Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 19 June 2018

Congo's Ebola outbreak poses challenges for bush meat

By SAM MEDNICK highly sought-after as popu-
Associated Press lar sources of protein along
MBANDAKA, Congo (AP) with beef and pork, and
— For 25 years, Patrick Ma- cargo ships carrying the
tondo has earned a living smoked meat arrive daily
buying and selling mon- in the city, the trade hub
keys, bats and other ani- for Congo's northwestern
mals popularly known as Equateur province. Mean-
bush meat along the Con- while, bush meat markets
go River. Standing on the still see locals bartering for
riverbank in Mbandaka, a the animals, both dead
city affected by the deadly and alive. Prospective buy-
new outbreak of the Ebola ers pause at tables piled
virus, the father of five said with monkey meat, picking
that for the first time he's up blackened chunks one
worried he won't be able by one for a closer look.
to support his family. "Meat is very important for
"Since Ebola was declared, people here. It's one of the
business has decreased by biggest industries in Mban-
almost half. It's really, really daka," said Matondo, a
bad," the 47-year-old said, leader in the city's bush
hanging his head. meat association.
Congo's latest Ebola out- In this photo taken Tuesday, May 29, 2018, a street trader sells dried fish and smoked monkey Dr. Pierre Rollin, an Ebola
break declared in May has meat at the port of Maluku in Kinshasa, Congo. expert with the U.S. Cen-
38 confirmed cases, includ- Associated Press ters for Disease Control and
ing 14 deaths. The discovery Prevention, said if the meat
of a handful of Ebola cases meat from wild animals. mals such as monkeys and widely suspected that the is cooked, smoked or dried
among Mbandaka's more The virus, which spreads bats to humans. In the epidemic began when a it kills the virus. The people
than 1 million residents also through bodily fluids of West Africa outbreak four 2-year-old boy in Guinea at greatest risk are hunters
has hurt the economy, es- those infected, has been years ago that killed more was infected by a bat. and butchers who process
pecially among traders of known to jump from ani- than 11,000 people, it was Usually the wild animals are the meat, he said.q

Germany will fail 2020 climate

goals, now eyes 2030 target

to 1990 levels. The next tar- ticular, where emissions re- political target of keep-
get, a decade later, calls main at 1990 levels. ing global warming sig-
for a 55 percent drop in "The least has happened nificantly below 2 degrees
emissions from 1990. there," she told reporters. Celsius (3.7 Fahrenheit) by
"It's painful for me to have Schulze also called for the end of the century, but
to tell you that we will miss greater efforts to generate left open how that would
the targets we've set for renewable energy and for be achieved.
ourselves for 2020," Svenja an end to burning coal to Scientists say the time to
In this Tuesday, June 5, 2018 photo, steam rises in the air from
the brown coal power plant Schwarze Pumpe in the Lusatia, Schulze told delegates produce electricity. The achieve the most ambitious
(Lausitz) area in Germany. from more than 30 govern- German government cre- goal — limiting a rise in av-
Associated Press ments who had gathered ated an expert commis- erage global temperatures
in Berlin to prepare for an sion this month to study the to 1.5 degrees Celsius by
By FRANK JORDANS sion for a government that annual global climate sum- politically sensitive issue of 2100 — has almost passed.
Associated Press wants to lead the charge mit in December. coal-fired power plants. Germany has pushed for
BERLIN (AP) — Germany will on limiting climate change. Setting her country's sights The December summit in international unity on up-
likely miss its goal of cutting Official estimates project on 2030, Schulze said all Katowice, Poland, will pro- holding the Paris accord,
emissions by 40 percent by that Europe's biggest econ- sectors of the German vide the first true test of particularly since U.S. Presi-
2020, the country's environ- omy will trim its greenhouse economy would have to the world's ability to imple- dent Donald Trump said he
ment minister said Monday, gas emissions by 32 percent contribute cuts, but singled ment the 2015 Paris climate was pulling out of the deal
an embarrassing admis- or less by 2020 compared out transportation in par- accord. The treaty set a his predecessor negoti-
ated. But Berlin's inability to
take drastic steps has led
environmental groups to
question Germany's cred-
ibility on the issue.
German Chancellor An-
gela Merkel and Polish
Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki are scheduled
to speak at the Berlin cli-
mate meeting Tuesday.q