Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

Making the Environment an Ally for Peace: Q&A with Erik Solheim

May 15, 2017 | Jimena Leiva Roesch, IPI GLobal Observatory

Policymakers need to better connect environmental management with respect for other important social values, according to United Nations Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim, who highlighted…

Myanmar: New Documentary Sheds Light on Link between Gems and War in Myanmar

May 15, 2017 | Euan Black, Globe

Produced by the UK-based NGO Global Witness, ‘Jade and the Generals’ follows the group’s undercover investigation in 2015, which revealed the gem trade to be…

Myanmar: 80 Myanmar and Thai NGOs Condemn Legal Action over Tanintharyi Tin Mine Report

May 15, 2017 | Frontier Myanmar

Eighty NGOs, including 56 from Myanmar, have condemned a Thai company’s decision to sue a reporter with Bangkok’s Nation newspaper over a report about a…

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China, Vietnam Agree to Keep South China Sea Tensions in Check

May 15, 2017 | Reuters

China and Vietnam will manage and properly control their maritime disputes, avoiding actions to complicate or widen them, so as to maintain peace in the…

Sudan/South Sudan: UN Gives Sudan and South Sudan 6 Months for Abyei Monitoring

May 15, 2017 | Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

The U.N. Security Council agreed unanimously late Monday that the stalemate between Sudan and South Sudan over the status of the oil-rich region of Abyei…

Afghanistan: Land-Grabbing Still in Practice in Logar

May 15, 2017 | Abdul Maqsud Azizi, Pajhwok

Tens of thousands of acres of land has been usurped by powerful individuals and ordinary people in central Logar province, a practice still ongoing, officials…

Myanmar: The Struggle to Save Arakan’s Mangroves

May 13, 2017 | Myanmar Now

Until fairly recently, the residents of Kan Ngu, a coastal village in southern Arakan State, considered the mangroves in their area simply as another source…

Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Rejects $7.77m Bid for 709-Carat Diamond, Seeks Higher Offer

May 12, 2017 | Agence France-Presse

Sierra Leone’s government said Thursday it would seek higher offers in Belgium for a massive 709-carat diamond found by an Evangelical preacher after underwhelming offers…

Afghanistan: Resettling Nearly Half a Million Afghans in Nangrahar: The Consequences of the Mass Return of Refugees

May 12, 2017 | Fazal Muzhary, Afghanistan Analysts Network

Most of the 600,000 Afghans who returned from Pakistan last year chose to settle in the eastern border province of Nangrahar. This has put considerable…

Myanmar: River Conservation for 179 Rivers with a K4.4 Billion

May 12, 2017 | Pyae Thet Phyo, Myanmar Times

River conservation works for 179 rivers in the country will be conducted in 2018 using K 4.4 billion of the Union Budget. Department of Water…

Afghanistan: Is There Still Hope for China, Afghanistan’s Long-Stalled US$3 Billion Copper Mining Deal?

May 12, 2017 | Laura Zhou, South China Morning Post

Efforts are being made to resolve a stalled copper mining deal between China and Afghanistan, a decade after the US$3 billion contract was signed, according…

Myanmar: Land Rights Major Risk for EU-Myanmar IPA

May 12, 2017 | Thompson Chau, Myanmar Times

On the Myanmar side, the report recommends fully transparent and systematic consultation on policies, laws and secondary regulation by the Directorate of Investment and Company…

Bangladesh: Chittagong Hill Tracts: Special Forces Prevent Delegation from Conducting Land-Grabbing Research

May 12, 2017 | Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

An investigative delegation to Bandarban was blocked by security officials and a team comprised of journalists, human rights advocates and civil society actors were prevented…

Iraq: Iraqis Dig Their Own Wells in Battle-Scarred Mosul

May 12, 2017 | Ahmed Aboulenein, Reuters

The families start queuing every day near the well in Mosul's Karaj al-Shamal neighborhood, filling their large plastic containers with sulphurous, nearly undrinkable water. As…

China/Vietnam/South China Sea: China Says Has "Positive" Talks with Vietnam on South China Sea

May 11, 2017 | Reuters

The leaders of China and Vietnam had "positive" talks about the disputed South China Sea on Thursday with neither side criticising the other, a senior…

Liberia: Setting the Stage for Peaceful Co-Existence in Concession Communities

May 11, 2017 | New Dawn

Affected Communities in concession areas have resolved to maintain a peaceful and harmonious relationship with concession companies operating within their Counties. Representatives from project affected…

Colombia: Farmers of Almost 34% of Colombia’s Coca Agree to Change Crops: Report

May 10, 2017 | Stephen Gill, Colombia Reports

Farmers that grow almost 34% of Colombia’s coca have agreed to take part in a government program to replace their illicit crops with a legal alternative,…

Colombia: Colombia Police Shoot Indigenous People during Land Ceremony

May 10, 2017 | teleSUR

Colombia’s Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, ACIN, announced in a press release on Tuesday that recent police aggression involving a firearm resulted in…

DRC: Cobalt-Mining Boys Given Hope - but Many Still Suffer [Video]

May 10, 2017 | Alex Crawford, Sky News

Sky News has found children continue to work long hours in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - months after multinational corporations…

Liberia: In Liberia, a Battered Palm Oil Industry Adjusts to New Rules

May 10, 2017 | Ashoka Mukpo, Mongabay

At the heart of the palm oil industry’s woes in Liberia are clauses in their contracts in which the Liberian government promised the land they…

Colombia: Colombias Former President and Two Ministers Guilty of Land Grabbing: Comptroller General

May 10, 2017 | Jamie Vaughan Johnson, Colombia Reports

Colombia’s Comptroller General on Tuesday accused former president Alvaro Uribe and the current and former agriculture ministers of illegally taking land meant for less fortunate farmers.…

Myanmar: 150,000 Migratory Water Birds Protected as Myanmar’s Gulf of Mottama Designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention

May 10, 2017 | Ramsar

Myanmar designates the Gulf of Mottama as a Wetland of International Importance. The Gulf of Mottama is one of the world’s most dynamic estuaries and…