Environmental Peacebuilding Association

International

Colombia: 'It's a Perverse System': How Colombia's Farmers Are Reforesting Their Logged Land

Dec 29, 2017 | Lisa Palmer, Guardian

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world, trailing only Brazil, and more than half of its territory is covered by forest. But…

Colombia: Khiron Receives Cultivation Quota from Colombian Government and Commences Cultivation of Medical Cannabis Strains

Dec 29, 2017 | Hailey Wahlberg, Investing News

Khiron Life Sciences Corp. reports that the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Khiron Colombia SAS, has commenced cultivation of a variety of medical grade cannabis strains…

Myanmar: A Farmers Activist Is Beaten to Death, and the Video Goes Viral. How Tensions over Land Are Tearing at Myanmar

Dec 29, 2017 | Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times

In Myanmar, a lush Southeast Asian nation where 70% of the population makes a living from agriculture, a slow transition from half a century of…

Myanmar: Plundered Jade Mountains Leave Gaping Hole in Govt Revenue

Dec 28, 2017 | Nyan Hlaing Lynn, Frontier

In Myanmar, if you want to do business in jade you have to buy from the gems and jade emporiums jointly sponsored by the government…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq to Divert Most Kirkuk Oilfield Output to Iraqi Refineries, Says Official

Dec 27, 2017 | Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Iraq is preparing to divert most future output from Kirkuk oilfield to local refineries as a conflict with Kurdish regional authorities over the use of…

Myanmar: Parliament Approves Proposal to Ensure Transparency in Extractive Industries

Dec 27, 2017 | Htet Naing Zaw, Irrawaddy

Myanmar Lower House of Parliament on Thursday approved a proposal to ensure transparency in the country’s extractive industries and transfer back the gross revenues of…

Chad: 12 Sudanese Gold Prospectors Killed in Chad

Dec 27, 2017 | Sudan Tribune

Twelve Sudanese traditional gold prospectors have been killed and seventeen others injured on Monday by gunmen in Chad on the border with Libya. Eyewitnesses told…

Afghanistan: Illegal Extraction; Terrorist Groups Earn Millions of Dollars

Dec 26, 2017 | Afghanistan Times

“The mining sector has to be transparent, because it becomes a source of misfortune for Afghan people. The revenue goes to the powerful and terrorists’…

Egypt/Ethiopia/Sudan: Egypt Wants Outside Experts to Help Settle Nile Dispute

Dec 26, 2017 | Aaron Masho, Reuters

Egypt said on Tuesday it had suggested to Ethiopia and Sudan that they all call in international experts to help settle a dispute on an…

Colombia: Driven from Their Lands, Colombia’s Awá Struggle to Survive

Dec 26, 2017 | Michelle Begue, UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Indigenous peoples like the Awá Mayasquer are among those most impacted by more than five decades of armed conflict in Colombia that has displaced more…

Liberia: Liberian Government Debunks Global Witness Publication of Forestry Tax Waiver

Dec 24, 2017 | FrontPage Africa

Forestry Industrial Development & Employment Regime Act of 2017 does not provide the timber industry a US$13 million tax gift and that every penny the…

Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Invites Bids to Build New Kirkuk Export Pipeline

Dec 24, 2017 | Ahmed Rasheed, Reuters

Iraq has given foreign energy companies a month to signal their interest in building a new export pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields in the north…

Afghanistan: US Air Raids Have Destroyed 25 Taliban Drug Labs. They Might Be Aiming at the Wrong Target, Afghans Say.

Dec 23, 2017 | Sayed Salahuddin and Pamela Constable, Washington Post

One month after U.S. and Afghan forces began bombing suspected Taliban drug laboratories in Helmand province, Afghan officials and analysts say they are relieved that…

Afghanistan: Govt to Enforce Environmental Laws

Dec 23, 2017 | Gulabuddin Ghubar, TOLOnews

President Ashraf Ghani has issued a decree on the environmental law, stating any person found guilty of committing major pollution-related crimes can face between 16…

Myanmar: Daw Suu Stresses Transparency, Accountability in Mining Sector

Dec 22, 2017 | Frontier

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stressed the importance of transparency and accountability in the mining sector at a meeting with industry representatives in…

Colombia: Strengthening Farmer Organizations as Agents of Peace in Colombia

Dec 22, 2017 | Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-Operation

A new project of ICCO Cooperation in Colombia has been approved for signing by the European Union’s Trust Fund. In the project, farmer organizations will…

Liberia: Environmental Groups Criticize Liberia’s New Logging Law

Dec 21, 2017 | Jonathan Paye-Layle, Associated Press

Two global environmental watchdogs have condemned a new law in Liberia that they say rewards logging companies at the expense of one of the world’s…

Myanmar: Gem Sales down Pending Release of Law

Dec 21, 2017 | Nyein Zaw Lin, Myanmar Times

Gem sales have declined at the 2017 mid-year Myanma Gems Emporium, which is being held at the Mani Yadana Gems Hall in Nay Pyi Taw…

Afghanistan: Afghanistan Salt Mines Pushing up Air Pollution

Dec 20, 2017 | Asian Age

Air-borne particles from the salt mines of Afghanistan are pushing up the levels of air pollutants in Delhi, a team of scientists has found. Initially,…

Afghanistan: Afghan Raisin Houses Get a Facelift to Boost Productivity

Dec 20, 2017 | Agence France-Presse

Keshmesh khanas — the Dari term for raisin houses — are getting a facelift as Afghanistan looks to improve its yield. The country once accounted…

Liberia: Land Issues, Top Source of Conflict in Liberia

Dec 20, 2017 | Ishmael F. Menkor, Observer

Land issues top the sources of conflict in Liberia, according to a survey conducted by the Liberian Peace-building Office has revealed. Speaking at a Catholic…

Climate Change: The Omission of “Climate Change” from the New US National Security Strategy Could Have Broad Diplomatic Consequences

Dec 20, 2017 | John Light, UN Dispatch

Earlier this week, Donald Trump put out a National Security Strategy that made no mention of climate change. This struck some observers as curious, given that many…