News
Myanmar: Cardinal: Time to Reverse Myanmar’s Decline, Keep Resource Wealth
Nov 17, 2016
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Catholic News Service
Yangon Cardinal Charles Bo said it was time to “reverse the trend” of a 60-year decline in Myanmar, designated the “least-developed country” by the World…
Sudan/South Sudan: Abyei Solution Elusive as UN Extends Peacekeepers' Mandate
Nov 17, 2016
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Jill Craig, Voice of America
The U.N. Security Council voted this week to extend the mandate of the peacekeeping force in the disputed oil-rich Abyei area between South Sudan and…
DRC: Controversial Deal Between DRC Mining Firm & Foreign Investor Raises Concerns
Nov 17, 2016
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Caroline Theuri, Face2Face Africa
A state mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sold the royalty rights of a lucrative copper mining project to a company owned by…
Oil Palm Produce Must Be Value Added to Avoid Liberia’s 90-Year Mistake
Nov 16, 2016
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Liberian Observer
The oil palm producers in Liberia, notably Malaysia’s Golden Veroleum and Sime Darby, are saying the same thing Harvey Firestone said in 1926, when he…
Afghanistan: Why Does Afghanistan Grow So Much Opium?
Nov 16, 2016
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Patricia Nilsson, Economy
Colombia: Illegal Gold Mining in Colombia is Destroying the Rainforest
Nov 16, 2016
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Bram Ebus, Newsweek
Colombia’s 52-year-old civil war has devastated the country’s Pacific coast, so close to 80 percent of the people who voted in the recent referendum supported…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Several Oil Wells Still on Fire Near Mosul, Affecting Health and Environment
Nov 16, 2016
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Rudaw
Almost three months after the retreating Islamic State set oil wells ablaze in Qayyara, 60 km south of Mosul, more than a dozen oil wells…
Bolivia: Bolivia's Water Warriors, Reignited
Nov 16, 2016
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Nasya Razavi
“They’re charging for air,” laments a Cochabamba resident. It is July 2016, and a serious drought has affected Cochabamba and its surrounding municipalities. After the…
Myanmar: Farmers Decry 'Landgrabbing' in Mindanao
Nov 16, 2016
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Angelo Caballero, ABS-CBN News
Over 600 farmers staged a protest in front of Lapanday Foods Corporation office in Barangay Pampanga to voice out their struggles over land rights Wednesday.…
Syria: Poor Rains, Supply Issues Exacerbating Food Security Woes in War-Torn Syria, UN Warns
Nov 16, 2016
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News Tribe
Reeling under the effects of a seemingly unending conflict, Syrian farmers may have “no other option” but to abandon food production, with grave consequences on…
Water During and After Armed Conflicts: What Protection in International Law?
Nov 15, 2016
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Mara Tignino
Armed conflicts affect water in several ways: destruction and damage of water facilities, attacks against power plants providing water supplies, and the collapse of water…
Afghanistan:Climate Change Fuels Insurgency in Afghanistan
Nov 15, 2016
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Agence France-Presse
The mountainous land-locked country was classed in 2012 as among the most vulnerable to climate change, a worldwide problem that is the subject of a…
Sudan/South Sudan: Security Council Extends Mandate of Interim Security Force for Abyei, Recognizing Situation as Serious Threat to International Peace
Nov 15, 2016
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United Nations
Recognizing that the situation along the Sudan-South Sudan border remained a serious threat to international peace and security, the Security Council decided this afternoon to…
Conflict Minerals: New Initiative Aims to Advance Responsible Sourcing of Raw Materials in Technology Supply Chains
Nov 15, 2016
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Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition
The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) today announced the launch of the Responsible Raw Materials Initiative (RRMI) to address…
Liberia: Wasted Wealth: Liberia and the Negative Impact of Logging
Nov 15, 2016
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Globe Afrique
Industrial or commercial logging poses the gravest threat to the Liberian rainforest; the largest remaining forest blocks in the Upper Guinea Forest region. Although other…
Myanmar: Sweden Sets Legal Precedent with Prosecution of Myanmar Teak Trader
Nov 15, 2016
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Mike Gaworecki, Mongabay
A Swedish court upheld a ruling today that finds an importer of teak from Myanmar to be in violation of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR)…
Satellite Images Map Deforestation
Nov 14, 2016
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Caitlin Bird, Boston University
Satellite images of forests in New England—and across the world—are allowing experts to observe how they are changing over time, and in doing so, to…
Myanmar: Crops, Homes, Roads Destroyed in Tatkon Flooding after Dam Overflows
Nov 14, 2016
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Pyae Thet Phyo, Myanmar Times
Thousands of acres of farmland in Nay Pyi Taw’s Tatkon township were destroyed after water flooded over the Nan Won dam on November 11, according…
Liberia: Ellen Approves Land and Authority Act
Nov 14, 2016
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Daily Observer
At long last, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has approved and signed into law, the much talked about Liberia Land Authority Act, which was submitted by…
Even With a New Colombian Peace Deal, What Happens in the Countryside?
Nov 13, 2016
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Michael Albertus
Will Saturday’s new peace accord with the FARC guerrilla group fare better than the June deal? The new accord follows an Oct. 2 referendum that narrowly rejected the Colombian…
120 minutes: A Story of a Water Master and Transformative Irrigation in Afghanistan
Nov 13, 2016
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Bashit Ahmad
As the local mirab - “water master” and I walked along the high-elevation canal, high winds blew sand in our mouths and eyes. The elevation…
Kuwait: Photos of the Gulf War Fires that Turned Kuwait's Oil Fields into Hell
Nov 13, 2016
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Sebastião Salgado, VICE
Oil was both the beginning and the end of the story of the Iraqi invasion. Baghdad insisted that it had an historical claim to the…
Rwanda: Government Approves Nearly 50 Mining, Exploration Licenses
Nov 12, 2016
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KT Press
Rwanda on Friday licensed up to 50 mining companies – as independent international studies show the country has more mineral wealth than previously known. A…
A Veteran’s Day Warning: Trump’s Climate Policies Will Create More War, More Refugees
Nov 11, 2016
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Joe Romm
Donald Trump’s climate policies would create dozens of failed states south of the U.S. border and around the world. They would lead to hundreds of…
Women's Leadership: Critical to Securing the Paris Agreement; Essential to Fulfilling It
Nov 11, 2016
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Courtney Durham, Natalie Elwell, and Cynthia Elliot
The Paris Agreement on climate change wouldn’t be what it is today without action from strong women from around the world. Christiana Figueres, the UNFCCC…
Unfriendly Fire: Why Environmental Protection Must Be a Priority in Armed Conflict
Nov 11, 2016
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UNOCHA
Contamination of natural resources is devastating communities, leaving behind toxic ruins and detrimental environmental and humanitarian consequences, which can last for generations. But while these…
Liberia: Tension Brewing in Western Liberia, as Bomi and Gbarpolu Counties Tussle over Sawmill
Nov 11, 2016
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Eldred Wlemongar Thomas, Global News Network
Reports from Western Liberia say citizens of Bomi and Gbarpolu counties are engulfed in renewed crisis over ownership of Sawmill and Yomo town, a disputed…
Afgahnistan: Afghanistan’s Water-Sharing Puzzle
Nov 11, 2016
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Zabihullah Mudabber, Diplomat
Pakistan and Iran have always had historical claims over the water resources of Afghanistan. These claims have always been rejected by Afghanistan. The chaotic politics…
Conflict Minerals: EU Conflict Minerals Regulation: EU about to Weaken the Upcoming Regulation, Say NGOs
Nov 10, 2016
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European Network for Central Africa
The European Network for Central Africa (EurAc) calls on representatives of European Union (EU) Member States and of the European Parliament participating in the trilogue to…
States Back Further Progress on Conflict and Environment in UN Legal Debate
Nov 9, 2016
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Doug Weir
Before this May’s UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolution, the annual debates on the work of the International Law Commission (ILC), which take place in the…