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Massive Effort to Save 13th Century Castle in France

An aerial view of the ruined castle of La Mothe-Chandeniers in Les Trois-Moutiers, France, on November 3, 2017. Guillaume Souvant / AFP
An aerial view of the ruined castle of La Mothe-Chandeniers in Les Trois-Moutiers, France, on November 3, 2017. Guillaume Souvant / AFP
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Massive Effort to Save 13th Century Castle in France

An aerial view of the ruined castle of La Mothe-Chandeniers in Les Trois-Moutiers, France, on November 3, 2017. Guillaume Souvant / AFP
An aerial view of the ruined castle of La Mothe-Chandeniers in Les Trois-Moutiers, France, on November 3, 2017. Guillaume Souvant / AFP

Thousands of French nationals joined hands to save a 13th-century crumbling castle, reported the BBC.

The “La Mothe-Chandeniers” in the town of Les Trois-Moutiers, west of France, was conquered by British troops twice, and destroyed during the French Revolution. It was also damaged by a fire in 1930 following a full restoration.

Finally, some 6,500 people donated at least €51 each via internet to collect €500,000 and buy the castle again.

Under the new contract, each contributor has been considered an owner of the castle, which was purchased on December 1 by a site dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage in cooperation with the cultural organization “Adopting the Castle” that organized a collective fundraiser campaign.

On a Facebook page established to promote the campaign, organizers said that nearly 13,000 people liked the page.

People from 45 nationalities have participated in this effort, and have become stakeholders in a monument of French heritage.

The owners will not be the first to visit the castle in 2018, but they will contribute to decisions on how to implement the restoration, and will be able to track progress through an online platform. The castle is surrounded by a trench and features its ornate balconies and arches.

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Air Pollution from Fires Linked to 1.5 Million Deaths a Year

The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
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Air Pollution from Fires Linked to 1.5 Million Deaths a Year

The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File

Air pollution caused by fires is linked to more than 1.5 million deaths a year worldwide, the vast majority occurring in developing countries, a major new study said on Thursday.
This death toll is expected to rise in the coming years as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and intense, according to the study in The Lancet journal.
The international team of researchers looked at existing data on "landscape fires", which include both wildfires that rage through nature and planned fires such as controlled burns on farming land.
Around 450,000 deaths a year from heart disease were linked to fire-related air pollution between 2000 and 2019, the researchers said.
A further 220,000 deaths from respiratory disease were attributed to the smoke and particulates spewed into the air by fire, AFP said.
From all causes around the world, a total of 1.53 million annual deaths were associated with air pollution from landscape fires, according to the study.
More than 90 percent of these deaths were in low and middle-income countries, it added, with nearly 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
The countries with the highest death tolls were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
A record amount of illegal burning of farm fields in northern India has been partly blamed for noxious smog that has recently been choking the capital New Delhi.
The authors of the Lancet study called for "urgent action" to address the huge death toll from landscape fires.
The disparity between rich and poor nations further highlights "climate injustice", in which those who have contributed the least to global warming suffer from it the most, they added.
Some of the ways people can avoid smoke from fires -- such as moving away from the area, using air purifiers and masks, or staying indoors -- are not available to people in poorer countries, the researchers pointed out.
So they called for more financial and technological support for people in the hardest-hit countries.
The study was released a week after UN climate talks where delegates agreed to a boost in climate funding that developing countries slammed as insufficient.
It also came after Ecuador declared a national emergency over forest fires that have razed more than 10,000 hectares in the country's south.
The world has also been battered by hurricanes, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events during what is expected to be the hottest year in recorded history.