Funny how so many of Israels wars and occupied territories just happen to include a tale of a natural resource. There is the Palestinian water, the off shore gas and now: the Egyptian uranium. See ‘Israel secretly exploited Egypt’s uranium’; a story seen a couple of places around the net. According to this story, Israel…
Author: Benno Hansen
Water of the “Holy Land”:
For quite some time I have been keeping an eye on the influence of water in the Israel vs Palestine conflict. On top of all the other ‘ecowars’ I have Google track for me. But I have been reluctant to post on it for a variety of reasons. Now I have decided to do something…
Opinion: Nations don’t go to war over water
Writer Wendy Barnaby has written an essay for academic journal Nature in stead of a book for her publisher as the conclusion on “water wars” wouldn’t sell. Some facts… There are 263 cross-boundary waterways in the world. Between 1948 and 1999, cooperation over water, including the signing of treaties, far outweighed conflict over water and…
Chilean town withers in free market for water
Quillagua is among many small towns that are being swallowed up in the country’s intensifying water wars. Nowhere is the system for buying and selling water more permissive than here in Chile […] Some economists have hailed Chile’s water rights trading system, which was established in 1981 during the military dictatorship, as a model of…
Killing for Coal: The Ludlow Massacre and more
Coal’s been generating controversy for about as long as it’s been generating energy. On April 20th 1914, coal was at the epicenter of the bloodiest battle in US labor history. It’s called the Ludlow Massacre, after the mining town in Southern Colorado where coal miners went on strike demanding better conditions. The Colorado National Guard…
Video: Israeli Military Shooting Gaza Farmers
18th February 2009 Israeli forces shot a twenty year-old Palestinian farmer as he worked his land in the village of Al-Faraheen, east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
US Army captain: “eco-friendly practices need to be applied”
On military bases in Iraq, plastic, paper, aerosol cans, Styrofoam plates, food waste, batteries, digital equipment and hygiene products fall under one category: waste. It is simply dumped at the edge of the base, then burned at night, irritating soldiers’ lungs. Untreated wastewater is also haphazardly disposed of and gradually finds its way into Iraq’s…
We’re on the brink of disaster
Every outbreak of violence has its own distinctive origins and characteristics. All, however, are driven by a similar combination of anxiety about the future and lack of confidence in the ability of established institutions to deal with the problems at hand. […] The riots that erupted in the spring of 2008 in response to rising…
Lord Stern: Deal with climate change or prepare for “extended world war”
“[Temperature change above 2 degrees Celsius would] transform where people can live […] People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases […And that would mean extended global conflict] because there’s no way the world can handle that…
Afghans killed… by pollution too
Three decades of war and severe drought have already damaged the country’s environment with widespread desertification and deforestation and loss of vegetation and wildlife, deputy head of Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency said. But now, overpopulation in Afghanistan’s cities, the burning of poor quality fuel, thousands of imported old cars, no proper waste management or…
Reports: Nature’s riches fought over – and over again
Two recent reports confirms the role of natural resources in armed conflict. One UN, one academic. From UN’s report on the importance of the environment in conflict and peacebuilding: Since the end of the Cold War, at least eighteen violent conflicts have been driven by the exploitation of natural resources. While political and military issues…
Equatorial Guinea: Oil found yesterday, coup attempted today
Mega-disclaimer: I haven’t looked into the details. These two pieces of news may very well be entirely unrelated. Or they could be completely entwined. In any case when such news converge I simply have to take note. For starters how about a usually credible source: BBC / Mystery over E Guinea gun battle An unidentified…