According to a statement released by New York University, recently discovered vertebrae fossils from the lower back of a female Australopithecus sediba individual known as Issa indicate that the early hominins were able to walk upright on two legs. The delicate two-million-year-old fossils, found encased in a chunk of breccia at South Africa’s site of Malapa, were viewed through a micro-CT scanner at the University of the Witwatersrand. The bones were then virtually reunited with fossils recovered during earlier work at the site to reconstruct one of the most complete lower backs of an early hominin. Scott Williams of New York University and the University of the Witwatersrand explained that Issa is now one of only two early hominin individuals identified through dentition and a nearly complete lower spine. Both are key to identifying hominin species, he explained. The study also suggests that Issa had a powerful trunk that may have allowed her to climb trees like an ape, added Gabrielle Russo of Stony Brook University. Read the original scholarly article about this research in e-Life.

Science Magazine reports that while Anastasiia Stupko-Lubczynska of the University of Warsaw and her colleagues were cleaning and restoring the limestone walls of a room at the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, they noticed variations in the quality of the workmanship in the 200 carved figures. The images depict men carrying sheaves of wheat, baskets of birds, and other offerings to Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s few women pharaohs, who ruled from 1478 to 1458 B.C. “Because we have so many figures with repetitive details, we can compare the details and workmanship,” Stupko-Lubczynska explained. “If you look at enough of them, it’s easy to see when someone was doing it properly.” For example, the researchers noticed sloppily chiseled edges on some of the figures; wig curls formed with multiple chisel blows, compared to some formed with just two or three; and places where mistakes had been corrected. Stupko-Lubczynska suggests that the work was done in phases by different artists, including master carvers, trainees, and assistants to hold oil lamps in the windowless hall. “You can feel that they were normal people like us, who could be tired or hungry or ill,” she concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. 

The Anadolu Agency reports that traces of a madrassa, or Islamic school, have been uncovered in Harran, a site in southeastern Turkey that has been continuously inhabited for 8,000 years. The city is known to have had five madrassas. This one has been dated to the twelfth century, during the reign of the Zengid Dynasty of the Seljuk Empire. Mehmet Önal of Harran University said the school had 24 aboveground rooms, a monumental door, a portico, and a kitchen, where the bones of sheep and goats were found in hearths and ovens. “This shows us that food was prepared here and people here left the city in a rush, leaving the food on the stove without being eaten, as if thoroughly convinced that Mongols would take over the city,” Önal explained.

The United Nations is committed to strengthening tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and peoples. This imperative lies at the core of the United Nations Charter, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is more important than ever in this era of rising and violent extremism and widening conflicts that are characterized by a fundamental disregard for human life.

History of International Day For Tolerance

It was started by the UN General Assembly, with the goal of getting educational institutions and the general public to see tolerance as a staple of society. And it came after the United Nations declared a Year for Tolerance in 1995.

In 1995, UNESCO created the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance as a way to define and provide awareness of tolerance for any and all governing and participating bodies. That day in 1995 was November 16. Now, as an anniversary of that Declaration, we celebrate the International Day for Tolerance every November 16 to help spread tolerance and raise awareness of any intolerance that may still be prevalent in the world today. Although we should be tolerant every day, it’s always good to have one occasion to remind us just how important tolerance is.

As part of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, a delegation from Iran has been in attendance. But their presence has nothing to do with climate issues. Elham Azizi, head of the climate change group at the Environmental Protection Agency of Iran, who is attending the conference, told reporters that their mission is to lift sanctions, not to participate in discussions related to climate change.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly stated that it will not take any action on greenhouse gases until sanctions are lifted.

At present, the Islamic Republic is not bound by any climate agreement. In fact, Iran is one of the few countries that has signed but not ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. Iran is now one of the top ten countries polluting the Earth’s atmosphere with carbon dioxide, a main cause of global warming.

Environmentalists in Iran believe that the issue of sanctions has become an excuse for the Islamic government, as it has broadcast documentaries on the radio, television and media for years to present the issue of global climate change as useless noise. These government-made documentaries are influenced by Iranian government-affiliated scientists.

In addition to this, in recent years the Islamic government has imprisoned and killed a large number of environmental activists and scientists solely for informing the public about environmental issues.

https://savepasargad.com/

UK COP Presidency – COP President daily media statement and latest announcements

List of announcements, 8th November:

• • Global leaders commit to a shift towards locally-led adaptation through over 70 endorsements to the  Principles for Locally Led Adaptation and over $450m mobilised for initiatives and programmes enhancing locally-led approaches [LIFE-AR, FLLoCA, CRPP and the Taskforce on Access to Finance] .

• • $232 million has been committed to the Adaptation Fund, the highest single mobilisation to the Fund and more than double the previous highest collective mobilisation with a $20m contribution from the UK. Commitments came from from the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the Quebec and Flanders governments.

• • Race to Resilience campaign brings together initiatives that are strengthening the urban, coastal and rural resilience of 2 billion people worldwide.

• • New climate providers  have committed to balance through the Champions Group on Adaptation finance.

• • The UK has announced £290 million in new funding for adaptation today, including £274 million for the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) programme.

• • New climate providers have committed to balance through the Champions Group on Adaptation finance.

• • 88 countries are now covered by Adaptation Communications or National Adaptation Plans to increase preparedness to climate risks, with 38 published in the last year.

Press release issued on behalf of the UK COP26 Presidency and the COP25 and COP26 High-Level Climate Champions

• • Commitments at COP today focus on real action to limit rising temperatures

• • Collaboration on green innovation, landmark deforestation commitments, historic methane pledge on the agenda

• • Day three of COP26 answers yesterday’s calls for urgency with tangible action

World leaders are in the UK for day three of COP26 where a wide range of announcements focused on signalling a clear shift from ambition to immediate action. Countries have made unprecedented commitments to protect forests, reduce methane emissions and accelerate green technology.

Amid powerful pleas heard in Glasgow yesterday, world leaders, young people and campaigners all stressed the urgency of taking tangible action to keep the prospect of holding back global temperature rises to 1.5C and building resilience to climate impacts.

114 leaders took a landmark step forward at a convening of world leaders on forests by committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The pledge is backed by $12bn in public and $7.2bn in private funding.

Countries from Canada to Russia to Brazil – which also increased its NDC yesterday – China, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all endorsed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use.

Together, they support  85% of the world’s forests, an area of over 13 million square miles which absorbs around one third of global CO2 released from burning fossil fuels each year.

This announcement was bolstered with a commitment by CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with over $8.7 trillion of global assets – including Aviva, Schroders and Axa – committing to eliminate investment in activities linked to deforestation.   

Today is also the first time a COP in recent history has hosted a major event on methane, with 103 countries, including 15 major emitters including Brazil, Nigeria and Canada, signing up to the Global Methane Pledge. This historic commitment, led by the US and EU alongside the UK COP26 presidency, equates to up to 40% of global methane emissions and 60% of global GDP.

More than 35 world leaders have also backed and signed up to the new Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda that will see countries and businesses work together to dramatically scale and speed up the development and deployment of clean technologies and drive down costs this decade. Signatories include the US, India, EU, developing economies and some of those most vulnerable to climate change – collectively representing more than 50% of the world’s economy and every region.

The aim is to make clean technologies the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice for all globally in the most polluting sectors by 2030, particularly supporting the developing world to access the innovation and tools needed for a just transition to net zero.

Work will focus on five key sectors – power, road transport, hydrogen, steel and agriculture – which together represent more than half of total global emissions and further demonstrates how countries are moving from commitments to tangible action.

Leaders signed up to the Glasgow Breakthroughs also committed to discussing global progress every year in each sector starting in 2022 – supported by annual reports led by the International Energy Agency in collaboration with International Renewable Energy Agency and UN High Level Champions – and annual discussions of Ministers across government convened around the Mission Innovation and Clean Energy Ministerials. This ‘Global Checkpoint Process’ will seek to sustain and continually strengthen international cooperation across the agenda throughout this decade.

Leaders from South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany and the European Union have announced a ground-breaking partnership to support South Africa with an Accelerated Just Energy Transition.

As a first step, the international partnership has announced that $8.5billion can be made available over the next 3-5 years to support South Africa – the world’s most carbon-intensive electricity producer – to achieve the most ambitious target within South Africa’s upgraded and ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution.

Alongside these strong signals from leaders, negotiators continued their crucial work on the systems and rules that underpin delivery. Early drafts of negotiating texts have been tabled on many issues and experts are working to find common ground, energised by the clear political direction from leaders.

COP26 President, Alok Sharma said:

“Forests are one of our best defences against catastrophic climate change, and essential to keeping 1.5C alive. This historic commitment will help end the devastating effects of deforestation and support the developing countries and indigenous communities who are the guardians of so much of the world’s forests.

“The Glasgow Breakthroughs will help move us towards a global tipping point, where the clean, green technologies we need to reach net zero and keep 1.5C alive are more affordable, accessible and attractive for all than the polluting practices we are leaving behind.

“Today’s launch of the Global Methane Pledge is also critical to keeping 1.5C alive. I am proud that COP has played host to a historic pledge which will play a vital role in limiting up to 0.2 degrees of warming across the next decade.”

High-Level Climate Champions for COP25 and COP26, Gonzalo Munoz and Nigel Topping, said:

than 18 sectors of the global economy have already achieved critical momentum, with key private sector actors mobilizing behind the breakthroughs necessary to achieve a net-zero world in time. Now, with more than 35 world leaders signing up to the Breakthrough Agenda, governments across the world will help dramatically scale and speed up the race to zero emissions and deliver the promise of the Paris Agreement. This is what the future of COP is all about – catalysing an innovative ambition loop between political leadership and the dynamism of the private sector to drive towards a resilient, prosperous zero carbon future.”

Also at COP today, world leaders, CEOs and philanthropists are expected to launch a series of new initiatives in support of the Glasgow Breakthroughs, including:

• • The launch of the UK-India led Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid, endorsed by over 80 countries, to mobilise political will, finance and technical assistance needed to interconnect continents, countries and communities to the very best renewable sources of power globally to ensure no one is left without access to clean energy.

• • The Rockefeller Foundation, alongside IKEA Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund, launched the Global Energy Alliance for People & Planet with an initial $10 billion of funding from philanthropies and development banks to support energy access and the clean energy transition in the Global South, in strategic partnership with the UK-led Energy Transition Council.

• • AIM4C, a new initiative led by the US and UAE, with over 30 supporting countries, committed to accelerating innovation in sustainable agriculture, having already garnered $4 billion in increased investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation, including $1bn from the US.

• • The Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, headed by Bill Gates, programme aiming to raise $3bn in concessional capital to catalyse up to $30bn of investments in bring down clean technology costs and create markets for green products for green hydrogen, Direct Air Capture, long-duration energy storage and sustainable aviation fuel including £200m of UK support.

• • The First Movers Coalition, a US-led buyers club of 25 major global companies making purchasing commitments to help commercialise key emerging clean technologies across hard-to-decabonise sectors like steel, trucking, shipping, aviation, aluminium, concrete, chemicals, and direct air capture

Two days into COP26, progress is already being made. Yesterday saw India, Thailand, Nepal, Nigeria and Vietnam make new net zero pledges which now means that 90% of the global economy is covered by net zero commitments. India’s announcement also included a suite of ambitious 2030 commitments, including  500GW non fossil fuel power capacity, 50% energy requirements from renewable sources and 45% reduction of the carbon intensity of the economy. We’ve heard new NDC announcements from: Argentina, Brazil, Guyana, India, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique and Thailand and new Long-Term Strategies announced or submitted by Jamaica, Kazakhstan and the USA. On climate finance, we’ve seen new commitments from: Italy, Spain, Australia and Luxembourg.

ENDS

Note to Editors

• • On power, road transport, steel, and hydrogen, countries endorsed a Breakthrough goal, the metrics by which it could be measured, and leading initiatives for international collaboration through which it could be achieved. For Agriculture, the UK has committed to working with all interested parties over the course of its Presidency year (2022) to develop similar consensus around the Breakthrough goal, the underlying metrics and the priority initiatives to support the Breakthrough. We are encouraged that the following initiatives have already expressed their willingness to work with us on this: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Global Research Alliance for Agricultural GHGs (GRA); Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA); The global agriculture research organisation known as the CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agriculture); 100 Million Farmers Initiative: Transitioning towards net-zero, nature positive food Systems; Ban-ki Moon Centre for Global Citizens.

• • The Global Methane Pledge is a US-EU led initiative launched at leaders’ level on 2 Nov at COP26. Parties signing the Pledge agree to take national-level, voluntary actions to contribute to reducing global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, using a 2020 baseline. Scientists believe this could eliminate 0.2°C of warming by 2050.

• • Also today, President Biden launched the First Movers Coalition, which brings together major companies from around the world to make purchasing commitments for innovative technologies in hard-to-abate sectors like heavy industry.

• • Mission Innovation, launched in Paris in 2015, will play a key role in delivering the Breakthroughs. Four new Missions will be announced during the course of COP26, including ones which will support the achievement of the industry-focused Breakthroughs. Meanwhile, Missions announced in June and co-led by the UK will contribute to the Hydrogen and Power Breakthroughs, with Innovation Roadmaps to be released later in the fortnight.

• • Leaders attended a number of other high-level events throughout the day, including:

1. The Climate Vulnerable Forum, chaired by Bangladesh, hosted an event to deliver a “Dhaka-Glasgow Declaration” of the      CVF articulating the interests, efforts, and expectations of the CVF members for COP26 and beyond.

2. India hosted a launch, with PM Modi and PM Johnson present, of a technical assistance facility for climate-resilient
infrastructure aimed at Small Island Developing States.

3. The Accelerating Africa’s Adaptation Event, convened by the DRC, AU, Global Centre on Adaptation and Ban-Ki Moon saw a number of donors and African heads of state come together to demonstrate support for African Adaptation Initiatives.

4. Ocean Panel Members met, convened by Norway and Palau, to discuss interconnected ocean and climate issues releasing a call to ‘ocean based climate action.’

• • The full list of signatories for the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forest and Land Use (as of 1030 GMT, 1 November 2021) is: Albania, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, European Union, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Tanzania, Togo, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Uruguay, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

KUTAHYA, TURKEY.The Anadolu Agency reports that the heads of two statues have been discovered in a creek bed at the site of the ancient city of Aizanoi, which is located in western Turkey. Archaeologist Gökhan Coşkun of Dumlupinar University said one sculpture depicts Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and the other shows Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. The bodies of the statues were uncovered during an earlier excavation, he added. “These are important findings for us, as they show that the polytheistic culture of ancient Greece existed for a long time without losing its importance in the Roman era,” he said. “The findings suggest that there may have been a sculpture workshop in the region.

TRAPEZA, GREECE. According to a statement released by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, Andreas G. Vordos of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaea, Elisabetta Borgna of the University of Udine, and their colleagues uncovered several chambered burials in a Mycenaean necropolis dating back to the fourteenth century B.C. The graves, set along the path of an ancient road in northern Achaea, were reused repeatedly into the eleventh century B.C. Grave goods in the necropolis include three well-preserved bronze swords; a clay horse figurine; vases; seal stones; and beads made of glass, faience, gold, and crystal thought to have been obtained through trade with people from the eastern Aegean and Cyprus. The researchers suggest that the swords were made in a palace workshop, perhaps at Mycenae.

BASEL, SWITZERLAND. Swissinfo reports that a possible Roman battle site has been discovered in southeastern Switzerland by a metal detectorist, who recovered a dagger, slingshot stones, coins, nails, and part of a shield. Archaeologists from the University of Basel subsequently explored the site, which is located near the Crap-Ses gorge, and found several hundred additional objects such as shoe nails, slingshot leads, and coins. They think the Romans fought a local Rhaetian tribe at the site around 15 B.C. “It looks like the locals were holed up and were shot at by the Romans with slingshot and catapults,” said archaeologist Peter-Andrew Schwarz.