REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE.

For too long, we have been exploiting and destroying our planet’s ecosystems. Every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch and over the last century we have destroyed half of our wetlands. As much as 50 per cent of our coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 per cent of coral reefs could be lost by 2050, even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5°C.

Ecosystem loss is depriving the world of carbon sinks, like forests and peatlands, at a time humanity can least afford it. Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown for three consecutive years and the planet is one pace for potentially catastrophic climate change.

The emergence of COVID-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens – including coronaviruses – to spread.

With this big and challenging picture, the World Environment Day is focus in the ecosystem restoration and its theme is “Reimagine. Recreate.Restore.”

Ecosystem restoration means preventing, halting and reversing this damage – to go from exploiting nature to healing it. This World Environment Day will kick off the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea.

Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity.

Investing in ecosystems is investing in our future

World Environment Day 2021, which counts with Pakistan as the host country this year for its official celebrations, calls for urgent action to revive our damaged ecosystems.

From forests to peatlands to coasts, we all depend on healthy ecosystems for our survival. Ecosystems are defined as the interaction between living organisms – plants, animals, people – with their surroundings. This includes nature, but also human-made systems such as cities or farms.

Ecosystem restoration is a global undertaking at massive scale. It means repairing billions of hectares of land – an area greater than China or the USA – so that people have access to food, clean water and jobs.

It means bringing back plants and animals from the brink of extinction, from the peaks of mountains to the depths of the sea.

But it also includes the many small actions everyone can take, every day: growing trees, greening our cities, rewilding our gardens or cleaning up trash alongside rivers and coasts.

Restoring ecosystems carries substantial benefits for people. For every dollar invested in restoration, at least seven to thirty dollars in returns for society can be expected. Restoration also creates jobs in rural areas where they are most needed.

Some countries have already invested in restoration as part of their strategies to bounce back from COVID-19. Others are turning to restoration to help them adapt to a climate that is already changing.

According to the Pasargad Heritage Foundation Recently Mohammad Hassan Talebian, the deputy director of Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, stated at a news conference that the Iraqi government has invited Iran to assist in the repair and conservation of the Kasra Arch.

The statement by Mohammad Talebian seems imply that Iraq has not paid attention to the destruction and damage to the Kasra Arch. However, as WCHV has been following and reporting on this story over the last decade, the Iraqi Cultural Heritage Organization has in fact repeatedly asked Iran for help in the work on the preservation and repair of Kasra Arch. Many Iranian lovers of cultural heritage and abroad have regularly asked for help from the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, but the officials of the Cultural Heritage Organization were completely silent in this regard.

In fact, the Pasargad Heritage Foundation has warned the Iranian people, and sent several letters to UNESCO, asking them to pay attention to the dire condition of Kasra Arch. UNESCO has always responded, “We try, but both countries must help.”

Finally, it has been reported that in the same meeting, Mohammad Talebian asked Iraq to renovate the tomb of Muslim Aqeel, one of the Shiite shrines, at the same time as they undertake the repairs to the Kasra Arch.

In the past 42 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has spent a considerable amount of money on government organizations to renovate and expand Shiite shrines and mosques, while ignoring and neglecting the destruction and deterioration of ancient and non-religious monuments. During this period hundreds of historical buildings have been destroyed.

Additional excerpts from the Pasargad Heritage Foundation reports:

http://worldculturalheritagevoices.org/open-letter-on-the-dire-condition-of-taq-kasra/

Turkish archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a structure, estimated to have been built in the 3rd century B.C., during an excavation in Istanbul’s Haydarpaşa, a historic train station on the Asian side.

The structure, discovered at the station’s waiting platforms, covers a large area and is apsidal in form, a feature common in ancient churches.

These remains give significant hints about Khalkedon, the ancient ‘Land of the Blind’ from some 2,500 years ago. While the site’s architecture does not lend any clues to its function, archaeologists believe it was considered sacred.

However, they also estimate that the building is the oldest architectural structure unearthed in these excavations. Speaking to Demirören News Agency, Mehmet Ali Polat, Chief archaeologist of the Haydarpaşa excavation, gave information about the field works and finds.

Remains were found in an area of 350,000 square meters, including the area surrounding the station, said Polat, adding that small finds, pots, coins dating from around 6 B.C. to the modern-day were found, all from various eras.

“This is the northwestern port of the ancient city of Khalkedon, a large structure that could be a warehouse. On the other side of the road, we see a group of buildings that could be a small summer palace,” Polat said.

The Haydarpaşa Train Station was shut down for restorations, in which ancient artifacts were unearthed, and since then, Haydarpaşa has been an excavation site.

The digs, started in 2018 by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry and Istanbul Archeological Museums, have been done with the utmost care for the last three years.

Digs revealing historical structures shed light on the deep roots of Anatolia and Istanbul, a cradle of civilizations.

The identity of the skeletal remains of a member of the 1845 Franklin expedition has been confirmed using DNA and genealogical analyses by a team of researchers from
the University of Waterloo, Lakehead University, and Trent University. This is the first member of the ill-fated expedition to be positively identified through DNA.

DNA extracted from tooth and bone samples recovered in 2013 were confirmed to be
the remains of Warrant Officer John Gregory, engineer aboard HMS Erebus. The
results matched a DNA sample obtained from a direct descendant of Gregory.

The remains of the officer were found on King William Island, Nunavut. “We now know
that John Gregory was one of three expedition personnel who died at this particular site,
located at Erebus Bay on the southwest shore of King William Island,” says Douglas
Stenton, adjunct professor of anthropology at Waterloo and co-author of a new paper
about the discovery.

“Having John Gregory’s remains being the first to be identified via genetic analysis is an
incredible day for our family, as well as all those interested in the ill-fated Franklin
expedition,” said Gregory’s great-great-great grandson Jonathan Gregory of Port
Elizabeth, South Africa. “The whole Gregory family is extremely grateful to the entire
research team for their dedication and hard work, which is so critical in unlocking pieces
of history that have been frozen in time for so long.”

Sir John Franklin’s 1845 northwest passage expedition, with 129 sailors on two ships,
Erebus and Terror, entered the Arctic in 1845. In April 1848, 105 survivors abandoned
their ice-trapped ships in a desperate escape attempt. None would survive. Since the
mid-19th century, skeletal remains of dozens of crew members have been found on
King William Island, but none had been positively identified.

To date, the DNA of 26 other members of the Franklin expedition have been extracted
from remains found in nine archaeological sites situated along the line of the 1848
retreat. “Analysis of these remains has also yielded other important information on these individuals, including their estimated age at death, stature, and health,” says Anne Keenleyside, Trent anthropology professor and co-author of the paper.
“We are extremely grateful to the Gregory family for sharing their family history with us
and for providing DNA samples in support of our research. We’d like to encourage other
descendants of members of the Franklin expedition to contact our team to see if their
DNA can be used to identify the other 26 individuals,” says Stenton.

Genealogical records indicated a direct, five-generation paternal relationship between
the living descendant and John Gregory. “It was fortunate that the samples collected
contained well-preserved genetic material, says Stephen Fratpietro of Lakehead’s
Paleo-DNA lab, who is a co-author.

Prior to this DNA match, the last information about his voyage known to Gregory’s
family was in a letter he wrote to his wife Hannah from Greenland on 9 July 1845 before
the ships entered the Canadian Arctic. This latest discovery helps to complete the story of the Franklin victims, says Robert Park, Waterloo anthropology professor and co-author. “The identification proves that Gregory survived three years locked in the ice on board HMS Erebus. But he perished 75 kilometers south at Erebus Bay.”

The remains of Gregory and two others were first discovered in 1859 and buried in
1879. The grave was rediscovered in 1993, and in 1997 several bones that had been
exposed through disturbance of the grave were placed in a cairn with a commemorative
plaque. The grave was then excavated in 2013 and after being analyzed, all the
remains were returned to the site in 2014 and placed in a new larger memorial cairn.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/uow-fmo050521.php

According to a CNN report, continuing glacier melt has revealed additional World War I artifacts in a cave near the peak of Mount Scorluzzo in northern Italy. Twenty Austrian soldiers took shelter in the cave, which is located near the strategic Stelvio Pass, and camouflaged it from aerial view. Stefano Morosini of the University of Bergamo said the recently discovered artifacts include food containers, dishes, straw mattresses, coins, helmets, ammunition, newspapers, and animal skin jackets. “Soldiers had to fight against the extreme environment, fight against the snow or the avalanches, but also fight against the enemy,” Morosini said. The soldiers abandoned the cave in the last days of the war in November 1918. The remains of two men were found near the cave five years ago

By Nora McGreevy

Ongoing and proposed renovations at Greece’s Acropolis of Athens have sparked much controversy in the archaeological community, reports William Summerfield for the Art Newspaper .
The Mediterranean nation’s Ministry of Culture and Sports has overseen periodic and ongoing renovations at the ancient Greek heritage site since 1975, according to its website . Last year, the ministry proposed a series of major structural changes to the site, which is home to some of the highest-trafficked and most famous classical ruins in the world, including the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike.
Suggested renovations ranged from the addition of cement paving throughout the historic site, much of which has since been completed, to the reconstruction of a Roman marble staircase on the Acropolis’ western side. The new staircase will form part of a major overhaul to the Propylaea , a monumental entrance hall designed by ancient Greek architect Mnesicles around 437 B.C., per Encyclopedia Britannica .
As the Art Newspaper notes, Manolis Korres , president of the Acropolis Monuments Conservation Committee , is overseeing the project, which was approved by the Greek Central Archaeological Council in February. (After closing for nearly five months during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Acropolis and other open-air archaeological sites in Greece reopened to the public on March 21, according to Artnet News .)
The plan has attracted marked backlash from the academic community. In February, dozens of scholars, artists and lawyers signed an open letter sharply criticizing the proposed structural changes to the Unesco World Heritage site . The signees argued that the changes to the Acropolis go far beyond “restoration,” and instead represent large-scale, historically inaccurate additions that defy international protocol for historic preservation.
Per a translation by Artnet News, the letter’s authors described the proposed changes to the Propylaea as “equivalent to the degradation, concealment, and devaluation of the greatest archaeological and artistic treasure that has been bequeathed to modern Greece.”
Last December, they added, heavy rains led to flooding at the Acropolis—conditions that were likely exacerbated by the newly installed paving.
Activists for people with disabilities also argue that the cement pathways, many of which have already been added in and around the rocky summit, do not measure up to officials’ promises of accessibility.
Just this month, writes Paula Tsoni for the Greek Reporter , a man using a wheelchair fell and injured his face while traversing the renovated site, prompting renewed criticism that the paths do not adequately meet standard accessibility criteria. (For what it’s worth, recent research suggests that some Greek temples, particularly those associated with healing rituals, originally boasted ramps that ensured individuals with impaired mobility could access the sacred sites, as Laura Geggel reported for Live Science last year.)
The online news site Television Without Borders has compiled a list of additional complaints against the new site, including too-sleep slopes for wheelchair users, a lack of handrails and no easy-access parking spots for people with disabilities.

Speaking with Greek newspaper Avgi , per a translation by the Greek Reporter, the president of the Greek Archaeologists Union, Despina Koutsoumba , condemned the renovations. “The goal [of these works] is to turn the Acropolis into a place of mass tourism at all costs for the monument,” she says.
In a separate opinion piece for Avgi , Yannis Hamilakis , an archaeologist at Brown University, argues that the designs for reconstructions of the Propylaea are not historically accurate, but rather amount to a “radical remodeling” based on romanticized 18th- and 19th-century notions of Greek antiquity, per Google Translate.
“In reality, it is not the [fifth] century that is being rebuilt faithfully on the Acropolis, whose monuments … are the subject of wide discussion among experts,” the scholar writes. “If it were, all its buildings would have to be painted in different colors.”
The ancient Greeks famously incorporated bright, bold colors into their statues and temples, but this paint often wore off over the centuries, leaving only marble. It was only during the Renaissance and after that European scholars perpetuated the popular misconception that ancient artists carved exclusively in shades of white, as historian Sarah E. Bond wrote for Hyperallergic in 2017.
Hamilakis adds, “What is being reconstructed is an Acropolis of whiteness, of the Euro-centric, Western fantasy; an Acropolis as built by philologists, architects and archaeologists in the 18th and 19th centuries; an Acropolis of colonial-national modernity and romantic nationalism.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-proposed-renovations-greeces-
acropolis-are-so-controversial-180977620/