Nolan Paquette started working part-time at his local sawmill more than 20 years ago while still at school, pushing a broom on the clean-up team. Now 38, Paquette drives trucks and operates machinery at the same Western Forest Products-owned mill in Duke Point, Nanaimo, the third generation of his family to work in forestry on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. He is one of 38,000 workers in Canada’s westernmost province whose job, according to the industry, depends on the logging of towering old-growth trees, such as cedars, Douglas firs and western hemlocks aged at least 250 years, and in some cases more than a thousand. The dispute over felling British Columbia’s ancient forests has been thrust into the limelight by a months-long blockade of private logging company Teal Jones i...
Read MoreCategory: सैर-सपाटा
travelogues, travel articles and news from around the world
The first cruise ship to leave Venice since coronavirus restrictions were eased set sail on Saturday, but some local residents protested over the return to normal, unhappy about the passage of giant liners through the historic lagoon city. Hundreds of people rallied on land and small boats fluttering flags saying “No big ships” surrounded and followed the 92,000-tonne MSC Orchestra as it departed Venice port en route for Croatia and Greece. “We are here because we are against this passage but also against a model of tourism that is destroying the city, pushing out residents, destroying the planet, the cities, and polluting,” said Marta Sottoriva, a 29-year old teacher and Venice resident. The first cruise ship of the summer season, the MSC Orchestra, departs from the Port of Veni...
Read MoreThe Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) launched its partnership with the Global Impact Network on Friday, June 4, 2021, coinciding with the destination’s activities for the World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5. The partnership, allows Seychelles to become, officially, the first destination to create its online community page on the Global Impact Network platform. Global Impact Network is an app that allows individuals and organisations to take action anywhere and for any ecologically-oriented cause. Seychelles, the Indian Ocean sustainable champion, joins the platform to entice its visitors to have a profound experience while on holiday in the destination and to be personally transformed by the end of their trip. The digital platform will allow users to track, measure and ...
Read MoreResearchers in South Africa are working on a potentially new method to deter rhino poachers and smugglers by using radioactive markers to make smuggled horns detectable at global ports of entry and less desirable to buyers. South Africa is home to the world’s largest rhino population but has battled poaching for decades. The rhino horn is one of the most expensive commodities in the world by weight, fetching tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram. Demand is mainly from Asia where rhino horns are believed to have potent medicinal properties and are also a symbol of wealth. A black rhino is seen at a game reserve near Cape Town, South Africa, file. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo The study, a collaboration between the University of Witwatersrand and a global team of scienti...
Read MoreAssam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday announced that the Raimona reserve forest in Kokrajhar under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), bordering Bhutan, has been upgraded as the sixth national park of the state. Announcing this on the occasion of World Environment Day here, the chief minister said that with the new addition, the state now has six national parks. The process to convert Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary into a national park is also under progress, he said. The chief minister said that this was a landmark step in environment conservation and the newly declared national park will be another endeavour by the state to protect its rich flora and fauna. The notification declaring Raimona as a national park has been issued by the environment and fo...
Read MoreThailand will go ahead with a plan next month to reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors starting with its most popular resort island Phuket, as it tries to revive tourism while battling its biggest coronavirus outbreak so far. The plan was approved by the government’s economic task force on Friday and comes just days ahead of the start of a mass-vaccination drive, the success of which will determine when Thailand can fully restart an industry that attracted 40 million tourists annually before the pandemic. FILE PHOTO: Empty chairs are seen on a beach which is usually full of tourists, amid fear of coronavirus in Phuket, Thailand March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun Phuket is a pilot scheme for the reopening and is aiming to vaccinate 70% of its local population by July 1, far ahea...
Read MoreAircraft operations must not suffer from political interference, says IATA Global airline industry body IATA on Friday criticised a decision by European air safety regulators to ban overflights of Belarus amid outrage over its interception of a Ryanair jet, saying aviation safety must never be "politicised". The International Air Transport Association called on the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to maintain the critical separation between politics and aviation safety issues. The call followed the latest development in events following the incident when Ryanair FR4978 was intercepted over Belarus Airspace and forced to land in Minsk. On 2 June EASA replaced its recommendation (Safety Information Bulletin) for European airlines to carefully assess the risk of flying in Belarus...
Read MoreMajor blow to airlines, British tourists fume and term it as unfair Britain removed Portugal from its quarantine-free travel list on Thursday, essentially shutting down the UK’s international leisure market just weeks after it reopened and sparking outrage from embattled airlines. The industry questioned why British people could not travel when the country had some of the highest vaccine rates in the world. Portugal said the decision lacked logic. Airports demanded a cash lifeline. Tired of mixed messages, British sunseekers in Portugal also reacted with fury and disbelief to their government’s decision to reimpose a quarantine regime for travellers coming from the popular southern European destination. FILE PHOTO: A man looks at a check-in information board in the departures ...
Read MoreThe Uttarakhand government is considering a phased opening of the Chardham Yatra after Covid subsides and the coronavirus induced curfew is lifted. It is being planned to open the Chardham Yatra in a phased manner if the pandemic subsides in the coming weeks though nothing has been finalised yet, Tourism and Culture Minister Satpal Maharaj said on Thursday. He had met Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat to discuss problems faced by the tourism industry due to the second wave of Covid. In the first phase, the yatra will be opened for residents of Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts where the four Himalayan temples known as Chardham are located. If things go smoothly, people of the rest of the districts may also be permitted to undertake the pilgrimage in the second ...
Read MoreClimbers returning from Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks are struggling to find a return flight back home after Nepal banned most air travel to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases, mountaineering operators and hikers said on Wednesday. Most regular international flights are closed through June as a deadly second wave of the coronavirus hit the Himalayan nation tucked between China and India. Nepal issued 742 permits – 408 of those to climbers aspiring to make it to the top of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest – in the April-May climbing season. And hundreds of climbers are now returning from the mountains before the onset of annual monsoon rains. Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, a senior official at Kathmandu-based private firm Seven Summit Treks, said climbers were finding it ...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.