[posted by Tom Fawthrop  on The Guardian, May 16th, 2018]   Government-commissioned report says proposed site at Sambor reach is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlife A Chinese-backed plan to build Cambodia’s biggest dam could “literally kill” the Mekong river, according to a confidential assessment seen by the Guardian which says that the proposed site at Sambor is the “worst possible place” for...

[posted by Martin Banks on The Parliament Magazine, May 18th, 2018]   The controversial substance glyphosate has serious adverse health effects, including on sexual and reproductive health, according to a new report published this week. This was the main finding of a study by the Italy-based Ramazzini Institute, which presented the results of a pilot study on glyphosate at a news briefing in Parliament. The study is part of the...

[posted by Paul Hockenos on YaleEnvironment360, May 8th, 2018]   Day and night, visitors to the mountain village of Kruš?ica in central Bosnia and Herzegovina — a speck on the map about 40 miles west of Sarajevo — encounter local women sentinels. The women have set up camp on the left bank of the Kruš?ica River in front of a narrow, rough-hewn wooden bridge, above which hangs a Bosnian flag and banners that declare “Bridge of the...

[posted by Ben Chapman on Independent, May 13th, 2018]   Royal Dutch Shell, Italian oil giant Eni and a number of senior executives at the two firms face trial in Milan on Monday over corruption charges relating to a $1.1bn (£800m) deal for a Nigerian oil block. The Milan public prosecutor alleges that $520m from a 2011 deal to buy rights to a vast oil block off Nigeria’s coast was converted into cash and intended to be paid to...

[posted by Alice Facchini and Sandra Laville on The Guardian, May 17th, 2018]   UK demand for fruit increased by 27% last year alone, prompting accusations that growers are illegally diverting rivers and leaving locals without water   British supermarkets are selling thousands of tonnes of avocados produced in a Chilean region where villagers claim vast amounts of water are being diverted, resulting in a drought. Major UK...

[posted by Chris Mooney on The Washington Post, 16th May, 2018]   A 14-year NASA mission has confirmed that a massive redistribution of freshwater is occurring across Earth, with middle-latitude belts drying and the tropics and higher latitudes gaining water supplies. The results, which are probably a combination of the effects of climate change, vast human withdrawals of groundwater and simple natural changes, could have...