Assessing the role of Māori communities in the restoration and protection of nature in New Zealand.

An ever-increasing number of species and ecosystems are threatened in countries across the globe. However, despite the best efforts of conservationists and land managers, the needs of the environment are often considered secondary to the economic need for development, urbanisation and intensive agriculture. This results in the ongoing fragmentation and degradation of natural environments, which in turn often leads to Human populations having reduced interactions with the living world. Despite widespread concerns about such issues, attempts to minimise or reverse the loss of nature often fail to take into account the views of local peoples and indigenous groups, and there has been little serious examination of how projects led by such groups can contribute to the loss of biodiversity.

Communities considered to be 'indigenous' inhabit about 22% of the Earth's land surface, but that area is home to over 80% of the world's biodiversity. Furthermore, many have strong cultural links to the natural world, and a deep understanding of the environments they inhabit. In theory, this should give indigenous groups the opportunity to play a major role in protecting the environment and stemming biodiversity loss. However, many indigenous groups have also been subjected to land theft, dispossession, and political marginalisation. Against this background it is useful to be able to assess the contributions which indigenous peoples are involved in, and finding ways to claim leadership of, environmental projects in countries with Western legal systems.

In a paper published in the journal Philosophical Transactions B on 22 January 2026, Erana Walker of the University of Waikato and Te Pūnaha Matatini, Murray Cox also of Te Pūnaha Matatini, and of the College of Sciences at Massey University, and the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland, Hēmi Whaanga, again of Te Pūnaha Matatini, and of the School of Māori Knowledge at Massey University, and Priscilla Wehi, once again of Te Pūnaha Matatini, and of the University of Otago, examine ways in which contemporary Māori contribute to conservation efforts as part of wider endeavours to preserve their cultural identity. 

The traditional mātauranga knowledge system emphasises that people are part of their environment and interdependent with it, rather than separate from it. Elements of nature such as mountains, rivers, forests, and living things are seen as relatives, and incorporated into cultural ceremonies and identities as such. Interactions with the natural world should be seen as reciprocal rather than extractive.

The kaitiakitanga cultural system sees place-based activities such as medicinal harvesting, weaving and gardening as linked to local species and ecosystems, and the transmission of such practices between generations is seen as a way to preserve both the language and culture, and the link to the natural world. This creates, for the Māori, a need to protect nature in order to fulfil their obligations to past, present, and future generations. 

The philosopher Kyle White has emphasised the link between social and environmental justice for indigenous peoples, and that the loss of traditional rights to harvest from or inhabit lands over which they traditionally held stewardship can result in grave social injustices. Following on from this reasoning, activities which destroy the natural world can be seen as attacks on the traditional lifeways of the such peoples, and therefore the ability of their culture to survive. Thus activities such as protest marches or land occupations should be seen as attempts to preserve both the traditional culture of indigenous peoples and the natural environment in which that culture is based. This is often at odds with the legal systems of former European colonies, which typically see law and nature as being unrelated systems.

In New Zealand, protests by Māori groups have been recorded since the nineteenth century, beginning shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi) in 1840 by Māori chiefs and representatives of the British Crown, as tensions began to rise over whether the guarantee of self-determination of the Māori found in the treaty also implied continued governance over land and waters. Subsequent legislation by the government of New Zealand sought to first claim and confiscate Māori lands and natural resources, and then dismantle the culture, language and familial structures of Māori communities, in an attempt to assimilate them into colonial society.

By 1960 less than 5% of the land of New Zealand was under Māori ownership, and the majority of the Māori population was found in cities, further accentuating their isolation from their traditional territories. This is a common problem for indigenous peoples, who often become absorbed into urban environments which have expanded over traditional lands, but which are built with little consideration, or even acknowledgement, of their cultural practices. Urban sprawl is a significant cause of the loss of biodiversity around the world, with more than 50% of the world's population, including more than 80% of the Māori, now living in urban centres. Environments such as waterways, wetlands, and forests, are particularly threatened by urban expansion, with natural areas consequently decreasing in size and species richness, while simultaneously suffering the effects of pollution and environmental degradation. 

In the Kirikiriroa/Hamilton conurbation, one of the fastest growing urban centres in New Zealand, less than 10% of the land is now covered by native biodiversity, presenting a significant challenge for Māori groups in the Waikato area to preserve their culture. A similar trend has been observed in other urban areas in New Zealand, leading to calls for ecological restoration projects in these areas, particularly from Māori groups who see such projects as vital to the preservation of their culture.

In order to better understand these phenomena, Walker et al. began by examining attitudes to kaitiakitanga among Māori living in the Kirikiriroa/Hamilton urban area, then how these were reflected in social and environmental actions. In order to do this they examined Māori-led environmental and land protests since 1975, as well as funding for environmental restoration projects in New Zealand.

Between January and December 2019, Erana Walker carried out a series of semi-structured interviews with Māori residents of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. During this process she was careful to shape the interviews as an opportunity to share knowledge, and emphasise respect for the knowledge and views of the participants. 

During this time she interviewed twenty participants, between the ages of twenty and fifty, ten male and ten female, all Māori and all living within the city environment. Seven identified themselves as belonging to tribes from within or close to the city boundary, while thirteen came from further away. Regardless of this, all shared similar views about kaitiakitanga, and emphasised a connectivity between Humans and the environment. All thought that environmental activities were connected to the protection of tribal resources. All understood that the natural world was under considerable pressure, and thought that traditional knowledge made sustainable usage important.

Most interviewees stated that knowledge of both kaitiakitanga and biodiversity had been passed down from older generations, and that they in turn felt obliged to pass this on. Commonly, such knowledge had come from multiple members of the community, often across tribal groups, rather than a single instructor.

All those interviewed has been introduced to the concept of kaitiakitanga as children, along with traditional harvesting practices, and the need to share resources with others and care for the community. Cultural practices were closely associated with nature, and it was important to be close to forests, marine areas, and cultural spaces to develop and maintain traditional practices and an ethos of caring for nature.

Maintaining a sense of kaitiakitanga away from their own traditional tribal areas was complex for the interviewees. They wished to maintain their close links to nature, but did not want to override the kaitiakitanga of other groups, which could make it harder to maintain this connection. This was particularly true when living among non-Māori communities who did not necessarily understand or appreciate kaitiakitanga, which could make it hard to express such relationships.

Interviewees also noted that, while the availability of natural and cultural spaces helped to maintain a sense of belonging, different interpretations of kaitiakitanga could also cause problems. One respondent reported having encountered a concept of economic kaitiakitanga, which appeared to run directly contrary to the idea of environmental sustainability. Another noted that without direct support from government and local councils, it was difficult to maintain the knowledge associated with kaitiakitanga in complex urban environments. 

Walker et al. also sought to construct a timeline for Māori environmental protests between 1975 and 2024, concentrating on this period because, while there were many protests in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, there were few during the first part of the twentieth century, when many Māori were struggling simply to survive and preserve their culture. They have, however, included some protest movements from the 1960s, where  these were widely reported in both the academic and non-academic literature. As well as looking at protests around traditional lands and sites of cultural significance, they also looked at the role of Māori protesters in protesting activities such as mining and offshore resource extraction.

This analysis showed that for the Māori, environmental, cultural and social issues were deeply interconnected. The restoration of traditional Māori rights, including land rights, was deeply tied to a desire to preserve the environment for future generations. Notable areas of contention were land occupation for communities in the rural north, land reclamation around Whaingaroa/Raglan,  the  protection of ancestral burial sites at Rotokākahi and seabed mining along the Taranaki coast. While some protests were local in nature and involved a single tribal group, others were organised by pan-tribal coalitions to promote wider cultural and/or environmental issues, such as the  1975 Land March led by 79-year-old Māori elder Whina Cooper and the group Te Rōpū Matakite, where protesters walked 1000 km to Parliament in order to protest the continuing loss of Māori land. The 2024 Treaty Principles Bill, which also sought to redefine the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi, also resulted in a protest march attracting hundreds of thousands, as well as more than 307 000 written submissions, 92% of which were opposed to the changes.

Participants in the 1975 Land March arriving outside New Zealand's parliament in Wellington on 13 October 1975. Archives New Zealand/Wikimedia Commons.

Next, Walker et al. searched the New Zealand Legislation website for environmental legislation which included terms such as kaitiakitanga, kaitiakitanga, or Māori, which might reflect the incorporation of the views of the Māori in drafting such legislation. In doing this they excluded laws that arose as a consequence of grievance settlements relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, or which sought to enact legal personhood for nature, as these were clearly driven by Māori perspectives. 

The results of this search were less clear, but there did seem to be a correlation between Māori protest actions and the adoption of measures relating to these, albeit often with a significant time lag.

Thirdly. Walker et al. sought to examine the actions of Māori-led conservation groups and projects since 1975, with a particular emphasis on their funding. This concentrated particularly on the Jobs for Nature fund, which was created as part of the New Zealand government's COVID recovery package to support job creation and enable communities to restore and care for nature, and the Te Wai Māori fund.

This revealed that successive governments in New Zealand had been willing to fund conservation projects which were Māori-led or had strong Māori involvement, particularly in areas such as forest conservation, marine protection, biodiversity restoration, pest management and water care. Thus was (perhaps unsurprisingly) particularly true when projects were located in areas with large Māori populations, such as Northland and the East Cape area of the North Island. This appeared to be at least partly connected to the impact of extreme weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023, which badly affected these areas.

Also notable was that in some areas Māori-led conservation projects appeared to gain very little funding. This included the Tūhoe–Te Urewera region of the North Island, which has both a large Māori population and an active Māori involvement in local government. Māori-led projects also received less funding on South Island, although here a far lower proportion of the population identify as Māori.

Māori populations and corresponding data pertaining to funded Māori-led restoration work in Aotearoa New Zealand. The North and East Cape of the North Island show higher populations of Māori and greater money spent on Māori-led restoration sites. Walker et al. (2026).

Walker et al.'s research shows that for most Māori, the concept of kaitiakitanga, is central to their identity, and that this in turn requires a connection to, and requirement to care for, the natural world. This is something which has been shown for other indigenous groups around the world, and which can play a key role in the conservation of biodiversity. They suggest that supporting Māori culture is therefore a way to promote the protection of the natural environment in New Zealand, even in areas far from traditional tribal lands. Despite the losses to biodiversity suffered in New Zealand over the past two centuries, this still remains central to Māori cultural identity, as does the desire to preserve the natural world for the benefit of future generations.

The ability to connect to, preserve, and restore nature was as true for Māori who were removed from their traditional lands and living in urban centres as it was for those still living on those traditional lands. Since more than 80% of Māori now live in urban areas, a wider understanding and recognition of this commitment could potentially improve the conservation of nature in urban areas. 

All of those interviewed by Erana Walker showed a concern for nature and the loss of biodiversity which formed a core part of their cultural identity, and that the ability to conserve nature and to preserve their culture were strongly interlinked. This was linked to early exposure to both culture and nature, which was then preserved throughout their lives; something which has been reported for other peoples around the globe.

Interviewees raised a number of concerns, particularly about the loss of the natural environment and how their cultural values were understood and validated by wider society. This is similar to the problems reported by members of indigenous groups in other parts of the world. However, while these factors had placed a strain on the Māori participants in the study, all still felt a strong commitment to the natural world, intertwined with their concerns about social justice.

The combination of an expressed commitment to nature among urban Māori, Māori involvement in environmental protests, and the number of Māori-led environmental projects suggests that the kaitiakitanga cultural system, with its view on the interconnectedness of the Human and natural worlds, remains central to the identity of most Māori today. However, this does not mean that this kaitiakitanga-concept is never misused, with some evidence that it is sometimes exploited to gain control of resources.

Māori protest movements have been growing in size and activities since the 1960s, and have campaigned about issues affecting both the Māori culture and the natural environment, including gaining official recognition and protection for the Māori language. Walker et al. speculate that in future this could lead to a better understanding by the legislature of the needs of the Māori, which could in turn have an impact on future environmental legislation. The findings also suggest that protest movements remain an effective way to facilitate social change.

Collective action is often an effective way to gain recognition of both the needs of indigenous communities (and other people) and the natural environment, but in many parts of the world is still met with aggression by the state, often causing great harm to those involved. One option for indigenous groups faced by such challenges is to try to raise global awareness of the issues they face, thereby gaining support from people outside the reach of their own governments. Activism also presents indigenous peoples to reassert stewardship roles over ancestral lands from which they have been separated by colonial processes. 

The achievements of previous generations of protesters in getting the legal system of New Zealand to better recognise Māori viewpoints and cultural values creates the potential for a greater future Māori involvement in and leadership of environmental projects. However, this has not entirely been a one-way process, with numerous Acts of Parliament having sought to strip Māori of agreed rights, which means that any assessment of the potential for future progress must include a degree of caution.

One cause for optimism is the willingness of successive New Zealand governments to fund environmental projects through the Jobs for Nature fund, with more than 50% of projects receiving funding being either Māori-led or Māori-supported. This has included significant funding for projects in socially and economically deprived areas, such as Northland and the East Cape, and has often acknowledged Māori leadership on climate, social and environmental issues, particularly following extreme weather events and the Covid-19 pandemic. Such funding has contributed to the protection and restoration of natural systems in many areas, as well as the Māori society associated with these systems. However, these successes should be measured against an understanding that such funding is temporary in nature, and may not translate directly into a longer term support for these activities. 

See also...

Protesters block entrance to mine project site in Norway.

A group of protesters from the environmental group Nature and Youth have blocked entrances to a mining project in the Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark County on the northern coast of Norway. The group of about 70 protesters from all over Norway have took the step on Saturday 24 January 2026 in support of the local Sámi community, who believe that traditional fisheries for Salmon and Cod are threatened by the project. Protests of this kind are illegal in Norway, and previous protests at the site have led to protesters being detained by the police.

The location of Hammerfest Municipality the north coast of Norway. Google Maps.

The mining project, which is operated by Blue Moon Metals, aims to excavate around 74 million tonnes of copper ore from a deep pit mine beneath a former open pit mine, which was active in the 1970s. The Norwegian government has approved this project because it considers copper a vital resource for a transition to green technologies (i.e. replacing fossil fuel-derived energy with electricity generated by renewable means). 

However, the planned operation intends to dump waste generated from the mine into Repparfjord, an important fishing ground for the local Sámi community, who believe that this is likely to have a significant affect on local fish stocks. The practice of dumping mine waste into the sea is still legal in Norway, but is illegal almost everywhere else (the only other countries which allow the practice are Indonesia, Turkey and Papua New Guinea).

Protesters blocking an entrance to the Nussir Mining Project in northern Norway on 24 January 2026. The banner reads 'We promise a hell - no dumping of tailing in the Repperfjord'. Jannik Abel/Nature and Youth.

Blue Moon Minerals, who acquired the site in February 2025, aim to mine the site in line with a mining permit issued to the former owners, Nussir Property, a decade ago, but Nature and Youth argue that significant new discoveries have been made about fish spawning in Repparfjord have been issued since this time, and that on that basis the mine should not be allowed to proceed. 

See also...

The Museum of West African Art Archaeology Project.

The city of Benin in southern Nigeria (not to be confused with the modern Benin) formed the capital of the Kingdom of Benin (or Edo) between about 1200 AD and 1897, when it was sacked and burned by a 'Punitive Expedition' led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson. Following this event, loot taken from the city was sold by the officers involved to museums across Europe and North America, a group of artefacts known collectively as 'Benin Bronzes' due to the large amount of exquisite bronze-ware among the collections, although the term is used to refer to all looted items from this period, regardless of the material from which they were manufactured.

Gaining the return of these artefacts has been a long term goal for many people in Benin, and indeed Nigeria and the Nigerian diaspora, and many (though not all) western museums have agreed to return objects from their collections. To this end, in 2020 architect Sir David Adjaye was commissioned to design a museum in Benin to house those artefacts, a museum due to open on 11 November 2025, as the Museum of West African Art.

An aerial view of the new Museum of West African Art in Benin, Nigeria. Museum of West African Art.

The museum has been built on a site previously occupied by a hospital built in the 1970s, and before that a police barracks from the early twentieth century. Before this, the area had been a part of the historic Palace Complex of Benin, with the clearing and excavation of this site for foundations creating the opportunity for the first major archaeological excavation in Benin for over 50 years.

To this end, the Museum of West African Art Archaeological Project was set up as a collaborative project between the Museum of West African Art, the British Museum, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, and Wessex Archaeology. This project involved the training and employment of ten early-career Nigerian archaeologists, who were given the opportunity to undertake placements in London, Cambridge and Cyprus, as well as 58 additional fieldwork roles.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 23 October 2025, Caleb Folorunso of the Museum of West African Art and the University of Ibadan, Sam Nixon of the Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas at the British Museum, Segun Opadeji, also of the Museum of West African Art, Abidemi Babalola, also of the Department of Africa, Oceania and Americas at the British Museum, Charles Le Quesne, again of the Museum of West African Art, Anna Adamu of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Marcus Brittain and Matthew Brudenell, of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit at the University of Cambridge, and Chris Breeden of Wessex Archaeology, present the initial results of the archaeological work at the Museum of West African Art site.

Wider site context: (a) map of Museum of West African Art  Campus and excavation zones within Benin City; (b) Rainforest Gallery excavations in foreground and Institute building top left. Folorunso et al. (2025).

A series of pits at the site reached a maximum depth of 3.0 m, with straitified cultural layers reaching to depths of between 1.45 and 1.60 m. The oldest radiocarbon dates obtained came from the first millennium AD, although these were below any cultural layer. The main settlement layers begin in the mid fourteenth century, progress through a peak cultural stage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, recording the palace through to its destruction in 1897, and above this layers associated with the colonial police barracks and post-colonial hospital.

Map showing excavation locations. Folorunso et al. (2025).

The area excavated covered a large portion of the former complex, including the 'wives quarter' or erie, a zone formerly occupied by a number of shrines, as well as a number of other buildings recorded on nineteenth century maps. A number of walls and floors from the earliest phases of occupation were excavated and examined, with final phase, eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings following the same axis as earlier buildings, implying a continuity in urban planning. The wives quarter was surrounded by a substantial earthen wall and a large wooden gate, close to which was a 5 m pit, which may have served as a source of building material.

Plan of structural complex (upper levels) excavated in Area 4 highlighting key areas of interest: (1) & (3) moulded chalk (nzu) arrangements; (2) arranged inverted pots; (4) oven feature and associated pottery; (5) cowries in complete pot; (6) inverted pot; (7) chalk spread; (8) pottery spread and bottles. Folorunso et al. (2025).

The large excavated building contained substantial evidence of ritual activities at the site, including upturned pots, caches of Cowrie shells (also in pots), and moulded chalk arrangements, and is interpreted to have been a shrine. This building also contained over 100 glass bottles, most of which appear to have contained gin, with trade marks such as Africana, Van Hoytema, and Van Marken. These were found alongside Giant Snail shells and quantities of iron, making it likely that they were offerings at a shrine.

Stratigraphy in Area 5: structural levels 1–7 (a)–(c) and work in progress (d)–(e). Folorunso et al. (2025).

The excavations also uncovered evidence of artisanal activity, including pits containing charcoal and traces of metal slag, thought to date from the nineteenth century. Also found were pieces of crucibles and fragments of copper alloys, although these are still under investigation. Over 120 000 pieces of pottery and ceramics were unearthed, including imported glazed wares, although most were of local origin. Other finds included smoking pipes, beads, glass bottles and metal objects. The ceramic fragments appear to represent a sequence, which has the potential to be developed and applied to other sites, although this is also still being worked on. Plant remains include crops such as Oil Palm, Pearl Millet, Cotton, and Foxtail Millet. Many pollen samples have also been collected, which in combination have the potential to shed light on changing agricultural practices and diet over the history of the site.

Selected material culture: (a) metallurgy; (b) other finds. Folorunso et al. (2025).

Post 1897 finds at the site include a European cemetery, believed to have been founded shortly after the fall of the city and now mapped for the first time. A building complex made from mud bricks with mortar, interpreted as a potential early governor's residence, and a cache of colonial era police regalia.

While the window of opportunity for excavations was short, and studies of the excavated material are still ongoing, the Museum of West African Art Archaeology Project is already the most comprehensive archaeological study of the City of Benin, providing new information on all eras including the Kingdom of Benin in the immediate pre-conquest phase and the early colonial period. The project has the potential to greatly improve our understanding of urbanism, architecture, artisanal practice, ritual, trade, diet and the environment of pre-colonial Nigeria. The work has the potential to help establish the Museum of West African Art as a new, world class, research centre.

The Museum of West African Art was due to open on 11 November 2025, however, that opening has now been delayed, following a series of protests at the site on Sunday 9 November. These protests centre around the ownership of artefacts within the museum, many of which were looted by the British military in 1897. Many local people believe that these artefacts should be returned to the Kingdom of Benin, and therefore be placed in the custody of the current traditional ruler of the city, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II (CFR), the Oba of Benin.

Protesters at the Museum of West African Art on Sunday 9 November 2025. Toyin Adedokun/AFP/Getty Images.

The Museum of West African Art is a Federal Nigerian institution, and the protesters felt that, in containing objects they associate with the traditional office of the Oba, the museum was falsely presenting itself as a royal institution. The museum itself insists that it does not own any of the objects within it, but merely acts as a repository, exhibition centre, and place of study. This enables it to hold artefacts which European institutions have only returned on 'permanent loan', as well as exhibitions of art from other countries, or modern artists.

See also...

Police begin to remove protesters from German village scheduled to be destroyed for coal mine expansion.

Police in North Rhine-Westphalia have begun to remove protesters from the village of Lützerath, which is scheduled to be destroyed by an expansion of the Garzweiler Coal Mine. The twelfth century village was abandoned by its original occupants two years ago, following an unsuccessful legal battle against the mine's expansion, but the village was subsequently occupied by activists concerned about the levels of atmospheric pollution likely to be caused by extracting and burning the coal.

Police officers surrounding climate protesters in the village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia this week. Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters.

Coal, like other fossil fuels (hydrocarbons), can be burned to produce energy, producing carbon dioxide as a product. Atmospheric carbon dioxide absorbs energy from sunlight and releases it as light in the infrared part of the spectrum, which we encounter as heat (all gas molecules will tend to absorb energy then release it as light at a specific wavelength, the blue colour of the sky reflects the wavelength at which nitrogen, the majority component of the Earth's atmosphere, releases energy, while the red colour of sunsets and sunrises is caused by oxygen). This has become problematic as the huge amounts of fossil fuels burned by Human industry in the past two centuries have led to an increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, leading to global changes in climate. 

Coal is a particularly troublesome fuel as the extraction process often involves clearing huge areas of ground surface, which are then unusable without significant remediation work, and releases large amounts of particulate matter, itself a pollutant which can cause lung disease, into the local atmosphere, as well as large quantities of methane, another greenhouse gas and the cause of many explosions and poison gas incidents in deep pit coal mines.

The Garzweiler Mine, like most coal mines in Germany produces brown lignite coal, which is a 'low maturity' coal, which has not been buried as deeply or for as long as other coals, and therefore is less pure than high maturity coals, which have had most of the non-carbon material squeezed out of them. In practice, this means that low maturity coals have a higher sulphur content than high maturity coals, which when the coal is burned forms sulphur dioxide gas, which can dissolve in water droplets suspended in clouds to form a dilute sulphuric acid, which falls as acid rain, adding to the negative environmental impact of using this coal as a fuel.

Due to this higher environmental impact, authorities in Germany had been looking to reduce the amount of coal mined and burned within the country, by switching to power generation methods with a lower environmental impact. Some of this alternative provision came in the form of renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power, but a lot of production was simply switched from coal to cheap natural gas (methane) imported with Russia. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the strong support that Germany offered to Ukraine during this crisis, supplies of gas reaching Germany were first reduced and then completely cut off, causing the German Government to return to coal use as a way of maintaining electricity generation.

RWE, the company which operates the mine, had been planning to remove Lützerath, and several other villages in the area, from the map for some years, although this plan was hampered by the country's political ambition to reduce greenhouse emissions and switch to cleaned energy. However, following the development of the Russian crisis, coal has come after consideration again, and following talks with RWE in October, the Robert Habek, the German minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, took the decision to allow RWE to excavate at Lützerath, although this was accompanied by a pledge to prevent the demolition of five other villages in the area, which RWE had hoped to remove, and the bringing forward of a goal to end all coal production in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2038 to 2030.

This news was met with great dismay by environmentalists in Germany and across Europe, who had hoped that Habek, a member of the Green Party serving in Olaf Scholz's coalition government, would resist calls to return to coal production as a way of meeting the country's energy needs.

Shortly after this, many additional protesters began to arrive at the site, joining the protesters already camped there, and improving on and extending the network of defences there. This was followed by a war of words between RWE, the German Federal Police, and the climate protesters, with the coal mining company claiming that the protesters are illegal squatters, while the protesters claim that the unfolding climate crisis justifies their actions.

Protesters building barricades around the village of Lützerath. Fabian Ritter/DOCKS Collective/Washington Post.

On Monday 9 January 2023 a court gave the police permission to clear the site, and following a series of orders for the protesters to leave, they entered the village on Wednesday 11 January. The majority of the protesters agreed to leave peacefully once police entered the site, but some were less co-operative, barricading themselves inside buildings, or climbing trees and improvised structures to make themselves harder to remove. Witnesses have reported some protesters throwing rocks and bottles at the police, while the police claim to have also been attacked with petrol bombs.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.

British and French fishing fleets clash over access to Scallops on the Normandy Coast.

Clashes between British and French fishing vessels broke out last week after a group of French vessels tried to block the access of the British vessels to Scallop beds off the Normandy Coast. The French fishermen were aggrieved about British vessels targeting the Scallops outside of the fishing season, which is defined as lasting from 1 October to 15 May in France, in order to leave the Scallops unmolested during their breeding season, a convention not observed in Britain. The British vessels claim the right to access the Scallop beds as Britain is a member of the European Union, but not to be bound by French rules as the Scallops are landed in the UK.

British and French fishing vessels clash over access to Scallop beds off the Normandy Coast last week. Reuters.

In past years French fishing fleets have tolerated British Scallop trawlers in their waters out of season as long as only small vessels are involved. Smaller British fishing vessels are considered to be at a considerable disadvantage, as the UK gives the majority of its fishing quota (tightly defined in all EU countries to prevent over-fishing) to larger operators, and harvesting Scallops, which are not covered by the quota system, has been seen as a way for these smaller vessels to survive, something tolerated by the French as these vessels are thought to do little damage to Scallop stocks. However this year larger British ships have been visiting the Scallop beds, causing anger in French fishermen, who suspect that the owners of these vessels, which are likely to lose access to the area when Britain leaves the EU, are content do damage the Scallop beds in return for a quick profit.

A smaller French fishing vessel being knocked aside by a larger British ship during a dispute over access to Scallop beds off the Normandy Coast on 28 August 2018. France 3 Caen/Reuters.

After several days of clashes, and threats by the French authorities to deploy naval vessels to protect their fishing fleet, a tentative agreement has been reached between British and French politicians, with the British agreeing to withdraw their vessels as long as the French will pay compensation to the owners of these boats (it is unclear if this will actually happen). Meanwhile spokesmen for the French fishermen have made it clear that they do not blame the British trawlermen, with whom they have much in common, for the dispute, but rather British politicians for manipulating the situation.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.