Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

Liberia: Liberia Revenue Authority Investigates Logging Companies for US$25 million in Unpaid Taxes

Feb 26, 2017 | Gbatemah Senah, Bush Chicken

The Liberia Revenue Authority says it is investigating a Global Witness’ report that logging companies in the country owe US$$25 million in unpaid taxes. The…

South Sudan: Famine-Hit South Sudanese Eat Weeds and Water Lilies to Survive

Feb 26, 2017 | Reuters

Last week the United Nations declared that parts of South Sudan are experiencing famine, the first time the world has faced such a catastrophe in…

Afghanistan: Taliban Leader Urges Afghans to Plant More Trees

Feb 26, 2017 | BBC

The leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has urged Afghans to plant more trees. In a statement, he called on civilians and fighters…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Bombs Target Oil Pipeline in Iraq's Kirkuk, One Killed

Feb 25, 2017 | Reuters

Four bombs went off on Saturday near a minor pipeline from an oilfield close to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, security and oil industry…

South Sudan: South Sudan Launched the National Adaptation Programme of Actions (NAPA) for Climate Change

Feb 25, 2017 | UNEP

Over one hundred and twenty people representing national, regional, international institutions including national and state governments, donors, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, and media houses witnessed…

Colombia: Medellin Takes to Urban Farming to Heal Memories of War

Feb 24, 2017 | Richard Kelleher, Colombia Reports

Parts of Colombia’s second largest urban center, Medellin, have taken to the most rural activity possible, agriculture, in an attempt to recognize the memories of war while…

Ethiopia/South Sudan: Ethiopia and South Sudan Agree to Construct Oil Route

Feb 24, 2017 | Sudan Tribune

President Salva Kiir and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn have agreed to build a road linking the two countries enabling South Sudan to export its oil…

Conflict Minerals: SEC Says Conflict Minerals, Pay Ratio Rules Remain in Force

Feb 24, 2017 | Tatyana Shumsky, Wall Street Journal

Companies must continue to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules on disclosing “conflict minerals” and the ratio comparing executive pay to the median…

Conflict Minerals: Conflict Minerals Compliance Costs Drop by 45%

Feb 24, 2017 | CNW

The average cost of the compliance of section 1502 for SEC issuers has dropped by 45% over the past three years. The average cost for…

Conflict Minerals: Why Apple and Intel Don’t Want to See the Conflict Minerals Rule Rolled back

Feb 23, 2017 | Todd C. Frankel, Washington Post

Apple doesn’t want to see it scrapped. Neither does Intel or Tiffany & Co. But the U.S. conflict minerals law — which requires American public…

Conflict Minerals: USA: 100 Investors Express Continued Support for Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Requirement under Dodd Frank Act

Feb 23, 2017 | Boston Common Asset Management, Interfath Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Mercy Investment Services, Responsible Sourcing Network, Trillium Asset Management, US SIF, and other investors

As investors and investor groups with over $3.75 trillion in assets under management, we are writing to express our continued support for Section 1502 of…

Ethiopia/South Sudan: Ethiopia Mulls Road to Import Oil from War-Torn South Sudan

Feb 23, 2017 | Nizar Manek, Bloomberg

Ethiopia may finance a road linking it with South Sudan’s largest oilfields, allowing the war-ravaged country to sell its neighbor fuel produced at a planned…

Liberia: Unlawful Killings: ECOWAS Court Urged to Compel Liberia Govt. to Pay 500 Families $200m

Feb 23, 2017 | Nigerian Tribune

A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Concerned Youth of Ganta for Reconstruction and Development, and a Liberian citizen have sued the Republic of Liberia at the ECOWAS…

Myanmar: Motion Raised to Allow Lands Owned by Non-Nationals in Rakhine to Be Seized and Given to Citizens

Feb 23, 2017 | Mizzima

Rakhine State Legislative Assembly legislator Aung Win from Myaybon constituency (2) said that he would raise a motion at the Rakhine State assembly to take…

Myanmar: Water-Bird Population Falling Rapidly: Fauna & Flora

Feb 22, 2017 | Hsan Htoo Aung, Eleven

The water-bird population native to the Ayeyawady River has been reduced by between 60-90 per cent over the past 14 years, with bird catching and…

Afghanistan: How Neglect and Remoteness Bred Insurgency and a Poppy Boom: The Story of Badghis

Feb 22, 2017 | Jelena Bjelica, Afghanistan Analysts Network

An unprecedented increase in opium poppy cultivation has been documented in Badghis for 2016, a remote western province that is largely underreported – even more…

Myanmar: Myanmar Makes Record Seizures of Illegal Timber

Feb 22, 2017 | Malay Mail

Myanmar seized a record amount of illegal timber this financial year as part of a government clampdown to protect the country’s rapidly disappearing forests, a…

Myanmar: Myanmar Villagers Demand Land Compensation from Copper Mine Operator

Feb 21, 2017 | Radio Free Asia

About 100 residents from the town of Letpadaung protested on Tuesday against the Chinese company that operates a controversial copper mine in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing…

South Sudan: Famine in South Sudan as Oil Revenues Remain Elusive

Feb 21, 2017 | Damir Kaletovic, Oil Price

The South Sudanese government and three humanitarian agencies have declared a famine in some parts of the country as the newly independent nation struggle to…

Sudan/South Sudan: South Sudan Risks Losing Oil-Rich Abyei

Feb 21, 2017 | Fred Oluoch, East African

South Sudan risks losing the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei with internal strife taking most of its attention as Khartoum moves to entrench its administration…

Myanmar: EU-Standard Forestry Agreement to Be Set up

Feb 20, 2017 | Si Thu Lwin, Myanmar Times

Forestry staff, relevant government personnel, environmental conservation groups and timber entrepreneurs met in Mandalay on February 15 for a workshop to discuss the processes involved…

Uganda: Uganda Launches Gold Refinery, amid Fears of Dirty Minerals

Feb 20, 2017 | Associated Press

A gold refinery primarily owned by a Belgian investor was launched in Uganda Monday amid concerns about the source of its minerals. The African Gold…

Climate Change: Patricia Espinosa: “The Climate Change Story Is a Security Story” - Address at Munich Security Conference

Feb 18, 2017 | UN

At the annual Munich Security Conference, the UN’s top climate change official UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa gave an opening address at a discussion on…