(February 17, 2010) As the rush to dam the Mekong river in Southeast Asia continues unabated, critics are fighting back by documenting the river’s elaborate ecology and economy that is under seige. The river–which runs for 3,032 miles, while coursing its way through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea–has become a regional ribbon of contention between local activists and the government bodies and international development agencies that want to dam the river’s flow.
China’s pollution problem worse than anticipated says new report
(February 17, 2010) China’s first official nationwide census of pollution sources found that the nation’s water is much more polluted than official estimates originally reported.
Tapping the source: China and the Mekong river
(February 16, 2010) As the rush to dam the Mekong river in Southeast Asia continues unabated, critics are fighting back by documenting the river’s elaborate ecology and economy–both of which are under siege from development.
Liu Xiaobo’ conviction killed the constitution, Bao Tong says
(February 16, 2010) It is a great pity that the government seems not to want progress; that it seems to have given up trying. The Chinese Constitution and the rights of its citizens have been recklessly trampled by the one-party system. There is no end to the number of cases of injustice, or miscarriages of justice that this system churns out. The case of Liu Xiaobo is just the latest warning sign.
The state of affairs for carbon
(February 15, 2010) Carbon markets have suffered a number of criticisms since they were first introduced — ranging from being a haven for white collar crime to a sponsor of environmental harm in Third World communities. With global leaders failing to reach an agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol at the December meeting in Copenhagen, many people are asking if carbon markets will survive at all (also see here and here).
China: Lending Africa a helping hand
(February 15, 2010) Despite a number of concerns, China’s involvement in Africa is welcome for a variety of psychological and pragmatic reasons.
Chopsticks mercantilism: China’s involvement in Africa
(February 15, 2010) China’s engagement with Africa should be a boon. Its overall trade with Africa rose from $10.6 billion in 2000 to $75.5 billion in 2008, propelling Africa’s growth rate to 5.8% in 2008, its best performance since 1974. China is now Africa’s second-largest trading partner after the United States, importing a third of its crude oil from Africa…But China’s engagement is increasingly being seen as odious, predatory and brutish. The initial enthusiasm that greeted Chinese investments in Africa has now cooled.
An interview with the man who sued China’s Ministry of Finance to safeguard Chinese citizens’ right to know
(February 12, 2010) Tired of paying into a fund for the construction of Three Gorges dam without knowing how the money was being spent, Ren Xinghui took matters into his own hands.
Researcher sues ministry over special utility fee
(January 29, 2010) A Beijing man is taking the Ministry of Finance to court after the agency refused to explain to him how they spend the extra fee tacked on to the electricity bills of nearly every household in the country.
Silencing scrutiny: Chinese government jails another activist
(February 9, 2010) Chinese activist Tan Zuoren has been sentenced to five years in jail for subversion. The environmentalist was arrested last March after he began investigating the deaths of thousands of children who were crushed when their schools collapsed on them in the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan.
Activists argue that “dams will kill the mighty Mekong”
(February 9, 2010) Losses in aquaculture and farm production could easily outstrip any profit from power generation if planned Mekong River dams are built in China, Laos and Cambodia, says a Can Tho University professor.
The relationship between large reservoirs and seismicity
(February 8, 2010) Following the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China, Chen Houqun, Xu Zeping and Li Ming discuss the question of whether large reservoirs can trigger strong earthquakes.
IPCC faces another desertion – its own past chair
(February 6, 2010) The past chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has joined the growing list of IPCC critics. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Rajendra Pachauri, the disgraced current IPCC chair, now faces criticism from his immediate predecessor, Robert Watson.
An ordinary citizen probes Three Gorges Dam finances
(February 6, 2010) On January 26, Ren Xinghui, a young Beijing resident, decided to stand up against China’s Ministry of Finance. Why? Because his request that income and expenditures for the Three Gorges dam project be made public in accord with China’s National Ordinance on Government Information Release was rejected by the Ministry.
The joy of doing business In Africa: How corrupt Senegalese politicians tried to shake down Millicom for $200 million
(February 5, 2010) Corruption in Senegal is more than a risk to private investors like Millicom, it’s a risk to taxpayers, too. More than half a billion dollars in U.S. development assistance is going to Senegal over the next five years on the assumption of good governance.
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