The recent news from Australia will once again bring up the question of whether the Great Barrier Reef will soon be put on the UNESCO’s “in Danger” list. It has recently been reported by the environmentalists and experts from James Cook University, Australia that the mass coral bleaching event smashing the Great Barrier Reef has severely affected more than half its length and caused patches of bleaching in most areas.

The scientists have been conducting an extensive aerial survey of the damage and they now seem to have a good idea of the extent of the damage. They believe that climate change and a strong El Niño have caused hundreds of kilometers of the reef to bleach, as the higher water temperatures stress the coral, and they expel their symbiotic algae. If the bleaching is bad enough, or the temperatures remain high for long enough, the corals die, putting the future of reefs at risk. The mass bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef is part of what the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has called the third global bleaching event. The first occurred in 1998. However, the current damage is three to four times worse than in 1998 or the second great bleaching in 2002.

The scientists and experts from James Cook University are currently examining to see what the total extent of bleaching is, and how far south and north the bleaching expand. The next step will be to examine how much of that bleached coral has died. If the corals are severely bleached, then a lot will die. However, some might regain their color over the next couple of months and there won’t be much mortality, as experts explained.

Last year, the Great Barrier Reef narrowly escaped being listed as “in danger” by UNESCO, even though environmental groups said it clearly met the criteria. UNESCO is not scheduled to examine the reef this year but considering the extent of bleaching it is possible that they may decide to look at the reef again soon.

In 2013, Jairo Mora Sandoval a 26-year-old Costa Rican sea turtle conservationist, who patrolled beaches near Limon, was murdered. To many conservationists and international organizations protecting the environment, it has seemed that there is no end to the violence against environmentalists and community-rights campaigners as Berta Cáceres (read our story in March of this year), a much-lauded Honduran indigenous activist, was also murdered.
But at least once in awhile, there’s a hint of justice as New York Times reported. Brave testimony helped to convict killers of Sandoval after three years. Four men were convicted of the murder and related attacks on four female volunteers who worked with the young man. Three other men were acquitted on all charges. A previous trial had ended in acquittals all around, largely because of missteps by investigators and prosecutors, but an appeals court sent the case back for retrial.
The major factor that helped to convict the killers was the gripping testimony provided last month by Skype of Almudena Amador, a Spanish veterinarian who was one of the attackers’ victims according to the reports. In fact, it was significant that the court found that the killing was no random incident, but clearly linked to the illicit trade of turtle eggs. The court’s panel of three judges highlighted Mora’s work with sea turtles as the primary motivation for his murder.
As more and more conservationists put their lives in danger in order to safe-guard the natural resources and heritage sites, it is important for local and national governments and authorities to create more restrict laws, regulations, measures, and punishments for crimes that focus on protecting these environmentalists and their organizations. The recent victory is a small one for conservationists and environmentalists but hopefully the first of many more for those who preserve and conserve our planet’s natural heritage.

On April 16, 2016 the head of the Cultural Heritage office in Dezful, Iran, announced that, “due to the recent rainstorm in Dezful and the rise of water levels in the Dez River, a part of the historical water mills and the ancient bridge of this city have been wrecked, and some of the facilities are completely destroyed.”
The ancient bridge and water mills built over the Dez River are 1700 years old and date back to the Sassanid Dynasty and King Shapur in Iran. Most of these mills were used before the beginning of the 20th century. The bridge has been repaired and rebuilt over the years by King Azdodole Deilami during the Saffavid and Pahlavi dynasties.

Professor Roman Ghirshman believes that the site represents the oldest water system in the world. The system was registered in the Iranian national list of historical sites and was on the verge of getting registered in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

Considering the site has been intact for many centuries, the present situation reflects a degree of negligence on the part of relevant authorities, despite the fact that the experts working for the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization have repeatedly noted the dangers of heavy transportation activities over the bridge.

The real extent of destruction to the water mills and the bridge is still unknown.

April 22 Earth Day

Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States in 1970 and is organized by the Earth Day Network.  Its mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle to build a healthy, sustainable environment, address climate change, and protect the Earth for future generations. With this year’s theme, looking forward to its 50th anniversary, it sets the goal of planting 7.8 billion trees over the next five years.

In a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the organization reports that at least 114 of 229, close to half, of world heritage sites of outstanding importance for species and habitats are now being threatened by industrial development, mining and other activities.
These sites include Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon in the US, and China’s giant panda sanctuaries in Szechuan among many others. These sites are all supposed to be protected under the United Nations’ designated world heritage status. But encroachments from industries, including fossil fuel exploration and illegal logging, are threatening to destroy the valuable habitats, the conservation charity WWF said on Wednesday, April 6th, 2016.
World heritage sites fall under three categories: cultural, natural and mixed. “Natural” heritage refers to sites with outstanding physical, biological and geological formations, including the habitats of threatened species of animals and plants, and areas with scientific, conservation or aesthetic value. On the other hand, Cultural heritage refers to monuments, groups of buildings and sites with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. However, many sites hold qualities that give them what is called “Mixed heritage”, referring to sites which include both cultural and natural criteria.
According to UNESCO’s criteria, there are currently 229 designated world heritage sites with natural “outstanding universal value”. Currently, 197 are solely natural sites, and 32 are mixed, displaying both natural advantages and cultural input. These two designations account for more than a fifth of all UNESCO world heritage sites, the others being mainly human constructions, such as Venice.
The Guardian Newspaper reports that the critics have suggested that the UN has not done enough to ensure the protection of the many sites that it designates as worthy of special conservation. UNESCO world heritage status is a coveted accolade, but also confers responsibilities on the governments of the countries in charge of the sites.
The benefits of preserving such sites extend far beyond the boundaries of the areas under special protection, according to the report. It is clear that having a site designated as a Heritage site brings attention and tourism and with that comes Jobs in tourism and conservation. On the other hand the protected areas provide food, plants, water, medicine and other benefits to millions of people. One great example is the case of the Belize Barrier Reef, where the construction of buildings along the coast, accompanying clearance of the mangrove swamps – which provide a shelter against storm damage and erosion – are affecting the lives of 190,000 people, or about half the state’s population.
WWF is calling on governments to ban harmful industrial activities in designated world heritage sites and their surroundings, and calling on the international companies with interests in such areas to take responsibility.

According to reports by Iranian sources, the Cultural Heritage Authority of Iran (CHAI) issued a permit two months ago for industrial tree plantations within 600 acres of the registered limits of the Chogha Zanbil* site, an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran and one of the few non-Mesopotamian ziggurats in existence.

Answering the worried questions of media, local authorities say that they are not aware of the existence of any such permit. Mohammad Hassan Talebiab, the deputy of CHAI, has also declared that there was a previous understanding with their Khuzestan office in which all such projects had to be studied and sanctioned by the central office so that no violation could happened within the limits of the Chogha Zanbil site. He has also claimed that such a permit has not been issued by his office. While machinery of the company involved is already at work on the site, no one knows what governmental source has authorized the operations.

*Chogha Zanbil is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existent ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia. It lies approximately 42 km south-southeast of Dezful, 30 km south-east of Susa and 80 km north of Ahvaz

Ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Tripoli in the western province of Denizli’s Buldan district have unearthed a 2,000-year-old market place, indicating that the city was a significant center of trade in the past. 

Pamukkale University (PAU) Archaeology Department academic and excavation head Bahadır Duman said they had started excavations last week in Tripoli, which was a Lydian city located at the intersection of Phrygia, Karia and Lydia in the Hellenistic era.