Discovery
MS patient sues Austria:
A man in Austria with a temperature-dependent form of multiple sclerosis is taking his government to court in an effort to force it to do more against climate change, his lawyers said Tuesday.
The case being filed next month before the European Court of Human Rights is supported by the environmental group Fridays for Future, which is helping to crowdfund the legal costs.
It comes weeks after the Strasbourgbased court said it would continue to fast-track a case by brought six young Portuguese activists who argue European governments aren’t cutting greenhouse emissions in line with the requirements of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
The court, whose jurisdiction covers all countries that have ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is also hearing a separate case brought by a group of elderly Swiss women.
“The case we are filing will be the third one and will be among the first bundle of cases upon which the court will base its jurisdiction with an effect on all 47 member states (that are subject to the court’s jurisdiction),” said Michaela Kroemer, a lawyer for the Austrian plaintiff.
Her client, identified only as Mex M. for privacy reasons, has Uhthoff’s syndrome, which affects his muscles when temperatures rise above 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit).
“The climate crisis already severely impacts his daily life, his personal dignity and his wellbeing,” said Kroemer. Under Austrian law, inaction by the Alpine nation’s legislature can’t be challenged in court, meaning the case is being brought directly to the European court, she said.
Since January 2020, Austria has had a coalition government under center-right Chancellor Sebastian Kurz that includes the environmentalist Green party, which oversees the powerful climate, environment and energy ministry. (AP)
‘Reduce area for porpoise’:
The Mexican government has said it is considering reducing the protection area for the vaquita marina in the upper Gulf of California, an apparent admission that the tiny porpoise may never return to the entire historic range of its habitat.
The move would cut the area where gill nets are banned to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammal and smallest porpoise. As few as 10 vaquita may remain in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortez, the only place in the world that the elusive porpoise lives.
Mexico’s Environment Department has said that the drop in the number of vaquitas and the area where they have been seen in recent years justifies reducing the protection zone, which currently covers most of the upper Gulf. The zone starts around the Colorado river delta and extends south past the fishing town of San Felipe and near Puerto Peñasco.
“The possibility is being studied of modifying the area of gill net bans,” the department said in a statement. “There have been enough technical studies to indicate a possible reduction in the zone, according to the recent distribution of the vaquita marina in the area.” Mexico’s president is Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
It said the change would be submitted for discussion by a group including fishermen, the public and authorities, and said formal proposals could be presented until March 26.
The net ban has angered fishermen, who frequently set illegal nets to catch totoaba, another endangered species. Vaquitas often get caught in nets set for totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in
China and commands prices of thousands of dollars per kilogram.
The fishermen have staged angry protests and have attacked boats from the environmentalist group Sea Shepherd, which removes illegal nets in the smaller area where vaquitas have been sighted in recent years.
Alex Olivera, the Mexico representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the reduction could affect the admittedly small population of vaquitas still remaining. (AP)