Environmental Peacebuilding Association

News

China/South China Sea: US Military Commander Says China Pushing South China Sea Claims under Cover of COVID-19

Jun 5, 2020 | Tim Kelly, Reuters

China is using the coronavirus as a cover to push territorial claims in the South China Sea through a surge in naval activity meant to…

Iraq: In Iraq's Fields of Black Gold, Thousands Lose Livelihoods

Jun 5, 2020 | Mohammed Aty, Reuters

Mohammed Haider is one of thousands of workers in Iraq’s oil sector who were laid off this year after a fall in oil prices caused…

Iraq/Syria/Islamic State: ISIS Admit to Looting Oil and 'Obscene Amount Antiquities' to Swell Its War Chest

Jun 5, 2020 | Chris Hughes, Mirror

An Islamic State mastermind has admitted his terror group looted oil and an “obscene amount of antiquities” to swell its war chest. Iraqi-born Abdul Nasser…

Ethiopia/Sudan: Sudan-Ethiopia Border Tensions Escalate Despite Government Efforts

Jun 5, 2020 | Mohammed Amin, Middle East Eye

Diplomatic efforts to diffuse a security crisis on the border between Sudan and Ethiopia have been ongoing, but the situation on the ground has escalated…

Myanmar: Farmers Protest Land Grabs in Southern Shan State

Jun 5, 2020 | Shan Herald Agency for News

Pa-O farmers from southern Shan State gathered in protest Tuesday after their farms were seized by the Tatmadaw. Burma Army LIB-423 and LIB-424 confiscated 900…

ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: International Criminal Courts as Potential Jurisdiction for Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Crimes (Part II)

Jun 4, 2020 | Jelena Aparac

One of the fundamental questions lies in who exactly has the right to take legal action and before which court in the case of corporate…

ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: International Criminal Law as a Tool for Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Crimes (Part I)

Jun 4, 2020 | Jelena Aparac

While environmental agreements are signed between States, it is often non-state actors, including corporations, that are asked to implement them in their managerial decisions. And…

Myanmar: The Many-Sided Fight over Northern Kachin’s Forests

Jun 4, 2020 | Emily Fishbein, Frontier

The derailing of Hkakabo Razi’s World Heritage bid reveals a multifaceted battle of interests spanning international conservation, commercial exploitation, party politics and local desires to…

South Sudan: South Sudan's Gold Export Earnings Sink Due to COVID-19: Official

Jun 4, 2020 | Ghana News Agency

South Sudan said on Wednesday its monthly gold export earnings to the Arab world have plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Akol Ayii Madut, director…

Sierra Leone: Destitute Diamond Diggers: Artisanal Diamond Miners in Sierra Leone Struggle for Survival

Jun 4, 2020 | Emma Black, Politico

“Artisanal mining” means mining operations must be less than ten metres deep, less than one acre and only rudimentary hand-held tools can be used. The…

Conflict Minerals: Trucking-Related Companies Find It Difficult to Identify 'Conflict Minerals' in Supply Chains

Jun 4, 2020 | Eric Miller, Transit Topics

It has been more than six years since America’s public companies began searching for African “conflict minerals” throughout their complex supply chains, with the goal…

Predicting Natural Resource Violence

Jun 4, 2020 | Jessica Anderson

Between 1949 and 2009, at least 40 percent of intrastate conflicts were linked to natural resources, according to estimates in a UN report. A growing body…

Saving the Environment, Saving People and Building Peace

Jun 4, 2020 | PAX

PAX is highlighting the importance of environment and conflict as it marks World Environment Day. Around the world, citizens, grass-roots activists, United Nations organisations, faith…

How Does War Damage the Environment?

Jun 4, 2020 | Doug Weir

We’re often asked how armed conflicts harm the environment. In this blog we try to provide as many different examples of harms as we can.…

Fighting the Climate Battle

Jun 3, 2020 | Jane Ahern, The Madras Pioneer

A local woman's dedication to family traditions, community service and social justice has led to what she describes as her dream job. Madras resident Katherine…

Myanmar: Southern Myanmar’s Indigenous Groups Say the UN Should Scrap $21 Million Conservation Plan

Jun 3, 2020 | Skylar Lindsay, ASEAN Today

Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region is among the most vibrantly biodiverse places in Asia. The southern tail of kite-shaped Myanmar, Tanintharyi encompasses hundreds of islands in the…

Myanmar: Myanmar Condemns Report on Illegal Teak Exports to EU

Jun 3, 2020 | Thiha Lwin, Irrawaddy

Myanmar’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation has disputed the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)’s latest report which claims illegal teak from Myanmar is…

ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: Can Ecocide Save the Planet? An International Crime of Climate Change

Jun 3, 2020 | Kate Mackintosh

The appeal of using international criminal law to protect the environment is intuitive: the destruction of our environment poses the greatest contemporary threat to the…

CEOBS’ STEM Schools Programme for 2020-2021

Jun 3, 2020 | Conflict and Environment Observatory

One of the main aims of the STEM programme is to allow students to gain first hand exposure to scientists and practitioners working within their…

ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: Environmental Crimes against Humanity

Jun 2, 2020 | Darryl Robinson

In this post, the author argues that mass harms to humans, directly produced through harms to their environment, can in principle satisfy the existing definition…

ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: Establishing Facts for Strategic Climate Litigation through Private-Public Partnerships

Jun 2, 2020 | Reinhold Gallmetzer

Climate change is the defining issue of this generation, and the present moment is that issue’s defining moment. The potential and actual consequences of climate…