ of environmental liabilities, Responsible Mining, Green Mining, Sustainable Mining, Ecological Mining, Clean Mining, Climate Smart Mining, Future Smart Mining, offsetting mechanisms for social and environmental damages, Green Economy and any other concept that seeks to wash its image or perpetuate impunity.

The actions of governments and corporations that dismember, divide, privatise, auction-off  and commercialise nature and our territories to turn them into resources, merchandise or environmental services. 

Visions of a transition which reproduce extractivist capitalism, including those focused on the nationalisation of minerals and oil and do not guarantee structural changes.

Any appropriation of local knowledge, expertise and wisdom by mining companies and governments to encourage extractive activities.

That extractivist companies, in addition to exploiting the environment, also engage in widespread corruption, eliminating trust in public institutions and the functioning of the judicial system.

That to date, the COPs have failed to provide real solutions to address climate injustice and inequality caused by predatory extractivism. Instead they have, under the pressure of Northern countries, made decisions in the interests of the economic model which is responsible for the ecological and climate crisis.

We recognise:

That the strength to face this crisis lies with young people, women, communities and organisations, movements and territories. 

That our anti-capitalist struggle is also a decolonial, anti-patriarchal and anti-racist struggle.

That the true knowledge-keepers of territories are those who have historically inhabited them.

That nature is a subject of rights and recognition of this is a global necessity. 

The self-determination of peoples to resist and say “no” to the invasion of mining companies in their territories.

We will fight

So that ecological justice emerges from the territories where the processes to protect life, water, ecosystems and Mother Earth are increasingly threatened and impacted by predatory extractivist capitalism.

To strengthen and respect the autonomy of communities and their organisations to define solutions in the framework of justice and equity based on nature, the planet and humanity.

For the respect of the Indigenous peoples, peasants and other communities, who are the guardians of their territories. 

To cease the auctioning of mining and oil concessions in our territories.  

Alongside frontline resistance to mega-mining and processes which seek mining-bans.

To ensure that mining companies which have benefited from the looting of nature are fully liable for mine-closure processes, and that integral repair of the territory arises from collective and participatory processes led by affected communities.

So that environmental catastrophes, pollution, murders and any other violation in territories affected by mining companies are recognised for what they are: crimes. It is urgent to develop binding policies and mechanisms to confront the generalised impunity enjoyed by companies, their owners, their executives and their financial centres.

To strengthen organisations and movements that fight in defence of the territories.

To develop regional solidarity and agreements to ensure food, energy and economic sovereignty.

To defend water in all its states as a source of life.

To sow, celebrate and strengthen territories free of mining.

Signatories:

Asamblea en Defensa del Elki (Chile/Elqui)
Acción Ecológica (Ecuador/Quito)
Asamblea por el Agua del Guasco Alto (Chile/Huasco)
Belén dice NO a la minería (Chile/Arica)
CENSAT Agua Viva (Colombia/Bogotá)
Centro de Documentación e Información Bolivia (CEDIB) (Bolivia/Cochabamba)
Centro de Investigación sobre Inversión y Comercio (CEICOM) (El Salvador/ San Salvador)
Centro Ecológico Churque (Chile/Santiago/Lo Barnechea)
Codemaa (Chile/Atacama)
Comunidad Indígena Diaguita Patay Co (Chile/Huasco)
CooperAcción (Perú/Lima)
Coordinadora Penco-Lirquén (Chile/Penco-Lirquén)
Coordinadora por la Defensa del Río Loa y la Madre Tierra (Chile/Calama)
Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN) (Argentina/Buenos Aires)
London Mining Network (Reino Unido/Londres)
Mega Comunal de Turismo Monte Patria y Limarí (Chile/Monte Patria – Limarí)
Mining Watch Canada (Canadá/Ottawa)
Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros en América Latina (OCMAL) (Chile/Santiago)
Observatorio Conflictos Mineros de Zacatecas (OCMZAC) (México/Zacatecas)
Observatorio de Ecología Política de Venezuela (OEPV) (Venezuela/Caracas)
Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales (OLCA) (Chile/Santiago)
Observatorio Plurinacional de Salares Andinos (OPSA) (Chile/Atacama)
Putaendo Resiste (Chile/Putaendo)
Red de Afectados por la Vale (Brasil/Minas Gerais, Brumadinho)
Red de Mujeres El Loa (Chile/Calama)
War on Want (Reino Unido/Londres)

Click here to read the original version in Spanish.

Tens of thousands of children across the UK have bunked off school on Friday as part of a global climate strike, campaigners said.

The international movement, Fridays For Future, which was started by teenage activist Greta Thunberg in 2018, encourages pupils to protest against governments’ lack of action on climate change by not attending school on Fridays.

Around 120 demonstrations are being staged around the UK, as well as over 3,000 worldwide in 150 countries.

Skyrocket

The protests come following a cross-party leaders’ debate on climate change that was broadcast on Channel 4 on Thursday evening.

Activists say it is vital that the environment is pushed to the top of the political agenda.

Jake Woodier, campaigner with the UK Student Climate Network, said: “The idea is to make sure that there is enough pressure on the electorate and to highlight that this is not any ordinary election, it’s a climate election.

“Over the past year young people have been taking to the streets on a monthly basis to highlight the urgent need for action on the climate crisis.

“This has seen public concern skyrocket, and it’s essential that this concern translates at the ballot box in December.

Idiots

“We’ve got incredibly limited time to address the climate crisis and the next government will be in charge for five vital years that we can’t afford to lose.”

Hundreds of young people gathered in Parliament Square in central London on Friday morning.

Among them was 12-year-old Niamh, who travelled from Guildford to attend the demonstration with her brother Finn, 10, and father Simon.

Speaking to the PA news agency, she said: “It’s not fair. It’s going to affect my generation who won’t know what a polar bear is.

“If we’re off school it will make a difference. I think the government is doing a bit but we’re being idiots about it.”

Democracy

Simon, 43, added: “I think it’s good to get them involved and be socially aware, to get involved to fix this for everyone. “If we don’t, we’re buggered.”

Similar protests are taking place in other UK cities such as Cambridge, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The UK Student Climate network says that although the majority of attendees are young people there are an increasing number of adults at Fridays For Future events.

Gwen, 48, from north London, said: “They [the kids] need to be empowered. They need to know they can make a difference. They need to know that they can change the world for the better.”

Her son Tariq, 12, said: “We’re here because we want democracy and [the Government] to give us a Citizens’ Assembly and to end climate change.

Moral

“They are the ones with the power to give us what we want. His friend Tom, 13, added: “It’s important stuff.”

The young activists were joined at Westminster by other groups and chanted “where the **** is the government?”

When asked about the language used, Gwen said: “They’re going to be exposed to it at some point – I’d rather it was at a protest march.”

Activists in London plan to unfurl a 30-metre long banner with a “message to the electorate” on Westminster Bridge on Friday afternoon.

Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said that youth demonstrators were the “moral conscience not just of their generation but the whole of our society”.

Debate

“These young people are walking out of school to teach us a big lesson on what it means to be responsible adults,” he said.

“Because there’s no running away from a nature and climate emergency that’s erupting all around us.

“Whoever’s going to be the UK’s next prime minister must realise the gravity of the situation and be willing to take the radical action needed to address it.”

During the Channel 4 debate Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price and Green co-leader Sian Berry discussed their party’s plans for climate action.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage declined to take part in the debate.

Scared

Their absence was represented by two circular ice sculptures engraved with maps of the world which stood melting on stage throughout the hour-long programme.

The Conservatives have complained to Ofcom about the sculpture.

Tory minister Michael Gove also posted a video on Twitter, saying he asked to take part in the debate but was refused.

Mr Gove, a former environment secretary, said that the snub was a “denial of debate” and that the other parties were “running scared of debating the Conservatives”.

This Author

Mike Bedigan is a reporter for PA.

Massive Attack are teaming up with climate scientists to map the carbon footprint of the band while they are on tour.

Data from the Bristol-based group’s forthcoming tour schedule – including band travel and audience transportation – will be collected and analysed in a joint collaboration with the University of Manchester’s Tyndall Centre.

In a statement, Massive Attack said: “For some time, despite taking consistent steps to reduce the environmental impact associated with an internationally touring music group, we’ve been concerned and preoccupied with the carbon footprint of our schedules and the wider impact of our sector overall.

Impact

“This concern has deepened with each new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the universal acceptance of the climate and biodiversity emergency.

“Any unilateral statement or protest we make alone as one band will not make a meaningful difference. In pursuing systemic change, there is no substitute for collective action.

“In contribution to this action, we’re announcing the commission of the renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester – a body that brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists to research options to mitigate global warming – to map thoroughly the carbon footprint of band tour cycles, and to present options that can be implemented quickly to begin a meaningful reduction of impact.”

Dr Chris Jones, research fellow at Tyndall, said: “Every industry has varying degrees of carbon impact to address and we need partnerships like this one to look at reducing carbon emissions across the board.

Industry

“It’s more effective to have a sustained process of emissions reductions across the sector than for individual artists (to) quit live performances. It will likely mean a major shift in how things are done now, involving not just the band but the rest of the business and the audience.”

Last week, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said the band will not launch a globe-trotting tour for their latest album because of environmental concerns.

Massive Attack star Robert “3D” Del Naja wrote in the Guardian that they have “discussed ending touring altogether – an important option that deserves consideration”.

“In reality, however, an entire international roster of acts would need to stop touring to achieve the required impact,” he added. “In a major employment industry with hundreds of acts, this isn’t about to happen.”

This Author

 Kim Pilling is a reporter with PA.

Cattle farming is the main driver of illegal land seizures on Reserves and Indigenous territories in Brazil’s Amazon, fuelling deforestation and trampling on the rights of Indigenous and traditional people living there, Amnesty International has said in a new report. 

The 29-page report – Fence off and bring cattle: Illegal cattle farming in Brazil’s Amazon – was released as Amnesty, alongside Indigenous leaders from the Amazon, presented a petition with more than 162,000 signatures to Brazilian authorities calling on them to stop illegal seizures of protected land in the Amazon.

Richard Pearshouse, Amnesty International’s Head of Crisis and Environment, said: “Illegal cattle ranching is the main driver of Amazon deforestation. It poses a very real threat, not only to the human rights of Indigenous and traditional peoples who live there, but also to the entire planet’s ecosystem.”

Criminal activity

Pearshouse continued: “While the Bolsonaro administration slashes environmental protections at the Federal level, some state authorities are effectively enabling the illegal cattle farming which destroys protected areas of the rainforest.

“The public has a right to know about cattle ranching in protected areas – after all, this is criminal activity. Brazilian authorities must make this information publicly available and take meaningful steps to end illegal cattle farming in protected areas.”

Around two-thirds of the areas of the Amazon deforested between 1988 and 2014 have been fenced off, burned and converted to grazing pasture – almost 500,000 km2, a total land area equivalent to five times the size of Portugal. Amnesty’s report documents how some state authorities are effectively enabling cattle farming in protected areas.

Amnesty visited five protected areas in Brazil’s Amazon throughout 2019: the Karipuna and Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous territories and the Rio Ouro Preto and Rio Jacy-Paraná Reserves (in Rondônia state), and the Manoki Indigenous territory (in Mato Grosso state).

Reserves are areas designated for the protection of the environment, the livelihoods and culture of its traditional populations including the sustainable use of its natural resources. Along with Indigenous territories, they are protected under Brazilian law and international treaties.

Land seizure

Official data, satellite imagery and site visits by Amnesty show how illegal land seizures, by and large linked to cattle ranching, are on the rise in all five of these areas.

Cattle farmers and grileiros –private individuals who illegally seize land – follow a broad pattern to convert tropical rainforest into pasture in Brazil’s Amazon. Plots of land in the forest are identified, trees are cut down and cleared, and then fires are lit (often repeatedly in the same area), before grass is planted and cattle then introduced.

New roads being cut and the appearance of campsites in the protected forest are among the warning signs that this process has begun. Amnesty documented how these activities have been rife in the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous territory in Rondônia, much of which overlaps with the Pacaás Novos National Park, where a federal environmental agent said more than 40km of new roads had appeared since 2017.

Another tell-tale sign that illegal farmers and grileiros are trying to seize land is the fencing off and burning down of large areas of the forest. Amnesty witnessed and recorded drone footage of this happening in Manoki Indigenous territory in Mato Grosso on 23 August 2019.

A Manoki leader told Amnesty it was part of intensified efforts by ranchers to destroy protected forest and convert the land to cow pasture. Amnesty observed cattle grazing in at least six different locations in Manoki territory.

Violence

Amnesty analysed remote sensing burn data and satellite imagery across the five territories and a clear pattern emerged. In multiple cases, satellite imagery captured land being burned adjacent to areas with cattle visibly roaming freely within protected areas. In some cases, probable paths from cattle moving through recently burned areas were visible.

Indigenous and traditional residents in four of the five protected areas told Amnesty International how these new invasions have often been accompanied by violence, threats and intimidation. At the fifth site, Rio Jacy-Paraná reserve, virtually all the original inhabitants have now been forcibly evicted from the reserve and are afraid to return because armed invaders involved in cattle farming now live on their land.

Government agencies with the mandate to protect the reserves have also been targeted. An environmental agent near Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory told Amnesty International: “We were surrounded by invaders. Thirty-two men, mostly hooded, arrived by foot behind us, with bottles of gas … There was a lot of shouting, threats, calling us ‘thugs’.”

The tense standoff lasted over an hour before the assailants left, but several weeks later they began sending the environmental agents audio messages with threats of violence.

In some cases, including in the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous territory, the threat of armed violence against Indigenous peoples and environmental protection workers has been so severe that the armed forces and federal police have had to intervene.

Indigenous territories

Amnesty’s research revealed that, not only has the Bolsonaro administration cut funding to and otherwise undermined environmental and Indigenous protection agencies, but some state agencies are effectively enabling cattle ranching in protected areas.

State laws require state animal health control agencies to visit and register farms and track cattle movements.

Amnesty filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests with state authorities in both Rondônia and Mato Grosso to access data on the number of cattle grazing in protected areas and on cattle movement.

Rondônia’s animal health control agency responded with incomplete data. Despite receiving five different FOI requests, Mato Grosso authorities declined to share any data at all.

The data that Amnesty obtained for Rondônia shows that there were over 295,000 cattle in Indigenous territories and environmentally protected areas in that state in November 2018.

This Author

Marianne Brooker is The Ecologist’s content editor. This article is based on a press release from Amnesty International. 

Image: Amnesty International.