Finland Zoo to Return Giant Pandas to China because they're Too Expensive to Keep

FILE - Female panda Jin Bao Bao, named Lumi in Finnish, plays in the snow on the opening day of the Snowpanda Resort in Ahtari Zoo, in Ahtari, Finland, Saturday Feb. 17, 2018. (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP), File)

Asharq Al Awsat

05:27-26 September 2024 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

05:27-26 September 2024 AD ـ 23 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

Finland Zoo to Return Giant Pandas to China because they're Too Expensive to Keep

A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain amid declining visitors.
The private Ähtäri Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers north of Helsinki said Wednesday on its Facebook page that the female panda Lumi, Finnish for “snow,” and the male panda Pyry, meaning “snowfall,” will return “prematurely” to China later this year, The Associated Press reported.
The panda pair was China’s gift to mark the Nordic nation’s 100 years of independence in 2017, and they were supposed to be on loan until 2033.
But since then the zoo has experienced a number of challenges, including a decline in visitors due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as an increase in inflation and interest rates, the facility said in a statement.
The panda deal between Helsinki and Beijing, a 15-year loan agreement, had been finalized in April 2017 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Finland for talks with Finland's then-President Sauli Niinistö. The pandas arrived in Finland in January 2018.
The Ähtäri Zoo, which specializes in typical northern European animals such as bears, lynxes and wolverines, built a special panda annex at a cost of some 8 million euros ($9 million) in hopes of luring more tourists to the remote nature reserve.
The upkeep of Lumi and Pyry, including a preservation fee to China, cost the zoo some 1.5 million euros annually. The bamboo that giant pandas eat was flown in from the Netherlands.
The Chinese Embassy in Helsinki noted to Finnish media that Beijing had tried to help Ähtäri to solve its financial difficulties by, among things, urging Chinese companies operating in Finland to make donations to the zoo and supporting its debt arrangements.
However, declining visitor numbers combined with drastic changes in the economic environment proved too high a burden for the smallish Finnish zoo. The panda pair will enter into a monthlong quarantine in late October before being shipped to China.
Finland, a country of 5.6 million, was among the first Western nations to establish political ties with China, doing so in 1950. China has presented giant pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill and closer political ties, and Finland was the first Nordic nation to receive them.

Tunisia Women Herb Harvesters Struggle with Drought and Heat

A woman harvests aromatic and medicinal plants in the mountains of Tbainia village near the city of Ain Drahem, in the northwest of Tunisia on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

10:01-22 December 2024 AD ـ 21 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH

Tunisia Women Herb Harvesters Struggle with Drought and Heat

A woman harvests aromatic and medicinal plants in the mountains of Tbainia village near the city of Ain Drahem, in the northwest of Tunisia on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

On a hillside in Tunisia's northwestern highlands, women scour a sun-scorched field for the wild herbs they rely on for their livelihoods, but droughts and rising temperatures are making it ever harder to find the precious plants.

Yet the harvesters say they have little choice but to struggle on, as there are few opportunities in a country hit hard by unemployment, inflation and high living costs.

"There is a huge difference between the situation in the past and what we are living now," said Mabrouka Athimni, who heads a local collective of women herb harvesters named "Al Baraka" ("Blessing").

"We're earning half, sometimes just a third, of what we used to."

Tunisia produces around 10,000 tons of aromatic and medicinal herbs each year, according to official figures.

Rosemary accounts for more than 40 percent of essential oil exports, mainly destined for French and American markets.

For the past 20 years, Athimni's collective has supported numerous families in Tbainia, a village near the city of Ain Draham in a region with much higher poverty rates than the national average.

Women, who make up around 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, are the main breadwinners for their households in Tbainia.

- 'Yield less' -

Tunisia is in its sixth year of drought and has seen its water reserves dwindle, as temperatures have soared past 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas during the summer.

The country has 36 dams, mostly in the northwest, but they are currently just 20 percent full -- a record low in recent decades.

The Tbainia women said they usually harvested plants like eucalyptus, rosemary and mastic year-round, but shrinking water resources and rare rainfall have siphoned oil output.

"The mountain springs are drying up, and without snow or rain to replenish them, the herbs yield less oil," said Athimni.

Mongia Soudani, a 58-year-old harvester and mother of three, said her work was her household's only income. She joined the collective five years ago.

"We used to gather three or four large sacks of herbs per harvest," she said. "Now, we're lucky to fill just one."

Forests in Tunisia cover 1.25 million hectares, about 10 percent of them in the northwestern region.

Wildfires fueled by drought and rising temperatures have ravaged these woodlands, further diminishing the natural resources that women like Soudani depend on.

In the summer of last year, wildfires destroyed around 1,120 hectares near Tbainia.

"Parts of the mountain were consumed by flames, and other women lost everything," Soudani recalled.

To adapt to some climate-driven challenges, the women received training from international organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to preserve forest resources.

Still, Athimni struggles to secure a viable income.

"I can't fulfil my clients' orders anymore because the harvest has been insufficient," she said.

The collective has lost a number of its customers as a result, she said.

- 'No longer sustainable' -

A recent study by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) highlighted how climate-induced damage to forests had severely impacted local communities.

"Women in particular suffer the consequences as their activities become more difficult and arduous," the study said.

Tunisia has ratified key international environmental agreements, including the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.

But environmental justice researcher Ines Labiadh, who oversaw the FTDES study, said implementation "remains incomplete".

In the face of these woes, the Tbainia harvesters, like many women working in the sector, will be forced to seek alternative livelihoods, said Labiadh.

"They have no choice but to diversify their activities," she said. "Relying solely on natural resources is no longer sustainable."

Back in the field, Bachra Ben Salah strives to collect whatever herbs she can lay her hands on.

"There's nothing we can do but wait for God's mercy," she said.

Finland Zoo to Return Giant Pandas to China because they're Too Expensive to Keep

Finland Zoo to Return Giant Pandas to China because they're Too Expensive to Keep

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Tunisia Women Herb Harvesters Struggle with Drought and Heat

Tunisia Women Herb Harvesters Struggle with Drought and Heat

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