(January 29, 2007) It goes without saying that flood control is one of the most important functions a dam project can fulfill. However, it is unrealistic to build a dam expecting it to achieve a permanent solution to a flood problem.
Raise environment watchdog to ministerial level: academics
(January 29, 2007) A group of academics has called for more power to be given to the State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa) and for the creation of a new energy ministry, as the mainland tries to tackle the consequences of rapid development.
Chinese economic juggernaut among the last in environmental protection
(January 29, 2007) In 2006 China ranked 100th of 118 countries in terms of environmental protection, the same as three years earlier, this according to a joint report by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and mainland universities.
China gets trade route instead of dams on the Mekong River
(January 29, 2007) A month ago, two small river tankers each carrying about 1,000 barrels of refined oil pulled into a Mekong River port in China’s southwestern Yunnan province after a voyage from Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province.
China’s second largest lake at risk of environmental decay
(January 27, 2007) On the shores of Hunan Province’s Dongting Lake — the second largest freshwater lake in China — lies the village of Qingshanyuan. As all too commonly found in rapidly developing China, industrial plants surround the lake discharging wastewater and emitting toxic gases into the air, regardless of the environmental consequences.
Company only fined for benzene slick in Songhua River
(January 26, 2007) Jilin Petrochemical, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp, was ordered to pay one million yuan (US$128,000) for polluting the Songhua River in 2005. That amount is the maximum possible fine but has never been imposed before on corporate polluters.
Scholars convene at top US law school for first-ever conference on odious debt law and economics
(January 24, 2007) Hosted by the journal of Law & Contemporary Problems, in conjunction with the Center for International and Comparative Law, the Global Capital Markets Center and Duke Law School, the Odious Debts and State Corruption symposium will feature a series of interactive roundtable discussions involving 25 leading international scholars and practitioners.
The ‘special interests’ destroying China’s environment
(January 24, 2007) The political will exists to combat China’s pollution, but collusion between business and local governments remains a major obstacle. In a new column for chinadialogue, Jianqiang Liu asks: who is really harming the country’s interests?
At the centre of China’s environmental storm: Interview with ‘Hurricane Pan’
(January 23, 2007) The second-in-command at China’s state environmental agency talks frankly about SEPA’s latest bid to rein in ‘special interest groups’ and local officials behind the frenzied expansion of polluting and energy-intensive industries.
Kenya’s debt too heavy, says Nobel Peace Prize laureate
(January 23, 2007) Prof. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2004, said Kenya had so far repaid more than $51 billion on external debt, the professor described as ‘suspect.’
China and India warned their water is running out
(January 23, 2007) The world is running out of water and needs a radical plan to tackle shortages that threaten humanity’s ability to feed itself, according to Jeffrey Sachs, director of the UN’s Millennium Project.
The Doctrine of Odious Debt in International Law: A Restatement
(January 21, 2007) There has been a revival in interest in the doctrine of odious debt in legal, policy and economic quarters. Building on the author’s earlier work and recently published article, this study provides a restatement of the odious debt doctrine and renewed examination of its legal foundations.
Environment business and the changing business environment
(January 20, 2007) The common albeit old-fashioned assumption about the relationship between business and the environment is that they are at best separate concerns, often incompatible if not conflicting. China provides a very good demonstration of the opposite being true.
Odious debt wears two faces: Systemic illegitimacy, problems and opportunities in traditional odious debt conceptions in globali
(January 17, 2007) This paper examines the way that the traditional notion of odious debt as a method of repudiating sovereign debt may undergo a conceptual revolution, as it changes focus from the illegitimacy of governments obtaining loans, to the illegitimacy of the systems through which such loans are made and enforced generally.
A critique of the odious debt doctrine
(January 17, 2007) Defenders of the odious debt doctrine, which bars creditors from collecting sovereign debts that financed the personal consumption of former dictators, argue that this rule would benefit populations following dictatorships and discourage would-be dictators from staging coups in the first place. We show that optimism about the doctrine is based on unrealistic assumptions about the motives and practices of dictators. With more realistic assumptions, the odious debt doctrine.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
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