Impunity reigns in the Amazon, write Joe Sandler Clarke & Sam Cowie, and the indigenous peoples of the forest are the big losers as they suffer repeated killings and land grabs. Big cuts to Funai, the agency meant to protect Brazil's indigenous tribes, have encouraged land barons to expand their land holdings into indigenous territories and murder any who resist.
… Brazil: Increase in land killings as political crisis threatens Amazon Joe Sandler … News Indigenous Peoples Brazil Land Grabs Politics Forests Human Rights … as human rights experts warn of a dangerous political mood in the nation. New research …
… In a climate of political chaos Zimbabwe's wildlife is being … Animal Rights Diversity Forests Natural World Politics And Economics Society Archive_241.jpg … then carved up among the landless poor and political supporters, many of whom had neither …
First the Government failed to include a Forests Bill in its legislative programme, writes Owen Adams. Next, campaigners spotted that the Infrastructure Bill enables a wholesale selloff of public lands. Just how safe are Britain's public lands and forests?
… Owen Adams | 23rd June 2014 News UK Forests Politics Commons hands-off-our-forests-cut.jpg … an awkward dilemma for our neoliberal political masters. Some 40 million people … heartland wasn't having it And then there's politics. The mantra of 'private good, public …
Disregarding revelations of systemic political corruption in Brazil's hydropower sector, President Dilma Rousseff is ploughing ahead with a cascade of giant dams on the mighty Tapajos river. Among the companies touting to win huge construction contracts are France's EDF and Engie, and Germany's Voith and Siemens - in a consortium led by Brazil's Electrobras, which stands accused of high-level corruption over four other dam projects.
… April 2016 News Corporations Brazil Forests Politics Finance Water Energy Hydropower … Disregarding revelations of systemic political corruption in Brazil's hydropower … Rousseff and the country's most powerful political figures. Otávio Marques de Azevedo, …
Who are the best guardians of forests and other wild places? Governments? Conservation NGOs? Corporations? No, writes Prakash Kashwan, it's the indigenous peoples who have lived in harmony with their environment for millennia. But to be able do so, they must first be accorded rights to their historic lands and resources, both in law and in practice. Among the countries leading the way, Mexico. Among the laggards, Kenya and India.
… and support popular participation in the political process, they are better able to … this process gave peasants a voice in political and policy decisions. Contrary to fears that political populism would cause large-scale …
Richard Brooks spoke out against the destruction of Canada's publicly owned boreal forests and loss of caribou habitat. His reward - a $7 million lawsuit from the country's biggest logger, Resolute.
… | 25th February 2014 Comment Forests Canada Politics Law richard-brooks.png Richard Brooks … the country is no longer what it used to be. Political interference with science In the … have seen research altered or censored due to political interference. 90% felt that they …
The human family must come together now to stop Ebola in West Africa or risk a global pandemic that could potentially kill billions, writes Glen Barry. And that will mean solving, with equity and justice, the disease's root causes: rainforest loss, poverty, war and overpopulation.
… is safe from the threat of global pandemic. Political partisanship, conspiracy theories, … decade of war. It has been interesting to see politicians who deny climate change science … as well as to spread conspiracy theories for political advantage. In addition to the …
For sheer guts, vision and results, a single organisation stands out among the US's environmental defenders - the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Jeffrey St. Clair met its leader, Mike Garrity, winner of 2014's Grassroots Activist Award.
… helped expose one of the great acts of political flim-flam of Clinton-time: the … Mountain West. Merrill Cook was the perfect politician to lead the offensive and Garrity … the roadless rule for being a weak and politically expedient measure that left …
Brazil's newly elected Dilma Rousseff is committed to completing the disastrous Belo Monte dam, writes Helle Abelvik-Lawson. Worse, she looks certain to press ahead with the industrialisation of the Amazon, with 61 hydroprojects in the pipeline. And new scientific findings about the massive climate impacts of tropical forest dams are not about to stop her.
… News Brazil Energy Water Forests Development Politics balbina_dam-reservoir-cut.jpg … is looking economically risky. No viable political opposition Political support for the dam project remains …
A growing protest movement is demanding strong controls on international investors and logging companies buying up Romania's forests, writes Raluca Besliu. In its sights is Austria-based Schweighofer, which stands accused of criminal malpractice and accepting illegal timber shipments. The popular outrage stirred up by corporate misdeeds is now stimulating a wider democratic revival.
… Romania Forests Regulation Law Corporations Politics agent-green-attack.jpg A growing … to its forests is being undermined by corrupt political and economic interests. This … the ancient bond has been tampered with by political and economic interests, as …
In the thick of the Olympic frenzy, one voice that was systematically excluded from mainstream narratives is that of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples, writes Lewis Evans, who have fought to survive through centuries of dehumanisation, theft and genocide. And now they face a fresh attack as a proposed constitutional change, PEC 215, threatens a new round of indigenous land theft.
… Peoples Brazil Genocide The Land Forests Politics bra-zoe-fw-186_original-cut.jpg In … back of the Zika virus, economic crisis, and political turmoil that have all embroiled the … lobbies, and are anti-indigenous. Politicians like Fernando Furtardo and Luis …
Forests are the traditional refuge of rebels, dissidents and all who seek freedom from the strictures of civilization, writes Ken Worpole. But for all the idea lives on in our hearts and minds, that role has now been usurped by our cities. Now, just as our forests have been enclosed and subdued, so our cities face a similar fate - one we must resist to preserve our liberty.
… 19th April 2015 News Society Forests History Politics skateboarder-girl-cut.jpg Forests are … Commission woodlands which prompted the first political turnaround of the present Coalition … Since 1215 such rights have been subject to political reversal. "Claim and counter-claim …
The public interest is already derelicted by federal officials on the US's public lands routinely intimidated by aggressive local economic and political interests, writes George Wuerthner. And now it's only going to get worse, with media coverage of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge debacle uncritically promulgating the false narrative of over-zealous enforcement of regulations.
… Comment The Land Commons Forests Farming USA Politics burns-oregon-cut.jpg The public … intimidated by aggressive local economic and political interests, writes George Wuerthner. … their connections with local and higher level politicians to promote their economic and …
Sarawak's lucrative logging industry has given rise to dynasties of enormous wealth and political power, writes Chris Lang, as revealed in this courageous investigation by Lukas Straumann. And the kingpin is multi-billionaire Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of Sarawak for 33 years, whose whose property empire spans the globe.
… Reviews Forests Malaysia Corporations Law Politics money-logging-cover-cut.jpg Sarawak's … rise to dynasties of enormous wealth and political power, writes Chris Lang, as … the forestry department. He must also tackle political corruption and at the highest …
Wilderness campaigners need to remember how great victories were won in the past - which was to aim high and hold steadfast, refusing easy compromises, writes George Wuerthner. Opposition must be overcome, never appeased.
… giveaways in order to garner the necessary political support for a successful … they are not the ones who control the local politics. However, whether one or many local … etc. Lesson Three Creating and generating the political case for strong conservation …
The Jewish National Fund UK has always denied a swirl of claims over its history and activities in the Middle East, including allegations of land grabbing Palestinian villages. But campaigners want the organisation stripped of its charitable status
… claims The Ecologist | 7th October 2011 News Politics And Economics Investigations Forests … chairman Samuel Hayek says. 'JNF is not a political organisation and does not get involved in Israel's political agenda. Money raised by JNF UK does …
We are told there is a choice between forest and food. But in reality it is industrial processes that are destroying sustainable farming and the ecosystem. KIRTANA CHANDRASEKARAN discusses a new report from Friends of the Earth International which suggests agroecology is an alternative that can respect people and planet
… food production. A debate that involves much political hand wringing over the limited … is about changing the social, economic and political system of food production not just … with agroecological methods. What social, political and cultural values is the system …
We must beware an 'environmental' agenda that excludes the human dimension, Pope Francis writes in his recent Encyclical: the poor are least to blame for the ecological and climate crises, yet they are its primary victims. Humanity must make enduring decisions about the world we and our children will share.
… days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one … family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, … paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics but also freedom and justice. It is …
Yellowstone's Grizzly bears are facing multiple threats, writes Anna Taylor - from proposals to remove their protection under the US Endangered Species Act, and shortages of key foods caused by climate change.
… and criticise it as incomplete, flawed and "politically motivated" . Mountain pine beetle … making any difference to their numbers." Political motivations at work? This has led … believe that the report was motivated by the political interests of wildlife management …
Work on Nicaragua's rival to the Panama Canal rival has begun amid growing fears over its human and environmental impacts, writes Maya Collombon - and a host of unanswered questions about China's role in the project and what benefits, if any, it will bring to ordinary people.
… 2014 News Forests Land Grabs Transport Politics Central America … Front (FSLN) , has become an authoritarian political machine that is particularly … project. The environmental, social and geopolitical implications could cast a shadow …
Turkey's Gezi Park protestors are finding common cause with Kurdish communities, writes Rosa Wild. Both are suffering from Erdogan's annihilation of land, forests, parks and cities in pursuit of economic growth. A new eco-democratic resistance is taking root.
… | 26th March 2014 News Turkey Water Ecocide Politics Indigenous Peoples Forests Cities … the medics. Others are activists with political parties, many from the youth wing of … Elvan Ecological Camp. Rosa Wild is a a politics graduate from the School of Oriental …
Ecuador's 'socialist' President Correa has unleashed a wave of repression at Andean communities seeking to protect their lands, forests and nature from open pit mining, writes Carlos Zorrilla. With most of biodiversity-rich Intag region conceded to international mining companies, the mood is one of rising fear and desperation in the countdown to next month's election.
… Zorrilla | 6th March 2017 News Ecuador Mining Politics Forests Indigenous Peoples … that "it allegedly disseminates messages with political undertones." One wonders what … speech doesn't disseminate information with "political undertones" . And, this is just one …
Determined to flood 10,000 hectares of precious rainforest for a power station producing a meager 108MW of power, the Cambodian government has expelled a big 'fishbone in their throat' - eco-defender Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, who has galvanized local and nationwide protests against deforestation, land grabs and official corruption.
… 2015 News Cambodia Forests Hydro Corporations Politics alex-tree.jpg Determined to flood … dominated the headlines, dragging senior political figures into the discussion. The … Social media successes rankle corrupt politicians Styling his own brand of activism …
Sarawak state in Malaysian Borneo already has an excess of electricity from existing hydropower dams - so why is the government determined to build a dozen more, displacing indigenous communities and flooding vast areas of rainforest? The answer, says a new documentary film by The Borneo Project, is simple - massive political corruption.
… 18th June 2015 Activism Forests Water Energy Politics … by The Borneo Project, is simple - massive political corruption. A new film exposes how … Mahmud, the driving force behind the dams. A politician since the 1970s, he held the …