An alliance of green groups have called out plans for UN-backed hydro projects in Nepal, Tajikistan and the Solomon Islands, saying they will have “tremendous negative impacts” on ecosystems and indigenous people. Touted as a renewable energy source, large dams account for up to a billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year due to rotting vegetation in the water, say critics. The Guardian U.K. reports.
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Why Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal has India asserting itself to China
While guest of honour at the Namami Brahmaputra river festival, the Dalai Lama spoke of the spiritual link to the Brahmaputra, which originates in his homeland Tibet. China’s blocking of a tributary of the Brahmaputra for the construction of a hydropower project has long been a sore spot in India-China relations. CNN-News18 reports.
Canada deports hundreds to China each year with no treatment guarantee
The lack of a formal extradition treaty has not stopped Canada from expelling people to China without assurances they will not be tortured or otherwise mistreated, according to statistics obtained by The Globe and Mail. Former Canadian ambassador to China, David Mulroney, told the newspaper that the “murky and worrisome” justice system people were returning to meant that Canada might be enabling unfair prosecutions.
All options are on the table with North Korea. But for China and the U.S., all the options are bad
Trump’s demand that China squeeze North Korea into submission won’t work on Kim Jong-un.
Bombardier nabbed $3.7B in subsidies, yet the mob demands we punish its executives
The current exec pay hooha is a timely reminder about the real scandal here: the willingness of politicians to hand over billions of dollars in subsidies to a few favoured companies. What is Bombardier really selling? Itself as a recipient for government funds. As for planes, “it is selling the making of planes, or more particularly conspicuous government support for the making of planes, or perhaps just the idea of making planes,” writes Andrew Coyne, tongue firmly in cheek, for the National Post.
Have you heard about the Yazidi people?
The Yazidi crisis is not as familiar to people as the crisis in Syria, if people know who the Yazidis are at all. Yet, everyone has heard of ISIS, so why then has one of their most brutal atrocities gained such little public attention?
The Induced Earthquakes Database
Mining-related activity accounts for the most frequent cause of human induced seismicity, followed by water reservoir impoundment, according to The Induced Earthquakes Database – a comprehensive global review of all human-induced earthquakes.
Trump and Brexit make the EU more irrelevant than ever—and Europeans have had enough
Without the U.K., the EU becomes a socialistic economy indulging weaker, poorer members.
China is desperately trying to control what information the public can get about pollution
Quartz news reports local weather bureaus in China can no longer issue smog warnings to the public. But they can still alert citizens to the “pollution scapegoat” fog.
China builds world’s biggest solar farm in journey to become green superpower
Does China see the Trump presidency as a chance to position itself as a world leader in fighting climate change? The Guardian looks at China’s green edge and its troubles at home to make renewables work.
The Kinder Morgan pipeline: permits or permission?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline has raised a storm of protest about its predicted impacts on the orcas, climate change, First Nations’ rights, as well as concerns about the project’s “flawed” approval process and lack of “social licence”. Lawyer Andrew Roman contextualizes some of the hot-button issues raised by critics.
The Law Society of Upper Canada expresses grave concern about the sentencing of human rights lawyer Xia Lin in China
In response to the harsh sentencing of a respected lawyer on what many claim are trumped-up charges, the Law Society of Upper Canada, in a public statement released this week, urged the People’s Republic of China to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws, including the United Nations’ Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
Joy as China shelves plans to dam ‘angry river’
Environmentalists celebrate as Beijing appears to abandon plans to build mega dams on its Grand Canyon of the East. Although dam-building isn’t off the table in other parts of China, activists say Beijing is deterred in this case by growing concern for the environment, the wisdom of dam construction in areas of high seismicity and – most importantly – the economics of large-scale dams that no longer make financial sense in a slowing Chinese economy, in combination with the scale of difficulty in transmitting electricity from remote regions to the rest of the country.
U.N. finally apologizes for cholera in Haiti … but omits one point
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s “sorry” last week for the organization’s role in Haiti’s deadly cholera outbreak, called a “half-apology” by some for omitting to mention the likely source of that outbreak: Nepalese UN peacekeepers. Ban Ki-moon’s statement nevertheless marks the first time the organization has publicly acknowledged its role in the spread of the cholera epidemic in Haiti that killed at least 10,000 people after the 2010 earthquake.
Environmental scepticism of China’s ability to meet the Paris climate pledge
Despite substantially increasing their renewable energy sources, those sources are “still a tiny fraction” of China’s energy mix, says Probe International’s Patricia Adams in this interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Patricia Adams
Brady Yauch
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
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