Just over six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, civic freedoms remain under threat across the world. A new brief released by the CIVICUS Monitor documents ongoing and unjustifiable restrictions on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression. The brief also finds …
A light earthquake struck near the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Tuesday evening, shaking buildings, but there were no immediate reports of damage in the Central American country. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 4.7 magnitude quake struck 18 miles (29 km) northwest of the capital Managua, at a depth …
For hundreds of thousands of farmers in Guatemala, this year's harvest is over before it has even begun. The fields in the east of the country are yellow, the ground bone-dry. For 74-year-old Marco Tulio Lopez Diaz, the situation is getting desperate. He has worked on his land in the …
Energy efficiency provides the cleanest, cheapest, and quickest solution to meet worldwide energy demand. Long-term energy scenarios developed by the International Energy Agency assign energy efficiency the largest role in reducing carbon emissions to mitigate climate change. This role is much greater than all other means combined, including renewable energy, …
Protesters in Nicaragua against a planned canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans The demonstrators fear the environmental impact of the canal Thousands of Nicaraguans have held a protest against the planned construction of a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The $50bn (£32bn) scheme, being built by a …
In December of last year, the Nicaraguan government began work on the much-debated interoceanic canal. The proposed project would divide Nicaragua’s biodiverse rainforests, coastal reefs, and the iconic Lake Nicaragua. Although construction has not proceeded beyond clearing and paving an access road, on May 31st of this year, the project …
On March 9th and 10th, 2015, an independent panel met for two days at Florida International University’s College of Law to discuss the likely environmental impacts associated with the proposed inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua. The goal was to review some sections of the draft Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) …
Costa Rica wants information from Nicaragua about the potential environmental impact of a planned $50 billion canal project that would rival the Panama Canal, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera said on Tuesday. The canal construction plan entails dredging Lake Nicaragua to almost twice its current depth. This could …
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck late on Monday off the coast of El Salvador and Nicaragua and was felt across Central America, killing at least one person, but there were no immediate reports of major damage. El Salvador's emergency services said a dozen homes in the department of Usulutan had …
Shipping firms should pressure the Nicaraguan government and the Chinese backer of a proposed canal to ensure that the project does not force indigenous people off their land and inflict massive environmental damage on the country’s ecosystem, an environmental advocacy group has urged. The proposed 178-mile waterway seeks to rival …
Recently published prevalence estimates of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in five Latin American countries—Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—could suggest a new direction for United States foreign policy in the region. (Editorial)
The 52nd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in response to a call for action of the Minister of Health of El Salvador, recognized chronic kidney disease from nontraditional causes (CKDnT) affecting agricultural communities in Central America as a serious public health problem that requires urgent, effective, …
NOW that Nicaragua has picked a path for a Chinese firm to dig a canal connecting the Caribbean and the Pacific, environmentalists are worried about a huge lake on the route. They fret about the effects of ship traffic on the health of Lake Cocibolca, the largest freshwater body in …
During the harvest season, when exhausted workers spend seven days a week cutting sugar cane, the signs of illness were hard to spot at first. It was in the off-season, out on the baseball field, that some residents noticed a change. Base-stealers were lethargic. Pitchers were losing their aim. In …
Sea turtle populations have been exploited for hundreds of years, and even though conservation efforts have increased substantially in modern times, populations still suffer across the globe. In fact, according to conservation scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Florida, over-fishing is to blame for more than 170,000 …
Narco-Deforestation, a newly coined term for the destruction of sensitive forest ecologies in Central and South America has been identified as a greater threat to the South and Central American forests than other previously identified concerns such as legal logging and development. The drug traffickers are creating new autoroutes and …
Initial reports indicated no major damage from the quake, which was also felt in El Salvador. The quake struck 15 miles south of the town of Granada, near the country's Pacific coast, at a depth of 86 miles, the USGS said. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said …
A strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Nicaragua just off its north-western Pacific coastline, the US Geological Survey, which monitors earthquakes worldwide, reported on Sunday. The epicenter of the quake, which stuck at 0937 GMT, was in the ocean 23 kilometers (14 miles) west-southwest of the town of Jiquilillo, and 160 …
Bangladesh has ranked fifth among 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change-induced natural disasters in the last two decades from 1993 to 2012, according to a new report. During the period, Bangladesh suffered damages worth US$1,832.70 million, wrought by 242 types of natural catastrophes, states the Climate Risk Index (CRI) …
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013 presents updated estimates of undernourishment and progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and World Food Summit (WFS) hunger targets. The latest assessment shows that further progress has been made towards the 2015 MDG target, which remains within reach for the …
