Un haut fonctionnaire de la Commission a déclaré que ce calendrier était « faisable », notant que le Parlement et le Conseil s’étaient déjà mis d’accord sur des délais similaires l’année dernière.
The post Loi anti-déforestation : les eurodéputés envisagent une procédure d’approbation accélérée avant la fin de l’année appeared first on Euractiv FR.
Members of the elephant response team (ERT) in the Inani forest range under the Ukhiya upazila of Cox’s Bazar. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS
By Rafiqul Islam
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Oct 22 2025 (IPS) 
When wild elephant herds come down from the hills in search of food, Sona Miahm, with community volunteers, steps forward to help prevent human-elephant conflicts.
Miah is leading a 14-member elephant response team (ERT) in the Inani forest range under the Ukhiya upazila of Cox’s Bazar, one of the last natural elephant habitats in Bangladesh.
“For lack of food in reserve forests, wild elephants often rush to localities and damage crop fields. And, once we get informed, we go to the spot and try to return the elephant herd to the forest,” he said.
According to the Forest Department, there are now about 64 wild elephants in the reserve forests in Ukhiya and Teknaf in Bangladesh’s southeastern coastal district, Cox’s Bazar.
Community volunteers often risk their lives in returning the wild elephants to the forests, but they do so to protect the country’s last wild mammoths.
He explained how they mitigate human-elephant conflicts in their locality in the Inani area.
“The elephant response teams use hand-mikes and torches to encourage the elephants to return to the forest,” he said.
Members of the elephant response team (ERT) examine an elephant believed to be electrocuted.
With a small grant from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Arannayk Foundation, a Dhaka-based conservation organization, formed four elephant response teams (ERTs) in Inani and Ukhiya forest ranges in Cox’s Bazar, comprising 40 men.
Working alongside the Bangladesh Forest Department, these ERTs aim to minimize human-elephant conflicts and support wildlife rescues. The ERTs have helped prevent 127 potential human-elephant conflicts in the past two years.
Dr. Mohammed Muzammel Hoque, national coordinator of UNDP’s GEF Small Grants Program, said the UNDP provided a small grant of USD 39,182 in September 2023 to the Arannayk Foundation to implement its two-year Ecosystem Awareness and Restoration Through Harmony (EARTH) project.
Programme coordinator Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal said the project was implemented to restore forest ecosystems and involve local communities in wildlife conservation.
Human-Elephant Conflicts Rise
Due to the destruction of their natural habitats caused by deforestation, hill-cutting, and unplanned industrial expansion, the wild elephants come into localities in search of food, resulting in the rise of human-elephant conflicts.
Conflicts have resulted in the deaths of both community members and elephants.
Elephants are often being killed by electrocution in the Bangladesh southeast region since farmers install electric fences around their crop fields to protect crops from damage.
The most recent incident of an elephant being killed occurred in the Dochhari beat within the Ukhiya forest range in Cox’s Bazar on September 17, 2025. Mozammel Hossain, a resident of Ukhiya, said farmers had used electrified traps around their croplands and this electrocuted the elephant
He said food shortages push elephant herds to enter crop fields, while some farmers resort to illegal and lethal methods against the mammoths.
The Ukhiya and Teknaf regions have reported at least four elephant deaths in the past year.
Abdul Karim, an ERT member in the Boro Inani area of Cox’s Bazar, said elephants often attack human settlements and damage crops and orchards, increasing their conflicts with humans.
“We try to mitigate human-elephant conflicts and save both humans and mammoths. But, since 2021, four people have been killed in elephant attacks near the Inani forest range,” he said.
According to the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division of the Bangladesh Forest Department, from 2016 to January 2025, 102 elephant deaths were recorded alone in Chattogram.
Retaliatory killings, electrocution, poaching, and train collisions have caused many of these deaths.
Saiful Islam, a resident of the Inani area, said wild elephants have been trapped within their habitat too after the influx of Rohingyas there in 2017.
Introduce Elephant Non-Preferred Crops
Crops typically eschewed by elephants, including citrus, pepper, bitter gourd, chili, cane, and okra, should be introduced around the elephant habitats.
“We are encouraging farmers to start such crops to avoid conflicts with elephants. We are also making them aware of elephant conservation,” Saiful Islam, also a community volunteer at Choto Inani, told IPS.
Firoz Al Amin, range officer of the Inani forest range in Ukhiya, said the Forest Department arranged 12 awareness programmes on elephant conservation in the Inani range.
Arannayk Foundation identified elephant non-preferred plots adjacent to high human-elephant conflict zones within the buffer area. With community involvement, five demonstration plots were created on portions of land belonging to five beneficiaries to mitigate elephant crop raiding.
It established four chili-coated rope bio-fences: two at Mohammad Shofir Bill and one each at Boro Inani and Imamerdeil to reduce crop damage caused by elephants. These bio-fencing interventions have benefited 85 vulnerable households in these locations. The fences consist of coconut ropes coated with a deterrent blend of chili powder, tobacco, and grease, suspended at human height between trees to prevent elephant access to agricultural and residential areas.
Urgent Measures Needed to Save Elephants
A 2016 survey by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that there were only 457 elephants left in Bangladesh, of which 268 were wild, 93 were migratory, and 96 were captive.
However, about 124 wild elephants died across Bangladesh’s main elephant habitats—Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Mymensingh—over the last decade.
Experts suggest a comprehensive strategy for restoring elephant habitats to prevent their extinction, which requires long-term planning, reducing encroachment on forest areas, and removing unlawful occupants.
Dr. Monirul H. Khan, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University, said forests and elephant habitats must be protected at any cost to save the mammoths, as their number is dwindling day by day in Bangladesh.
Many new settlements and crop cultivations have taken place inside the country’s elephant habitats, he said, accelerating human-elephant conflicts.
Growing crops that elephants typically do not prefer, improving bio-fencing with trip alarms, and creating salt lick areas can all help reduce human-elephant conflicts.
The experts say implementing beehive fencing not only safeguards crops but also generates job and income opportunities for the local community. Therefore, it is possible to achieve elephant conservation while simultaneously minimizing human-elephant conflicts.
Monirul said the Bangladesh government has taken on an elephant conservation project with its own funding for the first time. “I hope the project will help conserve the mammoths in Bangladesh,” he added.
IPS UN Bureau Report
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VIENNA, 22 October 2025 - The OSCE Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) and the Forum on Information and Democracy (FID) launched today a new policy manual on “Safeguarding Media Freedom in the Age of Big Tech Platforms and AI”. The publication for OSCE participating States aims to protect freedom of expression and media freedom, as well as promoting information integrity and independent public interest journalism in the digital era. The manual was presented as part of the OSCE RFoM’s “Healthy Online Information Spaces: From Policy Guidance to Pathways Forward” conference, held in Vienna and online.
The publication was developed in co-operation with the FID and with the support of an international steering committee consisting of renowned experts from across the OSCE region. It is the outcome of over a year of in-depth research and analysis, several expert roundtables, and consultations involving over 150 leading scholars and practitioners.
Highlighting the profound impact of AI and digital platforms on information spaces, as well as challenges related to the concentration of power and the lack of transparency, accountability, and human rights due diligence, the policy manual provides concrete guidance to promote the visibility and viability of public interest journalism as well as the safety of journalists online.
“States have an obligation to protect and promote media freedom, by ensuring an enabling environment that fosters democratic debate, and the free exchange of ideas and information. This includes ensuring that Big Tech doesn’t employ strategies that limit access to journalistic content. Our new policy manual offers analysis, tools and principled guidance, grounded in international human rights standards and OSCE commitments, to support States in designing frameworks that safeguard media pluralism, independence and public interest,” said the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Ambassador Jan Braathu.
Journalism finds itself in a complex relation with Big Tech, increasingly depending on it for audiences, financial models, and — to a large degree —the dissemination of news content. This results in a struggle for news visibility, which affects access to accurate, fact-based information as well as the economic and financial sustainability of media outlets.
Camille Grenier, Executive Director of the Forum on Information and Democracy, underlined that: “The behaviour of Big Tech has shown us that we can only guarantee media freedom and access to reliable information if States implement democratic rules in the information space. Building upon international human rights law, OSCE commitments, and the Declaration of the Partnership for Information and Democracy, this policy manual provides guidance enabling States to act urgently and in multilateral co-operation.”
Anya Schiffrin and Natali Helberger, co-chairs of the Steering Committee, highlighted that “the current concentration of economic, technological and political power in the hands of a few Big Tech platforms that control large parts of the digital information infrastructure is a threat to democracy”. They underlined that “the policy manual formulates concrete steps to safeguard media freedom in the age of Big Tech platforms and AI”.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. He provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom
Depuis l'effondrement mortel de l'auvent de la gare de Novi Sad, le 1er novembre 2024, la Serbie se soulève contre la corruption meurtrière du régime du président Vučić et pour le respect de l'État de droit. Cette exigence de justice menée par les étudiants a gagné tout le pays. Suivez les dernières informations en temps réel et en accès libre.
- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Vucic, Serbie, Politique, Société, GratuitElection experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) presented their final report on Germany’s 2025 early parliamentary elections in Berlin and discussed its key findings and recommendations.
The discussions with government officials, the election administration, relevant Committees of the Bundestag, the Federal Constitutional Court, the campaign finance oversight body and representatives of civil society organizations focused on plans to undertake a comprehensive legal reform, effective measures to increase women’s active participation in political life, efforts to address disinformation and manipulative content, establishing an effective oversight body for campaign finance and ensuring the right to a timely legal remedy.
“We appreciate the ongoing dialogue with the German authorities on ODIHR’s electoral recommendations, and value their openness to making use of our assessments as a means of strengthening the democratic process,” said Tana de Zulueta, Head of the ODIHR Election Assessment Mission for the February 2025 early parliamentary elections. “We were informed of planned amendments to the electoral legislation and the establishment of a working group in Parliament by the ruling coalition to that end. As recommended, we encourage an open and consultative discussion of the reforms well in advance of the next elections.”
ODIHR experts also outlined potential areas for ODIHR’s engagement with national institutions and offered assistance to bring the electoral process closer in line with OSCE commitments and international standards, including legal reviews and sharing of best practices.
ODIHR’s election observation also assesses the country’s efforts to implement previous recommendations through changes in legislation, procedures and practices. For Germany, the ODIHR mission evaluated the follow-up to recommendations on the 2021 and 2017 parliamentary elections and concluded that one recommendation was fully implemented and four were partially addressed, while the others remain to be carried out.
Further details can be found in the ODIHR Electoral Recommendations Database. All OSCE participating States have committed to following up promptly on ODIHR's election assessments and recommendations.
Cuts and reductions in international humanitarian aid, driven by shifting political priorities in major donor countries and an increasing number of displacements, are leaving hundreds of thousands of communities in the Global South at risk. The Somali Regional State in Ethiopia exemplifies the severe impact of these funding cuts, as vulnerable communities are now confronted with shrinking external support for basic needs. In this context, diaspora groups and networks are a key source of support to their communities. Their contributions extend beyond individual remittances, encompassing collective emergency relief, and development support such as education, water and health for displaced and other crisis-affected people. This policy brief elaborates on the role of diaspora networks in leveraging home and host country community networks to fill the gaps in areas where aid and government services fall short. However, despite their impact, diaspora groups face barriers to maximising their potential. Among these are a lack of enabling policy and institutional frameworks, complex state–diaspora relations, and a lack of formal structures among the diaspora networks. All this can limit the scope, effectiveness and capacities of diaspora support to communities back home. As a result, the following policy recommendations for the Ethiopian federal government and the government of the Somali Regional State, along with their development partners, are put forward in this brief to enhance the potential of the Ethiopian-Somali diaspora:
• Create enabling policy and institutional frameworks at regional and local levels that recognise and support the collective engagement of the diaspora with crisis response and recovery of vulnerable communities. This includes one-stop liaison units at the regional and local levels to minimise the bureaucracy and streamline diaspora contributions, incentivising diaspora-funded initiatives and ensuring inclusive consultations with the diaspora to ensure the effectiveness of these institutional and policy frameworks.
• Establish an umbrella association that represents the interests of the diaspora in the Somali Region and provides a range of supportive services to the diaspora that will enhance their engagements in emergency response, recovery and development.
• Facilitate exchange, partnerships and collaborations between diaspora-led and diaspora-supported associations and networks, national and local authorities, and international actors to maximise the reach and effectiveness of diaspora-led initiatives.
• Expand the evidence base on the various forms of collective support of the diaspora networks and associations to better understand the scale, impact and best practices for informing planning and programming to enhance diaspora support.
Abdirahman A Muhumad is associated researcher with IDOS and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). He is also a researcher at the Institute of Migration Studies at Jigjiga University, Ethiopia.
Cuts and reductions in international humanitarian aid, driven by shifting political priorities in major donor countries and an increasing number of displacements, are leaving hundreds of thousands of communities in the Global South at risk. The Somali Regional State in Ethiopia exemplifies the severe impact of these funding cuts, as vulnerable communities are now confronted with shrinking external support for basic needs. In this context, diaspora groups and networks are a key source of support to their communities. Their contributions extend beyond individual remittances, encompassing collective emergency relief, and development support such as education, water and health for displaced and other crisis-affected people. This policy brief elaborates on the role of diaspora networks in leveraging home and host country community networks to fill the gaps in areas where aid and government services fall short. However, despite their impact, diaspora groups face barriers to maximising their potential. Among these are a lack of enabling policy and institutional frameworks, complex state–diaspora relations, and a lack of formal structures among the diaspora networks. All this can limit the scope, effectiveness and capacities of diaspora support to communities back home. As a result, the following policy recommendations for the Ethiopian federal government and the government of the Somali Regional State, along with their development partners, are put forward in this brief to enhance the potential of the Ethiopian-Somali diaspora:
• Create enabling policy and institutional frameworks at regional and local levels that recognise and support the collective engagement of the diaspora with crisis response and recovery of vulnerable communities. This includes one-stop liaison units at the regional and local levels to minimise the bureaucracy and streamline diaspora contributions, incentivising diaspora-funded initiatives and ensuring inclusive consultations with the diaspora to ensure the effectiveness of these institutional and policy frameworks.
• Establish an umbrella association that represents the interests of the diaspora in the Somali Region and provides a range of supportive services to the diaspora that will enhance their engagements in emergency response, recovery and development.
• Facilitate exchange, partnerships and collaborations between diaspora-led and diaspora-supported associations and networks, national and local authorities, and international actors to maximise the reach and effectiveness of diaspora-led initiatives.
• Expand the evidence base on the various forms of collective support of the diaspora networks and associations to better understand the scale, impact and best practices for informing planning and programming to enhance diaspora support.
Abdirahman A Muhumad is associated researcher with IDOS and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). He is also a researcher at the Institute of Migration Studies at Jigjiga University, Ethiopia.
Cuts and reductions in international humanitarian aid, driven by shifting political priorities in major donor countries and an increasing number of displacements, are leaving hundreds of thousands of communities in the Global South at risk. The Somali Regional State in Ethiopia exemplifies the severe impact of these funding cuts, as vulnerable communities are now confronted with shrinking external support for basic needs. In this context, diaspora groups and networks are a key source of support to their communities. Their contributions extend beyond individual remittances, encompassing collective emergency relief, and development support such as education, water and health for displaced and other crisis-affected people. This policy brief elaborates on the role of diaspora networks in leveraging home and host country community networks to fill the gaps in areas where aid and government services fall short. However, despite their impact, diaspora groups face barriers to maximising their potential. Among these are a lack of enabling policy and institutional frameworks, complex state–diaspora relations, and a lack of formal structures among the diaspora networks. All this can limit the scope, effectiveness and capacities of diaspora support to communities back home. As a result, the following policy recommendations for the Ethiopian federal government and the government of the Somali Regional State, along with their development partners, are put forward in this brief to enhance the potential of the Ethiopian-Somali diaspora:
• Create enabling policy and institutional frameworks at regional and local levels that recognise and support the collective engagement of the diaspora with crisis response and recovery of vulnerable communities. This includes one-stop liaison units at the regional and local levels to minimise the bureaucracy and streamline diaspora contributions, incentivising diaspora-funded initiatives and ensuring inclusive consultations with the diaspora to ensure the effectiveness of these institutional and policy frameworks.
• Establish an umbrella association that represents the interests of the diaspora in the Somali Region and provides a range of supportive services to the diaspora that will enhance their engagements in emergency response, recovery and development.
• Facilitate exchange, partnerships and collaborations between diaspora-led and diaspora-supported associations and networks, national and local authorities, and international actors to maximise the reach and effectiveness of diaspora-led initiatives.
• Expand the evidence base on the various forms of collective support of the diaspora networks and associations to better understand the scale, impact and best practices for informing planning and programming to enhance diaspora support.
Abdirahman A Muhumad is associated researcher with IDOS and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). He is also a researcher at the Institute of Migration Studies at Jigjiga University, Ethiopia.
La Commission européenne a lancé un appel d’offres de 180 millions d’euros pour des services cloud souverains, dans le but d’orienter le marché « vers le respect des normes et des valeurs de l’UE », a indiqué un porte-parole de la Commission à Euractiv dans un courriel mardi 21 octobre.
The post La Commission fixe des critères de référence pour les fournisseurs de services cloud souverains européens appeared first on Euractiv FR.
The Transatlantic Periscope is an interactive, multimedia tool that brings together expert commentary, high-quality media coverage, official policy documents, quantitative data, social media posts, and gray literature. It will provide on a monthly basis a summary of the most important news concerning the Greek-US relations, as reflected in the media. Below you will find an overview for September 2025.
On September 11, 2025, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, at Maximos Mansion. During the meeting, the two confirmed that Greek-American relations remain at an excellent level. Particular emphasis was given to further strengthening cooperation in the energy sector. Prime Minister Mitsotakis stressed the strategic nature of Greek-American relations and defense and energy cooperation between Greece and the US. He also pointed out that Greece, with the initiatives it has undertaken and the infrastructure it is developing, is becoming an energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Europe, an energy exporter and a provider of energy security for the entire region. He also emphasized the strategic importance of electrical and digital interconnections, making special reference to the Great Sea Interconnector project (GSI) between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, as well as Greece-Egypt power interconnection initiative (GREGY). He also expressed to Secretary Burgum the critical importance of a route connecting Alexandroupolis with Odessa, following a proposal he had made during his visit to Odessa in June. During the meeting, the role of Greek shipping in transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was also discussed.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) applauded the inclusion of her bipartisan legislation, H.R. 2510, ‘The American-Hellenic-Israeli Eastern Mediterranean Counterterrorism and Maritime Security Partnership Act of 2025’, in the State Department Reauthorization bill advanced by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on September 18. The measure, introduced with Congressman Thomas Kean (NJ-07), Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), and Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10), establishes a security-focused “3+1” framework among the United States, Israel, Greece, and the Republic of Cyprus to enhance counterterrorism and maritime security. The provisions strengthen this partnership by creating new parliamentary and executive-level cooperation groups; launching two security training programs, CERBERUS, focused on counterterrorism at the Cyprus Center for Land, Open Seas, and Port Security (CYCLOPS), and TRIREME, a maritime security program at the Greek Souda Bay Naval Base; and modernizing the decades-old U.S. arms embargo on Cyprus by temporarily lifting restrictions on defense exports, reexports, and training cooperation, contingent on Cyprus meeting U.S. security and regulatory conditions. This allows for targeted capacity-building that enhances the island’s ability to conduct regional security operations.
On September 18, the United States Senate confirmed Kimberly Guilfoyle as US Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, marking the culmination of a months-long process that had attracted considerable political attention. In her statement following the vote, Guilfoyle underlined both the professional and symbolic weight of her appointment, stressing the honor of serving as the first female US Ambassador to Greece. On September 29, Guilfoyle was officially sworn in as the next U.S. Ambassador to Greece at the State Department in Washington, D.C. According to diplomatic sources, Guilfoyle is expected to arrive in Athens in late October, where she will officially assume her new duties.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Kimberly Guilfoyle, during a diplomatic event in New York, on September 25. Both Mitsotakis and Guilfoyle were attending an event hosted by the Atlantic Council focused on strengthening ties between the European Union and the Gulf states. On the same day, Greek Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, also held a meeting in New York with Guilfoyle.
More at: https://transatlanticperiscope.org/relationship/GR#
Le ministre chinois du Commerce se rendra à Bruxelles « dans les prochains jours » pour discuter des restrictions imposées par Pékin sur les exportations de terres rares, a déclaré mardi 21 octobre le commissaire européen au Commerce, Maroš Šefčovič.
The post L’UE et la Chine cherchent des « solutions urgentes » aux restrictions sur les terres rares appeared first on Euractiv FR.