Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

Afghanistan: Snow Fall Brings Severe Risk to Displaced Afghans

Jan 16, 2019 | Norwegian Refugee Council

This year’s first snow has fallen in the centre and northeastern parts of Afghanistan. More snow and temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius…

DRC: Ford and IBM Use Blockchain to Combat Child Labour in Congo

Jan 16, 2019 | Ben Chapman, Independent

Ford, IBM and LG have joined forces to use blockckain to prevent child labour being used to mine minerals essential for making smartphones and electric cars. The…

Conflict Minerals: IBM, Ford, LG Chem Lead Blockchain Coalition for Ethically Sourced Minerals

Jan 16, 2019 | Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat

A coalition of companies led by IBM will use blockchain technology to ensure that the supply chain for minerals will be ethically sourced. The coalition…

Liberia: From the Field: Liberia Boosts Efforts to Guard against Rising Seas

Jan 16, 2019 | UN

With rising sea levels due to climate change already affecting coastal communities in Liberia, there are fears that densely populated parts of the capital Monrovia…

Jordan/Iraq: Jordan, Iraq Agree to Finalize Basra-Aqaba Oil Pipeline

Jan 15, 2019 | Al Bawaba

King Abdullah of Jordan visited Iraq on Monday to activate security agreements between the two countries and finalize an oil pipeline project from Basra to…

Myanmar: Establishment of Land Bank under Way

Jan 15, 2019 | Eleven Myanmar

Efforts are being made to set up a land bank in order to solve land use problems, said Thaung Tun, Union Minister for Investment and…

Liberia: Sinoe Community Conserving Its Forest but Gets No Support

Jan 15, 2019 | James Harding Giahyue, FrontPage Africa

When Nitrian obtained a community forest status in 2011—one of the first to do following a new law seeking to give communities their shares of…

Iraq: Devastating Drought Dries up Kabul [Video]

Jan 14, 2019 | Neil Bowdler, Agence France-Presse

Residents of the Afghan capital, Kabul, are drilling deeper and deeper for water as the country's drought takes hold. The water shortage has been exacerbated…

Iraq/Kurdistan: 30,000 bpd of Oil ‘Looted’ from Kirkuk, Taken to Sulaimani: PUK Official

Jan 13, 2019 | Rudaw

Some 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil are being looted from Kirkuk and smuggled into Sulaimani, a top Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official…

Afghanistan: In War-Weary Kabul, Burning Coal and Tires Keeps Residents Warm — and the City Choked by Smog

Jan 12, 2019 | Alex Horton and Sharif Hassan, Washington Post

Afghanistan, long embroiled in conflict, has focused for the past 18 years on security and reconstruction at the expense of issues affecting the environment, according…

Afghanistan: 2,000 Hectares of Grabbed Land Recovered in Kabul: Governor

Jan 12, 2019 | Gulabuddin Ghubar, TOLOnews

Kabul governor Yaqub Haidari on Saturday said that at least 2,000 hectares of land was recovered in Kabul over the past 10 months. He said…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan's Kabul Faces Water Crisis as Drought, Population Strain Supply

Jan 11, 2019 | Agence France-Presse

Every year 80 million cubic metres (2.8 billion cubic feet) of water are extracted from Kabul's aquifers -- nearly double the natural recharge rate through…

Myanmar: Myanmar Cracking Down on Opium, but Conflicts Push Drug Trade

Jan 10, 2019 | Al Jazeera

The amount of land being used to grow opium poppies continues to decline in Myanmar, but ongoing conflicts are hampering efforts to stamp out the…

Iraq: ‘Living Under a Black Sky:’ The Forgotten Cost of Conflict

Jan 10, 2019 | Bryan Bowman, Globe Post

As Iraq continues to rebuild after the war with ISIS, environmental pollution, an often overlooked consequence of conflict, threatens the public health and future security…

Myanmar: Risk of Floods as Myanmar Builds Bridge Near Border

Jan 10, 2019 | Abdul Aziz, Coxs Bazar

The Myanmar government is building a bridge on Tambru canal close to Bangladesh’s barbed- wire border fence. Built on Myanmar’s land, the bridge has too…

Niger: Signing of a Peace Agreement between Fulani and Mahamid Arab Communities in the Diffa Region of Niger

Jan 9, 2019 | Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

The Fulani and Mahamid Arab communities from the municipalities of Foulatari, N’guelbeli, Goudoumaria and Mainé Soroa in the Diffa region of Niger signed a peace…

Colombia: Illegal Deforestation Spikes in Colombia: How FARC Prevented Deforestation and the Government Cannot

Jan 9, 2019 | Ooda Loop

Although FARC groups have been largely demobilized in the two years since the peace deal they signed with the Colombian government, the government has been…

Myanmar: Traders Hope for a Boost from New Gem Laws

Jan 9, 2019 | Kyaw Ko Ko, Myanmar Times

The new amendments to the law governing the extraction of gemstones in Myanmar are expected to offer relief for the gem industry in Mandalay. Industry…

DRC: DRC Miner SMB Leaves Responsible-Sourcing Scheme to Join Another

Jan 8, 2019 | Fiston Mahamba and Barbara Lewis, Reuters

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest miner of coltan, an ore containing metals used in mobile phones, is leaving the ITSCI certification scheme relied on…

DRC: Investigating DR Congo's Illegal Gold Trade

Jan 8, 2019 | Lisa Dupuy and Klaas van Dijken, Deutsche Welle

The conflict-ridden African nation is rich in gold — and gold smugglers, who are often linked to rebel groups. But tracing commercially available gold back…

Liberia: China Breaks Ground for Liberia’s First Plywood Factory

Jan 8, 2019 | Samuel G. Dweh, FrontPage Africa

“We are here to break ground for the construction of a plywood factory, the first of its kind in Liberia, and for Liberia,” a Chinese…

Liberia: Green Advocates, IDI Develop New Tools to Hold Oil Palm Farmers Accountable for Environmental and Human Rights Violations

Jan 7, 2019 | Alloycious David, Liberian Observer

Green Advocates International (GAI) and Inclusive Development International (IDI) have developed new advocacy tools that would be used by local communities to hold oil palm…