News


Ukraine: Vitally Important Resources in the ATO Zone Are Dangerous for Life and Health. Part 3: Soil

Jun 15, 2016 | Environment People Law

EPL continues to follow the latest results of the monitoring of the environment in Eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, such monitoring is now possible only in the…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurds Ready for New Oil Deal with Baghdad If They Get $1 Billion a Month

Jun 15, 2016 | Maher Chmaytelli and Isabel Coles, Reuters

Iraq's Kurds said they are ready to strike an agreement with the central government in Baghdad on a deal to increase oil exports if it…


Conflcit Minerals: European Union Reaches Outline Deal to Stem Flow of Conflict Minerals

Jun 15, 2016 | Barbara Lewis, Reuters

The European Union on Wednesday agreed an outline deal on a law to clean up the commodities supply chain, so importers will have to carry…


DRC: DRC Awards US$660 Million Contract for 240-MW Busanga Hydroelectric Project in Africa

Jun 15, 2016 | Gregory B. Poindexter, HydroWorld

After more than 10 years since signing agreements with companies in China and Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on June 8 that it…


China/Japan/East China Sea: Chinese Spy Ship Enters Japan’s Territorial Waters for Second Time Since End of WWII

Jun 15, 2016 | Ayako Mie, Japan Times

A Chinese navy reconnaissance vessel entered Japanese territorial waters near Kuchinoerabu Island off Kagoshima Prefecture early Wednesday morning — the first time since 2004 that…


South Sudan: Fleeing Famine in Northern South Sudan

Jun 15, 2016 | Henry Wilkins, Al Jazeera

Kanjak is situated in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, a region of South Sudan close to the border with its neighbour Sudan. It has recently entered…


Call for Abstracts for 2017 Warfare, Environment, Social Inequality, and Peace Studies (WESIPS) Biennial Conference

Jun 14, 2016 | Center for Cross-Cultural Study

Over millennia, warfare, environmental degradation, and social inequality have brought much suffering to humankind. In an effort to facilitate interdisciplinary cross-fertilization, WESIPS brings together a…


Land Grabbing Harms the Public

Jun 14, 2016 | Eleven Myanmar

Myanmar is still reeling from the consequences of land grabbing issues. A total of 1,500 acres of land were seized under the Thein Sein administration…


Myanmar: Probe into Gems Fund Leads to Calls for Chair’s Removal

Jun 14, 2016 | Chan Mya Htwe and Hlaing Kyaw Soe, Myanmar Times

The probe into an alleged US$100 million gems fund heist has only become more convoluted with the addition of counter-investigations and infighting within the association…


Myanmar: Kawlin Residents Brace for More Disastrous, Record-High Floods

Jun 14, 2016 | Khin Wine Phyu Phyu, Myanmar Times

Ordinary flooding is inevitable. But what Kawlin expects is record floods. Last July and August, when 12 of the country’s 14 states and regions were…


Myanmar: Tree Planting Changes Life in Ancient Buddhist city of Myanmar

Jun 14, 2016 | Koh Byung-joon, Yonhap News Agency

A South Korean aid group came in with a long-term "tree planting" project whose main objective is to make the land green and enhance the…


Climate Change: Land Grabs Soar, Worsen Land Conflicts and Climate Change: Report

Jun 14, 2016 | teleSUR

Industrial agriculture and financial sectors are hand-in-hand worsening climate change and then profiting from it, with an unprecedented number of land grabs over the last…


DRC: China Firms to Fund Congo Hydro Power Plant to Lift Mining Output

Jun 14, 2016 | Reuters

China's Sinohydro and China Railway Group will finance a $660 million hydroelectric plant in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is being built to reduce…


Colombia: Two Hundred Indigenous U'wa Occupy Gas Plant in Colombia

Jun 14, 2016 | Charlie Satow, Intercontinental Cry

Two hundred Indigenous U'wa men, women, and children have occupied Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol's Gibraltar I gas plant south of the Colombia-Venezuela border in…


Afghanistan: International Environmental Safeguards Specialist

Jun 13, 2016 | Adam Smith International

Adam Smith International is an award-winning international development consultancy that delivers projects supporting economic growth and government reform internationally. Our reputation as a global leader…


That Chinese Frigate in the Senkakus Was a Bad Move for China

Jun 13, 2016 | Steven Stashwick

Early last Thursday morning, a Chinese Jiangkai I frigate entered waters near the disputed Japanese Senkaku islands, called the Diaoyu by China. The move sparked…


Iraq: Iraq Says IMF Deal "on Track" as Cabinet Approves Reform Package

Jun 13, 2016 | Maher Chmaytelli and Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Iraq has approved measures requested by the International Monetary Fund to unlock loans that should help the country overcome a cash crunch caused by declining…


Myanmar: Over-Extraction, Chinese Slowdown Blamed for Jade Price Slump

Jun 13, 2016 | Kyaw Hsu Mon, The Irrawaddy

With the government’s biannual gem emporium looming at the end of this month, prices for Burmese jade have continued to slide against weakening demand. Industry…


Conflict Minerals: Over 125 Civil Society Actors Call the EU to Tackle Conflict Minerals

Jun 13, 2016 | Amnesty International, Global Witness, and others

"Open letter to the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the Member States of the European Union": Minerals are key components…


Côte d’Ivoire: Arbitrary Evictions in Protected Forests

Jun 13, 2016 | Human Rights Watch

Residents of Côte d’Ivoire’s protected forests live in fear of arbitrary evictions and have suffered extortion and physical abuse by forest conservation authorities, Human Rights…


Colombia: The Evolution of Coffee Culture in Colombia’s Coffee Region

Jun 12, 2016 | Erin Donaldson, Colombia Reports

While growing coffee has been a major part of the economy of Pereira and the surrounding coffee region, drinking one of Colombia’s most iconic export…


Global Witness Must Come Forward and Testify in Court

Jun 10, 2016 | T. Johnson

The UK-based environmental and transparency watchdog, Global Witness (GW), has caused quite a stir (commotion, uproar) in Liberia with its sweeping allegations of corruption and…


Parsing Myanmar’s First EITI Report

Jun 10, 2016 | Paul Shortell

Myanmar’s recently released first EITI report, covering the 2013-14 fiscal year, includes previously undisclosed data on resource production, revenue flows, licences and company ownership.

The information…


Colombia: Chief of Party

Jun 10, 2016 | Chemonics

Chemonics seeks a chief of party for the anticipated Colombia Carbono Activity. This USAID-funded activity will support Colombia in the implementation of its agriculture, forestry,…


Colombia: Colombian Government Gives in to Agriculture Subsidies

Jun 10, 2016 | Julian Villabona, PanAm Post

Since May 29, agrarian unemployment in Colombia has become a problem again similar to the spike of 2013. Rural and indigenous community members took to the…


Chad: Refugees in Chad Must Adapt or Starve

Jun 9, 2016 | Mahamat Adamou

The Darfur conflict fell out of the headlines years ago, but more than 300,000 Sudanese are still living as refugees in neighbouring Chad, a country…


Mali: Environmental Health Advisor

Jun 9, 2016 | International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at…


When the State Wilts Away

Jun 9, 2016 | Lois Parshley, Bloomberg Businessweek

In weak nations, environmental stress can tip society into catastrophe. Venezuela was unraveling even before Hugo Chávez died in 2013. The situation has only gotten worse…


Myanmar: New Commission Formed to Investigate Alleged Gems Association Embezzlement

Jun 9, 2016 | Htet Nain Zaw, The Irrawaddy

A new investigation commission will be formed to look into the Myanmar Gems Traders Association’s financial scandal, involving allegations of more than US$100 million that…


Myanmar: Hunting Endangered Animals in the Jungles of Myanmar

Jun 9, 2016 | Katie Arnold, Al Jazeera

The Asiatic black bear, characterised by the white crescent that adorns its chest, is a globally threatened species that roams a vast territory stretching from…