(January 11, 2007) The State Environmental Protection Administration received 600,000 complaints regarding environmental issues last year, an increase of 30 percent over the year before, said the administration’s deputy director Pan Yue.
Valley of Darkness: Gold Mining and Militarization in Burma’s Hugawng Valley
(January 10, 2007) The remote and environmentally rich Hugawng Valley in Burma’s northern Kachin State has been internationally recognized as one of the world’s hotspots of biodiversity. The military junta ruling Burma, together with the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, is establishing the world’s largest tiger reserve in the valley. However, the conditions of the people living there have no received attention.
China misses energy saving goal, but cracks down
(January 10, 2007) China missed its energy saving target last year, a top official said on Wednesday, but Beijing is cracking down on major companies that ignored environmental rules as sustainable development moves up the government agenda.
Valley of Darkness: Gold Mining and Militarization in Burma’s Hugawng Valley
(January 10, 2007) Valley of Darkness reveals the untold story of how the junta’s militarization and self-serving expansion of the gold mining industry have devastated communities and ravaged the valley’s forests and waterways.
China’s Rural Residents See Hope for Safe Drinking Water
(January 9, 2007) Nearly 312 million rural Chinese residents have no access to safe drinking water, facing problems of shortage as well as severe contamination.
Drowning the Tiger Leaping Gorge
(January 8, 2007) Even in the biting cold, thousands of tourists still take the treacherous daily journey through the mountains from Lijiang to see the Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of China’s most renowned attractions. However, the entire site could vanish within a few years.
China Cashes In on Global Warming–Critics Fret Lucrative Carbon Credits Hurt Clean-Energy Efforts
(January 8, 2007) China is turning its environmental problems into a shrewdly managed financial asset, capitalizing on corporate and governmental efforts to curb global warming. How much China’s actions will do for the atmosphere remains an open question.
China’s audit authority finds US$816 mln in misused social security funds
(January 8, 2007) China’s National Audit Office (CNAO) discovered 7.1 billion yuan (816 million US dollars) in illegally used social security funds in 2006, said Auditor-General Li Jinhua on Monday.
China Cashes In on Global Warming: Critics Fret Lucrative Carbon Credits Hurt Clean-Energy Efforts
(January 8, 2007) Chinese officials are quickly learning how to play the carbon credit game, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Fired eco chief gets new post
(January 7, 2007) A former state environmental chief who was forced to resign over a major chemical spill that caused widespread pollution has been appointed deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Dam project brings Laos cash and controversy
(January 4, 2007) Sop Hia, Laos Near this dusty village of 51 houses, amid remote hills in the center of landlocked Laos, a country where electricity and running water are scarce and 80 percent of people still live on subsistence farming, a giant project is taking shape that has multinational companies and lenders buzzing.
As dams threaten fish, firm proposes rabbit diet
(January 4, 2007) For the 11,000 villagers along the in northeastern Cambodia, life is about fish. They eat fish. They sell fish. But one day soon, if Vietnam completes six hydropower dams now planned or under construction along the river, there many not be enough fish. Perhaps they can eat rabbits instead.
The Due Diligence Model: A New Approach to the Problem of Odious Debts
(January 3, 2007) Odious debts are debts incurred by a government without either popular
consent or a legitimate public purpose. There is a debate within
academic circles as to whether the successor government to a regime
that incurred odious debts has the right to repudiate repayment. In the
real world, however, repudiation is not currently an option granted
legitimacy by either global capital markets or the legal systems of
creditor states.
Insolvency principles and the odious debt doctrine:The missing link in the debate
(January 1, 2007) Abstract: The War in Iraq has intensified the international human rights community’s attention to the staggering amount of debt facing any future Iraqi government.
Odious, illegitimate, illegal or legal debts – What difference does it make for international Chapter 9 arbitration?
(January 1, 2007) Once upon a time, sovereign debts were just that — debts or the entitlement to be repaid fully, including interest. During the 1970s it was thought unnecessary to make any distinctions between debts, based on the assumption that sovereigns might possibly become illiquid, but could never become insolvent.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 