International


Afghanistan/Iran: Negotiating Hamoun Water Right, Only Way for Sistan to Survive: Report

Aug 29, 2018 | Tehran Times

The Hamouns are transboundary wetlands on the Iran-Afghan border made up of three lakes: Hamoun-e Helmand, which is entirely in Iran, Hamoun-e Sabari on the…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pakistan to Engage Afghanistan for Signing Water Treaty

Aug 28, 2018 | The Nation

The government of Pakistan is continuously trying to engage the government of Afghanistan into dialogue for a possible water treaty in future or at least to…


Afghanistan/Pakistan: Pak Initiates Talks on Water Treaty with Afghanistan

Aug 28, 2018 | Independent News Pakistan

The government of Pakistan (GoP) is trying to engage the Afghan government in dialogue for a possible water treaty and to develop some mechanism for information sharing between…


Liberia: Liberia Set to Secure Ancestral Land Rights with Long-Awaited Law

Aug 27, 2018 | Nellie Peyton, Reuters

Liberia is on the verge of passing a long-awaited land rights law that would help prevent foreign companies uprooting communities to make way for mining…


Iraq: 'Iraq Is Dying': Oil Flows Freely but Corruption Fuels Growing Anger

Aug 27, 2018 | Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian

The land of the Bani-Mansour clan north-east of Basra is flat and parched, spattered with dry crusts of salt and thorny shrubs. Clusters of palm…


Liberia: Land Rights Act Passed

Aug 27, 2018 | J. Burgess Carter, Observer

Following years of open hearings, debates, committee reports, and conference committee work, the Senate at its 54th day sitting last Thursday, unanimously voted to concur…


Iraq: Iraq Restores Part of Largest Oil Refinery after 4-Year Hiatus

Aug 27, 2018 | Xinhua

Iraq has rehabilitated part of its largest oil refinery located in Baiji of the country's central province of Salahudin after it was sabotaged in fierce…


Iraq: Oil-Rich Basra Threatens Vote to Pull Away from Iraq

Aug 27, 2018 | Gilgamesh Nabeel and Tamara Emad, Washington Times

Protesters poured into the streets and picketed oil fields in southern Iraq amid growing discontent over the government’s failure to combat unemployment, provide drinkable water…


Myanmar: Over 13,000 Tonnes of Illegal Timber Seized in Four Months

Aug 27, 2018 | Hsan Htoo Aung, Eleven

From April to July of this fiscal year, the government could seize 13183.2095 tonnes of illegal timber, according to the figures released by Forest Department.…


South Sudan: South Sudan Resumes Pumping 20,000 bpd from Oil Field Suspended Since 2013 - Sudan

Aug 26, 2018 | Reuters

South Sudan has resumed pumping 20,000 bpd of crude from Toma South oil field, where production had been suspended since 2013, the Sudanese oil minister…


Myanmar: Myanmar Returns Confiscated Land to Farmers in Central Region

Aug 26, 2018 | Xinhua

The Myanmar government has returned over 481.92 acres (195 hectares) of farmland confiscated by the Ministry of Defense to 123 farmers in Toungoo, Bago region,…


Liberia: Senate Passes Land Rights Act

Aug 25, 2018 | Ida Reeves, Bush Chicken

The Liberian Senate has finally concurred with the House of Representatives to pass the Land Rights Act. If signed into law by President George Weah,…


Iraq: Iraqi Protest against Unsafe Water in Basra [Video]

Aug 25, 2018 | Osama Bin Javaid, Al Jazeera

People have been protesting in the Iraqi city of Basra after hundreds fell ill after drinking contaminated water. Iraq's government is investigating what caused this…


South Sudan: Production to Restart at South Sudan Oilfields

Aug 25, 2018 | Africa Oil & Power

Intensive preparations for oil production resumption will culminate on August 25 at Toma South, South Sudan, with the relaunch of production from blocks 1, 2…


Land: Rise of Agri-Cartel: Control of Land Drives Human Rights Violations, Environmental Destruction

Aug 24, 2018 | Sonya Swink, Globe Post

Control of land for crops that sustain the world’s largest food businesses, such as Ferrero and Nestle, is the driving force behind the destruction of…


Myanmar: Water Project Offers Hope to Farmers in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone

Aug 23, 2018 | Evan Erickson, Mizzima

While the Dry Zone farmers of today are using techniques and working alongside irrigation schemes that are ancient in origin, the historical and climatic contexts…


Myanmar: Jade, Drugs and GDP

Aug 23, 2018 | Thiha Saw, Myanmar Times

Myanmar boasts of possessing precious natural resources including those that are mined, legally or otherwise, and one of these resources is jade. But there is an…


DRC: Miners Establish Industry Body to Engage DRC Govt on Mining Code, Industry Issues

Aug 23, 2018 | Marleny Arnoldi, Mining Weekly

Mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have established a new industry body, the Mining Promotion Initiative (MPI), to engage with government…


Conflict Minerals: Blood, Sweat, and Batteries

Aug 23, 2018 | Vivienne Walt and Sebastian Meyer, Fortune

That soaring appetite for cobalt is a product of today’s device-driven tech economy: The metal is a key component in the lithium-ion batteries that power…


Kuwait: Kuwait Aims to Settle Oil Field Disputes with Iraq, Saudi Arabia in Coming Weeks

Aug 22, 2018 | Herman Wang, S&P GLobal

Kuwaiti oil minister Bakheet al-Rashidi said Wednesday he expects to resolve two long-standing oil field disputes involving neighbors Iraq and Saudi in the coming weeks.…


Afghanistan: Water Shortages Weigh Heavy on Afghanistan

Aug 22, 2018 | Ezzatullah Mehrdad, Global Voices

Landlocked Afghanistan wasn't always short of water. Historically the valleys in this part of Asia were agricultural heartlands that hosted rushing rivers fed by abundant…


Colombia: Colombia to Consider Aiding Struggling Coffee Farmers

Aug 22, 2018 | Reuters

The Colombian government is examining possible help for coffee farmers hit by low international prices, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday, after repeated requests for…


Colombia: Drones Are Being Enlisted to Tackle Colombia’s Cocaine Farms

Aug 22, 2018 | Malek Murison, Drone Life

We’re not quite at the stage at which drones are taking an active role in day to day agriculture. Despite hardware releases from DJI and…


Myanmar: Myanmar Comes in 2nd on List of Countries Most Prone to Water-Related Disasters

Aug 21, 2018 | May Thin Kyi, Eleven

Myanmar is ranked 2nd on the list of countries with the highest amount of dangers caused by water, said Dr Khin Ni Ni Thein, Secretary…


Conflict Minerals: Blockchain Firms See Growing Opportunity in Ethical Materials

Aug 21, 2018 | Jason Deign, Green Tech Media

Blockchain firms are racing to create ethical sourcing platforms for cobalt amid growing concerns over mining conditions in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. This month,…


South Sudan: Bucknell Researcher Reveals the Biological Treasures of a Conflict Zone

Aug 21, 2018 | Matt Hughes, Bucknell University

DeeAnn Reeder is one of the few animal researchers to have ever worked in South Sudan, where longstanding civil conflict has recently flared up again.…


Afghanistan: Worst Drought in Decades Grips Two-Thirds of Afghanistan [Video]

Aug 20, 2018 | Charlotte Bellis, Al Jazeera

Afghanistan is experiencing a drought so severe that two million people may run out of food in the next six months. More than 80,000 people…


Afghanistan/India/Iran/Pakistan: India’s Controversial Afghanistan Dams

Aug 20, 2018 | Sudha Ramachandran, The Diplomat

India is expected to begin work on the $236 million Shahtoot Dam project on the Kabul River in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. Scheduled to…


Africa: Intolerance, Inequalities and the Land Issue - Major Threats to Peace in Africa

Aug 20, 2018 | Colleta Dewa, Southern Times

Leaders from across the African continent, who gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the African Leaders of Peace Summit last week said the continent needs…


Afghanistan: TAPI Plagued by Land Acquisition Problems

Aug 18, 2018 | Zabihullah Jahanmal, TOLOnews

Officials of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project in the country said so far they have completed 45 percent of the land acquisition process of…