IN 1965, AS A MONSOON LASHED the Malaysian island where Tengku Azam's family had lived for more than a half century, his grandfather led them across a lagoon and through a swampy forest to drier ground inland. The tree canopy was thick, and when the family settled about a mile away from their slowly eroding island, they named their new home Dark Landing.

Tengku, who was 17 at the time, had spent his childhood learning about the marine life that swirled around Dark Landing's mangroves and nipa palms. When he retired from fishing as he neared 70, he set up a school to educate local fishermen's children about the same clams, fish, and painted terrapins at which he had once marveled in the lagoon, the ones that had adapted over centuries to its brackish waters. "It's my responsibility to make sure our fishing heritage is protected," Tengku, who has the agility of a man half his age, told me recently on his front porch. (In Malaysia, as in China, names are typically rendered surname first.)

Wetlands in Malaysia's Setiu District

Tengku's ethic of stewardship also spurred him to convince the authorities in his native state of Terengganu to formally protect part of the local wetlands. The result was Setiu Wetlands State Park, which was established in 2018 near the lagoon and the adjacent South China Sea. It is about the size of New York's Central Park and includes both the island where Tengku was born and the mangrove forest through which his grandfather once led the family to Dark Landing.

The park is a small part of what scientists say may be the most ecologically interesting complex of wetlands in Malaysiaone that has faced severe environmental threats for much of Tengku's adulthood. For decades, the Setiu District has experienced a steady encroachment of palm-oil plantations and sand-mining operations as well as upstream logging in the highlands that lie inland from the swamp. All that development has created profits for Malaysian conglomerates and jobs for local workers but has strained the hydrological systems that regulate the delicate balance of fresh and salty water in Setiu's lagoon and estuaries. It has also fueled erosion, both in upstream forests and along a wide sandbar that separates the lagoon from the sea.

The Belt and Road Initiative is so enormous that its impacts could erode the gains that China and other countries have made in recent years in fighting climate change.

Now comes a new threat: a 400-mile, cross-country railroad financed by the Chinese government that is scheduled to cut through Setiu. Biologists say that the railroad would likely disrupt the waters that flow from the mountains into the lagoonin the process potentially pushing the wetlands toward their ecological breaking point. Changes in salinity could kill freshwater flora and fauna, they say, while the reduced water flow could exacerbate erosion on the sandbar, allowing the South China Sea to overwhelm the lagoon.

The multibillion-dollar project, known as the East Coast Rail Link, is one of many that fall within China's Belt and Road Initiative, a colonial-style endeavor that links infrastructure loans with geostrategic diplomacy. The BRI is part of China's larger effort to project its own institutions as alternatives to the Western-led order represented by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Some see the initiative as a 21st-century riposte to the Marshall Plan, the postWorld War II American campaign to finance infrastructure and maintain a US military presence in parts of Europe that were not under Soviet control.

The BRI is deeply rooted in Chinese politics. Since the 1990s, China's economic boom has been driven in part by state-financed investments in domestic infrastructure. Chinese engineers have built the world's largest high-speed rail network, with over 15,000 miles of dedicated track completed since 2008. But as the Chinese economy slows, and as Beijing and Washington square off in a bitter trade war, China's ruling Communist Party is pursuing overseas infrastructure projects as a way to keep domestic business churning.

Tengku Azam is a retired fisherman who spearheaded the effort to create Setiu Wetlands State Park.

It would be difficult to overestimate the BRI's scale. The project, which launched in 2013, could end up involving as many as 125 countries and costing $8 trillion by 2049. Top Chinese officials have described it as a vast network of roads, rail lines, and maritime shipping routes that will radiate outward from China's land and sea borders like a spiderweb. It will eventually include oil and gas pipelines in Myanmar, Russia, and Kazakhstan; highways in Pakistan; a railroad in Kenya; hydropower dams in Cameroon and Zambia; and dozens of other projects across Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Belt and Road Initiative is so enormous that its impacts could erode the gains that China and other countries have made in recent years in fighting climate change and other pressing environmental problems. China has significantly tightened its domestic environmental laws since the 1990s, and it says that the BRI will hew to the same rules. Yet many Chinese companies apply weaker environmental standards abroad than they do at home, and many conservation experts are skeptical about Beijing's assurances. William Laurance, an authority on the BRI at James Cook University in Australia, wrote that the project is part of a global "tsunami" of infrastructure development that is mostly driven by China. He warns that it threatens to "open a Pandora's box of environmental crises, including large-scale deforestation, habitat fragmentation, wildlife poaching, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions."

CHINA'S RISE is the geopolitical story of the 21st century; its infrastructure plans outline the ambitions of a nascent superpower. The Belt and Road Initiative is also a signature of the age of Xi Jinping, the country's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. He launched it the year after coming to power and has called it the "project of the century."

Amaleea Hayu, a Malaysian shop owner, supports the rail project.

The BRI is designed to speed the movement of goods to and from China while boosting investments by state-affiliated companies in steel plants, coal-fired power stations, and other markers of Beijing's expanding industrial footprint. China also plans to diversify its energy sources and reduce its need to move oil through geopolitical hot spots like the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea.

Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link, scheduled for completion in 2026, fits perfectly into China's larger plans. It will connect two parts of Malaysia that don't have much in commonthe cosmopolitan west and the conservative eastand allow cargo to move from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, toward Kuantan, an eastern port city on the South China Sea. From there, the railroad will head north up the rural east coast, passing Setiu, and end at Malaysia's border with Thailandbut not before stopping at a billion-dollar industrial park in Kuantan that opened in 2017 and is dominated by Chinese companies.

When protected areas are bisected by infrastructure projects, they tend to be vulnerable to secondary threats like poaching and illegal logging.

When China invests in so-called frontier economies like Malaysia's, the parameters of its infrastructure projects are often fixed once they have been financed and approved, said Alex Lechner, a landscape ecologist at the University of Nottingham's Malaysia campus who studies the BRI. "Millions of dollars have been invested, and the environment becomes an obstacle to be overcome," he told me. That may be true for Setiu, where the railroad company's Chinese contractor has already built a giant factory in the swamp. Even Tengku has not been told where the tracks will goor whether the contractor plans to do environmental mitigation in the area.

When protected areas are bisected by infrastructure projects, they tend to be vulnerable to secondary threats like poaching and illegal logging.

Setiu sits along a coastline flanked by tin-roofed homes, wooden fishing boats, and the spires of village mosques. When I visited last summer, the coastal scenes reminded me not of western Malaysia but of rural places I had visited in poorer Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Myanmar. The area felt worlds away from Kuala Lumpur's garish high-rises and shopping malls.

Development has already impacted river flows.

A few rail sections were already under construction south of Setiu, mostly in and around the peatlands that run north and south along Malaysia's east coast. It was tempting to think that some of the railroad's obvious economic upsidesconstruction jobs, tourists from Kuala Lumpurwould outweigh its environmental risks. What was the harm in draining a swamp or two?

This is essentially the view of the Malaysian government and the consultancy that it paid to study the railroad's likely environmental impacts. A 138-page summary of a 2017 environmental impact assessment of the railroad's initial route talks at length about how the design would mitigate the fragmentation of forests and wildlife habitats. The word "peat" appears just three times; "swampy" once; "wetland" not at all.

But peatlands, which occur across a vast area of Malaysia, are more complex than they look. The term peatlands refers to both surface wetlands and the porous soil beneath, which forms from dead, waterlogged plants. Because peatlands store groundwater and regulate a wetland's salinity, some scientists liken them to kidneys. The environmental impacts can be substantial when they are drained.

In recent decades, developers across Malaysia have converted peatlands into palm-oil plantations, aquaculture farms, and industrial zones, while logging companies have destabilized upstream watersheds by clearcutting virgin forests. "Per hectare of land, you create more money and jobs than leaving it as a wetland," Edlic Sathiamurthy, a paleohydrologist who studies the watersheds of Malaysia's east coast, told me. "That's always the justification."

Palm oil may have earned Malaysian tycoons billions of dollars, but the peatland conversion process has been linked to severe environmental problems, including land-clearing fires that spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and flash flooding triggered by groundwater drainage. Edlic told me that while the East Coast Rail Link might only graze Malaysia's Central Forest Spinea network of protected areas known for their exceptional biodiversitymuch of it would be built in and around peatlands.

The Kuantan Industrial Park is dominated by Chinese companies.

Setiu is particularly vulnerable to the railroad's impacts, Edlic said, because it has a unique topography: peatlands, estuaries, mangroves, and a lagoon with high biological diversity, all jammed onto a narrow plain between the coast and a mountain range. The railroad could disrupt the area's delicate ecological balance to a point of no returneffectively destroying the habitats that once transfixed a young Tengku. "This is a very highly erodible environment," Edlic told me. "Once it gets eroded, we're not talking in terms of years. We're talking in terms of months."

OFFICIALS IN BEIJING SOMETIMES describe the Belt and Road Initiative as a modern variation on the ancient Silk Roadthe trade routes that linked merchants from imperial China to the outside world. The BRI will embody the "Silk Road Spirit," the Chinese government said in a 2015 mission statement. "Reflecting the common ideals and pursuit of human societies," it said, "it is a positive endeavor to seek new models of international cooperation and global governance, and will inject new positive energy into world peace and development."

Or perhaps not. Many economists and development experts say that China is essentially offering cheap infrastructure loans to poorer countries as a type of political coercion. One glaring example is a Sri Lankan port that a state-owned Chinese firm plowed money into despite clear signs that the local government could never afford it. China recently took over the portwhich happens to be strategically placed near India, a geopolitical rivalas debt collateral. The move prompted criticism that Beijing was engaging in a textbook example of "debt-trap diplomacy."

President Xi has denied that the BRI is a vehicle for political coercion or the expansion of the Chinese influence. "The Belt and Road Initiative is an economic cooperation initiative, not a geopolitical or military alliance," he said last year. "It is an open and inclusive process and not about creating exclusive circles or a China club." But whatever one thinks of China's ambitions, one thing is clear: The BRI's giant industrial footprint will be so vast that the environmental costs are bound to be huge.

Evaluating the environmental merits of BRI projects is tricky because many of them are shrouded in secrecy, propaganda, and endless bureaucracy. President Xi has said that he is committed to pursuing BRI projects that support "green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable" development. Yet while China has made strides recently to flatten its greenhouse gas emissions, some climate experts fear that the BRI's sheer size will inevitably boost resource extraction and fossil fuel consumption. For example, the BRI will intensify dependence on fossil fuels by facilitating the shipment of oil and gas and financing the construction of new coal-fired power plants. Such concerns are especially acute in Southeast Asia, a region with exceptional biodiversity, a growing population, and plans to build hundreds of coal-fired power plants by 2030.

Only locals are permitted to fish in Setiu Wetlands State Park.

Biologists worry that BRI projects will cut through rainforests, peat swamps, and other ecologically sensitive areasa thousand Setiuswithout much consultation with local residents or environmental experts. Road and rail projects around the world have already severely impacted ecologically sensitive areas, and a raft of new BRI projects may push local ecosystems beyond their tipping points, seven environmental scientists wrote recently in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Not every BRI road and railroad will belch coal or destroy pristine rainforests, of course. Yet a recent study in Conservation Biology found that proposed BRI road and rail routes would overlap with biodiversity hot spots for over 4,138 animal and 7,371 plant species across Asia and Africa. That's a problem, because when protected areas are bisected by infrastructure projects, they tend to be vulnerable to secondary threats like poaching and illegal logging.

"A lot of environmental scientists feel like we're at this crossroads," Lechner, the landscape ecologist, told me. "We've got climate change that's out of control and biodiversity loss and land-use change, and in Southeast Asia we have oil palmthere are all these critical things all happening at this critical moment in time. And sometimes you think, 'Do we really need BRI to be adding to that?'"

The risks for environmental harm are particularly rife in countries with high levels of biodiversity and low standards of public transparency. Malaysia is among the most biodiverse places on Earth, and its political elites are almost cartoonishly corruptfor example, Najib Razak, the former prime minister, who first approved the East Coast Rail Link. Months after losing the 2018 election, Najib was charged in connection with a graft scheme in which about $4.5 billion was pilfered from his own government. A witness later testified that Najib had offered the East Coast Rail Link (worth about $16 billion at the time) to Chinese investors as a way to make his other debt problems disappear.

SETIU'S UNIQUE GEOLOGY has been forming since the South China Sea retreated thousands of years ago, leaving lagoons behind as if they were puddles after a rainstorm. Today, the place is an ecological gem: a series of nine interconnected ecosystems spanning sea, beach, mudflat, lagoon, estuary, river, islands, coastal forest, and mangrove forest. Scientific papers speak of Setiu in almost reverent terms. Tengku told me that when he asked the royal family in Terengganu to declare some land near the lagoon a protected area, they agreed almost immediately.

Setiu Wetlands State Park covers about 2 percent of the area's total wetlands and sits within walking distance of Tengku's home in Dark Landing. On a scorching summer day, Tengku walked me through the park, our cheeks brushing the edges of nipa palms. After about 15 minutes, we emerged at the brackish lagoon where he fished for more than a half century.

Tengku told me that he'd always been fascinated by the interdependence of Setiu's ecosystems. The lagoon is a mix of freshwater from the mountains and saltwater that enters through an inlet. Over the centuries, complex communities of fish, turtles, and mollusks have developed routines calibrated to the lagoon's salinity. "If the salinity here changes, the fish won't survive," he said.

As Tengku spoke, one of his neighbors, Panoha Nawi, waded through the water carrying a sack of clams that he had harvested from the lagoon's muddy bottom. He planned to sell his catch in a nearby town for about $12. One condition of the state park's designation was that only local fishers would be allowed to go clamming within the preserve, and Panoha said that the measure had clearly boosted the harvests. "Before, there was too much competition," he said.

Shovel Ready

The Chinese government plans to remodel the globe's architecture. Here's a snapshot.

$50 billionAmount China has already spent on BRI-related energy projects

$1.3 trillionAmount China may invest in Belt and Road countries by 2027

$8 trillionMinimum estimated cost of the BRI by 2049

105,711 milesLength of proposed BRI roads based on current plans

46,876 milesLength of the US interstate highway system

49,989 milesLength of proposed BRI rail lines based on current plans

140,000 milesLength of the US freight rail network

28,278,527Tons of cement it would take to build the proposed BRI rail lines

15%Cement productions current share of Chinas CO2 emissions

46,876 milesLength of the US interstate highway system

91,222Estimated number of protected areas that may be affected by BRI projects

265Estimated number of threatened, endangered, or critically endangered species in planned BRI corridors

Tengku said that if the state park was an example of how the area's delicate ecology could be successfully conserved, everything else that was happening in and around Setiuaquaculture, sand mining, palm-oil cultivationunderscored the threats to its future. Investors may have spent money on those activities to turn a profit, he added. "But they didn't really see into the future."

The next day, Tengku took me to see the threats. Our first stop was the shores of the South China Sea, where a local sand-mining company had built an export pier. From a distance, and through the early-morning haze, the sand-loading site looked innocuous. But the company, Terengganu Silica, has said that it can load 800 tons of sand per hour. Tengku said he worried where all that sand would come from.

From the beach, we drove a few miles inland, to a jetty on the lagoon where a fishing boat had just come in from the sea. As a heavy rain started, Tengku stood under an open-air shelter watching the fishermen unload their catch. A storm had forced them to come in early, and their haularound 44 poundswas about a quarter of what it might have been on a big day.

Ibnur Sirien, a 22-year-old fisherman on the boat, said that most of his friends had already migrated to Malaysian cities as laborers; he had stayed behind partly because his father owns the boat. Echoing a scientific consensus, Ibnur told me that the South China Sea fishery has been steadily declining in recent years. "But there's not much other work here," he said.

Our next stop was farther inland. Tengku stopped his 4x4 truck at a bridge that crossed a stream, then clambered down a bank and stood, shin deep, in the current. The stream once ran several feet higher and much cleaner at this time of year. But a few years ago, he said, a company cut the local cashew trees and replaced them with a palm-oil plantation, lowering the surface-water flow and quality. And because the stream emptied into the lagoon, the impacts were felt miles away. "The pollution here affects the whole ecosystem," he said.

Surface-water pollution isn't the only consideration. Hydrologists study "base flow," a measure of how much water seeps into a stream or river from below. It's a wonky term, and one that isn't mentioned in the environmental report on the East Coast Rail Link. But base flow matters in a place like Setiu because groundwater beneath peatlands helps to maintain surface-water salinity. And, as Tengku said, fish don't like changes in their habitat.

Edlic, the paleohydrologist, told me that because Setiu sits on a narrow coastal plain, the railroad will have to pass through it one way or another. The key question, he said, is whether the developer will pay to elevate the train tracks on stilts that extend to bedrock. The cheaper option would be to build directly on the peatlands, further impeding the base flow that moves freshwater from the mountains into Tengku's favorite lagoon. "It all depends on how they actually do the construction," Edlic said.

POWERFUL CIVILIZATIONSRome and Persia and ancient China itselfhave always built roads and other infrastructure as a way to bolster their traders and militaries. One of history's biggest infrastructure builders has been the United States, which has projected its geopolitical agenda through its controlling stakes in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which finance road, rail, and hydropower projects across the developing world.

Shovel Ready

The Chinese government plans to remodel the globe's architecture. Here's a snapshot.

China's Belt and Road Initiative appeals to countries that are spooked by President Trump's insular "America First" vision and believe Beijing's investments will help guarantee their long-term security and prosperity. Malaysia, for one, has long been an important US ally in Southeast Asia, but it also has strategic reasons to get along with China. It has a large ethnic Chinese population and a prime position on the South China Sea, where Beijing is building military bases on artificial islands.

China has said that Malaysia is strategically located along the "Maritime Silk Road," and the East Coast Rail Link is among the largest infrastructure projects in the BRI catalog. In the run-up to Malaysia's 2018 election, Najib Razak's challenger, Mahathir Mohamad, tied Najib to the rail project to paint him as a pro-China lackey. But after Mahathir won, he decided to renegotiate the project instead of canceling it. He later said that the rail link would go ahead, for about two-thirds of the earlier price, partly because the $5 billion penalty for canceling it would be too expensive for a country with massive debts.

Mahathir's announcement included a silver lining for environmentalists: The East Coast Rail Link's revised route would mostly avoid crossing Malaysia's Central Forest Spine. But because Mahathir's government did not release its exact plans, some environmental groups continued to worry. I.S. Shanmugaraj, the executive director of the Malaysian Nature Society, told me last summer that many scientists and environmental groups remained in the dark about the project's scope.

The project's developer, Malaysia's state-owned rail operator, engaged the same outside consulting firm that studied the original route's environmental impacts in 2017. But Shanmugaraj told me that the firm was hardly impartial. "If the consultant is tied to the developer," he asked, "even though it's selected by the government and they are licensed, at the end of the day, who's the paymaster?"

(A spokesman for the firm, ERE Consulting Group, told me that he could not comment without prior approval from Malaysia Rail Link, which did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The project's principal contractor, China Communications Construction Company, also did not respond to an email. None of the three agreed to give Sierra a copy of any project documents.)

Some observers wonder if Malaysia, which is groaning under the weight of debts, really needs a new railroad. They note that an existing passenger rail line, which was built by British colonial authorities in the early 20th century, already connects Kuala Lumpur to the rural northeast.

Others, however, are eager for the new rail connection. On my trip along Malaysia's east coast, I met several people who welcomed the project. One was Amaleea Hayu, who runs a tie-dye shop in Cherating, a beach town known for its surf breaks. We spoke on a summer morning at a seaside restaurant that served coffee with roti canai, Indian-style bread with curry. It was the off-season, and business was slow. She said that a train stop in Cherating could be the perfect catalyst for attracting tourists from Kuala Lumpur. "It sounds great," she said.

Even Lee Chean Chung, a state legislator who has been a vocal critic of the environmental impacts of mining and logging concessions, was guardedly optimistic. Lee told me that he supported the plan because it would bring jobs and trade to Kuantan, where his constituents live. He noted that Kuantan's industrial park, built largely through Chinese investment, is a major part of the region's economic-development agenda.

"But the thing is, on the east coast, environmental concerns are generally lower," Lee told me over lunch in Kuantan. He added that while Chinese manufacturers and logging firms operating in eastern Malaysia had grown less "reckless" over the years, the local authorities still have a deplorable record when it comes to policing illegal logging and industrial pollution. "How can you make sure, when this megaproject is conducted, that you have enough people to do the checking to make sure they do not encroach onto forestlands? Or, if there is precious timber to be taken away, how do you make sure they will not try something funny?" he asked. "They are exploiting our regulations to their advantage."

BACK IN SETIU, Tengku drove farther into the wetlands and parked his truck beside a blue factory the size of an airplane hangar. The marquee read "China Communications Construction Company." Beside photos of a bridge across China's Yangtze River, a sign said "Connecting lives. Accelerating growth."

Tengku, hands on his hips, walked the building's perimeter warily, as if looking for a way inside. Near one corner, he found a Malaysian worker in jeans and sneakers, who explained that the building was a fabrication plant for making railroad equipment. The man, who declined to give his name, said that about half the workers were local and the other halfmostly managers and engineerswere from China.

The worker was loading engine oil and coolant into a generator, but only after he had wedged his truck into a ditch and tossed a hose over the factory's fence. He said it was an awkward and needlessly dangerous setup. Tengku asked why it had to be that way, and the man replied that the contractor had apparently built the walls and entrances of this factory without fully thinking through the logistics.

"They're just trying to cut costs," he said.

This article appeared in the January/February 2020 edition with the headline "The Train and the Swamp."

More:
China's Belt and Road Initiative Threatens to Pave the Planet - Sierra Magazine

KUTA, Indonesia Indonesia plans to restore more than 300,000 hectares (741,300 acres) of idle shrimp-farming ponds to boost its fisheries and reduce deforestation of the countrys mangrove ecosystems, according to a top official.

More than double that area, much of it in coastal regions rich in mangroves, have been cleared for shrimp farms, but only about 40% of the farms are in production, according to 2018 government data. We must revitalize this area thats abandoned or poorly managed over the next five years, Alan Koropitan, a deputy in the office of the presidents chief of staff, told Mongabay on the sidelines of an event in Kuta, Bali, on Dec. 11.

He said rebuilding shrimp farms on these idle lands could give a much-needed boost to the Indonesian fisheries sector. While Indonesia is a top global exporter of frozen seawater shrimps, the Southeast Asian country lags behind its neighbors in exports of freshwater shrimps and fresh, salted or smoked shrimps. Some of its top seafood exports include Asian tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).

But we dont want to clear more land either [for shrimp farms] by clearing mangroves and such, Alan said.

Shrimp farming is a major driver of the deforestation of mangroves, a crucial habitat for coastal marine life, in Indonesia. In 1999, 350,000 ha (865,000 acres) of mangroves were cleared across the archipelago to make way for shrimp ponds the highest rate of mangrove deforestation in the world, according to World Bank in 2003. Shrimp farming has also drawn criticism for degrading the quality of freshwater available for communities living in the vicinity of the ponds.

Alan said President Joko Widodo had ordered the fisheries ministry to map out the idle or abandoned shrimp farms across the country that would be feasible for revival.

Fisheries experts have welcomed the governments intention of boosting Indonesias aquaculture sector, but say the way to do it is through intensification getting greater yields from the same area of fish and shrimp ponds rather than increasing the number of such ponds.

Expansion efforts would not fit with the current state of shrimp aquaculture in Indonesia, said Susan Herawati, the general secretary of the Peoples Coalition for Fisheries Justice, an NGO.

She cited the revitalization of Bumi Dipasena, one of Indonesias main sites for shrimp fisheries, spanning 17,000 ha (42,000 acres) in Sumatras Lampung province.

Bumi Dipasena is the largest shrimp farm in Asia, maybe even in the world, Susan said. The fisheries ministry must be able to intensify the production of this site to fulfill demand.

She called for improving road infrastructure and ensuring access to reliable electricity and clean water, both to boost logistics for the Bumi Dipasena shrimp producers and to help the thousands of families living in the area.

Earlier this month, Indonesias fisheries minister, Edhy Prabowo promised to work with other government institutions to revive Bumi Dipasena. One of the main challenges is the limited capacity of the existing shrimp ponds and infrastructure to boost yields, the minister said.

Reviving Bumi Dipasena would also require introducing community-based management and phasing out top-down corporate control of the farms, according to experts.

Operational control of the shrimp farms there previously fell under Jakarta-listed aquaculture company PT Central Proteina Prima, working under a partnership scheme with small-scale farmers. At its peak in the 1990s, Bumi Dipasena was producing 200 metric tons of shrimp a day on average, and generating an estimated $3 million a year in export revenue. But the company was secretly slashing half of the bank loans meant for the farmers, leading to the decline of the entire operation.

If the restoration program indeed takes place, then the shrimp fisheries in Dipasena would reach its optimum operation and could re-emerge as a top shrimp producer like it used be, said Dedi Adhuri, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Not only would the farmers benefit, but also the rest of the nation, Dedi added.

Some shrimp farmers continue to work at Bumi Dipasena, but profits are narrow.

Well keep on fighting, and we urge the government to play its role, said Nafian Faiz, one of the farmers.

FEEDBACK:Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.

See original here:
Indonesia to revive idle shrimp farms to boost fisheries and save mangroves - Mongabay.com

Of course we need to think about those who will be affected by mine closures, but cripes, were all affected by climate change

On the weekend I flew up to Sydney to attend a conference held by the Chifley Research Centre, the ALPs thinktank. As the plane approached Sydney, the site of the fire front in the Blue Mountains was stomach-churning. And then I got to experience the air quality of Sydney that has become news around the world.

Upon returning to Canberra, I discovered a wind change had meant the nations capital was now enveloped in a haze of smoke and expected to be so for the rest of the week.

This, I need not tell you, is not normal.

Because of climate change, areas of south-eastern Australia are going to be drier and hotter, the times for doing preventative hazard reduction burning will shrink, and as a result our fire seasons will become longer, and the fires will become more intense.

This is due to one thing climate change.

The only way to prevent this is to reduce our emissions and to pressure the rest of the world to reduce emissions as well.

We are not doing either of those things.

Last week the latest emissions projection figures came out. They show that, even with some pretty courageous hopes for electricity generation, we will still be 13% above the minimum target set by the LNP to meet our Paris objective:

And remember, those targets work off a 2005 base year that includes land use, which makes them largely a joke as much of a joke as our Kyoto target, which also included land use and worked off the base year of 1990.

If we exclude land use (which is essentially land-clearing and planting of trees), our emissions in 2030 are currently projected to be the same as our 2005 levels not 26% below, let alone the ALPs target of 45%.

Little wonder that the rest of the world are currently trying to prevent Australia from using carryover credits from our Kyoto commitment to count towards our Paris target.

This matters because the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has argued that to ensure temperatures dont rise by 1.5C we need to cut emissions by 45% by 2030.

That is real emissions, not fake emissions using dodgy land use accounting and carryover credits.

We are not even close to achieving that.

It is a failure that should shame the LNP, and yet

Heres a dirty secret there are two reasons the LNP has a joke of a climate change policy: they are full of climate change deniers, and secondly there is zero pressure from the ALP for them to develop one.

The ALP remains far more worried about looking like it is attacking people who work in coalmines than getting on the front foot on climate change.

It is 2019 and the leader of the ALP is now repeating lines about our exports of coals that Tony Abbott used.

It is 2019 and the ALP acts as if putting a price on carbon is the most radical and politically horrific idea ever conceived (and never shows any pride that the carbon price introduced under Gillard was one the biggest economic reforms of the past 40 years).

Ask yourself who in the ALP even some young backbencher or senator is pushing so hard on climate change policy that the leaders are wishing he or she might tone it down a little? Who is pushing so hard that young people are cheering when they see she or he at a climate change rally?

Much easier is to find one who tells us we need to worry about coal exports and coalminers.

The ALP cannot afford to play games on this issue. You cant say climate change is real and then ensure your messaging is about protecting coal.

Voters can tell straight away youre only trying to look like you think climate change is real, and why should they vote for that? They might as well vote for the party that is at least upfront about its denial.

Because if climate change is real, then what the hell are you talking about? Dont come at me with oh, but our coal is cleaner unless you want to sound like a coal-company spruiker, and to be honest Id prefer you wait until you leave parliament and take up that role officially than do it while still being an actual MP.

Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Of course we do need to think about those who will be affected by mine closures, but cripes, there is no pressure, no impetus and no real commitment from the ALP right now on an issue that is causing children and elderly to have to stay inside because of worries about air quality.

What are they waiting for?

I suspect they are waiting for the fires to end and the smoke to blow away so that people stop worrying about the issue, because too many in the ALP have taken the position that climate change is a vote loser.

Instead it should be a rallying call.

We have real evidence, real concern, and we have the Liberal party with the most pathetic policy imaginable.

If the ALP cant make this a winner, then what hope is there for it?

At this point Ill just pause to show you some graphs. I realise these will not convince many that climate change is real, but Ill still put the facts out there.

This year will be the second hottest on record, the past five years contain the five hottest on record, the past 10 years contain eight of the hottest year on record, the past 20 years (ie every year this century) contain 19 of the hottest 20 years:

I have always tried to come up with ways to display the data so that people can grasp it personally. One way is to look at it from the perspective of your own age. (The ABC has also done some excellent work using this method).

If you were born in 1946 (ie the first lot of baby boomers), only around 40% of the first 16 years of your life was a childhood with above-average temperatures. If you were a Gen Xer like me born in 1972, then 78% of your first 16 years was a world with above-average temperatures.

If you were a child of Gen Xers, like my 16-year-old daughter, 100% of your life has been in the world with above-average temperatures:

If we use the linear trend of the past 16 years, it means we will hit 2C above pre-industrial levels in 2052. If we use the more likely exponential trend, my daughter will get to experience 2C when she is 38 years old:

I guess I could try to tell her that the climate in her life has been an aberration, but because she is not stupid she will tell me I am lying much like politicians who say we need to act but without urgency, or that we can do it in a manner that wont cause too much disruption.

This is a crisis. Be honest about what that means.

2041 is not science-fiction levels of futurism. It is as close to us as the election of the Howard government in 1996 was to now.

Time moves fast, but unfortunately our climate-change policy is not moving at all.

Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia

Read the original:
The Coalition isn't being honest about the climate crisis. But neither is Labor - Infosurhoy

There were 128 active slaughterhouses in the Brazilian Amazon in 2016, when Imazon collected data to estimate the beef buying zones. The research team gathered information on the maximum distances from which each slaughterhouse could feasibly source cattle through phone interviews with staff or taking averages based on meat plants nearby or similar factories in the same state.

They then modelled this data against local factors, such as roads, navigable rivers and seasonal weather patterns, to estimate the maximum potential buying zone for each slaughterhouse.

Using methods designed by the non-profit sustainability project Chain Reaction Research, the Bureau mapped Nasa fire alerts archive data onto Imazons buying zones.

Fires were also found on at least three farms known to sell cattle directly to JBS slaughterhouses. Working with Reprter Brasil, the Bureau found at least one of these slaughterhouses exports beef and leather globally.

Our findings illustrate that fires and deforestation continue to take place in JBSs supply chain, despite the companys policies and commitments, said Marco Tulio Garcia, who led the research at Chain Reaction. It is of the highest urgency that JBS addresses these issues.

There is no evidence that these fires were started on or by farms supplying JBS, but the very existence of a patchwork of ranches in the rainforest could be helping to exacerbate the overall effect of fires started elsewhere. The whole local climate is drier because youre getting less evaporation from the trees, said Yavinder Malhi, professor of ecosystem science at Oxford University.

Over the summer, global attention was focused on the fires in the worlds largest and most biodiverse rainforest. Data released in August by both Nasa and the Brazilian satellite agency INPE showed 2019 had been the most active fire year for the Brazilian Amazon in nearly a decade. There were three times as many fires that month compared with the same month last year, according to INPE.

Experts say the increase in fires was directly caused by an increase in deforestation: the intentional burning of trees that had been felled months before, rather than random wildfires. Once you clear forest to make a ranch, you have lots of dead materials lying around and then the farmers wait until the dry season to burn off that material, said Professor Malhi.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped drastically in the mid-2000s, but data released in November showed it increased by 30% in the year to July 2019. The countrys pro-agribusiness, climate-sceptic president, Jair Bolsonaro, took office in January 2019.

In July the European Commission published a communication on deforestation to address the fact that the EU consumption of food and feed products is among the main drivers of environmental impacts, creating high pressure on forests in non-EU countries and accelerating deforestation.

The commission pledged, among other things, to assess the need for regulation to increase supply chain transparency and minimise the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with commodity imports in the EU.

The Austrian government recently blocked the Mercosur deal over concerns about the Amazon fires crisis as well as the potential damage to Austrias farming sector and the French and Irish governments have also threatened to do the same.

The Irish government told the Bureau it was commissioning an external assessment of the deals possible impacts on the environment and Irelands economy, which will inform whether it votes to ratify the agreement next year.

In the UK, the Liberal Democrats recently announced plans for a legal duty of care on British businesses, stopping them from buying from overseas companies causing environmental harm, including forest destruction. If British companies buy their beef and continue to support this industry, they are not meeting their duty of care and the government must take action, said Wera Hobhouse, the party spokesperson on climate change and the environment.

Read the rest here:
Record number of fires rage around Amazon farms that supply the world's biggest butchers - The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

One of the toughest things for those of us who actually accept the science on climate change is to maintain optimism that anything will be done.

After weeks like the one weve just had, I sometimes wonder how long it will be before our major political parties shift from talking about reducing emissions and instead arguing over how to best deal with the impact of climate change.

You know the sort of thing Should we means-test free access to P2 masks? or Should there be a mutual obligation regime for climate-change relief? and before you know it the Australian and the other climate change-denying News Corp media outlets will be running editorials about how we need to get more people off climate change welfare.

It is a shift we need to fight against the war to prevent disastrous climate change is not lost, but it will be if we allow political parties to raise the white flag.

Of course climate change has already affected our lives in a way that requires governments to adjust. This is most obvious regarding the need to alter projections of how much money we need to allocate for fighting fire.

In the space of two days this week we saw the prime minister completely contradict himself on the issue of extra funding for firefighting services.

On Tuesday he said more support was not needed because the commonwealth puts $15m a year into that and we put an additional $11m this year in, in response to what we knew was going to be a very difficult fire season.

On Thursday he said more support was needed, telling reporters: Today we have announced a further $11m that were putting into the aerial firefighting fleet. That is on top of the $15m that we already put in on annual basis.

Apparently this is a new $11m, not the old $11m promised this time last year, although it is passing strange that Scott Morrison in announcing the new funding did not reference that this was on top of an already extra $11m.

But then theres not a lot of sense in any of these things. We live in a time where climate change denialism is a safer route for a conservative than is acknowledging reality. This is mostly because the main media company in this country, from its editors through to its leading columnists, has an approach to climate change denial that is impervious to logic, reason and basic maths.

This week the New South Wales environment minister, Matt Kean, stated the obvious when he noted the link between increased severity of bushfires and climate change. On Friday the Daily Telegraph responded by smearing him on its front page.

A conservative stating reality on climate change is now considered a betrayal, and a progressive stating reality is portrayed as an extremist.

And you can thus see why the Labor party has chosen to largely dissociate itself from the climate change movement, a movement which saw 20,000 people take to the streets this week in Sydney despite next to no notice.

Labor has instead decided it is more sensible for Anthony Albanese to pick this week when his own electorate has been covered in smoke from bushfires and the UN is holding a climate conference at which Australia has been declared the pariah of the world, to tour rural Queensland to visit coalmines and aluminium smelters and talk up practical solutions.

Its pretty horrific when you think about it that the main strategy to doing something on climate change is to pretend that any change will have a minimal impact on peoples lives.

It is also pretty horrific when you think that a progressive party has decided it does not need to use the mass support of people desperate for action. Surely some form of progressive populism should actually involve trying to be popular?

Because the problem is at some point we are going to need to do more than just the practical solutions, and doing that will require a lot of support.

The latest projections show that in 2030 Australias greenhouse gas emissions will be 99 megatonne (Mt) lower than in 2005 (the base year for Paris agreement targets). And all of it is accounted for by a drop in land use: ie less land-clearing and a few more trees being planted.

Of actual emissions there is no change.

And yet by 2030 we are projected to get 50% of our electricity from renewables.

The problem is while electricity is the biggest producer of emissions, it only accounts for 30% of the total. By 2030 other areas such as direct combustion from industries, transport and fugitive emissions (which occur during the production, processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution of fossil fuels) all will have risen by enough to offset the fall in electricity emissions.

This is the crux of climate change: if it was as easy to solve as politicians would have us believe then it would not actually be a problem.

Yes, people love renewables, but we are going to need to do more and any political party that wishes to actually do real action will at some point need to be honest with the public that the change is not going to be pleasant for many and it will be costly.

We are for a start going to need to keep coal in the ground even our glorious cleaner-than-others coal.

The governments fraudulent Paris target of 28% below 2005 levels, which includes land use, would require actual emissions to fall from the current level of 551Mt to 440Mt.

But that target is a complete joke.

The science requires cuts of at least 45% in actual emissions by 2030, not a reduction through offsets, or by counting things we are are no longer doing.

To achieve a 45% cut in actual emissions we would need to reduce our annual emissions to 287Mt by 2030.

Or to put it another way, in 2030 we would need to remove the equivalent of all emissions produced this year from direct combustion, transport, fugitive emissions and waste (ie landfill).

That is a scale well beyond anything that current policies will achieve. It is an amount that will require changes in how and what we consume and produce.

In effect, a change in how we live.

And it will require a political party able to persuade voters it needs to happen, because the low-hanging fruits of climate change reduction have all been picked.

Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia

More here:
We need politicians to have the guts to admit it's going to hurt to fight climate change | Greg Jericho - The Guardian

Its that time of year again. The air is cold, snow is on the ground (at least in the mountains) and youre scrambling to buy gifts for the outdoorsy folks in your life.

Therein lies the problem: The thing about those who love the outdoors is that, by and large, they have what they need. And if they dont have it already, they probably know exactly what they want. Down to the quarter inch. Your bumbling attempts at buying them gifts only stands in the way. Send money and call Christmas done.

While that may be prudent, its the cowardly path. Dont fear. Weve compiled 10 gifts, as recommended by local outdoor enthusiasts. From hand saws to tiny, ultralight flashlight flasks, these gifts are off the beaten path and sure to please on Christmas Day. (But, just to be safe, keep the receipt.)

Assuming you buy gifts for friends, and not enemies, you want them to return home safely. Knowing where youre going is the first step in that endeavor. Consider buying your outdoorsy loved one a year membership to one of the two premier GPS trail and mapping apps: Gaia GPS and onX Hunt. Both are great and do similar things, although onX is geared toward hunters and GAIA is more for hikers.

Jeff Lambert, the executive director of the Dishman Hills Conservancy, uses onX and loves the fact that it shows property boundaries.

Trespassing is the No. 1 reason that property owners prohibit access, he said. With this app, one avoids trespassing and can contact owners for permission if desired. It works without cell coverage if you download your map ahead of time.

Gaia costs $20$40 per year, depending on the features you want, while onX costs $30 for one state for a year and $100 for all 50 states for a year. Cabelas offers an onX gift card.

Both give topographic information, trail and property information and much more.

Not into apps? Check out Frugal Navigator for high-quality United States Geological Survey maps. The Spokane company can make custom maps based off USGS and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. More popular maps are sold at REI.

His maps are NICE, said Holly Weiler, a hiking leader for the Spokane Mountaineers and the Washington Trails Associations Eastern Washington coordinator in a message.Im a total map junkie, which is probably weird in this digital age. But I love them.

The maps are printed on tear- and water-resistant paper and come with a mini ruler. Prices vary.

It can be a tricky thing to buy gear for someone else. Sizing. Usage needs. It gets complicated. So were going to keep it light (literally).

First up: a folding saw.

Todd Dunfield, the Inland Northwest Land Conservancys community conservation manager and a prolific trail builder, has a favorite option: a folding hand saw made by Silky, such as the Silky Professional Ultra Accel 240 with a 24 cm curved blade ($59).

They are Japanese steel and super sharp and useful, he said in a message. Hunters can clear brush for better sight lines and game-camera mounting, great around the house, and I personally love them for trail work. I usually keep one in all my daypacks and mountain-biking hydration systems because they are so useful for clearing downed trees from the trail.

REI sells a variety, he said, as does Amazon.

But what to do, late in the day, once youve finished clearing all that trail? Drink, of course. The VSSL Flask ($95) is a compact adventure flask that includes a flashlight and compass.

And while taking swigs from your flashlight-flask, youll want to take a load off in an extra-warm camp chair. Why is it warm? Because someone bought you a chair quilt. The REI Co-op Flexlite Chair Underquilt ($30, char sold separately) creates a pocket of heat that keeps your tush nice and cozy.

Even experienced outdoorspeople can benefit from a wilderness first aid course. These multiple-day courses are the go-to primers on backcountry medicine and a must-do for anyone who spends a serious amount of time off the grid.

REI and NOLS offers a two-day Wilderness Safety Training course ($245 for REI members, $275 for non-members) on different dates and at various locations around the state.Cascadia Wilderness Medicine also has training classes

So youre trained up. The trail is cut, youve had a nice evening sipping liquor in your uber-warm camp chair marinating on all the first aid knowledge you have. You hike out to the trailhead and find horrors of horrors a parking ticket on your rig.

Too bad you didnt have the right parking pass. If only someone had gifted you one for Christmas.

An annual Washington State Discover Pass costs $30. Also consider gifting a state Sno-Park permit. A daily Sno-Park pass costs $20, which the seasonal pass is $40.Going farther afield? Consider an annual American the Beautiful Pass for $80.

View original post here:
10 unusual gifts for the outdoorsy person on your list - Seattle Times

By Steve Limtiaco, Pacific Daily News Published 4:23 a.m. ChT Dec. 16, 2019

Public Works has offered to open up access to CHamoru Land Trust property across the island in exchange for permission to use Land Trust property at Oka Point.(Photo: Rick Cruz/PDN)

The Department of Public Works has offered to open up access to CHamoru Land Trust property islandwide in exchange for permission to use Land Trust property at Oka Point as a staging area for construction work on Route 14, also known as Chalan San Antonio.

A common problem cited by Land Trust leaseholders during recent village outreach meetings is the inability to access and use their leased properties because there are no roads.

We just need your help, Public Works Chief Engineer Masoud Teimoury told the Land Trust commissioners at a meeting Friday . He said the area along Route 14 is heavily developed for commercial use, so there are really no other areasfor the contractor to place equipment and materials.

We can help the CHamoru Land Trust as we have done in the past. We can do many, many other things, within reason.

We are happy to reciprocate this favor, Teimoury said. We can help the CHamoru Land Trust as we have done in the past. We can do many, many other things, within reason.

MORE: Land Trust Commission resolves two more void leases

Under the proposal, Public Works would help open up existing roads and also build new roads.

The Chalan San Antonio project, which involves the construction of accessible sidewalks and the placement of anti-skid pavement, is expected to take about 15 months to complete, according to news files.

A contractor has not yet been selected. Bids are now scheduled to be opened in late February.Public Works officials have said the federally funded highway project is expected to cost $5 million to $10 million per mile.

Department of Public Works Chief Engineer Masoud Teimoury, left, on Friday tells the CHamoru Land Trust Commission about a proposal to open access to Land Trust properties in exchange for the temporary use of land at Oka Point.(Photo: Steve Limtiaco/PDN)

If an agreement can't be reached with the Land Trust for Oka Point, Public Works might have to find alternate private property to lease, Teimoury said, adding it would be better to resolve the issue within the government instead of enriching a private landowner.

He said Public Works, on behalf of the contractor, needs to secure use of the Oka Point property for as long as three yearsto account for any delays in the project.

The proposed staging area, centered at the parking lot of the former hospital, would be accessed through the Archbishop Felixberto Flores traffic circle. The area would be cleared and utilities would be brought in.

MORE: Land Trust suit could be settled; 'native Chamorro' definition at issue

Commissioners on Friday were receptive to the proposal, but said they don't want to make a decision until they get more information about what, exactly, Public Works will do to help the Land Trust, including how many total miles of road clearing and construction.

We have our own interest that we have to protect with the (Oka Point) property, Chairwoman Pika Fejeran said. She noted the site already has been identified by the Land Trust to be leased commercially. What Id like to see is a real proposal from the Department of Public Works.

Fejeran also instructed Land Trust Administrative Director Jack Hattig to develop a comprehensive program to decide which Land Trust roads should be improved by Public Works. Fejeran said the selection process needs to be fair and transparent, benefiting as many leaseholders as possible.

Leaseholders should have an opportunity to petition for access to their area, she said.

Fejeran said she doesn't want a repeat of the controversial easement construction for Land Trust property in Barrigada Heights, stating the commission at the time was unaware Public Works would be working in that subdivision.

Fejeran said the Land Trusts comprehensive program also must address how to prevent illegal dumping in newly opened areas.

MORE: Mayors to Land Trust: Without Global Recycling, Guam would have more junk cars and other trash

Teimoury said the Department of Land Management also needs to be involved in the process to confirm the location of legal easements on Land Trust properties.

There should be some level of investigation before we start clearing areas, he said.

Im hoping that we arrive at an agreement, Fejeran said.

Read or Share this story: https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/local/2019/12/15/department-public-works-chamoru-land-trust-roads-oka-point/2644897001/

Original post:
Public Works offers to open Land Trust roads in exchange for use of Oka Point - Pacific Daily News

The biggest govtech deals of the week (16/12/19) - NS Tech ').appendTo( jQuery(this) ); var divText2 = jQuery('.entry-content p:eq(5)', this); jQuery('.article-mpu:eq(0)', this).insertAfter(divText2); } if (articleLength > 19) { jQuery('').appendTo( jQuery(this) ); var divText3 = jQuery('.entry-content p:eq(15)', this); jQuery('.article-mpu:eq(1)', this).insertAfter(divText3); } if (articleLength > 29) { jQuery('').appendTo( jQuery(this) ); var divText4 = jQuery('.entry-content p:eq(25)', this); jQuery('.article-mpu:eq(2)', this).insertAfter(divText4); } if (articleLength > 39) { jQuery('').appendTo( jQuery(this) ); var divText5 = jQuery('.entry-content p:eq(35)', this); jQuery('.article-mpu:eq(3)', this).insertAfter(divText5); } } } }); } /* Add position of article as a class to its div */ var numCount = 0; function showMoreForNewArticles() { jQuery('.post-detail-row').each(function() { if ( jQuery( this ).hasClass( "marked" ) ) {} else { jQuery(this).addClass('marked'); str1 = 'articleno'; articleNumber = str1.concat(numCount); jQuery(this).addClass(articleNumber); numCount += 1; } }); }/* Initiate Banners on the side and check for unfilled Adslots every second */generateBannersForEmptySlots();window.setInterval(function(){ generateBannersForEmptySlots(); showMoreForNewArticles();}, 1000);/* .Initiate Banners on the side and check for unfilled Adslots every second */if (/Android|BlackBerry|iPhone|iPad|iPod|webOS/i.test(navigator.userAgent) === false) {//Load the second article onlym when you get to the bottom of the first.jQuery(window).bind('scroll', function() {//var elementOffset = jQuery('#full-menu').offset().top, jQuery("#full-menu").removeClass("fixed"); var scroll = jQuery(window).scrollTop(); if (scroll >= 370) { jQuery("#full-menu").addClass("fixed"); } var i = 1; jQuery('#sticky-sidebar').removeClass('widget-fixed'); var stickytop = 1000; var scroll2 = jQuery(window).scrollTop(); if (scroll2 >= stickytop-160) { jQuery("#sticky-sidebar").addClass("widget-fixed"); }}); } else { }};/* InArticle MPU */var mpuSlot0;var nextSlotId = 0;var o = 0;function generateNextSlotName1() { var id = nextSlotId++; return 'mpuSlot' + id; }function infiniteInArticleAds() { var slotName1 = generateNextSlotName1(); var slotDiv = document.createElement('div'); slotDiv.id = slotName1; document.getElementsByClassName('article-mpu')[o].appendChild(slotDiv); googletag.cmd.push(function() { var slot1 = googletag.defineSlot('/5269235/NS_Tech_2015_Dynamic_In_Article_MPU', [[300, 600], [300, 1050], [300, 250]], slotName1). setTargeting("Section", "Public Sector"). addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display(slotName1); //googletag.pubads().refresh([slot1]); }); o += 1;}/* InArticle MPU *//* Sidebar MPU 1 */var sidebarMPU1Slot0;var nextSidebarMPU1SlotId = 0;var p = 0;function generateNextSlotNameMPU1() { var id = nextSidebarMPU1SlotId++; return 'sidebarMPU1Slot' + id; }function infiniteSidebarMPU1Ads() { var slotNameMPU1 = generateNextSlotNameMPU1(); var slotSidebarMPU1Div = document.createElement('div'); slotSidebarMPU1Div.id = slotNameMPU1; document.getElementsByClassName('sidebar-mpu-1')[p].appendChild(slotSidebarMPU1Div); googletag.cmd.push(function() { var slotMPU1 = googletag.defineSlot('/5269235/NS_Tech_2015_Dynamic_Sidebar_MPU', [[300, 600], [300, 1050], [300, 250]], slotNameMPU1). setTargeting("Section", "Public Sector"). addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display(slotNameMPU1); }); p += 1;}/* Sidebar MPU 1 *//* Sidebar MPU 2 */var sidebarMPU2Slot0;var nextSidebarMPU2SlotId = 0;var q = 0;function generateNextSlotNameMPU2() { var id = nextSidebarMPU2SlotId++; return 'sidebarMPU2Slot' + id; }function infiniteSidebarMPU2Ads() { var slotNameMPU2 = generateNextSlotNameMPU2(); var slotSidebarMPU2Div = document.createElement('div'); slotSidebarMPU2Div.id = slotNameMPU2; document.getElementsByClassName('sidebar-mpu-2')[q].appendChild(slotSidebarMPU2Div); googletag.cmd.push(function() { var slotMPU2 = googletag.defineSlot('/5269235/NS_Tech_2015_Dynamic_Sidebar_MPU', [[300, 600], [300, 1050], [300, 250]], slotNameMPU2). setTargeting("Section", "Public Sector"). addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display(slotNameMPU2); //googletag.pubads().refresh([slotMPU2]); }); q += 1;}/* Sidebar MPU 2 *//* InBetweenArticle Leaderboard */var sidebarMPU3Slot0;var nextSidebarMPU3SlotId = 0;var r = 0;function generateNextSlotNameMPU3() { var id = nextSidebarMPU2SlotId++; return 'sidebarMPU3Slot' + id; }function infiniteSidebarMPU3Ads() { var slotNameMPU3 = generateNextSlotNameMPU3(); var slotSidebarMPU3Div = document.createElement('div'); slotSidebarMPU3Div.id = slotNameMPU3; document.getElementsByClassName('between-article-leaderboard')[r].appendChild(slotSidebarMPU3Div); googletag.cmd.push(function() { var slotMPU3 = googletag.defineSlot('/5269235/NS_Tech_2015_Dynamic_Leaderboard_Bottom', [[975, 250], [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90]], slotNameMPU3). setTargeting("Section", "Public Sector"). addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display(slotNameMPU3); //googletag.pubads().refresh([slotMPU3]); }); r += 1;}/* InBetweenArticle Leaderboard *//* InBetweenArticle MPU */var sidebarMPU4Slot0;var nextSidebarMPU4SlotId = 0;var s = 0;function generateNextSlotNameMPU4() { var id = nextSidebarMPU4SlotId++; return 'sidebarMPU4Slot' + id; }function infiniteSidebarMPU4Ads() { var slotNameMPU4 = generateNextSlotNameMPU4(); var slotSidebarMPU4Div = document.createElement('div'); slotSidebarMPU4Div.id = slotNameMPU4; document.getElementsByClassName('between-article-mpu')[s].appendChild(slotSidebarMPU4Div); googletag.cmd.push(function() { var slotMPU4 = googletag.defineSlot('/5269235/NS_Tech_2015_Mobile_MPU_1', [[300, 600], [300, 1050], [300, 250]], slotNameMPU4). setTargeting("Section", "Public Sector"). addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display(slotNameMPU4); //googletag.pubads().refresh([slotMPU4]); }); s += 1;}/* InBetweenArticle MPU */var checkBox1 = 0;jQuery(function($) { jQuery('#popup-tos').bind('scroll', function() { if(jQuery(this).scrollTop() + jQuery(this).innerHeight()>=jQuery(this)[0].scrollHeight) { jQuery( "#itro_popup" ).addClass( "scrollDown" ); jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy #ppText" ).text( "I have read your Privacy Policy" ); jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy .wpcf7-acceptance").prop('checked', true); jQuery( "#ppSubmit .wpcf7-submit").prop('disabled', false); jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy" ).fadeIn('slow'); } }); });jQuery(function(){ jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy" ).click(function() { if (checkBox1 == 0) { jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy .wpcf7-acceptance").prop('checked', true); jQuery( "#ppSubmit .wpcf7-submit").prop('disabled', false); jQuery( "#itro_popup" ).addClass( "scrollDown" ); checkBox1 = 1; } else { jQuery( "#readPrivacyPolicy .wpcf7-acceptance").prop('checked', false); jQuery( "#ppSubmit .wpcf7-submit").prop('disabled', true); jQuery( "#itro_popup" ).removeClass( "scrollDown" ); checkBox1 = 0; } });});/*jQuery('#popup_content').click(function(){ alert('test');});*/jQuery(function(){ jQuery('#popup_content .header').click(function(){ jQuery(this).closest('#popup_content .container').toggleClass('collapsed'); }); });

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Go here to see the original:
The biggest govtech deals of the week (16/12/19) - NS Tech

Pete Rahn by Maryland GovPics licensed under Creative Commons.

Maryland State Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn suddenly resigned on Monday, leaving behind a legacy on transit which includes cancelling Baltimores Red Line and axing Montgomery Countys Corridor Cities Transitway. Rahn is heading back to his native New Mexico, where hes been commuting from since Governor Larry Hogan tapped him to lead the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) in 2015.

During his almost five years in office, Rahn did garner praise from local and state politicians for helping to push through the Maryland Transit Administrations (MTA) Purple Line and securing funds for the expansion of the Howard Street Tunnel including important beneficiary, the Port of Baltimore. Yet like the Hogan administration, Rahn has mostly been actively hostile to transit.

Throughout his tenure, Rahn slashed transit while expanding highways and pushing more auto-centric roads, and sustained heavy criticism from many of those same legislators and transportation advocates. Most recently, he cut transit funding in Marylands transportation budget by $1.1 billion, from his penultimate edition in 2018 to his final annual budget in 2019. In his unofficial exit interview with the Washington Post, Rahn stated, I believe we still have a disproportionate share of the trust fund going to transit.

Rahns replacement, Gregory Slater, comes to the position from heading up the State Highway Administration, one of the agencies most directly involved in the highly controversial plans to install toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and I-270. Nonetheless, many Maryland lawmakers regard him more highly than Rahn. As one transportation sector expert told the Post, Greg [Slater] is much more careful with what he says. Hes very diplomatic.

Whether he was being praised or criticized, Rahn tended to galvanize public opinion in Maryland to an extent rare for any state cabinet secretary. That pattern didnt stop with his resignation this week. Heres what a few Maryland state and local politicians had to say about Rahns departure, his legacy, and their advice for Slater on replacing Rahn.

Delegate Vaughn Stewart, 19th District (Montgomery County), says:

Secretary Rahn championed asphalt and executed the hit on the Red Line at a time of climate crisis. With the planet burning, Rahn will be remembered as one of the last of his kinda state transportation secretary who cared about moving cars above all else.

Delegate Kirill Reznik, 39th District (Montgomery County):

Pete Rahn is clearly a very intelligent guy who believes in what he is selling. Its why Governor Hogan hired him in the first place. That being said, what he is selling are 20th century solutions to 21st century problems. And he was so convinced of these ideas, that he never bothered to check in with the Legislators who represent the people directly affected or other stakeholders that might hold a different opinion. He never chose to be a partner with us, rather felt the need to tell us how things will be. I have every reason to believe that Greg Slater will be a very different Transportation Secretary. Having spent over 20 years working for the Department in Maryland, he knows the process and the stakeholders well, and has a history of working with us, not in spite of us. Ultimately, he, like Rahn, will still answer to Governor Hogan, but I have every reason to believe that he will be a reasonable and moderating force in this relationship.

Delegate Brooke Lierman, 46th District (Baltimore City):

I was consistently disappointed in Sec. Rahns myopic approach to transportation policy in Maryland. He never fully appreciated that he was not the highway administrator, but instead was responsible for crafting a multi-modal strategy for all Marylanders. We have serious transportation challenges in this state and he was not up for meeting them. Despite clear data on the need for transit to support economic development, he seemed to view spending money on transit as charity rather than investment. If we are truly open for business in Maryland, we must fully embrace a complete multi-modal transportation policy. I hope that the new Secretary will understand that because Sec. Rahn never did.

Councilmember Ryan Dorsey, 3rd District (Baltimore City):

Though so much damage has already been done by him, Pete Rahn leaving is a very good thing for Maryland. At the end of the day, Governor Hogan is still the man behind the curtain, and so its likely that Rahn is nothing more than a mercenary, willing to be a figurehead following orders from a sprawl developer Governor. I would be delighted to be proven wrong by whatever happens next and see that a forward-thinking MDOT secretary would meaningfully demote cars and promote transit.

Readers: What do you think Rahns resignation and the new MDOT secretary will mean for Maryland?

Alex Holt is a New York state native, Maryland transplant, and freelance writer. He lives in Mt. Washington in Baltimore and enjoys geeking out about all things transit, sports, politics, and comics, not necessarily in that order.

Follow this link:
MDOT head Pete Rahn was hostile to transit. Will his replacement be better? - Greater Greater Washington

The battle to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader is already in full swing after the party suffered its worst defeat at the ballot box since 1935.

Mr Corbyn said he would stay in place until another leader has been appointed but contenders for the Labour crown are already jockeying for position behind the scenes.

As the contest gets under way,The Independent takes a look at how the Labour Party elects itsleader.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

When will the leadership contest take place?

The timetable for the leadership race will be decided by Labours ruling body, the national executive committee (NEC), which ismade up of MPs, trade union officials and members.

Contests can take months but John McDonnell said it was likely to take between eighr and 10 weeks, which means there could be a new Labour leader in place by March.

TheNEC will certainly want a new leader in place ahead of the local election in May 2020.

Corbyn has said he will remain in place until a replacement is found, as there is no deputy leader to fill his shoes after Tom Watson stood down as an MP.

The party rulebook says when both the deputy leader and the leader are permanently unavailable, the NECwill conduct a postal ballot of members and could appoint a temporary leader from the shadow cabinet.

Who can stand?

Only Labour MPs can stand to be leader. Under the rules, candidates must secure backing from 10 per cent of the parliamentary Labour party and the European parliamentary Labour party.

However, the EPLP will cease to exist if the UK leaves the EU on 31 January, so it is unlikely that contenders can count on the backing of MEPs to get on the ballot paper.

Any would-be leaders also need support from 5 per cent of constituency parties or 5 per cent of affiliated groups, two of which must be trade unions.

The latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox

The shadow education secretary is likely to be in the mix for the partys leadership after Corbyns resignation. Rayner was brought up on a council estate, left her local comprehensive school with no qualifications, and gave birth to her first son, Ryan, at the age of 16. She rose through the ranks of the trade union movement to become the most senior elected official of Unison before being elected to her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency in 2015. In her current role she spearheaded Labours national education service and has championed the abolition of tuition fees. After the devastating election result unfolded, Ms Rayner said: Thank you to all our volunteers, staff and activists who have worked their socks off. I know the exit poll is incredible devastating but we will continue to keep faith in our great movement and the UK." - Ashley Cowburn

PA

A key ally of the current left-wing leadership of the party, the Salford & Eccles MP is viewed in some quarters as the natural successor to Mr Corbyn and describes herself as a proud socialist. Highly regarded by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. She won also won plaudits for her performance filling in for Corbyn both at prime ministers questions and during the general election debates.The shadow business secretary grew up by Old Trafford football ground and began her working life serving at the counter of a pawn shop. As the polls unfolded, she would not be drawn on whether she wanted to be the partys leader. Its not something that Im thinking about, I think we need to get through tonight, see where the chips fall and then we will re-group as a party, asses whats happened and what the next steps need to be, she said. - Ashley Cowburn

PA

The former director of public prosecutions undoubtedly has ambitions to lead the party, and is highly-regarded by both left-wingers and centrists in the party. As Labours shadow Brexit secretary, he played a key role in the partys eventual backing of a second referendum. Before becoming an MP, he was a human rights lawyer - conducting cases in international courts including the European Court of Human Rights.In June this year, a YouGov poll of party members found he was the narrow favourite in terms of being a good leader if Jeremy Corbyn stood down before the next election, ahead of Thornberry.Speaking after his re-election in Holborn & St Pancras, he said: There is no hiding from the overall result. It is devastating. It will hurt the millions of people who so desperately need a Labour government. They have suffered so much under ten years of Tory austerity and will suffer more because of this result. We must now reflect; we must also rebuild. - Ashley Cowburn

EPA

The MP for Birmingham Yardley has been a prominent critic of the Labour leadership, and said at her victory speech in the early hours of Friday morning that it was clear her party needed structural change. The reality is that the Labour Party has got to do a huge amount more than just think getting rid of one man will just simply make it OK, she added.Before being elected to parliament, Phillips worked for Womens Aid, supporting female victims of domestic abuse. She has previously suggested she would run for the leadership should the position become vacant, but given the left-wing membership of the Labour Party, Phillips would likely find it difficult to gain traction in any leadership contest. - Ashley Cowburn

PA

Corbyns constituency neighbour and friend, Emily Thornberry, has been critical of the partys Brexit stance, but has remained loyal to the leadership and has represented the Labour Party on various overseas visits. The 59-year-old was brought up on a council estate near Guildford in Surrey by her mother when her father, a human rights lawyer and academic, walked out on his family. "I was born into the Labour Party," she once said. "I was delivering leaflets by the age I could reach the letter box.First elected as MP for Islington South in 2005, the shadow foreign secretary is likely to be considering a bid for the leadership, but the party may be looking for a leadership outside its London stronghold.After winning back her seat in same venue as Corbyn, she said: We may be hurting tonight but we are not beaten. We will tell Boris Johnson no our fight is not over, our fight is just starting. - Ashley Cowburn

Reuters

Cooper came third in the Labour leadership election in 2015, with just 19 per cent of the vote share dwarfed by Corbyns 59%. But Cooper, who has maintained a high-profile in recent years as chair of the Commons home affairs committee for grilling ministers, could attempt a second shot at the leadership. Unlike the other possible contenders, Cooper, who has been an MP since 1997, has experience in government having served as chief secretary to the Treasury and secretary of state for work and pensions under Gordon Brown. - Ashley Cowburn

Reuters

The shadow education secretary is likely to be in the mix for the partys leadership after Corbyns resignation. Rayner was brought up on a council estate, left her local comprehensive school with no qualifications, and gave birth to her first son, Ryan, at the age of 16. She rose through the ranks of the trade union movement to become the most senior elected official of Unison before being elected to her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency in 2015. In her current role she spearheaded Labours national education service and has championed the abolition of tuition fees. After the devastating election result unfolded, Ms Rayner said: Thank you to all our volunteers, staff and activists who have worked their socks off. I know the exit poll is incredible devastating but we will continue to keep faith in our great movement and the UK." - Ashley Cowburn

PA

A key ally of the current left-wing leadership of the party, the Salford & Eccles MP is viewed in some quarters as the natural successor to Mr Corbyn and describes herself as a proud socialist. Highly regarded by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell. She won also won plaudits for her performance filling in for Corbyn both at prime ministers questions and during the general election debates.The shadow business secretary grew up by Old Trafford football ground and began her working life serving at the counter of a pawn shop. As the polls unfolded, she would not be drawn on whether she wanted to be the partys leader. Its not something that Im thinking about, I think we need to get through tonight, see where the chips fall and then we will re-group as a party, asses whats happened and what the next steps need to be, she said. - Ashley Cowburn

PA

The former director of public prosecutions undoubtedly has ambitions to lead the party, and is highly-regarded by both left-wingers and centrists in the party. As Labours shadow Brexit secretary, he played a key role in the partys eventual backing of a second referendum. Before becoming an MP, he was a human rights lawyer - conducting cases in international courts including the European Court of Human Rights.In June this year, a YouGov poll of party members found he was the narrow favourite in terms of being a good leader if Jeremy Corbyn stood down before the next election, ahead of Thornberry.Speaking after his re-election in Holborn & St Pancras, he said: There is no hiding from the overall result. It is devastating. It will hurt the millions of people who so desperately need a Labour government. They have suffered so much under ten years of Tory austerity and will suffer more because of this result. We must now reflect; we must also rebuild. - Ashley Cowburn

EPA

The MP for Birmingham Yardley has been a prominent critic of the Labour leadership, and said at her victory speech in the early hours of Friday morning that it was clear her party needed structural change. The reality is that the Labour Party has got to do a huge amount more than just think getting rid of one man will just simply make it OK, she added.Before being elected to parliament, Phillips worked for Womens Aid, supporting female victims of domestic abuse. She has previously suggested she would run for the leadership should the position become vacant, but given the left-wing membership of the Labour Party, Phillips would likely find it difficult to gain traction in any leadership contest. - Ashley Cowburn

PA

Corbyns constituency neighbour and friend, Emily Thornberry, has been critical of the partys Brexit stance, but has remained loyal to the leadership and has represented the Labour Party on various overseas visits. The 59-year-old was brought up on a council estate near Guildford in Surrey by her mother when her father, a human rights lawyer and academic, walked out on his family. "I was born into the Labour Party," she once said. "I was delivering leaflets by the age I could reach the letter box.First elected as MP for Islington South in 2005, the shadow foreign secretary is likely to be considering a bid for the leadership, but the party may be looking for a leadership outside its London stronghold.After winning back her seat in same venue as Corbyn, she said: We may be hurting tonight but we are not beaten. We will tell Boris Johnson no our fight is not over, our fight is just starting. - Ashley Cowburn

Reuters

Cooper came third in the Labour leadership election in 2015, with just 19 per cent of the vote share dwarfed by Corbyns 59%. But Cooper, who has maintained a high-profile in recent years as chair of the Commons home affairs committee for grilling ministers, could attempt a second shot at the leadership. Unlike the other possible contenders, Cooper, who has been an MP since 1997, has experience in government having served as chief secretary to the Treasury and secretary of state for work and pensions under Gordon Brown. - Ashley Cowburn

Reuters

The rules were changed in 2018 to reduce the influence of the PLP on who could get on the ballot paper, cutting the threshold from 15 to 10 per cent.

Who can vote?

Labour party activists, MPs, members of affiliated trade unions and socialist societies all have a single vote each.

In 2015, the rules were changed to allow registered supporters to cast a ballot in a leadership contest. The flood of voterswho signed up for a 3 fee overwhelmingly backed Corbyn.

The fee was raised to 25 in 2016, ahead of the leadershipchallenge against Corbyn by Owen Smith.

Voters rank the candidates in order of preference, which means anyone who wins more than half the vote is automatically elected.

If no one meets that threshold, the candidate with the lowest votes is eliminated and their second preference votes are distributed to other candidates. This process continues until one candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the votes.

Who might stand to be leader?

Shadow cabinet members such as Sir Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, Dawn Butler and Angela Rayner are said to be considering their chances, while Corbynites are rowing in behind Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary.

Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and David Lammy are also understood to be mulling a tilt from the back benches.

No one has officially declared their candidacy yet, but Nandysaid she was seriously thinking about it on Sunday.

What about the deputy leader?

The position is vacant since Watson decided to quit, so the NEC may decide to run the election alongsidethe leadership contest.

Some of the people named as runners and riders for the leadership may decide to stand for the deputy job instead. There is some speculation about joint tickets, with Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, saying he would back Long-Bailey but would consider running for the deputy role.

Read more:
Who will succeed Jeremy Corbyn and how does a Labour leadership contest work? - The Independent