Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China and Vietnam Call for Maritime Disputes to Be Settled

Apr 2, 2018 | Straits Times

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday said Beijing and Hanoi should settle their disputes in the South China Sea through talks and move to jointly…

Afghanistan: Water Ministry Warns of Drop in Water Levels

Apr 1, 2018 | Zabihullah Jahanmal, TOLOnews

Officials from the Ministry of Energy and Water on Sunday raised concern over water resources in the country and said the total amount of running and underground…

Yemen: Houthi Militias Accused of Looting 500,000 Oil Barrels

Mar 31, 2018 | Asharq Al-Awsat

The Yemeni legitimate government accused Houti militias of starting Friday to implement a plot aiming to loot around 500,000 oil barrels from oilfields in Marib…

Iraq: Iraq Announces 11 Tender Offers for Southern Oil Exploration

Mar 31, 2018 | Rudaw

As Iraq’s 2018 budget became law this week, the Iraqi oil Ministry has announced 11 tender offers for 11 blocs bordering Iran, Kuwait, and one…

Burkina Faso: Hunger and Conflict Push Northern Burkina Faso into Crisis

Mar 31, 2018 | Nellie Peyton, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Food shortages and a jihadist uprising in northern Burkina Faso risk plunging the region into a humanitarian crisis if urgent action is not taken, aid…

Colombia: Oil Spill Kills More Than 2,400 Animals

Mar 30, 2018 | Elaina Zachos, National Geographic

At the beginning of March, an oil well in northern Colombia burst, spewing an unclear amount of oil into the Magdalena River, a principal waterway…

Liberia: Rex Tillerson's Exxon Mobil Involved in Corrupt Oil Deals in Liberia, Investigation Reveals

Mar 29, 2018 | Cristina Maza, Newsweek

Under the leadership of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, oil giant Exxon Mobil signed a $120 million deal for an oil block in Liberia that…

Iraq: Iraq to Exclude Oil By-Products from Companies' Profit in New Contracts

Mar 29, 2018 | Reuters

Iraq will exclude oil by-products such as liquefied petroleum gas and dry gas from foreign oil companies’ revenues in new contracts expected to be awarded…

Conflict Minerals: Apple Cobalt Supplier Seeking Ethical Supply with Industry Pilot

Mar 28, 2018 | Thomas Wilson, Bloomberg

A supplier of cobalt to Apple Inc. is joining with others in the industry to try to ensure the metal used in rechargeable batteries is…

Colombia: Colombia to Formalize Land Rights of 2.5 Million Peasants

Mar 28, 2018 | Jarrod Demir, Colombia Reports

Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos on Tuesday signed a landmark decree that would formalize the land ownership of 2.5 million Colombian farmers. The new mandate…

Liberia: Illicit Miners Raise Fears in Bong

Mar 28, 2018 | New Dawn

Some residents who spoke to this paper via mobile phone from the district say the alleged illicit miners are believed to come from Ghana, Nigeria…

Somalia: UN Security Council Makes ‘Historic’ Warning on Climate Threat to Somalia

Mar 28, 2018 | Zak Derler, Climate Change News

The United Nations Security Council has formally recognised climate change as a destabilising factor in Somalia. In a resolution adopted on Tuesday as part of a renewed mandate for assistance…

Liberia: Appointment at LEITI Draws More Ire – Partners Threaten Pullout

Mar 28, 2018 | Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, FrontPage Africa

The situation at the Liberia Extractive Industries Initiatives following the appointment of Gabriel Nyenka is degenerating into chaos as several stakeholder organizations are now threatening…

Afghanistan: As Kabul Grows, Clean Water a Step Toward State Legitimacy in Afghanistan

Mar 28, 2018 | Mohammad Shoaib Haidary, Asia Foundation

In 2050, Kabul’s population is expected to reach 9 million, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the world. People are flocking to…

Afghaistan: Sesame Oil Production in Balkh

Mar 27, 2018 | Economic Times

Roughly 300,000 litres of sesame oil are produced using the traditional method each year in Balkh, according to Zabihullah Zubin, a director at the provincial…

Iraq: Iraq May Build Oil Storage in Japan, South Korea to Drive Asian Sales

Mar 27, 2018 | Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Iraq is studying the possibility of building crude oil storage facilities in South Korea and Japan as part of a plan to increase sales to…

Afghanistan: Insurgents Profit from Afghan Pistachio

Mar 26, 2018 | Benafsha Benish, Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Residents of the northwestern province of Baghdis, home to Afghanistan’s highest concentration of pistachio forests, warn that armed gangs and Taleban fighters have taken over…

Afghanistan: Nut Jihad: Taliban Makes Millions from Pistachio Farms

Mar 26, 2018 | David Brennan, Newsweek

Heroin production, arms smuggling, kidnappings; the Taliban funds its ongoing war in Afghanistan with a wide range of illegal activities, putting its war-footing fund-raising ahead…

Myanmar: More Than 160 Villages in Ayeyarwady May Face Water Scarcity This Summer

Mar 25, 2018 | Nilar Soe, Eleven

A total of 168 villages in 56 village-tract of Ayeyarwady region may face a shortage of water during this summer, according to Rural Development Department.…

DRC: Miners Launch Bid to Avert Punishing New Taxes in DRC

Mar 25, 2018 | Jon Yeomans, Telegraph

Some of the world’s biggest mining companies are set to open negotiations with the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday over a new mining code that…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan Faces Severe Clean Water Shortage

Mar 25, 2018 | Tony Birtly, Al Jazeera

Afghanistan’s water crisis is one of the acutest in Asia. Less than a third of the country's population has access to clean drinking water. Thousands…

Iraq: A War for Oil #2: Iraq's New Deals Make Case for Invasion

Mar 23, 2018 | Inam Ahmed and Shakhawat Liton, Daily Star

Planning for the Iraq invasion started much before the real attack, as soon as Iraq signed oil contracts with Russia, China and France. The US…

Colombia: Colombia Scraps Amazon Highway Plans Due to Deforestation Concerns

Mar 23, 2018 | Taran Volckhausen, Mongabay

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos declared earlier this month that a controversial highway project that would cut through the Amazon will not be completed. Santos…

Africa: No More Tax-Evasions: Mineral-Rich African Countries Demand More from Mining

Mar 23, 2018 | Thomas Collins, African Business

In the past few months a number of mineral-rich African nations have sought to re-balance relations with international mining firms to secure a greater share…

Water Wars: River-Sharing Deals Mean Water War 'Is a Myth', Says Global Water Body

Mar 23, 2018 | Karla Mendes, Reuters

Agreements between countries that share the same river have helped to avoid about 1,800 conflicts in the past 50 years, the World Water Council (WWC)…

DRC: Cobalt Blockchain Inc. Announces Definitive Joint Venture Agreements on Cobalt Projects in the DRC and Filing of Cobalt Trading and Export License

Mar 22, 2018 | PR Newswire

Cobalt Blockchain Inc. is pleased to announce that it has entered into two definitive joint venture agreements for cobalt/copper concessions in the Democratic Republic of…

Chad/Niger/Nigeria: Better Governance of Underfunded, Poorly Managed Lake Chad Basin Key to Resolving Conflict, Suffering across Region, Speakers Tell Security Council

Mar 22, 2018 | UN Security Council

The environmental monitoring network in the Lake Chad Basin was inadequate, sparse, poorly funded and badly operated, a representative of the commission overseeing its management…