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Category: Regional News
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Published: Thursday, 06 August 2020 13:10
Gloria Silvia Orellana - Diario Co Latino
In El Salvador, the commemoration of “World Environment Day” of 2020 is marked by the ravages that the tropical storms Amanda and Cristobál have brought on homes, ecosystems, and the population, as well as by the food and health crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. The “World Environment Day” of 2020 has evidenced the poverty and vulnerability of the population within the national territory.
With the slogan "For the planet, water and territory", the XX Ecological Walk was carried out online given the current health and climate situation. The online Ecological Walk allowed the various environmental, human rights, religious, women, and youth organizations that make up this space, to carry out an evaluation of the state of the country's natural resources.
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Category: Regional News
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Published: Monday, 03 August 2020 19:24
Telesur
On Wednesday, July 1st, the National Alliance against the Privatization of Water of El Salvador urged the local Parliament to resume discussion of the Water Law.
The organizations that make up the National Alliance against the Privatization of Water of El Salvador, presented on July 1st a letter to a local parliamentary commission with the purpose of requesting that the Legislative Assembly resume "urgently" the discussion of the General Law of Water.
The declaration recalls that "water is a source of life and a public good, whose access constitutes a fundamental human right", necessary in the current conditions to face the Covid-19 health crisis in the Central American country.
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Category: Regional News
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Published: Friday, 31 July 2020 15:12
CONEXIHON
Washington, D.C. (Conexihon) .- Hundreds of national and international civil society organizations called on the government of Honduras and Colombia to guarantee the human rights of defenders, social leaders, indigenous and farming communities who vulnerability has increased due to the record number of threats by armed groups in the midst of the COVID 19 health crisis.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying the human rights crises in Honduras and Colombia," said EarthRights executive director Ka Hsaw Wa. "These governments are wisely protecting the public with measures of social isolation. But these same measures have introduced new risks for human rights defenders who are now particularly vulnerable to armed groups trying to silence them. We urge the governments of Honduras and Colombia to defend the human rights of these defenders during this public health crisis."
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Category: OceanaGold Philippines
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Published: Saturday, 25 July 2020 16:57
Leon Dulce
Bulatlat
A complex array of multiple crises slowly brewing for four years breached the tipping point and inundated the Philippines in just the last four and a half months. This is the story of our nation as we approach the upcoming State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered cascading consequences to long-standing problems in our country that has been hidden from plain sight by the shock and awe antics of President Duterte up to this point.
Oceanagold’s mining operations in Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya have dried up the sources of water, polluted the environment and crippled the livelihood of farmers. (Photo by John Aaron Mark Macaraeg / Bulatlat)
The environment, in particular, has remained under the radar despite long facing increasing pressures these past four years under President Duterte:
1. We have risen from the fifth spot to fourth in terms of long-term climate vulnerability according to GermanWatch’s climate risk index, with annual average damages brought about by climate-related disasters rising from USD 2.8 billion to 3.1 billion.
2. We have consistently placed second among the top countries with the most air pollution-related deaths in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
3. We have lost an estimated P990.3 billion worth of our sovereign natural resources including annual damages incurred in the West Philippine Sea, wholesale export of minerals to foreign economies, losses to the illegal wildlife trade, and sovereign guarantees in large dam and water projects.
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Category: Regional News
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Published: Thursday, 23 July 2020 18:23
by Jen Moore - inequality.org
Global South Communities affected by mining face multiple pandemics - health, economic, violence, militarization and corporate capture
Over the years, the mining industry has taken advantage of dictatorship, disasters, and a variety of distractions to expand operations in Latin America. In the time of Covid-19, with entire populations under lockdown and economies falling apart, mining companies have also hopped on the pandemic profiteering bandwagon.
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Category: Regional News
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Published: Thursday, 23 July 2020 16:54
BNAmericas
Injunctions by communities and an NGO have seen Guatemala’s three main mines halted in recent years – cementing the country’s reputation as one of the world’s least favorable mining jurisdictions.
Three years after a license suspension at Pan American Silver’s Escobal silver-lead-zinc operation, BNamericas takes a look at key court rulings which have affected mines since 2013, and the outlook for the assets.
The injunctions – which have also derailed Solway Investment Group’s Fénix nickel mine and Kappes, Cassiday & Associates’ Tambor gold operation – have hinged on the lack of prior consultations with indigenous communities, a requirement of the International Labour Organization’s convention 169 (ILO 169).
But while Guatemala ratified the convention in 1996, industry leaders say regulations setting out the consultation procedure have yet to be drawn up, resulting in ongoing uncertainty.
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