News


Natural Resources Can Pay for Burma's Needs

Jun 16, 2016 | Andrew Bauer and Matthiew Salomon

This is an important year for Burma. With expectations so high, the new government is under enormous pressure to prove that it can transform the…


Conflict Minerals: EU “Political Understanding” Reached on Conflict Minerals Law

Jun 16, 2016 | ELM Sustainability Partners

The European Commission announced that a “political understanding” was reached on the European conflict minerals law.  As we understand it, this means that the relevant…


Conflict Minerals: LIVE EP Press conference Trilogue Negotiations on Conflict Minerals [Video]

Jun 16, 2016 | European Commission

Press conference by Gianni PITTELLA (IT), S&D Chair, and Maria ARENA (S&D, BE)


Conflict Minerals: EP Press Conference by Cecilia Malmström, Member of the EC, on Conflict Minerals [Video]

Jun 16, 2016 | European Commission

On 16 June 2016, Cecilia Malmström, Member of the EC in charge of Trade, together with Bernd Lange, chairman of the Committee on International Trade…


Myanmar: Junior Expert in Natural Resources Management

Jun 15, 2016 | Instituto Oikos

Istituto Oikos is a non-profit organisation that operates in Europe and developing countries to safeguard biodiversity. It promotes a responsible management of natural resources and…


Colombia: Chief of Party - Climate Change

Jun 15, 2016 | Abt Associates

The Chief of Party will provide overall technical, administrative and financial management leadership; prepare, review and monitor contract reporting and deliverables; and liaise with the…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan Signs Contract for a Major Dam in Farah Province

Jun 15, 2016 | Khaama Press

The Afghan government signed another contract for the construction of a dam in western Farah province of AFghanistan. The contract for the construction of Dam,…


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…