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Turkish government bears down on rural resistance to mining and hydro projects
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on June 22nd, 2015
Mongabay: Villagers in the country's lush Black Sea region face police force, legal hurdles, and more subtle means of suppression in their fight to protect the environment.
The Fol Creek Valley outside of Trabzon, Turkey. Residents are fighting plans to build a cement factory, several rock quarries, a gold mine, and three hydropower plants in the area. Photo: Jennifer Hattam.
The Fol Creek Valley rises steeply from Turkey's Black Sea shoreline, the grey concrete of the coastal cities quickly giving way...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Turkish government bears down on rural resistance to mining and hydro projectsPhotos from the front: the California oil spill in pictures
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on May 21st, 2015
Mongabay: On Tuesday, an underground oil pipeline burst near Goleta, California, spilling crude oil into the Pacific, soiling beaches, killing marine animals, and coating birds in oil. Whales and sea lions were spotted in the spill area, where two slicks totaled 9-miles long as of Wednesday evening. The spill took place not far from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, site of an incredibly diverse marine ecosystem that is home to 18 cetacean and 3 seal species.
The ruptured pipe was discovered...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Photos from the front: the California oil spill in picturesNickel Mine, Lead Bullets: Maya Q’eqchi’ seek justice in Guatemala and Canada
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on May 19th, 2015
Mongabay: German Chub faces the judge as he responds calmly and evenly to question after question during cross-examination. He uses his arms to lift himself up and shift a little in his wheelchair. Other young Maya Q'eqchi' men had to carry him up the stairs to the second-floor courtroom in Puerto Barrios, a bustling Caribbean port city in eastern Guatemala.
Five and a half years ago, Chub was playing soccer in the community of La Unión, in the department of Izabal, when security guards from the Guatemalan...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Nickel Mine, Lead Bullets: Maya Q’eqchi’ seek justice in Guatemala and CanadaActivist deported from Cambodia continues fighting dam from abroad
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on May 6th, 2015
Mongabay: "I am arrested and ready to be deported now – Alex." So read the text sent at 5 pm on February 23 by Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the founder of the Cambodian conservation group Mother Nature, to key supporters and members of the media. He sent it from the Department of Immigration office where he was being held at Phnom Penh International Airport. An hour later, his last message from Cambodian soil captured the mission for which he has become known: "Message to youth and Cambodian nature lovers,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Activist deported from Cambodia continues fighting dam from abroadKeeping up climate: efforts reduce African crop losses face extra hurdle of climate change
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on April 21st, 2015
Mongabay: Farmers in tropical areas have long struggled to maximize their crop yields, but the strikes against them just continue to mount. To start with, they tend to lack storage and processing tools that industrialized countries take for granted -- things like refrigeration, ovens, and grain elevators. On top of that, they're working the land in places where climate change may already be wielding its effects, making disease, rainfall patterns, and crop yields less predictable.
Africa, Latin America,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keeping up climate: efforts reduce African crop losses face extra hurdle of climate changeKaiduan dam in Borneo meets fierce opposition
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on April 6th, 2015
Mongabay: Activists are calling on the government of Sabah, Malaysia, to reconsider the proposed Kaiduan dam, saying the Infrastructure Development Ministry (IDM) has not considered other solutions to Sabah's looming water crisis and has failed to consult with the indigenous people who will be displaced if the project proceeds. The government first proposed building the Kaiduan dam in 2008. The IDM insists the project is necessary to ensure an adequate water supply for the west coast of Sabah, one of the...
Here comes progress: what will planned megaprojects mean Amazon city?
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on March 31st, 2015
Mongabay: The city of Itaituba, in western Pará state, is home to several construction projects of strategic interest for the Brazilian government. However, with local infrastructure fragile, residents are worried they will not share in the spoils.
A dirt road divides the neighborhoods of Vila Nova and Vila Caçula. Houses are raised on stilts here, along the bank of the Tapajós River, which skirts the edge of the city of Itaituba, in the west of Pará state. A team from Pública attempted to interview some...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Here comes progress: what will planned megaprojects mean Amazon city?