title: Tavern on the Green

text: Tavern on the Green is an American cuisine restaurant in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, near the intersection of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. The restaurant, housed in a former sheepfold, has been operated by Jim Caiola and David Salama since 2014.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: From its opening in 1934 to its closure in 2009, the restaurant changed ownership several times. From 2010 until 2012, the building was used as a public visitor center and gift shop run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. After a multimillion-dollar renovation, Caiola and Salama reopened Tavern on the Green to the public on April 24, 2014.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: Throughout its history, Tavern on the Green has been frequented by prominent actors, musicians, politicians, and writers. It has also received several awards, including those for the best restaurant in the Upper West Side, and the best wine menu.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: The building housing the restaurant was originally the sheepfold that housed the sheep that grazed Sheep Meadow, built in 1870 based on a design by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould. The sheep were evicted from the sheepfold in 1934 under New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) commissioner Robert Moses.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: From 1934, the restaurant was managed by restaurateurs licensed by NYC Parks. In 1943, Arnold Schleifer and his nephews, Arthur Schleifer and Julius Berman, won the contract to operate the restaurant. The owners enlarged the dance floor and offered nightly music. A large outdoor patio offered dining "al fresco". Trees were first wrapped in the well-known twinkling lights around the property and the Elm Tree Room was built to surround one of the city's classic American elms. The menu was designed to be elegant but affordable for New Yorkers. Luncheon and dinner offerings changed regularly and Mr. Berman would often add special desserts to celebrate family events, such as "Parfait Ruth" to honor the birth of his granddaughter.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: One of the more controversial projects proposed in Central Park during the mid-20th century was a 1956 dispute over a parking lot for Tavern on the Green. The controversy placed Moses, an urban planner known for displacing families for other large projects around the city, against a group of mothers who frequented a wooded hollow at the site of a parking lot. Despite opposition from the parents, Moses approved the destruction of part of the hollow. Demolition work commenced after Central Park was closed for the night, and was only halted after a threat of a lawsuit.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In 1962 Joe Baum's Restaurant Associates purchased the Schleifer-Berman interest in the Tavern's operation.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In 1974 Warner LeRoy took over the restaurant's lease and reopened it in 1976 after $10 million in renovations, including the addition of a glass-enclosed Crystal Room overlooking the restaurant's garden (one of several dining rooms), which doubled the seating capacity to 800. According to New York City officials it was illegal, but the city, wanting the restaurant expanded at a time when the city was having its own financial problems, did not stop the expansion. From LeRoy's death in 2001 until the restaurant's renovation in 2009, Tavern on the Green was managed by LeRoy's daughter, Jennifer Oz LeRoy.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: Tavern on the Green is next to the finish line of the New York City Marathon. The Barilla Marathon Eve Dinner, a pre-race pasta party on the eve of the marathon for 10,000 guests (including registrants, who attend for free), took place at the Tavern in 2005.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: By 2007, the restaurant had gross revenues of $38 million, from more than 500,000 visitors. This made it the second-highest-grossing independent restaurant in the United States (behind The Venetian's Tao restaurant in Las Vegas, at $67 million).


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In June 2008, Tavern on the Green agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a sexual and racial discrimination lawsuit over claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of "pervasive harassment" of women and minority employees.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: On August 28, 2009, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it had declined to renew the restaurant's license, granting it instead to Dean Poll, operator of the Central Park Boathouse. The LeRoy management was required to cease operations and remove all furnishings from the location before January 1, 2010. Tavern on the Green had its last seating on December 31, 2009. It auctioned off its interior decorations and closed its doors. Central Park Boathouse operator Dean Poll was given rights to reopen the restaurant but could not reach an agreement with the Hotel and Motel Trades Council, affiliated with the AFL–CIO, which represents the employees of the restaurant.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In September 2009, the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, citing the Great Recession and the loss of the restaurant's operating license. The rights to the name of the restaurant became a source of contention between the LeRoys and the city during the bankruptcy court procedures in October 2009, after the LeRoys claimed the trademark was theirs while the city challenged them. At the time the trademark was appraised at $19 million. In November 2009, Poll registered a backup name with New York State: "Tavern in the Park." In March 2010, Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that the trade name was owned by the City of New York and that Warner LeRoy had trademarked the name fraudulently in 1981. She wrote: "Because the undisputed facts show that the city established and continuously maintained a restaurant under the name 'Tavern on the Green' at the same location in New York's Central Park since 1934, the city has a protectable interest in that name."


title: Tavern on the Green

text: On October 15, 2010, the city re-opened the building as a visitors information center with a gift shop selling city-themed T-shirts, hats and other memorabilia. Street vendors sold food outside. The glass-enclosed Crystal Room was removed in 2010, exposing the original 19th-century architecture.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In January 2011, real estate developer Donald Trump said he obtained an agreement from the union employees and that he would invest $20 million in the restaurant, including rebuilding the Crystal Room, if he were granted a 20-year lease. He said he would keep the Tavern on the Green name. "I don't think every place needs to be called Trump," he joked. Trump had renovated Wollman Rink in the 1980s after the city had been unable to repair and reopen it for several years. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Central Park Conservancy officials did not respond to Trump's proposal.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: Later in 2011, the street vendors stationed in Tavern on the Green's courtyard were given notice that their operating contracts would not be renewed. After food truck operators left the site, construction, "basic stabilization and renovation work" according to the city, began on the building. In February 2012, the city hosted a walk around for potential operators of a new Tavern on the Green. The new restaurant was presented as a more casual restaurant than its predecessor and would be housed in a renovated building which reflected its initial design as a sheepfold. There would be no hanging lights in the trees and the restaurant would close at 1:00 am, at the same time the park closes.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In April 2014, the new owners announced that Tavern on the Green would reopen for dinner on April 24, 2014, followed by a grand opening on May 13, 2014, after which the restaurant began also serving brunch and lunch. Jim Caiola, one of the new managing partners, stated that the tavern's new interior would be more reminiscent of "old New York" than more recent incarnations, featuring dark wood paneling and a more open, bucolic feel. The new owners secured the restaurant location rent-free from the city until 2019.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: In the wake of reopening, the restaurant cycled through head chefs. Katy Sparks was head chef at reopening. She was replaced by celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower after half a year. This was Tower's first restaurant in 15 years, since he closed his "Stars" restaurant in San Francisco and retired. Half a year later, Tower left to be replaced by John Stevenson, who survived a year. Stevenson was then replaced by Bill Peet in 2016.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: "Where" magazine named Tavern on the Green the best restaurant in the Upper West Side in 2006; it had also been awarded "best ambience" of any New York City restaurant four years earlier. In 2003 and 2004, "Wine Spectator" named the restaurant's wine list its "Best Award of Excellence."


title: Tavern on the Green

text: Tavern on the Green was frequented by prominent actors, musicians, politicians. and writers. Regular patrons have included former New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, actresses Grace Kelly and Fay Wray and many others. Tavern on the Green hosted the wedding receptions of several prominent Americans, including one of the seven marriages of author Robert Olen Butler (later divorced) and film director Walter Hill. John Lennon and his son Sean Lennon celebrated numerous birthdays at Tavern on the Green during the late 1970s. In 1987 the tavern was the site of a star-studded memorial dinner for director-choreographer Bob Fosse.


title: Tavern on the Green

text: Tavern on the Green made an appearance in "Hair" (1979), "It's My Turn" (1980), and "Ghostbusters" (1984), when the character Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) was being chased by the demon Vinz Clortho. In the season 8 Seinfeld episode "The Susie,” George and his date (Kramer) attend a ball at Tavern on the Green hosted by George Steinbrenner. Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, played a married couple, who were caught in a romantic embrace, just outside on the lawn in the 1999 remake of "The Out of Towners.” In addition, Tavern on the Green appears at the end of "Wall Street" (1987) and features prominently in "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (2011). In the 1994 live action adaptation of "The Flintstones", Fred, Wilma, and Betty, go to dinner at "Cavern on the Green.” It's discovered that Barney (Rick Moranis) is working there as a busboy, because he had lost his job at the rock quarry. The legendary restaurant is depicted in an episode of "" (2021) as a 'date night spot' in the first season, executive produced by rapper 50 Cent. The urban time period drama piece from the 90s, shows a classic look at the restaurant during its height of popularity in the early 1990s before renovation.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: Terry Scott Szopinski (born March 28, 1962) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known by his ring name The Warlord and for his tenures in National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as one half of The Powers of Pain alongside The Barbarian.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: His first national exposure was in the NWA territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), where Powers of Pain held the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship until they departed the company in 1988 and joined WWF, where they competed in the tag team division until the team was quietly split in 1990. Warlord then competed as a singles wrestler until departing in 1992 and had a small stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1996, where he briefly reunited with The Barbarian as The Super Assassins.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In 1986 while working out at a gym in Minnesota, Szopinski met its owner Joe Laurinaitis, better known as the professional wrestler Road Warrior Animal. After coming up with possible ring names with Sharkey and Animal, Szopinski adopted the "Warlord" as his ring name and sent some photos of his work to Dusty Rhodes. Soon afterwards, Rhodes hired him and he began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions later that year. After a brief stint in JCP, the territory's owner Jim Crockett, Jr. sent him to the Kansas City-based Central States Wrestling territory for more training. While there, he teamed with Karl Kovac and won the territory's tag team championship on June 8, 1987, in a tournament. However, he and Kovac were soon stripped of the title when Kovac was fired and Szopinski traveled to Japan for more training.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In late 1987, Szopinski returned to Jim Crockett Promotions under his Warlord name and began teaming with Ivan Koloff with Paul Jones as their manager. In 1988, he then formed a permanent tag team with the Barbarian known as "The Powers of Pain", the heel counterparts to the Road Warriors, while retaining Jones as their manager.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: While continuing to team with Koloff, The Powers of Pain feuded heavily with The Road Warriors, and defeated them and Dusty Rhodes for the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. To continue the feud, JCP management wanted them to do some scaffold matches against the Warriors, but this was met with opposition from Szopinski and Vailahi over fears of injury. As a result, they both left JCP and joined the World Wrestling Federation, vacating the six-man tag team title in the process.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: The Powers of Pain made their debut in a dark match (of which footage survives) at a TV taping on June 18, 1988, as a replacement for Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel) in a WWF World Tag Team Championship match where they beat Demolition by count-out when the champions walked out. Their televised debut was filmed later that evening and screened on the July 16 episode of "Superstars" where they defeated enhancement talents Iron Mike Sharpe and Tony Ulysses. Although the Barbarian had already been wearing face paint in JCP, it was at this point that the Warlord began to also use face paint.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: Upon their arrival, the Powers of Pain were faces managed by Santana. They feuded with Demolition who had defeated Strike Force for the title and then injured Martel (kayfabe). The Powers of Pain were introduced as mercenaries to help Martel and Santana gain revenge on Demolition for both the title loss and the injury to Martel. They had their first televised rivalry against The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov). They defeated Bolsheviks in their pay-per-view debut at the inaugural SummerSlam, where they introduced their new manager The Baron. The Baron left the WWF in early November.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: At Survivor Series, the Powers' team defeated Demolition's team in a tag team elimination match, with the Powers being the sole survivors of their team. Near the end of the match, Demolition's manager Mr. Fuji double-crossed them and after they beat him up and left, the Powers came to his aid, gaining Fuji as their manager in the process, in return for which his interference helped the Powers eliminate the last remaining opponents, the Conquistadors. Afterwards, the Powers and Fuji celebrated until Demolition returned and drove them from the ring. As a result, the Powers became villains while Demolition became fan favorites.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: Following this, Demolition and the Powers (with Fuji now in their corner) engaged in a series of championship matches at house shows, typically ending in double disqualification or a narrow countout victory for the Powers. On December 12 episode of "Prime Time Wrestling", Fuji was confirmed as the new manager of The Powers of Pain. On February 20 episode of "Prime Time Wrestling", Powers of Pain received an opportunity for the Tag Team Championship against Demolition, which they lost via disqualification. In 1989, Szopinski entered the Royal Rumble as the twenty-first entrant, but lasted only two seconds before being eliminated by Hulk Hogan, setting the record for shortest time spent in a Royal Rumble match, although this record would be broken by Santino Marella at the Royal Rumble in 2009. At WrestleMania V, Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji competed against Demolition for the title in a handicap match, where Demolition retained the title by pinning Fuji.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In March 1990, The Powers of Pain split, with Fuji selling Barbarian's contract to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan while selling Warlord's contract to Slick. After the team's split, Warlord received an attire change, where he abandoned his Road Warrior-like reverse mohawk and face paint in favor of a shaved head and a silver metallic Cyborg-style "Phantom of the Opera"-like half-mask and black armor. He also brought a metal staff topped with a "W" with him to his matches and used it as a weapon on occasion. He began a feud with the British Bulldog leading to a match at WrestleMania VII. He was granted a chance at the world title against Hulk Hogan on February 8, 1991, in which he was defeated. He then began a long-running series of matches with the Texas Tornado, which rarely had either man winning. However, he did manage to score a singles victory over a high-profile wrestler in Jake Roberts on August 23, 1991. On April 17, 1992, Szopinski lost to Virgil in his final match for the WWF in Birmingham, England.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: After leaving the WWF for the independent circuit, Szopinski traveled to the CWA and lost to CWA Champion Rambo in the CWA Catch Cup 1992 on August 22, 1992, in Germany. He wrestled two additional times in the fall, losing to Rambo in a rematch and then falling to new champion Buffalo Peterson.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In April 1993 Szopinski traveled to another German promotion, World Wrestling Superstars and had considerable success as he dominated Butch Reed in multiple encounters. Throughout the year he appeared in multiple other promotions, including Herb Abrams' UWF, the WWC, ECW, and WAR. In 1994 Szopinski narrowed his focused to the IWF and WAR, participating in lengthy tours with both companies. On August 26, 1994, he teamed with Bob Backlund and Scott Putski to defeat Gedo, Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado and win the WAR Six-Man Tag Team Championship in an event held in Yokohama, Japan. They would lose the titles days later in a rematch on September 1.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: On September 23, 1994, the Powers of Pain reunited for the first time in over two years to compete for the vacant UWF Tag-Team Championship at UWF Blackjack Brawl. They were defeated by The Killer Bees. Szopinski and Vailahi continued their renewed partnership in 1995, traveling to the NWC where they faced the team Aerial Assault (Bob Bradley and a young Rob Van Dam).


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: On October 11, 1995, they made their return to World Championship Wrestling. They were now dubbed the Super Assassins, wrestled under masks, and were managed by Colonel Robert Parker. The Super Assassins were defeated by The Nasty Boys in their first match. Both wrestlers participated in the three-ring battle royal in the main event of WCW World War 3 on November 26. On December 16, they earned their first victory, defeating The State Patrol on WCW Worldwide. Their last match was on the January 1, 1996, edition of Monday Nitro where they fell to Lex Luger and Sting, after which the team was disbanded.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: The Warlord was forced to retire from wrestling due to suffering neck injuries in a car accident involving a Pizza Hut delivery van in 1996. The accident caused significant life-altering injuries, including nerve damage that left one side of his body permanently disfigured.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: After attempting a comeback in 2001, Szopinski was sidelined yet again after suffering severe leg damage in a motorcycle accident. During his recovery, he retired from wrestling and began training as a security guard and started providing his services for Relief Group International, an auto relief group. He soon extended his services into bodyguarding, and worked alongside celebrities such as 50 Cent, Thomas Jones and Kimbo Slice, who nicknamed Szopinski the "Wall".


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: On January 10, 2003, Szopinski made his first wrestling-related appearance in years as he acted as a special guest referee for Hardkore Championship Wrestling in a match between Christian York and Reckless Youth, which Youth won. On January 25, he made his official in-ring return under his Warlord name and character as he defeated Joe Gomez.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: After wrestling regularly throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, Warlord wrestled at the first WrestleReunion on January 29, 2005, where he competed in a battle royal for the IWA Heavyweight Championship. However, he was eliminated by Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, who would go on to win the match and the title.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: On April 29, 2006, he defeated Chaz to win the Maximum Xtreme Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, his first singles title.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In August 2012, Chikara announced that the Warlord would be making his debut for the promotion in the following month's 2012 King of Trios tournament, where he will reunite with the Barbarian and Meng as the "Faces of Pain". On September 14, the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by Team ROH (Mike Bennett, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). Two days later, on the final day of the tournament, the Barbarian and the Warlord took part in a tag team gauntlet match, from which they eliminated their old WWF rivals, Demolition, before being eliminated themselves by the 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: Szopinski met Chris Jericho early in Jericho's career and helped him out with food issues while they traveled together overseas and in Japan. Dave Batista cites Szopinski as his all-time favorite wrestler.


title: The Warlord (wrestler)

text: In July 2016, Szopinski was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Public holidays in Australia refer to the holidays recognised in law in Australia. Although they are declared on a state and territory basis, they comprise a mixture of nationally celebrated days and holidays exclusive to the individual jurisdictions.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Public holidays function as non-working days, with workers generally receiving full paid leave independently of annual leave. Those working on public holidays receive additional penalty rates of pay. Where they fall on a weekend, public holidays are generally declared "in lieu" for the following Monday.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Statutory holidays in Australia are based on varying religious, cultural and civic observations. Christian celebrations, namely Christmas and Easter, are some of the most significant ones observed. A Labour Day is observed in each state and territory, although it is varied in date. There are two significant national days, Australia Day (26 January) and Anzac Day (25 April), which are nationwide public holidays.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: When a public holiday occurs on a Friday or Monday, the three-day period is colloquially known as a "long weekend".


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Traditionally, Australians in employment (whether in the public or private sector) have had the right to take a public holiday off work with regular pay. In recent years this tradition has changed somewhat. For example, businesses that normally open on a public holiday may request employees to work on that day. Employers can deny employees a holiday only on reasonable business grounds.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: From 2006, WorkChoices eliminated the entitlement to penalty rates in many workplaces; however since the implementation of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the modern awards in 2010, most public-holiday penalty rates have increased dramatically. employees generally receive pay at a penalty rate—usually 2.5 times (known as "double time and a half") the base rate of pay—when they work on a public holiday.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Besides designating days as public holidays, Australian authorities also designate some of these days as restricted trading days.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: If a standard public holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute public holiday will sometimes be observed on the first non-weekend day (usually Monday) after the weekend, whether by virtue of the public holiday legislation or by "ad hoc" proclamation. Workers required to work on a public holiday or substituted public holiday will usually be entitled to remuneration at a holiday penalty rate.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: All states have their own public holidays in addition to national public holidays, and in some states certain public holidays, such as Melbourne Cup Day, are in force in only part of a state.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Alcohol licences in several states prevent sale of alcohol on certain public holidays, such as Good Friday.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: When a public holiday falls on a weekend, the following work day may be considered a public holiday depending on the state/territory and the holiday in question.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Holidays that always fall on a particular day of the week are not listed in this table. Prior to 2008, Victorian law only specified substitute holidays for New Year and Boxing Day, and only if they fell on a Sunday. From 2008, Victorian law specifies the substitute holidays in the table above.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Since Easter Monday can occur as late as 26 April it is possible for the Easter Monday holiday to coincide with Anzac Day, as occurred in 2011. State Acts do not give a provision to separate the days when this occurs, so no additional public holiday is given by law. However an extra day is usually proclaimed by the minister, so as to have a steady number of public holidays each year. In the year 2038, Anzac Day will coincide with Easter Sunday.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Recorded celebrations of the 26 January date back to 1808 in Australia, and in 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie held the first official celebration of Australia Day. 26 January was chosen because it is the day of the establishment of the first British settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788. It was made a public holiday in New South Wales in 1836, and Victoria adopted the day as a public holiday in 1931. The 26 January commenced to be recognised by all states and territories as Australia Day in 1946.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Since 1960, the winner of the Australian of the Year award is announced by the Prime Minister on the eve of Australia Day (25 Jan).


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Labour Day commemorates the achievements of the Australian labour movement. The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organised workers in the world to achieve an eight-hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day. In Tasmania the public holiday is called Eight Hours Day and in the Northern Territory it is called May Day.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The Labour Day public holiday varies considerably between the various states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In Western Australia, it is the first Monday in March. In both Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March. In the Northern Territory, and in Queensland it is the first Monday in May. More than 80 countries celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day is a long weekend.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The days of Easter vary each year depending on the day determined by the Western Christian calendar. Until 1994 Easter Tuesday was a Bank Holiday in Victoria (it retains this status partially in Tasmania). The day after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday is traditionally known as Holy Saturday. However, the states where that day is a public holiday use different terminology – it is officially gazetted as "Easter Saturday" in the ACT, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory; as "the day after Good Friday" in Queensland and South Australia; and as "Saturday before Easter Sunday" in Victoria.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: ANZAC Day is a day on which the country remembers those citizens who fell fighting or who served the country in wars. ANZAC Day is commemorated on 25 April every year. The tradition began to remember the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: ANZAC Day commemoration features marches by veterans and by solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around the country, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle. The fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem (known as the "Ode of Remembrance") is often recited.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: In all states and territories except Queensland and Western Australia, the King's Birthday is observed on the second Monday in June. Because Western Australia celebrates Western Australia Day (formerly Foundation Day) on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia proclaims the day on which the state will observe the King's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show. There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is typically the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October: in 2011 the King's Birthday holiday in Western Australia was moved from Monday, 3 October 2011 to Friday, 28 October 2011 to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was held in Perth. In parts of the Pilbara, it is celebrated on a different date from the rest of Western Australia, and it may even be celebrated on different dates in different parts of the Pilbara. In Queensland, it is celebrated on the 1st Monday in October.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of King George III. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V, it was decided to keep the date at mid-year.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: On that day the "King's Birthday honours list" is released naming new members of the Order of Australia and other Australian honours. This occurs on the date observed in the Eastern States, not the date observed in Western Australia.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The King's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Year's Eve fireworks, as the sale of fireworks to the public was banned by the states in the 1980s, and in the ACT as of 24 August 2009. In the Northern Territory fireworks remain available to the public on 1 July for the celebration of Territory Day.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Christmas is observed on 25 December each year to commemorate the birth of Jesus. In Australia, it was introduced with British settlement in 1788 as the cultural norms were transferred to the new colonies.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Boxing Day is on the day after Christmas, i.e. 26 December each year, except in South Australia. In South Australia, the first otherwise working day after Christmas is a public holiday called Proclamation Day.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Boxing Day is noted for the start of the post-Christmas sale season. The day has also become a significant sporting day. Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Test match; the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race also starts on this day.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The days are set in the "Holidays Act 1983". Most public holidays include a second public holiday on a week-day if they happen to fall on Saturday or Sunday. In which case, both days are public holidays.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Because of the variable days of Easter, Anzac day could fall on an Easter holiday. When ANZAC falls on Saturday, there is no week day public holiday. In such situations it is generally expected that the minister will proclaim extra public holidays on week-days to ensure every year has the same number of public holidays on week-days.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The minister of the state may proclaim and adjustments or additions, such as the date of the Brisbane Ekka Show day holiday. This day has historically always been proclaimed for the second Wednesday in August, except if there are 5 Wednesday's in August, in which case the third Wednesday in August.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Public holidays generally follow the national pattern, but special cases are resolved by the State Government and advised by proclamation. Details of future holidays can be found on the NSW Industrial Relations website. Public holidays are regulated by the New South Wales "Public Holidays Act 2010 No 115", which supersedes the "Banks and Bank Holidays Act 1912 No 43".


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: The first Monday in August is a Bank Holiday, during which banks and financial institutions are closed.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Most New South Wales public holidays are public holidays in the Australian Capital Territory, with the addition of Canberra Day.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Public holidays in South Australia are set out in the "Holidays Act 1910", while additional holidays may be proclaimed in all or part of the State by the Governor. The Act defines public holidays and bank holidays, which are the same except where a holiday falls on a Saturday, in which case the public holiday is held on the following Monday and both the Saturday and Monday are bank holidays.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Victorian employees fall under the Workchoices system either as coming within the Commonwealth constitutional power (called "constitutional corporation employees") or because of Victoria's referral of its legislative powers to the Commonwealth for particular workplace relations matters.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Employee entitlements to public holidays and additional pay depend on whether they are covered by a federal award or agreement.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Employees not covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays under the Victorian "Public Holidays Act" 1993. Also, all permanent employees not covered by a federal award or agreement who would normally work on a public holiday (or a substitute public holiday) are entitled to the holiday without loss of pay. Their employers are not required to provide additional payment if they work on a public holiday, but this does not exclude the possibility of employees and employers negotiating for additional pay.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Employees who are covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays as provided by the relevant federal award or agreement and the "Public Holidays Act" 1993. Many federal awards and agreements also provide for additional penalty rates for work performed on a public holiday.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Restricted shop trading laws apply to Good Friday, Christmas Day and before 1 pm on Anzac Day. On these days only exempted businesses are permitted to open for trading. All public holidays and substitute public holidays are bank holidays.


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: In August 2015, the day before the AFL Grand Final, as well as Easter Sunday, were gazetted as Public Holidays within Victoria. This date of the holiday is as gazetted by the Victorian Government and cannot be accurately predicted. In 2019, the Victorian Parliament legislated the AFL Grand Final public holiday by amending the "Public Holidays Act 1993 (Vic)".


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Melbourne Cup Day is observed in most of the state, but various cup days and show days in the state's west are locally substituted. See the list at Non-Metropolitan Public Holiday Dates (Victoria Online).


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Melbourne Show Day used to be observed on the Thursday in the last full week of September as a half-day public holiday—later changing to full day—until 1994 (abolished by the state government). Easter Tuesday was observed as a Bank Holiday in Victoria until 1994 (also abolished by the state government).


title: Public holidays in Australia

text: Penalty rates are the rates of pay which an employee is paid higher than their standard base rate for working at times or on days, such as public holidays, which are outside the normal working week. They were introduced in 1947 for workers working on the Sabbath, as most workers were Christian, while today, these rates of pay are set by the Fair Work Commission.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen ; – 3 November 1993) was a Russian and Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments and the first to be mass-produced. He also worked on early television research. His listening device, "The Thing", hung for seven years in plain view in the United States Ambassador's Moscow office and enabled Soviet agents to eavesdrop on secret conversations.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Leon Theremin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire in 1896. His father was Sergei Emilievich Theremin of French Huguenot descent. His mother was Yevgenia Antonova Orzhinskaya and of German ancestry. He had a sister named Helena.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In the seventh class of his high school before an audience of students and parents he demonstrated various optical effects using electricity.


title: Leon Theremin

text: By the age of 17, when he was in his last year of high school, he had his own laboratory at home for experimenting with high-frequency circuits, optics and magnetic fields. His cousin, Kirill Fedorovich Nesturkh, then a young physicist, invited him to attend the defense of the dissertation of Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. Physics lecturer Vladimir Konstantinovich Lebedinskiy had explained to Theremin the dispute over Ioffe's work on the electron. On 9 May 1913 Theremin and his cousin attended Ioffe's dissertation defense. Ioffe's subject was on the elementary photoelectric effect, the magnetic field of cathode rays and related investigations. In 1917 Theremin wrote that Ioffe talked of electrons, the photoelectric effect and magnetic fields as parts of an objective reality that surrounds us every day, unlike others that talked more of somewhat abstract formulae and symbols. Theremin wrote that he found this explanation revelatory and that it fit a scientific – not abstract – view of the world, different scales of magnitude, and matter. From then on Theremin endeavoured to study the microcosm, in the same way he had studied the macrocosm with his hand-built telescope. Later, Kyrill introduced Theremin to Ioffe as a young experimenter and physicist, and future student of the university.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin recalled that while still in his last year of school, he had built a million-volt Tesla coil and noticed a strong glow associated with his attempts to ionise the air. He then wished to further investigate the effects using university resources. A chance meeting with Abram Fedorovich Ioffe led to a recommendation to see Karl Karlovich Baumgart, who was in charge of the physics laboratory equipment. Karl then reserved a room and equipment for Theremin's experiments. Abram Fedorovich suggested Theremin also look at methods of creating gas fluorescence under different conditions and of examining the resulting light's spectra. However, during these investigations Theremin was called up for World War I military service.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Although only in his second academic year, the deanery of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy recommended that Theremin go to the Nikolayevska Military Engineering School in Petrograd (previously Saint Petersburg), which usually only accepted students in their fourth year. Theremin recalled that Ioffe reassured him that the war would not last long and that military experience would be useful for scientific applications.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Beginning his military service in 1916, Theremin finished the Military Engineering School in six months, progressed through the Graduate Electronic School for Officers, and attained the military radio-engineer diploma in the same year. In the course of the next three and a half years he oversaw the construction of a radio station in Saratov to connect the Volga area with Moscow, graduated from Petrograd University, became deputy leader of the new Military Radiotechnical Laboratory in Moscow, and finished as the broadcast supervisor of the radio transmitter at "Tsarskoye Selo" near Petrograd (then renamed "Detskoye Selo").


title: Leon Theremin

text: During the Russian civil war, in October 1919 White Army commander Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich advanced on Petrograd from the side of "Detskoye Selo", apparently intending to capture the radio station to announce a victory over the Bolsheviks. Theremin and others evacuated the station, sending equipment east on rail cars. Theremin then detonated explosives to destroy the 120-meter-high antennae mast before traveling to Petrograd to set up an international listening station. There he also trained radio specialists but reported difficulties obtaining food and working with foreign experts whom he described as narrow-minded pessimists.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin recalled that on an evening when his hopes of overcoming these obstructing experts reached a low ebb, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe telephoned him. Ioffe asked Theremin to come to his newly founded Physical Technical Institute in Petrograd, and the next day he invited him to start work at developing measuring methods for high-frequency electrical oscillations.


title: Leon Theremin

text: The day after Ioffe's invitation, Theremin started at the institute. He worked in diverse fields: applying the Laue effect to the new field of X-ray analysis of crystals; using hypnosis to improve measurement-reading accuracy; working with Ivan Pavlov's laboratory; and using gas-filled lamps as measuring devices. He built a high-frequency oscillator to measure the dielectric constant of gases with high precision; Ioffe then urged him to look for other applications using this method, and shortly made the first motion detector for use as a "radio watchman".


title: Leon Theremin

text: While adapting the dielectric device by adding circuitry to generate an audio tone, Theremin noticed that the pitch changed when his hand moved around. In October 1920 he first demonstrated this to Ioffe who called in other professors and students to hear. Theremin recalled trying to find the notes for tunes he remembered from when he played the cello, such as the The Swan, by Saint-Saëns. By November 1920, Theremin had given his first public concert with the instrument, now modified with a horizontal volume antenna replacing the earlier foot-operated volume control. He named it the "etherphone", but it was known in the Soviet Union as the , , in Germany as the "Thereminvox" and later, in the USA, as the "theremin."


title: Leon Theremin

text: On 24 May 1924 Theremin married 20-year-old Katia () Konstantinova, and they lived together in his parents' apartment on Marat street.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 1925 Theremin went to Germany to sell both the radio watchman and Termenvox patents to the German firm Goldberg and Sons. According to Glinsky, this was the Soviet's "decoy for capitalists" to obtain both Western profits from sales and technical knowledge.


title: Leon Theremin

text: During this time Theremin was also working on a wireless television with 16 scan lines in 1925, improving to 32 scan lines and then 64 using interlacing in 1926, and he demonstrated moving, if blurry, images on 7 June 1927. His device was the first functioning television apparatus in Russia.


title: Leon Theremin

text: After being sent on a lengthy tour of Europe starting 1927 – including London, Paris and towns in Germany – during which he demonstrated his invention to full audiences, Theremin went to the United States, arriving on 30 December 1927 with his first wife Katia. He performed the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He patented his invention in the United States in 1928 and subsequently granted commercial production rights to RCA.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin set up a laboratory in New York in the 1930s, where he further refined the theremin and experimented with other inventions and new electronic musical instruments. These included the Rhythmicon, commissioned by the Russian composer and theorist Joseph Schillinger.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 1930, ten thereminists performed on stage at Carnegie Hall. Two years later, Theremin conducted the first-ever electronic orchestra, featuring the theremin and other electronic instruments including a "fingerboard" theremin which resembled a cello in use (Theremin was a cellist).


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 1931, he worked with composer Joseph Schillinger to build an instrument called the rhythmicon. They were lucky to have gotten it to market as quickly as they did as brothers Otto and Benjamin Miessner had almost completed a similar instrument with the same name.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin's mentors during this time were some of society's foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists, including composer Joseph Schillinger and physicist (and amateur violinist) Albert Einstein.


title: Leon Theremin

text: At this time, Theremin worked closely with fellow Soviet émigré and theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore (née Reisenberg). Theremin had several times


title: Leon Theremin

text: proposed to her, but she chose to marry attorney Robert Rockmore, and thereafter used his name professionally.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Federal Bureau of Prisons hired Theremin to build a metal detector for Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin was interested in a role for the theremin in dance music. He developed performance locations that could automatically react to dancers' movements with varied patterns of sound and light.


title: Leon Theremin

text: The Soviet consulate had apparently demanded he divorce Katia. Afterwards, while working with the American Negro Ballet Company, the inventor married a young African-American prima ballerina Lavinia Williams. Their marriage caused shock and disapproval in his social circles, but the ostracized couple remained together.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin abruptly returned to the Soviet Union in 1938. At the time, the reasons for his return were unclear; some claimed that he was homesick, while others believed that he had been kidnapped by Soviet officials. Beryl Campbell, one of Theremin's dancers, said his wife Lavinia "called to say that he had been kidnapped from his studio" and that "some Russians had come in" and that she felt that he was going to be spirited out of the country.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Many years later, it was revealed that Theremin had returned to his native land due to tax and financial difficulties in the United States. However, Theremin himself once told Bulat Galeyev that he decided to leave himself because he was anxious about the approaching war. Shortly after he returned he was imprisoned in the Butyrka prison and later sent to work in the Kolyma gold mines. Although rumors of his execution were widely circulated and published, Theremin was put to work in a "sharashka" (a secret laboratory in the Gulag camp system), together with Andrei Tupolev, Sergei Korolev and other well-known scientists and engineers. The Soviet Union rehabilitated him in 1956.


title: Leon Theremin

text: During his work at the "sharashka", where he was put in charge of other workers, Theremin created the Buran eavesdropping system. A precursor to the modern laser microphone, it worked by using a low-power infrared beam from a distance to detect sound vibrations in glass windows. Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the secret police organization NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB), used the Buran device to spy on the British, French and US embassies in Moscow. According to Galeyev, Beria also spied on Stalin; Theremin kept some of the tapes in his flat. In 1947, Theremin was awarded the Stalin prize for inventing this advance in Soviet espionage technology.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin invented another listening device called The Thing, hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of the United States carved in wood. In 1945, Soviet school children presented the concealed bug to the U.S. Ambassador as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally. It hung in the ambassador’s residential office in Moscow and intercepted confidential conversations there during the first seven years of the Cold War, until it was accidentally discovered in 1952.


title: Leon Theremin

text: After his release from the "sharashka" in 1947, Theremin volunteered to remain working with the KGB until 1966. By 1947 Theremin had remarried, to Maria Guschina, his third wife, and they had two children: Lena and Natalia.


title: Leon Theremin

text: Theremin worked at the Moscow Conservatory of Music for 10 years where he taught, and built theremins, electronic cellos and some terpsitones (another invention of Theremin). There he was discovered by Harold Schonberg, the chief music critic of "The New York Times", who was visiting the Conservatory. But when an article by Schonberg appeared mentioning Theremin, the Conservatory's Managing Director declared that "electricity is not good for music; electricity is to be used for electrocution" and had his instruments removed from the Conservatory. Further electronic music projects were banned, and Theremin was summarily dismissed.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In the 1970s, Leon Theremin was a Professor of Physics at Moscow State University (Department of Acoustics) developing his inventions and supervising graduate students.


title: Leon Theremin

text: After 51 years in the Soviet Union Theremin started travelling, first visiting France in June 1989 and then the United States in 1991, each time accompanied by his daughter Natalia. Theremin was brought to New York by filmmaker Steven M. Martin where he was reunited with Clara Rockmore. He also made a demonstration concert at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in early 1993 before dying in Moscow on Wednesday 3 November 1993 at the age of 97.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 2000, University of Illinois Press published "Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage" by Albert Glinsky, with a foreword by Robert Moog.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 2014, Canadian writer Sean Michaels published the novel "Us Conductors", which was inspired by the relationship between Leon Theremin and Clara Rockmore. The novel won the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize.


title: Leon Theremin

text: In 2022, French writer Emmanuel Villin published the novel La Fugue Thérémine (éditions Asphalte), which looks back on the life of Leon Theremin.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: Geraldine Hakewill (born 13 July 1987) is an Australian-raised actress, who as Geri is also a singer and songwriter. She acted as Chelsea Babbage in the Australian TV series "Wanted" for three seasons from 2016 to 2018 and Peregrine Fisher the titular character in "Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries" for two seasons from 2019 to 2021.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: Hakewill was born in Paris in 1987, where her parents were living while her father, Peter Hakewill, a general practitioner, was working in tropical disease management. At nine months old, her family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, and then to Chennai in south India where they practised meditation in an ashram. Her mother Elizabeth later taught meditation. Hakewill grew up in Sydney from age four with a younger brother, Lucas. In March 1994 her father set up an Australian agency for "Médecins Sans Frontières" (Doctors Without Borders) to attract local doctors. When she was 14-years-old her parents divorced. Her father remarried and she has two step-siblings and two half-siblings. Hakewill graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: She played Beth in the 2010 Australian film "Uninhabited" directed by Bill Bennett, and played Ella in 2011 Australian thriller "Wasted on the Young". In August to September of that year she took the role of Tiny in the theatre play, "Sweet Bird andsoforth" at ATYP Studio. She has appeared in productions for the Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre and Bell Shakespeare Company. Also in 2011, she played Angela in a production of the play "Heaven" by Kit Brookman, performed at the Old 505 Theatre in Surry Hills, Sydney.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: Hakewill secured the starring role of Chelsea Babbage in all three seasons of TV thriller, "Wanted" (2016–2018) for which she received a "TV Week" Logie Award nomination for Most Outstanding Newcomer in 2017. From 2019 she starred in "Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries" a spin-off of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" (2012–2015) TV series, which was based on Kerry Greenwood's novels. She took the lead and titular character of Peregrine Fisher for two seasons (2019, 2021). She was hoping for a third season, however as from October 2022 there has been no confirmation from its broadcaster Seven Network.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: In 2019 Hakewill also had a recurring role as prison inmate Kylee Webb on the seventh season of "Wentworth". At the Darlinghurst Theatre Company in that year, she played the shy character of Mari in the play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice", where she also showcased her vocal talents.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: In 2021, she played Dr. Kareena Wells in ABC's eight-part psych ward drama, "Wakefield". Filming had begun but bush fires during 2019/2020 pushed the production to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, which then were also affected by fires. In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic shut down shooting for five months, and the cast were able to secure the government JobKeeper payments during the hiatus.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: In "Wanted" season 2 episode 2 Hakewill, in character, sang her rendition of "Angel" originally by Sarah McLachlan. Under the moniker Geri, the artist's music career spans folk and jazz. She is inspired by musicians, Karen O and Feist. Her self-written four-track extended play (EP) "You've Never Seen This Smile", was released on 28 March 2018. An EP track, "Healing" was used in the final episodes of "Wanted" season 3 in October of that year.


title: Geraldine Hakewill

text: Hakewill met fellow actor Mark Leonard Winter in 2011, they were engaged in 2017, and married in December 2021. They live in Daylesford, Victoria. She co-starred with Winter in the 2020 film "Disclosure". Hakewill announced via an instagram post on 12 September 2022 that the couple were expecting their first child. Hakewill has revealed her anxiety, which she ameliorates by meditation, "[it] has always been a big part of my self-care mental health practices. The meditation mum teaches is called 'heartfulness', which is a raja yoga meditation: very simple, no chanting. You sit in silence and focus on the heart. I've done that since I was little." Her favourite TV series is "The West Wing", her favourite movie "Amélie" and she dreams of one day working with actress Juliette Binoche. One of her friends is fashion designer Bianca Spender.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15 or Global Goal 15) is about "Life on land". One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015, the official wording is: "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss". The Goal has 12 targets to be achieved by 2030. Progress towards targets will be measured by 14 indicators.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The nine "outcome targets" include: Conserve and restore terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems; end deforestation and restore degraded forests; end desertification and restore degraded land; ensure conservation of mountain ecosystems, protect biodiversity and natural habitats; protect access to genetic resources and fair sharing of the benefits; eliminate poaching and trafficking of protected species; prevent invasive alien species on land and in water ecosystems; and integrate ecosystem and biodiversity in governmental planning. The three "means of achieving targets" include: Increase financial resources to conserve and sustainably use ecosystem and biodiversity; finance and incentivize sustainable forest management; combat global poaching and trafficking.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Humans depend on earth and the oceans to live. This goal aims at securing sustainable livelihoods that will be enjoyed for generations to come. The human diet is composed 80% of plant life, which makes agriculture a prime economic resource. Forests cover 30 percent of the Earth's surface, provide vital habitats for millions of species, and important sources for clean air and water, as well as being crucial for combating climate change.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: An annual report is prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations evaluating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The UN has defined 12 Targets and 14 Indicators for SDG 15. Five of them are to be achieved by the year 2020, two by the year 2030 and the rest have no target year.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Each of the targets also has one or more indicators to measure progress. In total there are fourteen indicators for SDG 15. FAO is the custodian agency for three of the indicators for SDG targets 15.1, 15.2 and 15.4.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.1 is: "By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Forests cover roughly 4 billion hectares or 30.7 per cent of the world's land area. 93 percent are natural forests and 7 percent are planted. The forest area is defined by the land under natural or planted groups of trees of at least 5 meters in situ. The trees can be either be productive or non-productive and should not include fruit plantations and agroforestry systems and trees in urban parks and gardens. Protected areas are defined by three indicators: 1) the proportion of total terrestrial area classified as protected 2) the proportion of important sites of terrestrial biodiversity who are protected 3) and proportion of important sites of freshwater biodiversity that are protected.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: In 2020 it was found that the proportion of forests in protected areas and under long-term management plans, as well as certified forest area, increased or remained stable at the global level and in most regions of the world.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The United Nations General Assembly has defined Sustainable forest management as a dynamic and evolving concept that aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social and environmental values of all types of forests, for the benefit of present and future generations (Resolution A/RES/62/98). It aims to find a balance between the increasing demands for forest products and the benefits as well as preserving the health and diversity of the forests.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: SDG indicator 15 is composed of five sub-indicators that measure progress towards all dimensions of sustainable forest management. They provide qualification to the management of forest areas and assess areas with a set on national and international standards.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Forests are affected by various direct or indirect driving factors, population, and the pursuit of food and other commodities, putting tremendous pressure on the land (Lobell et al. 2011).Findings in FAO's Forest Resources Assessment. The global forest coverage rate decreased by 3.1% from 1990 to 2015, and the rate of deforestation in tropical regions was relatively high, with an annual loss of 5-6 million hectares. Since 2001, tropical forest coverage has continued to decline, and 80% of tropical and subtropical deforestation is caused by agriculture (Kissinger et al. 2012) Latin America accounts for 70%, and Asia and Africa account for 30-35%. REDD+ (Reduce deforestation) And forest degradation emissions) are largely ignored and often excluded from forest activity strategies (Klaus, 2019). This omission is harmful because the loss of fauna has an impact on tropical forest ecosystems. Significant negative impacts, which in turn affect the biodiversity in these systems, and the many socio-economic and cultural impacts that affect human well-being.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.3 is: "By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one indicator: Indicator 15.3.1 is the "Proportion of land that is degraded over the total land area".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Desertification is defined by the degradation of drylands as a result of various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Desertification can be prevented by integrating land and water management to protect soils from erosion and degradation, protecting the vegetations, integrating the use of land for farming among others. Desertification affects as much as one-sixth of the world's population, 70% of all drylands, and one-quarter of the total land area of the world. It also leads to spreading poverty and the degradation of billion hectares of cropland.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.4 is: "By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The Mountain Green Cover Index measured the percentage of mountain environments covered by green areas and the capacity of those areas to fulfil their ecosystem roles.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: As of 2017, 76% of the world's mountain areas were covered by green vegetation, including forests, shrubs, grassland and cropland. The Mountain Green Cover was lowest in Western Asia and Northern Africa (60%) and highest in Oceania (96%).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.5 is: "Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The Red List Index (RLI) shows trends in overall extinction risk for species and is used by governments to track their progress towards targets for reducing biodiversity loss. If the RLI value is 1.0, it means that species are categorized as 'Least Concern'. They will be expected to go extinct in the near future. If the RLI value is 0, this means that the species have gone extinct.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Habitat loss, unsustainable hunting, the introduction of invasive species and other factors have led to the extinction of 322 terrestrial vertebrate since 1500. At the same time, the numbers of most living species have declined. According to a detailed assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 24,307 species are now seriously threatened with extinction.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: A report in 2020 stated that globally, the species extinction risk has worsened by about 10 per cent over the past three decades. The Red List Index is declining, from 0.82 in 1990 to 0.75 in 2015 to 0.73 in 2020.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: A report in 2018 stated that "biodiversity must be mainstreamed across these sectors and spatial planning integrated accordingly." It also tackles the importance of taking care of land degradation and restoring them where possible.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: An important goal in 2021 is for the world to agree on a new biodiversity framework at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the CBD in Kunming, China. Throughout 2020, UNEP advocates an ambitious and measurable framework that supports more, larger and better managed protected areas, agriculture and fisheries that actively promote biodiversity, an end to harmful subsidies, and a shift from destructive extraction resource to sustainable consumption and production patterns.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Urbanization leads to land loss and affects natural ecosystems, and the impact of urbanization on biodiversity is more serious than other forms of human activities (Czech,et al,2000).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Urbanization leads to light and noise pollution that affect the physiology, behavior and reproduction of many animals (Newport et al. 2014). Biodiversity considerations seem to be one of the least important factors.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: A healthy and functional natural environment is essential to promote sustainable economic growth and is conducive to human health and happiness.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.6 is: "Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, as internationally agreed."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one indicator: Indicator 15.6.1 is the "Number of countries that have adopted legislative, administrative and policy frameworks to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This indicator is used to track countries' participation in protocols related to the promotion and sharing of genetic resources for plants, food and agriculture.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The Nagoya Protocol on "Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity" is an international agreement which aims to share the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equal way.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: As of 2020, there are now 146 contracting parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and 56 countries have provided information about their access and benefit-sharing measures.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.7 is: "Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one Indicator: Indicator 15.7.1 is the "Proportion of traded wildlife that was poached or illicitly trafficked".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Now on earth, nearly three-quarters of threatened or near-threatened species are being over-exploited for trade and/or subsistence purposes representing a leading global threat to biodiversity. For several Critically Endangered taxa, such as rhinos, pangolins and wedgefish, trade-driven over-exploitation represents the greatest threat to their survival. Due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, a wide range of policy responses have been proposed. Extreme proposals include calls for a complete ban on the use and trade of wildlife or blanket global measures for entire Classes of wildlife. They aim to protect public health, while also improving animal welfare and meeting conservation goals. Others have called for a more balanced or targeted approach, targeting critical control points in supply chains or specific species that are more likely to harbor zoonotic viruses.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: In China, Top legislature passed a decision to thoroughly ban the illegal trading of wildlife and eliminate the consumption of wild animals to safeguard people's lives and health.This decision covers all terrestrial wild animals, fish, wild plants, amphibians and reptiles. Vietnam has temporarily banned the import of wildlife and wildlife products (exemptions for some non-edible products) and called for enforcement of existing laws to eliminate advertising, trade and consumption of illegal wildlife products. Similarly, Bolivia re-starting bans on wildlife trade and consumption as a matter of public health. Gabon has taken a more targeted approach by banning the consumption of bats and pangolins. In general, wildlife trade policies that incentivize sustainable use typically have more immediate positive effects on wildlife populations than outright trade bans.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.8 is: "By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems and control or eradicate the priority species."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one Indicator: Indicator is 15.8.1 is the "Proportion of countries adopting relevant national legislation and adequately resourcing the prevention or control of invasive alien species".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Poaching is defined by illegal hunting and capturing of wild animals. The world is facing an unprecedented spike in illegal wildlife trade. It is the largest direct threat to the future of many of the world's most threatened and vulnerable species.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Wildlife poaching and trafficking threaten biodiversity and ecosystems as well as local livelihoods, wellbeing and security. Trafficking is normally driven by organized crime, and made easy by corruption and weak governance. Trafficking is a cross-cutting issue. Hence, addressing SDG 15.7 also addresses many other SDGs.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.9 is: "By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Indicator is 15.9.1 is the "Progress towards national targets established in accordance with Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: "Aichi Biodiversity Target 2" addresses the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society. The target is to have all biodiversity values integrated into national and local development by 2020 as well the incorporation of planning processes into national reporting systems.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: As at January 2020, 129 parties, including the European Union, had reported their sixth national report. It was found that "about half the parties had made progress towards their targets, but not at a rate that will allow them to meet their goals".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.a is: "Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one Indicator: Indicator 15.a.1 is the "Official development assistance and public expenditure on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The official development assistance (ODA) is defined by "the flows to countries and territories on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of ODA recipients and to multilateral institutions". Institutions can by official agencies, state and local governments. The transactions should mainly promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlights the fact that biodiversity-related ODA may often target multiple objectives at the same time, such as climate change and gender equality.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.b is: "Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management and provide adequate incentives to developing countries to advance such management, including for conservation and reforestation."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one indicator: Indicator 15.b.1 is the "Official development assistance and public expenditure on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target aims at mobilizing resources at all levels to finance sustainable forest management. The United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030 (UNSPF) presents a global framework for actions at all levels to sustainably manage forests and halt deforestation and forest degradation. Forests present essential ecosystem services like timber, food, fuel as well as soil and water conservation and clean air. They also contribute to climate change mitigation and conservation of biodiversity. When we sustainably manage forests, they become healthy and resilient and provide essential goods and services to everyone.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The full title of Target 15.c is: "Enhance global support for efforts to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species, including by increasing the capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities."


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This target has one indicator: Indicator 15.c.1 is the "Proportion of traded wildlife that was poached or illicitly trafficked".


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The illegal trade and animal trafficking have grown significantly to become one of the world's largest black markets valued at tens of billions of dollars.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The challenges to combat global poaching and trafficking need to be addressed by enforcing laws and strengthening institutions.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The reason SDG 15 is so impactful to our environment is because it promotes conservation, as well as biodiversity sustainably. These two facets supports the health of an ecosystem, which is vital for providing food, water, as well as ecosystem services, such as climate regulation and recreation. These ecosystem services are closely related to biodiversity, and essential to the livelihoods and well-being of marginalized groups, such as rural and indigenous communities. About 1.6 billion of the world’s population depend on forests for their livelihood, which includes more than 70 million Indigenous peoples.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: SDG 15 also has a huge impact on sustainable development, which relies on the prosperity of land/forest ecosystems. 30% of the Earth’s surface is covered by forests, all of which together home more than 80% of all the terrestrial species of animals and plants in the world. However, according to data released by the University of Maryland, the planet lost an area of tree cover larger than the United Kingdom in 2020, which includes more than 4.2 million hectares of primary tropical forests.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: This catastrophic losses of forests due to deforestation results in a loss in biodiversity, and consequently, low crop yield. Considering deforestation accounts for about 15% of emissions worldwide enhancing desertification, decreased forest cover could/has resulted in an increase in global warming's effects on our climate, which would affect over 1 billion of the population in the world.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: SDG 15 is vital to have its targets met, because protecting and restoring ecosystems, as well as the biodiversity they support, directly mitigates the effects of climate change, and provide greater resilience in the face of increasing human pressure, and increasing disasters in our world.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: An annual report is prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations evaluating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. According to the expert group meeting in preparation for the High-level Political Forum of 2018, progress on SDG 15 is related to actions rather than status. For example, there is progress on the numbers of protected areas but enough on the Red List numbers. The monitoring framework still needs to be linked to quality to obtain more meaningful results. It also needs more indicators in areas such as forest intactness, management effectiveness of protected areas, and meaningful integration of biodiversity into other processes.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The biggest constraints to achieving SDG 15 are the lack of political profile, and a lack of cohesive action. This, accompanied by the fragmented nature of efforts to stabilize the loss of nature and life and land, means it is crucial to understand the political relevance of SDG 15 and act accordingly. This will give a clear picture of the costs of achieving this goal.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Five of the SDG 15 targets ( 15.1, 15.2, 15.5,15.8 and 15.9) that were linked to biodiversity were set to mature in 2020. Based on progress by June 2020 however, it seemed unlikely that they would meet the deadline. Target 15.1 outlines an average of 44% terrestrial and 41% freshwater biodiversity areas classified within a protected area (United Nations Statistics Division, 2020). Less than half of the outlined key biodiversity areas are protected currently, and progress is still slowing. In a progress summary for SDGS from 2020, progress has been made, but has not been enough to meet the target (United Nations Statistics Division, 2020). The loss of forests has continued to remain high, even if the shrinking is at a slower pace than in the past. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, forest area has declined between 2000 and 2020, from 31.9% to 31.2%, respectively. Between 2015 and 2020, the estimated annual rate of deforestation was 10 million hectares, which is an improvement over the 12 million hectares between 2010 and 2015 (UN News, 2020). This is directly linked to target 15.2, and according to a progress summary that shows that progress that has been made, is simply not enough to achieve the target.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: For target 15.5, there has been no progress or progress is moving from the target. Extinction risks for species has worsened by 10% over 3 decades, which directly opposes the aim of the target: to protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: For target 15.8, no progress has been made, but with the growth in the number of invasive species and their spread due to increased trade and transport, the rate of biological invasions are not slowing down anytime soon.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: For target 15.9, progress has been made, but is not sufficient to meet the target. By January 2020, progress towards the national targets related to Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 was examined by 113 parties and about half of them made progress but at a slower pace, which would not allow them to achieved their targets by the end of 2020.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: In FAO's 2020 report on the state of the world's forests, the degradation and loss of forests was mentioned as an underlying cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a contributing factor to disrupting nature's balance and increasing the risk and exposure of people to animal-related diseases. COVID-19 is a proof that degraded habitats will continue to lead to more animal-human interactions, diversification of diseases, evolutionary processes because parasites spread easily from livestock to human beings. It is evident from the pandemic that wildlife trafficking is a great contributor to ecosystems disruptions and spread of infections.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: In 2020, there was brief progress on SDGS 12-15 on sustainable production and consumption, climate action and biodiversity conservation, but these gains were quickly offset once restrictions were lifted.This applies to CO₂ emissions, which declined in major economies during lockdowns, but went quickly back to their pre-pandamic levels after restrictions were lifted. It is estimated that deforestation increased by 12% from 2019 to 2020, and plastic consumption and waste may also increase during pandemic. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the use and disposal of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including face masks,gloves, face shields, and other types of PPE has increased considerably.According to a standing stock surveys COVID-19 PPE contamination accounted for 16.5% of total contamination. Similarly, a large numbers of PPE( a total of 29,254 PPE items) were found out which 97.9% were face masks. In Fiji, approximately 10 masks were found within 100 meters of the street. All of this waste turns into microplastics, affecting Marine life, life on land (dogs, birds and cats) and water.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The Covid pandemic has also made governments pay more attention to wildlife trafficking and trade. Some governments have taken decisive action and implemented new policy measures. For example, China's highest legislature passed the decision to "total prohibit illegal wildlife trade, eliminate the consumption of wild animals, and protect people's lives and health." Vietnam temporarily bans the import of wild animals and wild animal products (with some exemptions for various non-edible products), and calls for the implementation of existing laws to eliminate the advertising, purchase, sale and consumption of illegal wild animal products (Prime Minister of Vietnam, 2020). Similarly, Bolivia passed a resolution reaffirming the prohibition of wildlife trade and consumption as a public health issue (Ministryio de Medio Ambiente y Agua, 2020). Gabon has adopted a more targeted approach, banning the consumption of bats and pangolins.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The effects of COVID-19 have an impact on the SDG 15 goals for short term (2020) and long term (2030) targets. The target addressing terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems has been shown to be reached, with the terrestrial and inland ecosystem being strengthened in 2020. In relation to sustaining management of forests, the economic and production activities have discontinued, resulting in an overall positive impact on forests in 2020. The mountain ecosystem, additionally, generates a huge economical impact on mountain range regions in 2020 and is predicted to do so long term as well. Lastly, the target consisting of the impact of foreign alien species proclaims ecological balance through the maintenance of plants and animals needs to be evaluated, as economical investments are required to prolong the system. By 2030, the implantations of the practices based on the economic benefits need to be evaluated, as well as the long term requirement of forests for human utilization. A study from Skyline University College conjectures the COVID-19 to potentially have originated from illegal wildfire trades in China’s wet markets, causing the other nations to tackle the reasons for that catastrophe.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: Environmentalist Saudamini Das of Institute of Economic Growth ties the positive impact of the pandemic on SDG 15 to be due to an increased consciousness amongst individuals for knowing more about biodiversity. Amba Jambir, Police Analyst with Sustainable Forum Nagaland elucidates the dependency on farms and natural forest ecosystems. Jambir declares individuals globally gained more insight on eating healthy food during the lockdown due to the restriction of external food services. Das predicts a negative outcome from this insight as she predicts the possibility of people showing a preference to healthier foods and vegetarian eating, which may strain agriculture and biodiversity.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The UN 17 sustainable development goals are inherently interconnected, most of the goals can be achieved only when others are also achieved. And achieving any individual goal tends to help the achievement of the other goals. SDG 15 aims to "protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss". Even though it is primarily an environmental goal, it is seen as contributing to the implementation of many other goals, particularly the issues of food production and livelihoods, which are closely linked.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The success in conserving biodiversity can help to achieve SDG 1. For example, when farms have more biodiverse, they are more resilient and productive, reducing poverty by increasing agricultural productivity. Biodiversity also provides basic resources and ecosystem services that directly support a range of economic activities such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism. Similarly, SDG 2 is to eradicate hunger, and eradicating hunger largely depends on agricultural productivity. Growing food while maintaining biodiversity in agriculture, is a key component of achieving food security. In line with SDG 3, more biodiverse environments protect people from specific pathogens and pests that not only damage crops but also directly threaten human health. Protecting biological diversity, reducing pollution and controlling pests through natural rather than pesticide can also protect human health.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: The impact of SDG 15 on gender equality (SDG 5) is also significant. In many parts of the world, women are farmers, especially poor women living in rural areas. They are the main labor force in growing crops, often depend on forests for fuel, fodder and food. Their limited ownership of the land reduces their ability to adapt to losses or decide how to use it. By protecting biodiversity and thus maintaining agricultural productivity, can also empower gender equality. When forest conditions and regeneration improve, women themselves will get a greater political voice. Indigenous women in Peru, for example, have turned to ancestral farming techniques in response to climate change with support from the UN Women Gender Fund. In addition to healthier crops and higher community incomes, the program promotes indigenous women's participation in public Spaces and decision-making.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: For SDG 6 and SDG 7, the availability and quality of water from the functioning of ecosystems, especially forest ecological system. Protecting biodiversity, and maintaining the integrity of wetlands and forests play a huge role in the acquisition and replenishment of freshwater resources because natural ecosystems act as filters to clean water and protect it from diseases that can harm the animal or human health. Biodiversity, if managed properly, can allow the sustainable use of biological energy, this means that gaining energy from crops, for example, gaining methane from crop production waste, is a form of access to energy, rather than from fossil fuels, thereby reducing pollution, will exert positive effects on biodiversity conservation.SDG 15 has a direct link to SDG 8 includes high-yield agriculture and tourism, which attracts tourists through protected ecosystems and biodiverse environments, thereby enhancing economic returns. At the same time, the conservation and integrity of ecological zones, ecosystems, can play a huge role in protecting infrastructure (SDG 9). Such as protecting road networks, power lines, and other infrastructure in areas threatened by natural disasters. If biodiversity is destroyed, it negatively affects poor people, because their livelihoods depend heavily on ecosystems, thereby increasing inequality(SDG 10).


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: For urban development (SDG 11), modeling studies of urban temperatures in the coming decades suggest that in urban areas with a 10% reduction in green cover, urban temperatures could rise by 8.2 ° C above current levels under high emissions scenarios. On the other hand, a 10% increase in urban green coverage could limit temperature increases to 1° C. Maintaining biodiversity plays a vital role in helping to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mangrove forests, for example, account for approximately 1% of carbon sequestration by the world’s forests, but about 14% by the global ocean. Therefore, negative impacts on mangrove habitats can result in very high GHG emissions. The impact of land-based activities such as agriculture, land reclamation and urban development on ecosystems demonstrates the high degree of linkage between SDG 13, SDG 14 and SDG 15, and the importance of the overall management of all three.


title: Sustainable Development Goal 15

text: In the US there are over eight thousand tax-exempt organizations working on issues related to UN SDG 15, according to data filed with the Internal Revenue Service –IRS and aggregated by X4Impact. X4Impact, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and Giving Tech Labs, created a free online interactive tool Life on Land and Nature Conservation in the US.


title: Field artillery

text: Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement.


title: Field artillery

text: Until the early 20th century, field artillery were also known as foot artillery, for while the guns were pulled by beasts of burden (often horses), the gun crews would usually march on foot, thus providing fire support mainly to the infantry. This was in contrast to horse artillery, whose emphasis on speed while supporting cavalry units necessitated lighter guns and crews riding on horseback.


title: Field artillery

text: Whereas horse artillery has been superseded by self-propelled artillery, field artillery has survived to this day both in name and mission, albeit with motor vehicles towing the guns (this towed artillery arrangement is often called mobile artillery), carrying the crews and transporting the ammunition. Modern artillery has also advanced to rapidly deployable wheeled and tracked vehicles and precision delivered munitions capable of striking targets at ranges between 15 and 30 kilometers.


title: Field artillery

text: Early artillery was unsuited to the battlefield, as the extremely massive pieces could not be moved except in areas that were already controlled by the combatant. Thus, their role was limited to such functions as breaking sieges. Following the beginning of the gunpowder era, the first field artillery came into being as metallurgy allowed thinner cannon barrels to withstand the explosive forces without bursting. However, there was still a serious risk of the constant changes of the battlefield conspiring to leave behind slow-moving artillery units – either on the advance, or more dangerously, in retreat. Artillery units were particularly vulnerable to assault by light cavalry, which were frequently used in this role. Only with a number of further inventions (such as the limber, hitched to the trail of a wheeled artillery piece equipped with trunnions), did the concept of field artillery really take off.


title: Field artillery

text: The medieval Ming dynasty Chinese invented mobile battlefield artillery during the early part of the fourteenth century at the time when gunpowder and the primordial cannon were first being adopted in the West. One of the earliest documented uses of field artillery is found in the 14th-century Ming Dynasty treatise "Huolongjing". The text describes a Chinese cannon called a "thousand ball thunder cannon", manufactured of bronze and fastened with wheels. The book also describes another mobile form of artillery called a "barbarian attacking cannon" consisting of a cannon attached to a two-wheel carriage.


title: Field artillery

text: Before field artillery batteries generally fired directly at visible targets measured in distances of meters and yards. Today, modern field batteries measure targets in kilometers and miles and often do not directly engage the enemy with observed direct fire. The hundredfold increase in the range of artillery guns in the 20th century has been the result of development of rifled cannons, improvements in propellants, better communications between observer and gunner, and technical improvements in gunnery computational abilities.


title: Field artillery

text: Most field artillery situations require indirect fire due to weather, terrain, night-time conditions, distance, or other obstacles. These gunners can also rely upon a trained artillery observer, also called a forward observer, who sees the target and relays the coordinates of the target to their fire direction center, which in turn translates those coordinates into: a left-right aiming direction; an elevation angle; a calculated number of bags of propellant; and finally a fuze with a determined waiting time before exploding (if necessary) to be set, which is then mated to the artillery projectile now ready to be fired.


title: Field artillery

text: Modern field artillery (i.e. post-World War I) has three distinct sections: All batteries have a Fire Support Man (Forward Observer), Fire Direction Control (FDC), and Cannoners (Gunner).


title: Field artillery

text: The FOs are forward with the infantry (in support role) where they can see the targets and Call For Fire (CFF) upon them. They call the FDC on the radio and transmit a request for fire in the format of CFF. The FDC calculates the CFF and send a deflection and elevation to the gun line. The gun line cranks the specified elevation and deflection on the howitzers, punch the artillery shell followed by the bag (powder). Depending on the CFF, the gunline will fire the round when they are ready or when the FO calls and tells them to fire. The FO spots the round and sends a correction back to the FDC and the process starts all over again until it's done.


title: Field artillery

text: The batteries are many kilometres behind the FLOT (Forward Line of Troops). They plan a location where they can be Fire Capability for some certain amount of time and do multiple fire missions before needing to displace.


title: Field artillery

text: They can also calculate "defensive fire" tasks. These are pre‑planned missions, typically just in front of or upon one's own positions, designed with the intention of either suppressing potential attacks (where fire is dropped just in front of a friendly position), or in dropping fire on a recently abandoned or overrun position to prevent the enemy from consolidating there. Because the calculations have already been done, the fire can be called down very quickly when it is needed.