75,000 massive concrete blocks will strengthen crucial Afsluitdijk

DutchNews, April 24, 2018 

Artist’s impression: Infrastructure ministry roads department 

The Afsluitdijk, the 32 kilometre dyke which links the provinces of Noord-Holland and Friesland, is to undergo an extensive programme of maintenance, starting at the end of this year. 

The overhaul is necessary because sea water levels are rising and there is an increasing risk of extreme weather, the infrastructure ministry’s road department said. In addition, too much water is entering the IJsselmeer lake from the rivers inland. 

The dyke will be clad in 75,000 concrete blocks each weighing 6,500 kilos and produced at a special factory in Harlingen. The locks will be strengthened as well and new pumping stations will be built to get rid of superfluous water. 

The project will cost €555m and will be finished in 2022. 

It’s the first time in 85 years the Afsluitdijk, which was opened to traffic in 1933, will undergo such extensive work. ‘We put the dyke through its paces every six years and a number of years ago it became clear that it isn’t strong enough,’ project manager Joost van de Beek told broadcaster NOS. 

The renovation will ensure the dyke’s safety until 2050, the ministry said.  It will not be closed off during the work but there will be some disruption to traffic and one of the two traffic lanes will be closed for a total of two years.

Threatened Cambodia river dolphins making 'historic' rebound

Yahoo – AFP, 23 April 2018

Conservationists have fresh hope for the future of the critically endangered

Irrawaddy dolphin

The population of Cambodia's critically endangered river dolphin is growing for the first time in decades, conservations said Monday, hailing a major turnaround for the freshwater species.

The Irrawaddy dolphins, known for their bulging foreheads and short beaks, once swam through much of the Mekong river but in recent decades have been limited to a 190 km (118 mile) stretch from central Cambodia to its northern border with Laos.

The population has been in steady decline since the first census was taken in 1997, dropping from 200 that year to 80 in 2015 due to habitat loss and destructive fishing practices.

But new births -- including three calves in 2018 -- and a decline in deaths has put the species on the path to recovery.

The number of dolphins in the Mekong has increased from 80 to 92 in the past two years, according to a survey by Cambodian authorities and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which called the rebound a "historic increase".

"After years of hard work, we finally have reason to believe that these iconic dolphins can be protected against extinction," said Seng Teak from WWF-Cambodia.

The group attributed the turnaround to the work of river patrol teams and the removal of illegal gillnets -- vertical mesh fishing nets that are left in the water for long periods and can trap and drown dolphins.

Tourist boat operators were also hailed as a "secret ingredient" for their help in reporting poaching and illegal gillnets to authorities.

But conservationists and officials warn that significant threats remain, including other illegal fishing practices involving grenades, electronic gear and poisonous bait.

Major infrastructure projects, such as dams in Laos, also endanger the animals' fragile recovery.

Eng Cheasan, the director of Cambodia's fisheries administration, hailed the dolphins as a "national treasure" and said the government was committed to "eliminating all threats to the survival of this species".

Cambodia is home to the largest population of Irrawaddy dolphins, which can also be found in rivers and lakes in Myanmar, Indonesia, India and Thailand.

World shipping industry agrees to halve carbon emissions by 2050

Yahoo – AFP, Dario THUBURN, April 13, 2018

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations
climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well
under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century (AFP Photo/ARIS MESSINIS)

London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Members of the UN International Maritime Organisation on Friday struck a deal to halve carbon dioxide emissions from shipping by 2050 in a deal that will force the industry to redesign fleets.

"The initial strategy envisages for the first time a reduction in total GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008," the IMO said in a statement.

Major shipping nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United States had objected to earlier drafts in two weeks of discussion at the 173-member organisation based in London.

Some countries such as the Marshall Islands, which are at risk of rising seas but are also a major flag state, had wanted a stronger commitment and the EU wanted a 70 to 100 percent cut.

But the agreement was widely hailed by stakeholders.

"This is a ground-breaking agreement -- a Paris agreement for shipping -- that sets a very high level of ambition for the future reduction of carbon dioxide emissions," the International Chamber for Shipping's secretary general Peter Hinchliffe said.

Some countries like Marshall Islands, which has endured worsening storm surges

 due to global warming, are at a higher risk of rising seas and wanted a stronger 

committment to reduce carbon dioxide emssions (AFP Photo/GIFF JOHNSON)

"We are confident this will give the shipping industry the clear signal it needs to get on with the job of developing zero carbon dioxide fuels so that the entire sector will be in a position to decarbonise completely," he said.

'Watershed moment'

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine also praised the deal.

"Today the IMO has made history. While it may not be enough to give my country the certainty it wanted, it makes it clear that international shipping will now urgently reduce emissions and play its part in giving my country a pathway to survival," she said in a statement.

Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, tweeted: "We were pushing for stronger targets but still a great step that IMO seeks to halve the shipping sector's greenhouse gases by 2050".

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said the deal gives her "country a pathway

 to survival" even if it " may not be enough to give my country the certainty it 

wanted" (AFP Photo/FREDERICK FLORIN)

The aviation sector reached an emissions plan two years ago but shipping has taken longer because its reliance on long-distance ships that run on bunker fuel makes it harder to cut carbon.

Shipping accounts for around 2.0 percent of global carbon emissions and that share could rise to around 15 percent if left unchecked, according to the World Bank.

The Climate Action Network said Friday's deal was "a welcome first step".

Some environmental groups have warned that a 50 percent cut may not be enough to keep global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius.

Britain's Shipping Minister Nusrat Ghani said the deal was a "watershed moment".

"We will work with fellow member states to ensure the shipping industry makes the transition to zero emissions ships as quickly as possible," she said.

Related Articles:

Maritime countries agree first ever shipping emissions regulation

Dutch ports to reward environmentally ‘clean’ ships

Shipping to steer cleaner carbon course

Antarctic nations plan tough new shipping controls

Proposal mandates stricter pollution controls for ships

The 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All Cars in The World

Climate change runs AMOC with Atlantic currents: studies

Yahoo - AFP, Mariëtte Le Roux, 11 April 2018

Melting sea ice in the Arctic produces fresh water, slowing the circulation of
denser salt water and thereby slowing warming currents

A system of Atlantic Ocean currents that regulates global weather is at its feeblest in 1,600 years, weakened partly by climate change, said researchers Wednesday, warning of trouble ahead.

Two studies in the journal Nature concluded the system, dubbed the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is in decline -- validating a long-held scientific suspicion.

The weakening, agreed the teams, was the result of melting sea ice, glaciers, and ice-shelves gushing freshwater -- less dense than salty ocean water -- into the North Atlantic.

"This freshwater caused the AMOC to weaken because it prevented the waters getting dense enough to sink," David Thornalley of the University College London, who co-authored one of the studies, told AFP.

The AMOC is often likened to a conveyer belt redistributing warmth through the ocean, so regulating weather over land as well.

Its currents take warm, salty Gulf Stream water northward, releasing heat into the atmosphere and warming Western Europe.

As the water cools in the cold, Nordic seas, it sinks to great depths and travels southward all the way to Antarctica, eventually circulating back up to the Gulf Stream, and so on.

"If the system continues to weaken, it could disrupt weather patterns from the United States and Europe to the African Sahel, and cause more rapid increase in sea level on the US east coast," said the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which participated in the research.

Apart from warming Europe, the system transports important nutrients, oxygen, and the larvae of marine organisms such as corals and fish between ocean regions.

It also controls the ability of the seas to absorb and store carbon dioxide -- the most abundant of the Earth-warming greenhouse gases.

More beasts from the east

For the first study, Thornalley and a team consulted historical "records" locked up in the ocean floor -- sand grains deposited by ocean currents.

The larger the grains in a sediment layer, the stronger the current must have been.

The data revealed the AMOC was relatively stable from about the year 400 to 1850, then started weakening around the start of the industrial era.

The second study looked at sea-surface temperature patterns to conclude the AMOC has declined by about 15 percent in the last half century -- likely in response to global warming caused by humankind's burning of coal, oil, and natural gas.

The two teams found a similar degree of AMOC weakening, but over very two different time periods.

This has implications for identifying the trigger -- whether it was manmade or natural changes in the climate.

"The initial weakening that we show ocurred at the end of the Little Ice Age is likely part of natural processes ending the Little Ice Age," Thornalley said.

"However, the fact that AMOC has remained weak and weakened further throughout the 20th century, with a noticeable decline since about 1950, is very likely due to human factors."

The studies cannot conclude whether the AMOC will regress further.

If it does, there will likely be further cooling in the North Atlantic, increased winter storms for Europe, a possible southward shift in the tropical rainfall belt, and faster sea-level rise off the US eastern seaboard, said the teams.

Global warming, however, will likely more than counter any cooling of Europe due to a weaker AMOC, said Thornalley.

According to the European Union-funded ATLAS research project, another study participant, commercial fisheries may be affected as the positions and depths of ocean currents shift, and some regions are starved of oxygen-rich waters.

"A weakening of the AMOC can also result in temperature increases or decreases of several degrees centigrade, affecting some high-value fisheries as well as abundances of plankton, fish, sea birds, and whales," it said in a statement.

Further weakening of the system "will leave more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere where it causes warming," added Thornalley -- perpetuating the vicious circle.

The findings imply that models used to project global warming scenarios had likely underestimated the contribution of a weakening AMOC, said the teams.

Related Articles:

20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

Beijing, Hanoi promise to keep peace in South China Sea

Yahoo – AFP, April 1, 2018

Foreign ministers from China and Vietnam vowed to address disputes peacefully
(AFP Photo/MINH HOANG)

China and Vietnam vowed Sunday to keep the peace in the South China Sea, the resource-rich waterway that has long been a source of tension between Hanoi and its powerhouse communist neighbour.

China claims most of the disputed sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves and is highly strategic for trade and defence.

Beijing has built up artificial islands capable of hosting military installations in recent years, stoking ire from claimants like Vietnam, which has emerged as China's most vocal opponent in the waterway.

Foreign ministers from China and Vietnam vowed Sunday to address disputes peacefully.

"Both sides should abide by the basic governing principles on resolving maritime issues. Both sides should not apply unilateral measures that would complicate the situation," China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Hanoi during an official visit to Vietnam.

His Vietnamese counterpart echoed calls to peacefully resolve disputes.

"We are ready to work with China to resolve arising issues," Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told reporters.

He added both sides should "properly manage differences, not expand disputes (and) respect legitimate rights and interests of the other in accordance with international law".

Taiwan, Brunei and the Philippines also have claims in the sea. But the Philippines' China-friendly leader Rodrigo Duterte has backed off disputes with Beijing after a landmark international tribunal ruling in 2016 in Manila's favour.

Vietnam's tensions with Beijing in the waterway have largely played out behind closed doors. But violent protests erupted in Vietnam in 2014 after Beijing moved an oil rig into Vietnamese-claimed territory.

In the face of continued tensions with Beijing, Vietnam has publicly promoted deepening security ties with the US in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a US aircraft carrier made a historic visit to Vietnam -- the first since the end of the war in 1975 -- and last week Washington handed over six patrol boats and equipment worth a combined $20 million to Hanoi.

Before his official meetings with Vietnamese leaders Sunday, the Chinese foreign minister attended a regional summit on economic cooperation in Vietnam, calling for open trade and deriding protectionism.

"Protectionism harms others without benefiting oneself, it is a one-way street that leads nowhere," Wang said Saturday, also lauding Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road initiative that has flooded Southeast Asia with Chinese investments.

Observers say China is seeking to boost its trade dominance in the region amid a perceived US retreat from Asia -- especially after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal last year.

Wang, who was promoted to state councillor this month -- making him a ranking member of China's cabinet -- will leave Hanoi Monday after meeting with Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.

Japan whalers return from Antarctic hunt after killing 333 whales

Yahoo – News, 31 March 2018

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission moratorium on hunting,
but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific research

Japanese whaling vessels returned to port on Saturday after catching more than 300 of the mammals in the Antarctic Ocean without facing any protests by anti-whaling groups, officials said.

A fleet of five whalers set sail for the Southern Ocean in November, as Tokyo pursues its "research whaling" in defiance of global criticism.

Three of the vessels, including the fleet's main ship, the Nisshin Maru, arrived in the morning at Shimonoseki port in western Japan, a port official said.

The fleet caught 333 minke whales as planned without any interruption by anti-whaling campaigners, the Fisheries Agency said in a statement.

Japanese whalers have in the past clashed at sea with animal rights campaigners, particularly the Sea Shepherd activist group, which last year announced it had no plan to make offshore protests this season.

Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission moratorium on hunting, but exploits a loophole that allows whales to be killed for scientific research.

Tokyo says the slaughter is necessary for in-depth knowledge of whale behaviour and biology, but it makes no secret of the fact that whales killed in the hunts often end up on dinner plates.