· October, 2012

Stories about Environment from October, 2012

Jamaica, Cuba: Handling Hurricane Sandy

Tropical Storm Sandy, which had been on a direct course towards the Greater Antilles over the past few days, got upgraded to Category 1 hurricane status shortly before it made landfall in Jamaica. It then struck Cuba and is now headed for the Bahamas.

25 October 2012

Madagascar: A Case Study for Small Scale Mining

The Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Protected Areas and critical ecosystems (“PACE”) programme (ASM-PACE) has released a case study on how Madagascar can “ensure continued socioeconomic development without undermining ecological...

25 October 2012

Sri Lanka: Bumper Harvest Of Fish

Malaka Rodrigo reports that many fish species have aggregated to the Sri Lankan East coast giving a bumper harvest to the fishermen. Experts say that this might have happened due...

21 October 2012

India: Conflict Over Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Continues

The Atomic Power Project in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has started operations last month but protests continued and arrests are still being made and protesters remain in jail. This week also marks a call for a fortnight of protests across India in solidarity with people’s struggle against the Nuclear Plant.

19 October 2012

Central Asia's Water Stories

How is it possible that in Central Asia, a region with abundant water resources, safe drinking water is still a luxury for many people? On his blog, Bakhrom Mananov features...

17 October 2012

Costa Rica Advances in Legislation for Wildlife Protection

Costa Rica is advancing in legislation to protect wildlife. On October 10, President Laura Chinchilla signed a decree that strengthens the controls on shark finning in Costa Rican waters. Furthermore, on October 2, the Legislative Assembly approved the first reading of a reform for the Wildlife Conservation Law, which proposes the elimination of hunting sports in the country.

15 October 2012

Zambia: YouTube Documentary on Negative Impact of Copper Mining

A documentary titled “Zambia: Good Copper, Bad Copper” about Zambian copper mining and its negative impact on society has emerged on YouTube and has so far attracted over 6,000 hits. After watching the documentary, one YouTube user wrote, "Cry our beloved country. Why should we remain poor when a coveted product is plenty and mined at the expense of the locals' health."

14 October 2012

France, World Bank to Help African Nations Negotiate Mining Contracts

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Franc Zone monetary cooperation agreements, the president of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, and the French Minister of Finance, Pierre Moscovici, have published a joint text advocating the establishment of an initiative to end "the excessive exploitation of Africa’s reserves". African bloggers have been giving their opinions on this development.

9 October 2012

Peru: Pollution in Lake Titicaca

Pollution in Lake Titicaca has reached alarming levels. In February of this year, the lake was declared as "Threatened Lake of the Year 2012" by the organizations Global Nature Fund (Germany) and Living Lake (USA). In this post we collect videos and information about the serious environmental damage affecting the Titicaca.

8 October 2012

Bangladesh: Cleaning Up the Beach

More than 300 Volunteers took part in this year's International Coastal Cleanup event in Bangladesh – reports Fahim Alam Khan at Kewkradong Bangladesh blog.

7 October 2012