News


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Watch Out China: Vietnam's Coast Guard Will Fight Back

Sep 11, 2015 | Ankit Panda, The Diplomat

Starting October 20, 2015, Vietnamese coast guard vessels will be permitted to use on-board weapons to deter and repel foreign boats. According to a report by…


Myanmar: Shan Villagers and the Salween Dam Fight

Sep 11, 2015 | Dana MacLean, The Diplomat

The increasing army presence to defend the construction of a controversial Salween river dam in southeastern Myanmar’s Shan state has sparked heightened concerns among rural…


Myanmar: Myanmar Third-Worst for Deforestation Rate, Says UN

Sep 11, 2015 | Aye Sapay Phyu, Myanmar Times

Since 2010, Myanmar has lost more than 546,000 hectares (over 1.3 million acres) of forest on average each year, according to a report by the…


Liberia: A Transition into the New "Liberia Land Authority", a Priority That Requires Collective Efforts (part I)

Sep 11, 2015 | Liberian Observer

Liberia’s land administration and management system has negatively impacted the socio-economic and political wellbeing of all Liberians. Property rights in land are characterized by weak…


Grant Opportunity: Dialogue and Dispute Resolution for Conflict Prevention in Guinea's Forest Region

Sep 10, 2015 | Department of State, Bureau of Conflict Stabilization Operations

CSO seeks to support facilitated dialogue and community level alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to prevent and mitigate inter-communal violence in Guinea's Forest Region. The dialogue…


Director, Early Engagement in Extractives (EEE)

Sep 9, 2015 | One Earth Future Foundation

OEF is a private, self-funded operating foundation based just outside Boulder, Colorado. OEF develops and then supports programs aimed at improving social systems in the…


DRC: New Scheme Seeks to Improve Tracking of DRC Minerals

Sep 9, 2015 | Nick Long, Voice of America

The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is renowned for its mineral wealth, but much of that wealth is untapped, partly because of fears that mineral…


Liberia: Women Petition Senate to Pass Land Rights Bill

Sep 9, 2015 | Liberia News Agency, Richard Stephens

A group of women under the banner of the Women NGO Network Tuesday converged on the Capitol Building to petition the Liberian Senate to speedily…


Liberia: Liberia's Bust State Oil Firm to Get 'Forensic' Uudit

Sep 9, 2015 | AFP

Liberia's Senate ordered Wednesday a "forensic" audit of the bankrupt state oil company and vowed to punish anyone found to have negligently handled its finances.…


Mexico: Mexico Community Takes on Illegal Loggers

Sep 9, 2015 | John Holman, Al Jazeera

Organised criminal gangs have helped make Mexico one of the worst victims of deforestation in the world. However, a small community is now taking on…


Don't Be Fooled by Dialogue -- Argentina Only Wants One Answer to 'the Falklands Question'

Sep 8, 2015 | Jan Cheek

On Friday 4th, Ms Cecilia Nahón, Argentina Ambassador to the United States, wrote an article for the Huffington Post, titled 'Malvinas: All Argentina Is Saying…


Trustee of Environmental Investigation Agency Trust Ltd

Sep 7, 2015 | Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

Trustees

EIA Trust is seeking two experienced and engaged individuals to join the Board of Trustees. We are seeking one Trustee with high-level fundraising experience and…


Coffee: A Pillar of Peace in South Sudan and Africa

Sep 7, 2015 | John Prendergast

Four years after independence there is very little to celebrate in South Sudan. Border and land disputes continue to strain ties, and given other high-visibility…


Myanmar: A Closer Look at Chin State’s Vulnerable Flood-Displaced

Sep 7, 2015 | Lawi Weng, The Irrawaddy

Hundreds of newly displaced families in this small village in Chin State wait hopefully for relief in temporary shelters after a landslide wiped away their…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdistan Says Paying $75 Million to Genel, DNO, Gulf Keystone

Sep 7, 2015 | Isabel Coles and Stephen Kalin, Reuters

Iraq's Kurdistan region said on Monday it had allocated $75 million of revenue from its independent crude sales to oil exporting companies that have gone…


Syria: How Climate Change is Behind the Surge of Migrants to Europe

Sep 7, 2015 | Aryn Baker, Time

More than 10,000 migrants and refugees traveled to Western Europe via Hungary over the weekend, fleeing conflict-ravaged and impoverished homelands in the hope of finding…


DRC: Companies Struggle to Comply with Rules on Conflict Minerals

Sep 7, 2015 | Lynnley Browning, New York Times

A pink My Little Pony balloon does not usually evoke images of rifle-toting warlords in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Still, Party City Holdings, the…


Colombia: 47 Municipios de Cundinamarca Están en Riesgo de Sequía (47 Municipalities in Cundinamarca Are at Risk of Drought)

Sep 7, 2015 | El Espectador

Este lunes, desde la Gobernación de Cundinamarca, advirtieron que 47 de 116 municipios del departamento están en alerta, debido al desabastecimiento de agua y a…


The Improbability of a Water War in South Asia

Sep 6, 2015 | Manu Moudgil

Water wars in South Asia are unlikely due to well-etched treaties and economic compulsions. If there is ever to be a Third World War, many believe it…


Angola: Foreign Oil Drillers Sour on Regulation-Happy Angola, Total Says

Sep 5, 2015 | Candido Mendes, Bloomberg

Angola risks losing investment from foreign oil companies as costly government regulations and low world prices make the country, vying to be Africa’s largest producer,…


DRC: Is There Even Such a Thing as Conflict-Free Minerals?

Sep 4, 2015 | Tom Clynes, Take Part

For decades, it has been impossible to distinguish processed tantalum that originated in DRC from other sources. The Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative and other endeavors aim…


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Chinese, Vietnamese Presidents Meet, Agreeing to Properly Handle Disputes

Sep 4, 2015 | Claire Hopkins, Press Examiner

The two leaders said they are pleased with the development of the Vietnam-Laos relationship and cooperation on all fronts, including the recently signed trade agreements…


Myanmar: Myanmar Activist in Court as Land Crackdown Deepens, Rights Groups Say

Sep 4, 2015 | Reuters

A prominent farmers' activist in Myanmar appeared in court on Friday in what watchdog organisations say is part of an escalating crackdown on land rights…


How History Shaped China's Water Crisis

Sep 3, 2015 | David Pietz

During the hot, dry month of August 1992 the farmers of Baishan village in Hebei province and Panyang village in Henan came to blows. Residents…


Gold Fever Grips Uganda

Sep 3, 2015 | Rodney Muhumuza

The hunt for gold takes the men 100 metres underground, past contraptions of wood and rope rigged to function like pulleys, past hard rock that…


Red Cross: Water Continues to Be Used as Weapon of War in Syria

Sep 3, 2015 | Schuyler Null

Water is being used as a weapon of war on one of Syria’s deadliest battlegrounds, says the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its…


Afghanistan: Report: $1B Wasted in Afghan Refugee Crisis

Sep 3, 2015 | Paul D. Shinkman, US News & World Report

Almost $1 billion in support from the U.S. government has done little to stem a refugee crisis in Afghanistan that has reportedly displaced millions of…


Liberia: GVL Excepts to INHCR Report

Sep 2, 2015 | The New Dawn

The Indonesian oil palm company, Golden Veroleum Liberia, has taken exception to the recent report by the Independent National Commission on Human Rights on the…


Israel/Palestine: Gaza Could Soon Become Uninhabitable, UN Report Predicts

Sep 2, 2015 | Peter Beaumont, Guardian

A hard-hitting new United Nations report says Gaza could become uninhabitable in less than five years if current economic and population trends continue. It cites…


Syria: Syria's Ailing Water Network Could Spark Epidemics: Red Cross

Sep 2, 2015 | Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Syria's water network, heavily damaged by bombs and shelling, is at risk of collapse as its civil war drags on, increasing the threat of deadly…