Central American “caravan” women and children enter U.S., defying Trump – “We crossed the whole of Mexico”

By Delphine Schrank 1 May 2018 SAN YSIDRO PORT OF ENTRY (Reuters) – Hopes rose on Tuesday among a caravan of migrants who traveled from Central America to seek asylum in the United States after U.S. border authorities allowed the first small group of women and children entry from Mexico overnight.Gathering people along the way, […]

At the U.S. border, a diminished migrant caravan readies for an unwelcoming reception

By Nick Miroff 27 April 2018 TIJUANA, Mexico (The Washington Post) – The American president, a former real estate mogul, does not want Byron Garcia in the United States. But the Honduran teenager was too busy building his own hotel empire this week to worry much about that. Vermont Avenue and Connecticut Avenue were his. […]

Caravan of 1,200 migrants marching through Mexico to seek asylum in U.S. – “If we all protect each other we’ll get through this together”

By Adolfo Flores 31 March 2018 San Pedro Tapanatepec, Mexico (BuzzFeed) – Taking a drag from her cigarette, a Mexican immigration agent looked out toward a caravan of migrants that grew larger with each step they took on the two-lane highway.When the agent, who’d covered her uniform with an orange and white shawl, learned that […]

Judge approves waiving environmental laws to build U.S.-Mexico border wall

1 March 2018 (Mongabay) – On Tuesday, a federal judge in California ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not abuse its authority in waiving dozens of environmental laws to build sections of wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The ruling frees the department to waive laws for future border […]

Tropical forest fragmentation nearing “critical point”, study finds – “Near the critical point, dramatic effects are to be expected even in the case of relatively minor deforestation”

14 February 2018 (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) – Tropical forests around the world play a key role in the global carbon cycle and harbour more than half of the species worldwide. However, increases in land use during the past decades caused unprecedented losses of tropical forest. Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research […]

New data reveals 197 land and environmental defenders murdered in 2017, nearly four per week – Agribusiness overtakes mining for most killings

By Jonathan Watts 2 February 2018 (The Guardian) – The slaughter of people defending their land or environment continued unabated in 2017, with new research showing almost four people a week were killed worldwide in struggles against mines, plantations, poachers and infrastructure projects.The toll of 197 in 2017 – which has risen fourfold since it […]

Photo gallery: Natural disasters and severe weather in 2017

The Eagle Creek wildfire burns as golfers play at the Beacon Rock Golf Course in North Bonneville, Washington, 4 September 2017. [more] Pictures of the year: Natural disasters Extreme heat in Indonesia: A freshly-scorched landscape in Pekanbaru, Indonesia in August 2017, after a fire caused by hot temperatures and lack of rain. [more] The impact […]

It’s time to rethink the relationship between borders and global warming

By Reece Jones 7 November 2017(Undark) – After 300 years of continuous human settlement, Hurricane Irma destroyed everything on the island of Barbuda and forced the relocation of its more than 1,600 residents, demonstrating that climate-induced migration is no longer a future possibility, but a present-day reality. A week and a half later, Hurricane Maria […]

Endangered vaquita porpoise dies in captivity – Fewer than 30 vaquitas remain

By Mark Stevenson 5 November 2017 MEXICO CITY (AP) – Researchers were thrilled to have captured one of the few remaining vaquita porpoises, but announced Sunday that the adult female died after a few hours in captivity in a floating pen, raising questions about the last-ditch effort to enclose the world’s smallest porpoises to save […]

The India-Bangladesh wall: Lessons for Trump – Border fences are not particularly effective, but they are enormously expensive

By Sudha Ramachandran 15 February 2017 (The Diplomat) – United States President Donald Trump’s plans to build a “great, great wall” along the United States’ 3,200 kilometer long border with Mexico to keep out what he calls “criminals, drug dealers, [and] rapists” is hardly a new idea. Several other countries, many motivated by Islamophobia, have […]

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