(July 6, 2010) Brady Yauch writes that, far from failing to prevent carbon emissions, new allegations say the U.N’s carbon credit scheme is actually paying polluters to increase their polluting ways.
To little surprise, environmental programs at Three Gorges are falling short
(July 5, 2010) As the environmental problems continue to plague the massive Three Gorges dam, officials are falling way behind on programs to contain the pollution caused by its construction. Less than a fifth of the “water environment” programs laid out in a ten year plan in 2001 have been completed, while all nine of the projects to control pollution from ships have not begun, according to Vice-Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun.
Banking on the hand that feeds: Food aid is big business in the US
(July 1, 2010) The food aid business is not simply for charity, it’s also a major source of jobs for businesses across the United States. According to a recent report from consultancy group Promar International, the overall economic impact of moving food aid from the nation’s farms to the ports and then on to foreign countries accounts for more than 13,000 jobs and amounts to almost $2-billion in goods and services, or output.
Foreign aid in Afghanistan: what goes in must come out
(July 2) Brady Yauch writes that Afghanistan is, once again, facing allegations of corruption.
Carbon credit fraud makes its way to Liberia
(June 23, 2010) A British company is alleged to have bribed Liberian officials in a carbon credit deal, writes Brady Yauch.
Danjiangkou Reservoir: A tale of two watersheds
(June 16, 2010) In the ultimate photo-op this week, Danjiangkou Mayor Zeng Wenhua, with press in tow, ladled a cup of water out of his city’s reservoir and drank it "without hesitation" to demonstrate its purity. The Danjiangkou Reservoir—on the Hanjiang River, a branch of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River—is slated to provide Beijing with water by 2014, once the central channel of the South-North Water Diversion scheme is completed.
Migrants “happy” to be resettled says China’s state-run media
(June 11, 2010) The more than 60-thousand Chinese citizens who will be pushed off of their land to make way for a massive South-North Water Diversion project are, according to one government official, ‘eager to move.’
Trampled under the foot of development: Chinese citizens fight for fair compensation
(June 4, 2010) Chinese citizens being forcefully evicted from their homes are continuing their fight to receive fair compensation from developers and local officials. A month after homeowners were pushed from their homes to make way for the Pubugou dam reservoir in China’s Sichuan province, 700 homeowners in Beijing’s Laogucheng neighbourhood are refusing to leave—even as they face assaults by window-smashing thugs—until they receive fair compensation from a powerful developer.
Three Gorges: Privatizing the profits, socializing the costs
(June 3, 2010) A recent restructuring by China’s Yangtze Power Co., the Shanghai-listed subsidiary of the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, will see the company acquire full ownership of the only profitable part of the controversial dam—the generators—while assuming little-to-none of the environmental and social costs.
Landslides and seismic activity rock Three Gorges reservoir
(June 1, 2010) As the rainy season arrives and the Three Gorges reservoir is lowered, the controversial project is once again making headlines. This time, it’s because of the increasing number of landslides and seismic activity occurring along the 410-mile long reservoir.
Power taken from the people: UN carbon scheme threatens to ‘recentralize’ forest governance, spelling doom for forest ecologies
(May 18, 2010) A carbon emissions program created by the United Nations and financed by the UN and development institutions may strip forest use and management from citizens in the developing world, writes Brady Yauch.
The Offsetters’ Paradox: Wind mills in China highlight incurable problem with international carbon credits
(May 7, 2010) Carbon credits given to Chinese wind projects are part of a much larger problem with the UN’s carbon market, writes Brady Yauch.
China intent on building more dams in a seismically-active region in Tibet
(May 6, 2010) After months of rumours, Chinese officials have confessed to plans to construct dams in a seismically-active and politically-sensitive region in Tibet’s Jiacha Canyon. The first dam — the 500-megawatt Zangmu hydroelectric project — is currently under construction and is the first of five planned for the scenic, 100-kilometre canyon on the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
Carbon market may turn subprime, says expert
(May 3, 2010) The carbon market may suffer a fallout similar to what happened recently to the subprime market in the United States.
The EU agrees: No representation without taxation
(April 27, 2010) Replacing foreign aid with tax revenues will promote a democratic society where political and economic leaders can be held accountable by their citizens. Not only should there be no taxation without representation, there will be no representation without taxation.
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