This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
A landslide sent mud and water crashing onto homes in a town in Colombia's northwest mountains on Monday, killing more than 50 people and injuring dozens, officials said. "The earth slid into the course of the La Liboriana ravine, then the dammed water caused an avalanche which destroyed everything in …
Colombia's second-biggest coal miner, U.S.-headquartered Drummond, failed to implement adequate health and safety practices prior to an accident in which two workers were killed when a cargo of coal was tipped on them, the Labor Ministry said. The ministry said it will press administrative charges after finding lax procedures may …
Colombia's armed forces have arrested 59 people in a major crackdown on illegal mining in the Amazon. Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said they had dismantled an illegal financing network used by the Farc guerrilla group. He said 63 sites near the border with Brazil and Venezuela - where gold, …
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has told his government to stop using the controversial herbicide glyphosate — also known by its brand name Roundup. “I am going to ask the government officials in the National Drug Council at their next meeting to suspend glyphosate spraying of illicit cultivations (of coca),” …
The Nature Conservancy’s white paper, “The Power of Rivers: Finding balance between energy and conservation in hydropower development,” addresses the global expansion of hydropower dams and the need to find development scenarios that provide energy, but also work for communities and nature. Designed as a resource for hydropower companies, governments, …
CHOACHI, Colombia (AFP) -- The highlands around the Colombian capital are scattered with small buildings that look like out-of-place igloos but are in fact innovative houses made from the tires that litter the country's roads. The woman behind the project is Alexandra Posada, a 35-year-old environmental activist who sports a …
The indigenous U’wa people living in north-east Colombia have won what observers call an “historic” and “decisive” victory after state oil and gas company Ecopetrol dismantled a gas drilling site in their territories. The U’wa Association of Traditional Authorities and Councils (Asou’wa) reported in February last year the arrival of …
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Colombia on Tuesday, shaking buildings in several cities including the capital Bogota. The quake, with its epicenter located 17 miles south of the eastern city of Bucaramanga, was deep at 98.5 miles below ground which tends to limit the amount of damage caused. There were …
NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil — This Sept 15, 2009 file photo shows damage done to the Amazon rainforest in a deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil’s northern state of Para. (PHOTO: AP) PARIS, France (AFP) — Gold mining has gobbled up some 1,680 square kilometres (650 square miles) of tropical …
Oil and gas access roads in western Amazon could open up ‘Pandora’s box’ of environmental impacts Oil and gas roads are encroaching deeper into the western Amazon, one of the world’s last wildernesses and biodiversity hotspots, according to a new study. Roads across Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and western Brazil …
The western Amazon is one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas, characterized by extraordinary species richness and large tracts of roadless humid tropical forest. It is also home to an active hydrocarbon (oil and gas) sector, characterized by operations in extremely remote areas that require new access routes. Here, …
A global “gold rush” has led to a significant increase of deforestation in the tropical forests of South America. This is according to new research publish today, 14 January, in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters, which has highlighted the growing environmental impact of gold mining in some of the …
Falling prices and rising debt are driving some Latin American leaders to relax legislation aimed at protecting the environment A commodity boom has helped pull millions out of poverty across South America over the past decade. It has also unleashed a new scramble for oil, minerals and cropland that is …
More than 100 Colombian small farmers are taking on oil giant BP in the UK high court on Wednesday in one of the largest cases in environmental legal history. The farmers say the British company Equion Energia, formerly BP Exploration (Colombia) Ltd or BPXC, was negligent in the construction of …
Adapting to and mitigating climate change will affect most sectors of economies. Addressing this problem will require us to rethink future investment trajectories across the board. Many government agencies and institutions are involved, as well as businesses, civil society, local institutions and communities. Each one of these has its own …
In decades of public debate about global warming, one assumption has been accepted by virtually all factions - that tackling it would necessarily be costly. But a new report casts doubt on that idea, declaring that the necessary fixes could wind up being effectively free. A global commission will announce …
A spill that dumped billions of gallons of mining wastewater into creeks and lakes this week has led local officials in British Columbia to declare a state of emergency and raised concern for migrating sockeye salmon. The Cariboo Regional District said the declaration will help it get access to needed …
The debate around the role that agriculture should play in mitigating climate change and sequestering greenhouse gases is politically complex and technically complicated. In many countries, and particularly in developing countries with a large smallholder population, the agricultural sector faces competing priorities, such as national food security goals, poverty alleviation, …
Among the measures that were announced by President Juan Manuel Santos late on Thursday were drilling water wells, purchasing water trucks, subsidizing animal feed and offering financing to the agricultural sector. Santos also said Colombia would buy helicopters and other equipment to fight wildfires sparked by the hot dry weather. …
Colombia coal producer Cerrejon has slowed operations in the southern zone of its mine in order to keep particulate levels within legal limits amid a lack of rainfall, but said it still expected coal output to rise this year over last. The country's biggest coal miner said in an emailed …
