News


Udall Scholarship in Excellence in National Environmental Foundation

Jan 10, 2016 | Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation

The Udall Foundation fosters leaders who embrace—and practices that exemplify—its core values of integrity, civility, consensus, public service, and non-partisanship.  The U.S. Congress established the…


Gold Mining, Conflict Threaten Myanmar’s Indawgyi Lake

Jan 10, 2016 | Htet Khaung Linn

Khaung Tong Creek was a 1.5 meter deep, pristine creek some 10 years ago, but these days this important tributary of Kachin State’s famed Indawgyi…


South Sudan/Sudan: S. Sudan Asks Khartoum to Reduce Oil Transportation Fee

Jan 10, 2016 | Sudan Tribune

The Government of South Sudan has asked Khartoum to cut the lease of Sudanese oil transportation facilities. Juba said its request was prompted by the…


Iraq: Neglect May Do What ISIS Didn’t: Breach Iraqi Dam

Jan 10, 2016 | Michael R. Gordon, New York Times

More than 16 months after Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaimed Mosul Dam from Islamic State fighters, the structure faces a new threat: the danger that…


Vietnam/China/South China Sea: Vietnam Warns China over Air Safety Threat

Jan 9, 2016 | Agence France-Presse

Vietnam's civil aviation authority has accused Beijing of threatening regional air safety by conducting unannounced flights through its airspace to a disputed reef in the…


Myanmar: YCDC Moves to Avoid Hot-Season Water Shortages

Jan 9, 2016 | Eleven Myanmar

Yangon City Development Committee Water and Sanitation Department said it had taken measures to avoid water shortages during the hot season as a result of…


Watching the World Burn: Islamic State Attacks against Libya's Oil Industry

Jan 8, 2016 | Wim Zwijnenburg

Contrary to other armed groups in Libya, the strategy behind the Islamic State’s attacks on oil facilities this week is not purely military. It is…


Liberia: Liberia Vulnerable to Climate Change’ - Says Dr. Slawon

Jan 8, 2016 | Willie N. Tokpah, FrontPageAfrica

Climate change remains an environmental cancer which has been covertly eating up the green of every nation including Liberia and the world at large. It…


Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: Airstrikes Reduce Islamic State Oil Revenue

Jan 8, 2016 | Jim Michaels, USA Today

An air campaign aimed at crippling the Islamic State’s lucrative oil smuggling business has reduced the terror group's revenue from a peak of about $1.3 million…


Myanmar: New Permits for Gem Mining to Go Ahead Despite Objections

Jan 7, 2016 | Chan Mya Htwe, Myanmar Times

The Ministry of Mining invited applications for new permits in August 2015, with a deadline of November 16 that year. It has extended the deadline…


Myanmar: Why Can't Myanmar Clear its Landmines?

Jan 7, 2016 | Ann Wang, IRIN

Children are among thousands of people in Myanmar who have been killed or injured by landmines planted by the military or ethnic armed groups during…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Pumping Resumes on Iraq Oil Pipeline to Turkey's Ceyhan

Jan 7, 2016 | Reuters

Oil exports from northern Iraq through a pipeline to the Turkish port city of Ceyhan resumed after a 10-hour stoppage caused by a technical fault…


Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Minefields: Citizens Urged Not to Flee as Shifts in Territorial Control Leave Earth 'Paved with Landmines'

Jan 6, 2016 | Catherine James, ABC News

Afghanistan tops the list for civilian casualties by victim-activated landmines out of the 58 states recorded as having anti-personnel mines in their territory, according to…


Myanmar: Authorities Move to Clear Squatters from Town Water Supply

Jan 6, 2016 | Si Thu Lwin, Myanmar Times

Pyin Oo Lwin officials are cracking down on forest dwellers squatting near a road construction site alongside the city’s only water supply. The township’s Department…


Myanmar: NLD to Compile Land Grabbing List for Karenni State

Jan 6, 2016 | Htoe Myar, Burma News International

The National League for Democracy (NLD) issued an announcement at the end of last month indicating that it will make a list of expropriated farmland…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurds Make Payments for Oil Exports

Jan 6, 2016 | Daniel J. Graeber, United Press International

Energy companies working in the Kurdish north of Iraq said they've received payments from the regional government for crude oil exports. Norwegian energy company DNO…


EnPAx Icon Environmental Peacebuilding: 2015 in Review

Jan 5, 2016 | ELI and UNEP

The field of environmental peacebuilding continued to grow quickly in 2015. We are pleased to share with you some highlights from the Environmental Peacebuilding partnership…


Financing for Resilience: 3 Lessons to be Learned in Climate Finance

Jan 5, 2016 | Katharina Nett

When it comes to accessing and making best use of climate finance, states in situations of fragility are faced with particular challenges that are largely…


Myanmar: Jade Probe Targets Ministers

Jan 5, 2016 | Ye Mon, Myanmar Times

Kachin State’s chief minister and two members of his cabinet are under investigation for their alleged role in the state’s lucrative jade mining trade, the…


Afghanistan: Iran, Afghanistan to Establish Environmental Commission

Jan 5, 2016 | MEHR News Agency

Abdullah Abdullah who is in Tehran was received by President Rouhani on Tuesday evening. Both leaders discussed bilateral issues when Mr. Rouhani believed that improved…


NR&E Fall 2016 Call for Article Proposals (Water Conflict)

Jan 4, 2016 | ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources’ magazine Natural Resources & Environment

The ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources’ magazine Natural Resources & Environment will devote its Fall 2016 issue to articles on Water Conflicts. The…


International: Researchers for Resource Governance

Jan 4, 2016 | Natural Resource Governance Institute

The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) helps people to realize the benefits of their countries’ endowments of oil, gas and minerals. We do this through…


Donald Trump’s First Campaign Ad Promises Blood for Oil

Jan 4, 2016 | Jeet Heer

The long-awaited ad contains a curious line: “He’ll quickly cut the head off of ISIS and take their oil.” ISIS, of course, controls oil fields…


Missing the Big Picture in Challenging Africa’s “Land Grab” Narrative

Jan 4, 2016 | Chris Jochnick

Who walks away from fertile agricultural land available to lease for as little as $1 per year per hectare? Recent reports indicate international investors are…


China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Flight to Spratly Reef Airfield within China's Sovereignty: Beijing

Jan 4, 2016 | Straits Times

China's flight to a newly built airfield on Yongshu Reef, also known as Fiery Cross Reef, on the Nansha Islands is a matter "completely within…


Myanmar: Power Project Generates Anxiety

Jan 4, 2016 | Oliver Slow, Frontier Myanmar

The Ministry of Electric Power estimates that demand for electricity will rise by between 13 percent and 15 percent a year in the coming years.…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq's Kurds to Continue Exporting Crude Independently in 2016

Jan 4, 2016 | Khalid Al Ansary, Bloomberg

Authorities in Iraq’s cash-strapped Kurdish region will withhold delivery of oil to the central government and export crude independently in 2016 to ensure revenue amid…


Syria/Islamic State: Weaponizing Syria’s Water

Jan 4, 2016 | Alisa Reznick, Boston Review

By spring 2015, Ain al-Fijah had become a ghost town, marked by crude barricades and rebel checkpoints, and its water had been weaponized. In the…


Myanmar: Land Confiscation Problems Worsen

Jan 4, 2016 | Htet Htet, Mizzima

Farmers from Shan State held a press conference at Taunggyi Catholic Church memorial hall in southern Shan State on January 3, 2016, to protest against…


Colombia: Colombian Chocolate Couverture Coming to Europe through Swiss Trade Deal

Jan 4, 2016 | Oliver Nieburg, Confectionary News

Colombian cocoa processor Cacao Pacifico will sell chocolate couvertures made with fine flavor Colombian cocoa in Europe through a partnership with Swiss Global Enterprise.