By BJ McManama, published on EcoWatch
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A mining project threatens to forever destroy the Ampasindava Peninsula—an area that is home to some 33,000 people, primarily in farming and fishing communities. The company Tantalum Rare Earth Malagasy (TREM) has obtained a 300 km2 concession from the Malagasy government to extract rare earth minerals—the most contaminating kind in the world. Support the petition to stop this mine! (in French)
This article, written for the research and communication network, Alba Sud, presents a critical view of territories dominated by capital investments in tourism, with a special focus on Central America and the Caribbean. The incursion of tourism and real estate capital, along with certain laws and public policies, is causing a radical shift in land use. Nature, transformed into a commodity, becomes a way to increase profits; and people are expelled from their lands and alienated from their ancestral knowledge and cultures. Read the article in Spanish at:
Based on evidence from a field investigation, this publication provides a detailed overview of the impacts of pine and eucalyptus plantations on communities in three provinces in Mozambique. The report focuses on one of the main companies active in Mozambique and in Southern and Eastern Africa: the Norwegian company Green Resources. Over the past years, this company has grabbed about 265,000 hectares of lands in Mozambique only, dispossessing communities from lands they depend on for their livelihoods.
Portucel Mozambique is a Portuguese company with the biggest land concession among the plantation companies in Mozambique – 356,000 hectares. Its project includes the construction of a pulp mill for future export to Asian markets. This report, available in English and Portuguese, is based on a field investigation over about 4 years that monitored at community level the loss of lands and livelihood to this large-scale plantation project. Published by Justiça Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique in 2016, in partnership with the World Rainforest Movement (WRM).
Across the Mekong region, the “development” model promoted by the region’s governments prioritizes trade and investment liberalization, and privatization. Private investment is sought in virtually every sector of the economy. This publication presents an overview of these investment trends in the Mekong region, the regulatory and policy changes designed to facilitate large-scale foreign and domestic investment, and the impacts of such investment on the living and working conditions of workers in Special Economic Zones.
Mining-affected communities in Panama, environmental organizations, human rights defenders, and social and citizens' movements in the country, staunchly reject this exploitative and death-driven industry. Affected families' testimonies and the environmental damages caused by mining in Panama are sufficient reason to stop mining multinationals from operating in the country. Support the call to stop multinational mining companies in Panama by signing the following petition (in Spanish):
Millions of traditional, peasant and indigenous peoples' communities around the world have limited access to their land and forests because the land is being monopolised and controlled by landlords and big corporations. “The Right to Resist Land Grabs” is a short film that tells the story of land grabbing and repression faced by communities, and people’s resistance. See the film in English:
The powerful evidence of massive injury to communities and water supplies in the Philippines, and findings of rampant violations of environmental law, have led the country's government to ban new open-pit gold, copper, nickel and silver mines. The current Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources cancelled or suspended 26 mining licences and cancelled 75 agreements between the government and mining companies that were proposed to be built on watersheds. While announcing the ban, she said “Water is life”.
QMM, the Malagasy branch of Rio Tinto, a British-Australian mining company, is extracting ilmenite in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, to export it to Canada. To compensate for the destruction caused by this mining activity, QMM set up a biodiversity offsetting project in another forest, 50 km to the north of the mining site. The forest use restrictions imposed on local communities at the biodiversity offsetting site are raising serious human rights, health and food insecurity issues. See the video “Your Mine” produced by the NGO Re:Common at
The Norwegian Solidarity Committee for Latin America raises debates about the ethical principles behind Norwegian investments. They invited, together with a network of Norwegian organizations, people from Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil and Swedish Sami to present their stories, research and reflections to a popular court in March 2017. One of the cases discussed was the situation in the extreme south of Bahia, Brazil, where three of the world’s biggest pulp and paper-producing companies operate (Suzano, Veracel and Fibria).
