Environment

MV Wakashio, a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier owned by Nagashiki Shipping and chartered by Mitsui OSK Lines, hit a coral reef off the coast of Mauritius in late July. Over the course of the next few weeks, the vessel split in two spilling fuel oil and creating an ecological disaster. Four separate and ongoing investigations are still trying to unravel exactly what happened to the MV Wakashio and how to determine who has to pay how much for the damage. Read More

The Cotacachi indigenous community is suing ENAMI EP, Ecuador’s national mining company, and Cornerstone Capital Resources, of Ottawa, Canada, over Río Magdalena, a proposed copper-gold mining project in Los Cedros Protected Forest in the Llurimagua area of Ecuador. Read More

The Juukan Gorge, a 46,000 year-old sacred Aboriginal site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia was blown up by Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest mining company, in a quest for iron ore, despite the fact that company executives were aware of the site’s significance to local indigenous communities. Read More

A Brazilian judge has ordered Vale to compensate families of some 300 people killed at the company’s Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine when a dam built to hold waste collapsed on January 25, 2019, near the town of Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerais. Read More

Hundreds of climate activists broke through a police line at RWE’s Garzweiler lignite coal mine in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, demanding government take action against climate change. The protesters successfully halted operations for 45 hours by occupying the mine and chaining themselves to train tracks. Read More

Saul Luciano Lliuya, a farmer who lives near Lake Palcacocha in the Peruvian Andes, has sued Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk (RWE), a major German utility company, to pay for the impact of climate change on his community. A court in Hamm, Germany, has agreed to hear the case. Read More

The Yerisiam Gua indigenous community of West Papua filed a complaint six months ago against a Sri Lankan owned conglomerate for taking over their land to create a palm oil plantation. To this day, the industry body charged with oversight has yet to formally respond to their concerns. Read More

"Bitter Grapes-Slavery in the Vineyards," a new television documentary made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann, alleges that many South African wineries pay their workers less than the legal minimum wage; discourages them from unionizing; and exposes them to toxic pesticides. Top of the list is Robertson's Winery. Read More

Representatives of some 280 indigenous nations have joined a protest on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota to oppose the construction of an oil pipeline by Energy Transfer Partners. If completed, the Dakota Access Pipeline is expected to help move 570,000 barrels of crude daily to Illinois. Read More

Every four years, billions tune in to watch the Olympics on television. And every four years, major corporations pay millions for prime advertising opportunities as official sponsors. The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are no different with Coca-Cola and McDonald's igniting a storm of controversy over their role. Read More