By Sophie Vorrath 19 April 2016 (RenewEconomy) – The Turnbull Coalition government has kicked off its informal re-election campaign by repeating its desire to build a massive coal fired power station in north Queensland, only this time it proposes to use climate funds to help pay for the project. In confirmation that little has changed […]
11 April 2016 (UN) – More than a month after the killing of Berta Cáceres, a female human rights defender, eight United Nations experts have jointly reiterated their appeal to the Government of Honduras to provide justice and reveal the truth in her murder, and to ensure the security and protection of all people defending […]
By F. Brinley Bruton 9 April 2016 WANA, Iraq – The possibility of annihilation hangs over Saddeq Hassan and his neighbors. Their town of Wana is just 7 miles downriver from the troubled Mosul dam, which U.S. officials warn is in danger of failing — which could kill between 500,000 and 1.47 million people. A […]
GALVESTON, 23 March 2016 (Texas A&M Today) – Last December, officials representing more than 190 countries met in Paris to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The historic outcome from that conference was the “Paris Agreement” in which each country agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to […]
[Looks like it’s open season on environmental and indigenous rights defenders in Central America. – Des] 19 March 2016 (teleSUR) – Rights organizations in Guatemala condemned the killing of Walter Mendez Barrios, a prominent activist fighting against deforestation and hydroelectric projects in the Central American country. Mendez, leader of the Association of Forest Communities of […]
[It appears that U.S.-sponsored death squads have returned to Honduras, this time targeting environmental and indigenous-rights activists. – Des] By Nina Lakhani16 March 2016 MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – Another indigenous activist has been murdered in Honduras amid an escalating wave of repression against the relatives and colleagues of renowned campaigner Berta Cáceres, who was […]
18 March 2016 (UN) – An independent United Nations expert on the situation of human rights defenders today urged the Government of Honduras “to take immediate and concrete actions, or risk turning the country into a lawless killing zone for human rights defenders.” UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst’s appeal came after the killing of yet […]
GENEVA, 15 March 2016 (WHO) – An estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – nearly 1 in 4 of total global deaths, according to new estimates from WHO. Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and […]
By Freddy Cuevas3 March 2016 TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Associated Press) – Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres, who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in fighting a dam project, was shot dead Thursday by multiple gunmen who broke into her home, authorities said. Caceres, a 40-year-old Lenca Indian activist, had previously complained of receiving […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg 16 February 2016 Masdar City (Guardian) – Years from now passing travellers may marvel at the grandeur and the folly of the futuristic landscape on the edges of Abu Dhabi: the barely occupied office blocks, the deserted streets, the vast tracts of undeveloped land and – most of all – the abandoned […]
