Tanzania accused of backtracking over sale of Masai’s ancestral land
Masai told to leave historic homeland by end of the year so it can become a hunting reserve for the Dubai royal family by {David Smith} on [The Guardian] The Tanzanian government has been accused of going back on a deal not to sell Maasai land bordering the Serengeti national park. Tanzania has been accused of reneging on its promise to 40,000 Masai pastoralists by going ahead with plans to evict them and turn their ancestral land...
How saving West African forests might have prevented the Ebola epidemic
Deforestation has destroyed much of the region’s habitat for fruit bats – and put these Ebola carriers into greater contact with people [the guardian] The world now knows in great detail how Thomas Eric Duncan, a man who just a few weeks ago showed admirable compassion for a sick, pregnant neighbor in Liberia, has become the first person to come down with Ebola in the United States. What is less well known is how the virus came to...
Botswana President shamed by Bushman protest at election rally
Botswana’s President Ian Khama was met with protests during an election rally at a Bushman eviction camp last Saturday, over government attempts to starve the Bushmen off their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. on[ Survival International] Kalahari Bushmen demanded that their right to hunt to feed their families be recognized. They brandished slogans reading “Hunters Not Poachers” and “Bushmen are the best...
Designed to fail … and the solutions
While violent conflicts over rare metals used in our phones and laptops continue and e-waste keeps piling up, engineers break their heads over new ways to ensure that products die quicker. By {Nick Meynen} on [Ejolt It takes 244 kg of fossil fuel, 21,8 kg of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor. Carsten Wachholz, product policy officer from the European Environmental Bureau: “To offset the energy...
Canada’s real international shame — and it’s not Ford: Burman
When will this horrid scandal end? Can someone please turn the channel? Shamed on the world stage and ridiculed by many, Canada has been exposed in recent days as a country with political leadership that is greedy, self-indulgent, incompetent and dismissive of our children, as well as woefully captive of special interests. by {Tony Burman} on [tarsandssolutions And I’m not referring to Rob Ford. His 15 seconds of fame — as “The...
Complaint against CEO of Chevron submitted to ICC
By Nick Meynen. BREAKING NEWS: Pablo Fajardo, lawyer for 30.000 Ecuadorian victims of Texaco’s environmental liabilities in the Amazon, just filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This new frontline in probably the most complex legal conflict ever, accuses the top two people in Chevron: John Watson (CEO) and Hewitt Pate (Vice-president) of crimes against humanity. Chevron aquired Texaco in 2000 and...
