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The hippopotamus population has grown steadily and the animals have become a hazard, the study argues.

(CNN)Colombia’s best-known drug trafficker, Pablo Escobar, may have been killed in 1993 but his influence continues to be felt in the country, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Hippopotamuses brought to Colombia as part of Escobar’s private zoo at his ranch, Hacienda Napoles, have bred so successfully that there is serious concern over their environmental impact and human safety, according to a new study by researchers at Mexican and Colombian universities.

The hippos have spread out from their original home, some 100 miles east of the city of Medellin, in the Antioquia department, dispersing around the Magdalena river basin as their population continues to grow steadily.

Some hippos remain at Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles, which is now a theme park.

The authors of the study, published in the January edition of the journal Biological Conservation, recommend that the hippos be culled to prevent long-term negative effects, but other scientists are calling for a castration program to control the hippo population, citing concerns over animal welfare and the attachment of some locals to their new neighbors.

Back in the 1980s, Escobar imported one male and three female hippos to join his menagerie. Upon his death, other species of exotic animals were relocated, but the hippos were left because they were difficult to capture and transport, according to the study.

The hippos soon began to spread in the surrounding area, but government efforts to cull them were halted after a public outcry.

A sterilization campaign was begun instead, but it has done little to slow the hippos’ progress.

From 2011 to 2019 four males were castrated and two females were sterilized, but this “does not seem to have an important impact on reproduction,” according to the study.

Researchers say there are probably more than 80 hippos in the area today, up from 35 in 2012, and they worry that the hippos will continue to spread throughout Colombia if no action is taken.

The study also cites research showing the negative effects of hippo waste on oxygen levels in bodies of water, which can affect fish and ultimately humans, and raises concerns about the possible transmission of diseases from hippos to humans.

Hippos also pose a threat to the livelihoods and security of people in affected areas, the study said, eating or damaging crops and engaging in aggressive interactions with humans.

The researchers cite incidences of hippos chasing people, as well as a hippo attack in May 2020 in which a 45-year-old man was seriously injured.

Escobar brought the hippos to his ranch in the early 1980s.

But while the study’s authors recommend a cull, Enrique Zerda Ordóñez, a biologist at Colombia’s National University, believes castration programs are the way forward.

Culling the hippos would be an “easy option,” said Zerda, but it could affect the survival of a species that is under threat in Africa.

Though sterilizing hippos is no easy task, he said, he believes it is both possible and necessary to do so now, before their numbers rise further, according to a press release from the university.

“Right now, the authorities don’t consider the species to be a problem,” Zerda said, “but in the future, when there are 400-500 hippos, it could represent a threat to the survival of other species that feed in the same areas.”

David Echeverri Lopez, head of forests and biodiversity at the CORNARE regional environmental agency, told CNN that the situation is delicate.

“The option of killing them has always been on the table,” he said. “However it’s very difficult to imagine this could happen at the moment.”

While the hippos are an invasive species capable of completely changing local ecosystems, people in the area have gotten used to them, Echeverri said. They’ve become a tourist attraction that people feel some affection toward, he added.

Some of the hippos will have to be killed, because it’s “practically impossible” to find and relocate or sterilize them.

“But there are some other animals that are located in certain areas, in lakes and places that allow for a birth control plan to be put in place, assuming that adequate resources are available,” said Echeverri, who is working with the NGO Animal Balance to try to find alternative solutions.

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Scientists have discovered a new coronavirus variant in California as the state continues to struggle with a rising number of cases and deaths.

The strain was first seen in Denmark but does not appear to be a more infectious one in the European country that was linked to minks and led to 17 million of the animals being culled in November.

This new variant, known as L452R, dates back to samples as early as May in The Golden State.

It has been linked to multiple outbreaks in Santa Clara County, including one in a Kaiser Permanante emergency room that sickened more than 90 and led to one death.

It remains unclear whether the new variant is more contagious or just becoming more easily identifiable as laboratories perform genome sequencing.

The variant is also different from the highly infectious one first identified the UK that has recently been sweeping the nation.

The UK’s strain, B 1.1.7., has been identified in 18 states, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of federal and state data.

As public health officials caution that this will soon become the dominant strain in the U.S., Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says the warning should be a ‘clarion call’ for Americans to get vaccinated

Known as L452R, it has been linked to large outbreaks in Santa Clara and seen in more than a dozen counties including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Pictured: Nurses wearing PPE in a COVID-19 unit at Martin Luther King Jr Community Hospital is Los Angeles, January 6

As of Monday, the new variant has identified in Lake, Los Angeles, Mono, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Dan Diego, San Francisco and San Luis Obispo counties.

‘This virus continues to mutate and adapt, and we cannot let down our guard,’ said Dr Sara Cody, director of the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department, in a statement.

Cody did confirm that variant was identified in an outbreak in a Kaiser Permanente emergency room in San Jose that led to more than 90 people and patients infected and death.

An inflatable Christmas costume may have helped spread the virus.

The new California variant has three mutations on the spike protein, Dr Charles Chiu, a virologist at UC San Francisco, told The New York Times.

It was first detected in Denmark in March in California in May.

Chiu said, in December 2020, the new variant was present in 3.8 percent of genome samples that were sequenced. By January, it was in 25.2 percent.

He told The Times that although there is no evidence that the virus is more contagious, ‘there are worrisome signs that this variant may be highly transmissible.’

The two vaccines currently on the market, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both target the spike protein to train the immune system to recognize the virus.

Chiu said researchers are currently studying whether or not the the virus will affect performance of either vaccine.

The vaccine rollout, overall, has been moving at a sluggish pace.

So far, just 12.2 million people have been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This is far short of the 20 million people the Trump administration had hoped to vaccinate by the end of 2020.

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The Tasmanian government has declared that it has become the first Australian state, and one of just a handful of jurisdictions worldwide, to be powered entirely by renewable electricity.

In a statement released on Friday, Tasmanian energy minister Guy Barnett said that state had effectively become entirely self-sufficient for supplies of renewable electricity, provided by the state’s wind and hydroelectricity projects.

“We have reached 100 per cent thanks to our commitment to realising Tasmania’s renewable energy potential through our nation-leading energy policies and making Tasmania attractive for industry investment, which in turn is creating jobs across the State, particularly in our regions,” Barnett said.

Tasmania has long had one of the greenest supplies of electricity in Australia, with the state’s significant hydroelectricity resources supplying the bulk of the state’s power. Tasmania’s history with hydroelectricity dates back to 1895, with the Duck Reach power plant in Launceston becoming the first publicly owned hydroelectric power station in the southern hemisphere.

Tasmania had been reliant on supplementary supplies of gas generation, as well as imported supplies from coal-heavy Victoria. However, with the growth of wind power in the state, Tasmania reduced its reliance on the supplementary supplies of fossil fuel electricity, and can now meet all of its needs with renewable sources.

Barnett said Tasmania had reached the 100 per cent renewable threshold with the commissioning of some of the last wind turbines at the Granville Harbour wind farm being developed on the state’s west coast.

“When the final two turbines are commissioned at Granville Harbour, Tasmania will have access to 10,741 GWh of renewable generating capacity – well above our average annual electricity demand of 10,500 GWh,” Barnett added.

Granville wind farm project director, Lyndon Frearson, said it was an exciting moment to see the final components of the wind farm come together, and that the project would ultimately play a role in a government aim to reach 200 per cent renewables.

“The wind farm is already proving its worth as generator in the network and is a key part of the state’s development of new renewable energy resources to achieve its aspirational target of 200 per cent renewables by 2040,” Frearson said. “For Granville Harbour Wind Farm to be the actual catalyst for Tasmania achieving its 100 per cent renewable energy target two years ahead of schedule is a remarkable outcome, and one that everyone involved with its development should be very proud of.”

Tasmania joins the ACT, as the only two Australian jurisdictions sourcing all of their electricity from renewable energy sources, and places Tasmania alongside countries like Scotland, Iceland and Costa Rica which have also made the transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity.

Chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, Kane Thornton, said that the milestone had been achieved through a clear and meaningful policy direction from the Tasmanian state government, which enabled developers to develop new projects.

“Tasmania has led the way when it comes to effecting change in Australia’s energy mix, and today’s milestone is well ahead of the original schedule of 2022. This considerable achievement highlights the Tasmanian Government’s policy leadership on renewable energy, which continues with the legislating of a visionary 200 per cent renewable target by 2040,” Thornton said.

“The clean energy industry has responded in kind through investment, which in turn, will play a critical role in local Tasmanian economies creating employment opportunities now and into the future.”

The milestone was welcomed by environment groups, saying that it was another example of what is being achieved by state and territory governments that are stepping in to show leadership on energy policy in a vacuum caused by ongoing conflict both between and within political parties at a federal level.

“This is a significant achievement and opens up huge economic opportunities for Tasmania,” WWF Australia’s Nicky Ison said. “It also shows that Australian states are leading the way in the global energy transition and stepping up to act on climate.”

Greenpeace Australia spokesperson Nelli Stevenson said that reaching 100 per cent renewable electricity was an ‘epic milestone’ for the state.

“States and territories are surging ahead in the renewable energy race, leaving the Federal Government more and more isolated in its inaction on climate change,” Stevenson said. “Federal Governments are supposed to lead, and right now Australians are more than ever being let down by their elected Federal representatives while state leadership gets on with the job of moving Australia to 100 per cent safe and reliable renewable energy.”

Barnett added that the Tasmanian government would continue to support an expansion of the state’s renewable energy capabilities, as the state looks to grow its role as a supplier of zero emissions energy to both mainland Australia and of green hydrogen into international export markets.

“But there is more to do, which is why we have set a target to double our renewable generation to a global-leading target of 200 per cent of our current needs by 2040 – which we recently passed into law following the passing of legislation through both Houses of Parliament,” Barnett added. “We are also continuing to progress the Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation projects that represent an intergenerational opportunity to make Tasmania a global leader and the renewable energy powerhouse of Australia.”

“And, we are continuing to develop a renewable hydrogen industry in Tasmania with the feasibility of key projects being progressed under the Government’s $50 million Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Industry Development Funding Program, which forms the backbone of our Tasmanian Renewable Hydrogen Action Plan.”

Michael Mazengarb

Michael Mazengarb is a journalist with RenewEconomy, based in Sydney. Before joining RenewEconomy, Michael worked in the renewable energy sector for more than a decade.

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GENEVA, Switzerland — The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response is urging all countries to ensure implementation of critical public health measures known to decrease virus transmission in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. It has also expressed grave concern at the prospect of inequitable vaccine rollout around the world.

The Independent Panel was established by the World Health Organization’s Director-General in response to World Health Assembly resolution 73.1. Its mandate is to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international response to COVID-19. The Independent Panel comprises thirteen members.

In the Independent Panel’s Second Report on Progress, the Panel expresses deep concern over the continued significant rises in the numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Since January 1, the world is recording an average of almost 12,500 daily deaths and 682,000 recorded cases.

“These cases and deaths are causing untold grief to families and avoidable stresses on health workers and systems,” says Co-Chair Helen Clark. “Basic measures like testing, contact tracing, isolation, physical distancing, and wearing masks all have a role to play. We urge all governments to step up to protect the lives of their citizens and to support and promote the public health measures proven to work.”

The Co-Chairs note that basic public health measures are even more pressing as new and reportedly more infectious variants of SARS-CoV2 are detected.

On the issue of vaccines, Co-Chair Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says that the Panel is grateful to scientists for developing vaccines in record time. “We regret, however, that the vaccine roll-out is currently favouring wealthy countries. A world where high-income countries receive universal coverage while low-income countries are expected to accept only twenty per cent in the foreseeable future is on the wrong footing – both for justice and for pandemic control. This failure must be remedied.”

Failures in the global alert and response systems

The Independent Panel’s Second Report on Progress to the WHO Executive Board – an interim report before a major report scheduled for the World Health Assembly in May – updates the WHO Executive Board on initial findings and the Panel’s concerns.

A major concern is that the international system for alert and response is not fit for purpose. It seems to come from an earlier analogue era and needs to be brought into the digital age, the Panel’s report says. Modern information systems are picking up signals of new disease before countries are formally reporting. These are outpacing the procedures and protocols of the International Health Regulations including the declaration of a public healthemeency. of international concern.

The Report considers whether the international system acted fast enough to detect and alert the world to this novel infectious pathogen with pandemic potential.

“When there is a potential health threat, countries and the World Health Organization must further use the 21st century digital tools at their disposal to keep pace with news that spreads instantly on social media and infectious pathogens that spread rapidly through travel,” says Co-Chair Clark.

“Detection and alert may have been speedy by the standards of earlier novel pathogens, but viruses move in minutes and hours, rather than in days and weeks.” The Panel finds there is a need for a new international framework.

The Co-Chairs appreciate that at the time; many people worked hard to identify the new health threat, and took measures to address it. Identifying the timing gaps is a lesson for future response preparedness, not a critique of those who did their best.

In its Progress Report, the Panel also describes additional early shortcomings at each step of the global and national response to COVID-19 which have contributed to the pandemic. These include a failure to measure preparedness in a way that predicted actual performance, and a failure of
countries to prepare, despite years of warnings of the inevitability of a health threat with pandemic potential.

Crippling, deepening inequalities

The Panel finds that the pandemic response has deepened inequalities, both within and between countries. Low-income countries are bearing long lasting economic burdens of the pandemic. The inequitable access to vaccines is amongst the most glaring examples of inequality exacerbated by the pandemic.

The Panel will further examine and recommend ways in which pandemic preparedness and response systems can be improved so that countries have equitable access to protective equipment, supplies such as oxygen and ventilators, and diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines.

High expectations of WHO need to be backed by support for it.

The Panel is also concerned that Member States have high expectations of the World Health Organization but have left it underpowered to do that job.

“The WHO is expected to validate reports of disease outbreaks for their pandemic potential and, deploy support and containment resources, but its powers and funding to carry out its functions are limited,” said Co-Chair Sirleaf. “This is a question of resources, tools, access, and authority.”

To this end the Panel is concerned that the incentives for Member States to cooperate with WHO are too weak to ensure their effective engagement with the international system in an effective, transparent, accountable, and timely manner.

A new global framework, real investment needed

In the lead up to its report to the World Health Assembly in May, the Independent Panel will continue to gather information and analyse what happened during the early weeks and months of the spread of SARS-CoV2, as well as examining the wider social and economic impacts, and the implications for the international system.

The Panel’s report underscores that lessons from this pandemic are both painful and grave and must be a catalyst for “fundamental and systemic change in preparedness for future such events, from the local community right through to the highest National and global levels. There needs to be a fundamental shift so that pandemic preparedness is recognized as an obligatory investment not as a voluntary cost.”

“The consequences of this pandemic remind us of how important effective multilateralism is,” said Co-Chair Sirleaf. “Geopolitical tensions have impacted on the response, and the resulting pandemic has given us many interlinked reasons to rethink and reset the way in which the international system and countries prepare and respond to global health threats. With 7.6 billion lives interrupted, a regression on previous gains towards the Sustainable Development Goals; the loss of trust in governments and institutions; and a loss of some six trillion dollars in GDP, there is every reason to change.”

“We are at a global crossroads,” the Co-Chairs say. “The Independent Panel aims to make recommendations to support the world to be more prepared, more secure, and more resilient to future pandemic threats.”

The Independent Panel’s 2nd Report on Progress is available in six languages at www.TheIndependentPanel.org/documents.

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KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican Businessman and entrepreneur Hon. Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart died on January 4, 2021 at the age of 79 in Miami.

Hon. Stewart was born in Kingston on July 6, 1941. He grew up along the island’s North Coast.

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) expressed sadness about Stewart’s death.
“We extend deepest condolences to his immediate family, his extended Sandals family and to the people of Jamaica on the loss of another Jamaican legend,” said an OECS statement calling him the visionary icon of Caribbean tourism.

Hon. Stewart attended college in England. After college, he founded Appliance Traders Ltd., selling air conditioners and appliances. In 1981 he founded the Sandals Resort chain and was its long-time owner and chairman. As it grew the enterprise became Sandals Resorts International.

Hon. Stewart founded the popular all-inclusive resort chains Sandals and Beaches. The OECS said,
“The greatest tribute that we can pay to this transformational figure is to ensure the continuation and continued impact of the legacy in the New Normal by bringing to the task of the re-invention of the Caribbean tourism sector, the same creative energy that he brought to the challenge and creation of his brand.”

“The Sandals and Beaches brand of indigenous all-inclusive luxury hotels have given prominence to the Caribbean region with its extensive international marketing and the extraordinarily high standards of hospitality and customer satisfaction that he defined. The legacy that he created is indelible and it lives on in the thousands of OECS Sandals employees in Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia (and soon, St. Vincent & the Grenadines) who are able to sustain their families every day.

“The greatest tribute that we can pay to this transformational figure is to ensure the continuation and continued impact of the legacy in the New Normal by bringing to the task of the re-invention of the Caribbean tourism sector, the same creative energy that he brought to the challenge and creation of his brand.”

Sandals was one of the first all-inclusive resorts and the first in the Caribbean to feature a swim-up bar. He later founded Beaches Resorts, which like Sandals, catered to couples only.

In 1994, Stewart bought a majority state in Air Jamaica and became its chairman.

In a tribute to Hon. Steward, Forbes Magazine said, “Stewart was one of the hospitality industry’s most vibrant personalities and founder of Sandals Resorts International, the world’s leading all-inclusive resort company. An unstoppable force, who delighted in defying the odds by exceeding expectations, Stewart single-handedly built the world’s most awarded vacation brand from one resort in Jamaica to over two dozen distinct resorts and villas throughout the Caribbean. He single-handedly changed the concept of the “all-inclusive” resort and changed how the world goes on vacation.”

Sandals Resorts International is a family-owned corporation and his son, Adam Stewart became chief operating officer in 2007 and will continue his management.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — A grant of up to US$50,000 is available to civil society organizations in St. Kitts and Nevis to implement or expand beekeeping under an Apiculture and Biodiversity project.

The funds are offered through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grant Programme (SGP) under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Programme. The multi-country project aims to establish a sustainable apiculture industry in Saint Lucia. Its goal is to identify clear pathways to further the development of an apiculture industry in four Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis. The other Caribbean countries are Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Samoa, a country located in the Pacific, is also implementing the project.

Organizations interested in being part of this project must be registered with a local government agency and have at least one year of experience in raising bees, and harvesting, bottling and selling honey.

Applicants must to submit a Letter of Interest to GEF SGP UNDP National Coordinator via email il*******@***ps.org. Applications must be received on or before January 31, 2021.

The successful organization will work closely with the GEF SGP UNDP National Office to establish or expand an apiary as well as a honey processing plant.

The organization’s members must also participate in all virtual training; prepare and submit project reports; convene local and national meetings; participate in all international meetings; and train other small apiculturists to pass on the skills and lessons learnt.

The successful candidate will also liaise with persons in the other countries who are participating in this Apiculture and Biodiversity Project.

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