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Investigation launched into killings and evictions on World Bank tourism project

The Guardian

September 28, 2023

The World Bank is investigating allegations of killings, rape and forced evictions made by villagers living near the site of a proposed tourism project it is funding in Tanzania.

The bank has been accused of “enabling” alleged violence by the Tanzanian government to make way for a $150m (£123m) project ministers say will protect the environment and attract more tourists to Ruaha national park.

The “resilient natural resource management for tourism and growth” (Regrow) project will almost double the size of the park, which is 130km (80 miles) from the city of Iringa.

Rights watchdog accuses the World Bank of complicity in rights abuses around Tanzanian national park

AP News

September 28, 2023

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A rights watchdog is accusing the World Bank of enabling the Tanzanian government’s violent expansion of a national park through financing from the global lender.

The World Bank has failed to hold Tanzanian authorities accountable for serious rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and sexual assaults, relating to the expansion of Ruaha National Park in the south of the East African country, according to a new report by the Oakland Institute.

Dams and Plantations Upend Livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley

Mongabay

May 16, 2023

Food insecurity, famine and malnutrition have blighted the agropastoralist communities of the Lower Omo River Valley in southwestern Ethiopia. Researchers and human rights advocates say the drought has only exacerbated fundamental changes to the cultures of these peoples brought on by the construction of a dam and the establishment of sugarcane plantations in the region.

Carbon Offsets: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

HBO

August 21, 2022

John Oliver explains what carbon offsets are, what they claim to do, how they might be making climate change even worse, and, of course, how Oscar Isaac is getting hotter.

Tanzanian Maasai Visit Europe to Urge Action over Their Eviction from Their Lands

The Canary

Tracy Keeling
A delegation of Maasai representatives from Tanzania are travelling around Europe in May. They’re seeking international support to stop ongoing evictions and...
Toxic Contagion – Funds, Food and Pharma

Countercurrents

In 2014, the organisation GRAIN revealed that small farms produce most of the world’s food in its report Hungry for land: small farmers feed the world with less than a quarter of all farmland. The report Small-scale Farmers and Peasants Still Feed the World (ETC Group, 2022) confirmed this.
Chemical Spill in Nicaraguan Reserve Raises Questions About Industrial Mining Regulations

Mongabay

A recent chemical spill in a protected reserve in northern Nicaragua is raising concerns about the contamination of several river ecosystems and the public health fallout for thousands of Indigenous people living nearby.
How Canada Played a Key Role in Neoliberalizing Ukraine

The Canada Files

The ‘Ukraine Reform Conference’ is as an annual event that engages political leaders from NATO countries, the G7, the European Union and private think tanks in key reforms aimed at reforming Ukraine’s economy.
Dams and Plantations Upend Livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley

Mongabay

Food insecurity, famine and malnutrition have blighted the agropastoralist communities of the Lower Omo River Valley in southwestern Ethiopia. Researchers and human rights advocates say the drought has only exacerbated fundamental changes to the cultures of these peoples brought on by the construction of a dam and the establishment of sugarcane...
Ukraine’s Big Mistake

Scheerpost.com

By Natylie Baldwin / Covert Action Magazine