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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.

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.

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.

Earth Day: End the Global Attacks on Indigenous Environmentalists

United States Institute of Peace

Indigenous people are humanity’s best protectors of our planet. Why we are letting them be killed?
Indigenous Maasai Ask the United Nations to Intervene on Human Rights Abuses

Grist

Maasai leaders say they have few options as Tanzanian officials lock down protected areas.
Corporations Are Expanding Control Over Ukraine’s Land With Help From the IMF and the World Bank

Bretton Woods Project

New report from the Oakland Institute exposes the stealth take-over of Ukrainian agricultural land known as the “breadbasket of Europe”.
Are Bono and Harold Hamm Pipeline Partners?

ESG University

Study shows musician Bono is an investor in TPG Rise Fund which owns 30% of the Midwest Carbon Express, also known as the Summit Carbon Pipeline.
Sakaya: Are Ranches, Conservancies Fuelling Banditry, Cattle Rustling?

The Star

40 per cent of Laikipia county’s land is occupied by large ranches and conservancies
“War and Theft”. Who and Why Is Seizing the Agricultural Lands of Ukraine?

ZN,UA

After the Ukrainian authorities opened the land market in the spring of 2020 and at the same time prevented farmers from building up their muscles by curtailing their financial support programs, it became obvious that the state, developing agriculture, would rely on agricultural holdings according to the Latin American version.