Belgian festival keeps
blackface characterA Belgian street festival featuring a
character called “Savage”, who is
played by a white person in blackface
make-up, has gone ahead despite
objections from anti-racism activists.
The character moved through the
streets of Ath, south-west of Brussels,
yesterday, chained and wielding a
stick, as part of a parade of effigies with
biblical and historical connotations.
Brussels Panthers, an anti-racism
group, has written to Unesco urging it
to remove the festival from its
Intangible Cultural Heritage list if the
character is not withdrawn.WORLD BULLETIN
Republican Joe Walsh to
challenge ‘bully’ TrumpJoe Walsh, a conservative former US
congressman turned talk show host,
yesterday became the second
Republican to challenge Donald
Trump, the president, for the party’s
2020 White House nomination.
“I’m running because he’s unfit,”
Walsh, 57, told ABC’s This Week show.
“Somebody needs to step up.
“He’s a bully and he’s a coward and
somebody needs to call him out.”
Asked to respond to Mr Walsh’s
criticism of the president and decision
to run, Mr Trump’s spokesman replied:
“Whatever.”Two divers found dead
in cave on Greek island
Greek authorities say two foreign
nationals have been found dead in an
underwater cave off the island of
Karpathos, in southeast Greece.
The two men, aged 65 and 30, had
dived to 150ft (45m) inside the cave on
Saturday. A third diver turned back
due to a lack of air and broke surface
without finding his companions.
Divers from the Greek coastguard
found the bodies yesterday afternoon
and are in the process of retrieving
them. No further details have been
released about the victims or the kind
of equipment they used.Barcelona beach cleared
as civil war bomb found
Authorities in Barcelona evacuated
one of the Spanish city’s most popular
beaches yesterday after what was
suspected to be a bomb dating from
the Spanish Civil War was found a
short distance out to sea.
Police cleared and cordoned off a
stretch of Sant Sebastià beach in the
early afternoon when it was full of
people.
The device was discovered about
85ft (25m) off the beach, lying in nearly
10ft (3m) of water, Albert Batlle, the
city’s security chief, told reporters. A
navy team will explode the device.Hordes of tourists threaten future of pristine Corsican nature reserve
By Our Foreign Staff
IT IS a prime destination for the some
three million people who visit Corsica
each year, 75 per cent of them in the
summer.
But, like many other European treas-
ures, the Scandola nature reserve is
suffering the effects of over-tourism.
The park, created in 1975, is an eco-
logical dream, being a nature reserve
and a protected marine zone that is rec-
ognised by Unesco, as well as being
listed by France’s coastal protection
agency and Natura 2000.
The growing numbers drawn to
Scandola’s pristine waters and stun-
ning geological vistas are endangering
its fragile ecosystem.
“The reserve is a jewel for Corsica
and the Mediterranean, but several red
lights are flashing,” said Charles-Fran-çois Boudouresque, a marine biologist,
listing flora and fauna at risk, including
ospreys, seagrass and fish species such
as the brown meagre.
The tourist season coincides with
the ospreys’ mating season, notes Mr
Boudouresque, an emeritus professor
at the Mediterranean Institute of
Oceanography.
Because of over-tourism, ospreys’
“reproductive success is zero or nearzero, with either no chicks or just one
chick” per year, he said. Mr Boudour-
esque, who also heads Scandola’s scien-
tific advisory council, said the osprey
could become extinct in 50 years.
Since last month, at the urging of the
scientific council, boats must keep a
distance of at least 820ft (250m) from
ospreys’ nests.
As for the marine park’s fish species,
Mr Boudouresque said he thought thethrumming of tourist boats was scaring
them away. Anchors dropped by the
many boats – some of them private ves-
sels without authorised guides – are
blamed for damage to the grass.
“This morning we saw people climb-
ing on the rocks and berthing their
boats in narrow passageways, which is
not allowed,” said Gabriel Pelcot, chief
mechanic on a cruise ship of Nave Va, a
Corsican company.World news
‘Cute’ otters are
awarded new
protection from
Instagram craze
By Helena Horton
THE international trade in “social-me-
dia friendly” otters has been banned,
after so-called influencers on plat-
forms such as Instagram were accused
of contributing to their potential ex-
tinction.
The smooth-coated otter, found in
India, Bangladesh, Nepal and other
Asian countries, until recently was the
target of poachers to feed a demand
for them as a social media accessory.
Online videos show the creatures
walking on a lead, playing with toys
and looking like the perfect pet.
However, the species is under
threat: according to the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature,
smooth-coated otters are classified as
“vulnerable” to extinction.
The demand for them is listed as one
of the reasons why there is concern for
their survival. But the trade in the
creature will be regulated after a vote
by world leaders at the 18th meeting of
the Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Convention on Inter-
national Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18),
currently in Geneva, Switzerland.
The animal will now be listed on
Appendix I of CITES, which lists spe-
cies threatened with extinction and
prohibits commercial trade in them
internationally. This effectively makes
the pet trade in otters illegal unless
they are bred in captivity.
Mark Simmonds, a senior marine
scientist at Humane Society Interna-
tional, said: “The ‘cuteness’ of this spe-
cies may prove their downfall in that
many people, especially in Asia, now
want to own them. Hopefully this list-
ing will inspire further vital actions
within the otters’ home ranges to en-
sure their survival. We commend In-
dia, Nepal and Bangladesh for bringing
these proposals forward, and all the
countries and conservation organisa-
tions that supported them.”
The mako shark, the “cheetah of the
sea”, has also been given a reprieve
from commercial trade after facing
extinction through demand for its
meat and fins. Mako sharks are one of
the ocean’s fastest predators and can
move through the water at speeds of
up to 42mph. The species is now clas-
sified “endangered” by the IUCN, de-
spite fierce opposition from countries
reluctant to see CITES involvement in
industrial scale pelagic fisheries.
CITES Appendix II listings means
international trade in the species’
meat and fins must be regulated, forc-
ing traders to address their neglect of
mako sharks caught in longline fish-
ing.
Rebecca Regnery, Humane Society
International wildlife senior director,
said: “Over-fishing, including for the
lucrative Asian shark fin market, is
having a devastating impact on longfin
and shortfin mako sharks.
“Securing CITES protections for
these species is an important first step
in stopping the brutally cruel and
wasteful practice in which sharks and
rays have their fins cut off their bod-
ies, sometimes while fully conscious.
“But Appendix II protection doesn’t
in itself ban trade, so to secure the
future for these sharks and rays, this
new CITES listings needs to be the
start of a whole raft of other measures
aimed at cracking down on this
vile trade.” A ban on international trade in smooth-coated otters was introduced following the growth in sales fuelled by social mediaThe Daily Telegraph Monday 26 August 2019 *** 15
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