🗺️ Picks of the Week — Jan. 15
🗺️ Picks of the Week — Jan. 15
UK Accuses China of Torture, New Oldest Cave Painting Discovered, Baby Sharks Under Threat, Colombian Environmental Activist Killed, Kyrgyzstan and Uganda Election Results
Happy Friday folks! Hope it’s been a productive week for ya’ll. We’ve got another action-packed edition of global news for you, so we hope you enjoy it.
Today we’ll travel to Australia where the climate crisis is making baby sharks more vulnerable; to Indonesia where archaeologists have discovered the world’s new oldest known cave painting; to Colombia where a pivotal environmental activist has been killed; to the UK whose government has come out and described China’s treatment of its Uyghur muslims as torture; to Kyrgyzstan who elected a former inmate as president; and to Uganda who’s awaiting election results amid 50 people being killed.
Be sure to check out Wednesday’s Inside The Middle East where we dissected the latest news from the region, and Monday’s job board as we had our largest ever update with another 327 jobs added. Okay, see you guys next week, take it away Sophie!
Job Corner
We had our biggest update to the job board so far, with more than 300 jobs added this weekend! Apparently there’s a limit on the number of people you can add to a Google Spreadsheet, so I’ve duplicated the main board. If you’re a paying member, you’ll have access to one of the two below links/buttons.
Preview of some of this week's new jobs 👇
Data Corner
A few datasets we referenced in today’s newsletter…
Endangered Species: Endangered species by country, from Earth’s Endangered Creatures
Conservation: Global annual conservation data and reports, from Global Witness
Corruption: Global corruption index, from Transparency International
Environmental Activist Assassinated in Colombia
We’re two weeks into 2021 and Colombia has already reported the killing of environmental activist Gustavo Cardona Molina, days after his disappearance in the Valle del Cauca department in the west of the country. Cardona worked with environmental organization ProAves to protect the Yellow-eared Parrot from extinction, an endangered Andean bird known in Spanish as the loro orejiamarillo.
Already this year, seven social leaders — activists defending the interests of local vulnerable communities — have been murdered in Colombia, compared to last year’s 310 killings. As one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, activists play a vital role in the preservation of Colombia’s more than 800 endangered species. However, their interests often clash with those of armed groups competing for control of remote territories to fuel illegal economies such as drug trafficking, mining, and logging.
The persecution of environmentalists is a global trend, with 2019 being the deadliest year on record according to Global Witness, and Colombia registered the most deaths of any country. And according to the World Bank, crimes affecting natural resources and the environment cause more than $70 billion (£51 billion) worth of global damage a year.
Gustavo Cardona Molina 👇
Climate Crisis Could Make Baby Sharks More Vulnerable
More environmental news now as scientists have discovered that warming oceans could be dangerous for baby sharks, encouraging them to prematurely leave their egg cases rendering them weaker and undernourished. In an experiment that emulated predicted ocean temperatures for the middle and end of this century, expected to reach up to 31°C (86°F), epaulette shark embryos native to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef emerged weighing significantly less than their counterparts reared in cooler waters.
The discovery is critical as weaker sharks are less likely to hunt, meaning the balance of the underwater ecosystem could take a large blow. With sharks already “functionally extinct” in approximately 20 percent of the world’s reefs, co-author of the study Dr. Jodie Rummer said “Sharks are important as predators because they take out the weak and injured and keep the integrity of the population strong… healthy coral reefs need healthy predators.”
Previous Picks of the Week 👀
🔎 Picks of the Week — January 8
🔎 Picks of the Week — December 18
🔎 Picks of the Week — December 11
🔎 Picks of the Week — December 4
UK Describes Chinese Treatment of Uyghurs as ‘Torture’
Moving to the UK next where Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has accused China of torturing Uyghur muslims in the autonomous Xinjiang province in Northwest China. In the UK government’s strongest comments on the issue so far, Raab also announced measures to deter British companies from using forced labour of the Uyghur people, including issuing fines to firms who fail to show due diligence in their supply chains. Raab’s latest actions come after he accused China of “gross and egregious” human rights abuses against the Uyghur population, after drone footage last year appeared to show blindfolded prisoners being transferred at a Xinjiang train station.
The Uyghur people are a mostly Muslim Turkish ethnicity, of which there are around 11 million in Xinjiang, China’s largest producer of natural gas. Approximately one million of them are held in 85 “re-education” or internment camps in the province because of their religious views, which the country deems extremist and threatening. China has previously denied these numbers and reports. Despite his words, Raab is yet to impose sanctions on Chinese officials, and critics say his lack of actions make it complicated for international courts to determine whether genocide is occurring in China.
Leaked video shows hundreds of blindfolded Uyghur muslims
Kyrgyzstan Elects Former Inmate as President
Onto some election news now from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, where former prisoner Sadyr Japarov secured a landslide victory in this weekend’s presidential election, winning 79 percent of the vote. The nationalist Japarov served time in prison last year for kidnapping a provincial governor, but was freed by protesters after October’s election descended into chaos. Accusations of a rigged vote led to the election commission voiding the results, and violent protests created a power vacuum when former President Sooronbay Jeenbekov and then-Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov both resigned.
Sunday’s re-run was held alongside a referendum in which voters chose to increase presidential powers once a new constitution passes later this year. Multiple activist groups and lawyers say Japarov’s populist promises of job creation to bring migrant workers back home play on people’s emotions, but aren’t backed up by facts. Recent events mark the third uprising in 15 years, and since Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, three of its five presidents have been ousted in violent, popular revolts.
Kyrgyzstan annuls 2020 election results
Japarov on course for landslide victory in 2021 election
Uganda Awaits Election Results After Violent Campaign
More election news from Uganda next, where autocrat President Yoweri Museveni is in a tight race against 38-year-old pop star and opposition leader Bobi Wine (real name Robert Kyagulanyi) for control of the country. The 76-year-old Museveni has been in power for the past 35 years and is vying for his sixth term, but even he has likely never been part of such a violent and turbulent campaign. So far, more than 50 people have been killed by security forces and hundreds more arrested, including Wine and other opposition candidates.
While results aren’t expected until the weekend, an internet shutdown and cellphone blackout, in a country where corruption is rife, has made the ordeal all the more chaotic. Regardless of the outcome, UN officials claim the elections are unlikely to have been free and fair, reporting human rights violations and restrictions placed on opposition candidates throughout the campaign. And according to Human Rights Watch, the country weaponized its strict Covid-19 restrictions to justify pre-election repression. In response, the U.S. has pledged not to recognize the result.
Uganda votes in tense presidential election
Archeologists Discover World’s Oldest Known Cave Painting
We finish this week in Indonesia where archeologists have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting, estimated to be at least 45,500 years old. The historic discovery provides the earliest evidence of human settlement in the region, and the artist’s painting is of… wait for it… wait for it!!!… a pig. I know right? The Sulawesi warty pig is a wild boar native to the island of Sulawesi, and is famed for its distinctive facial warts. It’s a key component of the region’s prehistoric artwork and used to be hunted as food.
Archeologists discovered the cave artwork, which is accompanied by handprints and partially-preserved outlines of two other pigs, using dark red ochre pigment and analyzed it using uranium series dating. Adam Brumm of Australia’s Griffith University who co-authored the finding said he was blown away by the discovery, describing it as “one of the most spectacular and well-preserved figurative animal paintings known from the whole region.”
That’s all for this week! Enjoy your weekends and see you on Monday for new jobs! 👋