Women-led and women’s rights organizations are on the frontlines of today’s humanitarian crises—but many are at risk of disappearing. As global needs rise due to conflict, climate change, and displacement, deep cuts to foreign aid are threatening organizations that provide life-saving services for women and girls. In March 2025, UN …
About 150 families in village Velaghat in district Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, have been issued eviction notices to vacate their homes for a five-star hotel to be constructed by the Taj Group. Close to the virgin beaches of Velaghat is the lush green Aravali valley and the Yeshwantgarh fort. The adjoining land …
The swirl of rumour, assertion and denials which has long surrounded Malaysia's Bakun Dam continues despite Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed's late-1997 announcement of the project's indefinite postponement. The 10,000 people living in the reservoir zone continue to live under total uncertainty as to their future. In October last year, Malaysian …
the search for a post-colonial paradigm in areas ranging from economics to aesthetics and the struggle for a more just world economic and political order (less burdened with neo-colonial categories) are some of the defining features of the twilight years of the 20th century. The quest for an alternative model …
the World Bank's (wb's) keenness to promote an electricity generation project in Laos has come in for flak by non-governmental organisations. The project, slated to sell power to Thailand, is feared to spell doom for Laos' economy. The 681 mw Nam Theun 2 dam project is located on Theun river, …
tribals of Madhya Pradesh (mp) have decided to unite and rise under the aegis of the non-governmental organisation (ngo) Ekta Parishad, to oppose a World Bank (wb) forestry project that might displace over three lakh tribal families. The project, aimed at encouraging natural regeneration through better management of forests and …
The worst floods since 1961 have ravaged the Juba river valley in Somalia killing more than 2,000 people. Roads, airstrips and bridges were underwater in the towns of Bardera in the north to Jumaame in the south. "It is completely floo-ded. People are trapped. Some are sitting on dikes waiting …
this book could not have come at a more opportune time when the Narmada and Sardar Sarovar debate is high on the priority list of the nation and the general issue of development versus displacement is nowhere near being resolved or even reaching a consensus. From the mid 1980s the …
the Hanumantha Rao Committee report, looking into the safety, environmental and rehabilitation aspects of the controversial Tehri Dam project, will be made public after it is presented to Prime Minister I K Gujral. Hanumantha Rao, former member of the planning commission and the chairman of the committee has said that …
the degradation of the environment as a result of mining has attracted the attention of experts across the world. However, the impact of mining on the communities and the economies of these regions has not quite been the focus of their attention. In the Raniganj coalbelt in Bihar,
the Hirakud dam in Orissa is yet another "temple of modern India' (as Jawaharlal Nehru called dams), that has left behind unfinished business. "More than 6,000 families have not received any compensation so far, after having been displaced by a dam built during 1948-1957,' points out Gopinath Majhi of the …
constructive dialogue and objective assessments have always been a casualty in the conflicts and controversies that have surrounded large dams. Such projects have nevertheless played a major role in development efforts and in meeting a variety of ends like electricity generation. They have also been the key players in government-sponsored …
This article discusses how the Sardar Sarovar Dam in India is a case of a development project which causes environmental displacement on a massive scale. This occurs through the impairment of livelihoods by environmental changes. The problems of resettlement and rehabilitation are emphasized in the article as are further displacement …
The National Environmental Commission of Chile recently gave its final approval for the construction of a second 570-mw dam on the Bio Bio river despite stringent criticism from ecologists and local Indian tribes who seem destined to lose their indigenous land to the project. The electric utility Endesa's environmental impact …
The latest furore in South Africa is over the Cloudy Creek or Rietspruit wetland on the south bank of the Vaal river. The Sasol Chemical Industries wants to strip mine the area for coal as feedstock for the plant, which requires seven million tonnes of coal per annum to turn …
The Brazilian acting minister of justice Milton Seligman denied the allegation that the former minister Nelson Jobim had given the instruction that the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous area be reduced in exchange for votes in favour of the presidential reelection bill. This denial was seen as an attempt to retrieve …
THE lions are going on a safari to see humans being evicted. At stake is the culture and lifestyle of a community of tribals, primarily forest-gatherers, rich in the knowledge of traditional herbs and medicine. For, Madhya Pradesh (MP), the seams of its kitty already bursting with tigers, is about …
after waiting for ten years for promised returns, Brazilian peasants who were forced to leave their land to make way for the Itaparica dam in northeastern Brazil, are petitioning the World Bank for the irrigation facilities they were promised. They are asking the Bank's independent inspection panel to investigate the …
an immediate international moratorium on the construction of large dams was unanimously demanded by participants at the first international meeting of dam-affected people held in Curitiba, Brazil from March 11-14. The 'Declaration of Curitiba' said that the moratorium should last until a number of demands, including compensation to millions of …
India's protected areas (PAs) account for 19 per cent of her forest cover and 4.3 per cent of her landmass. Thus, approximately 15 million hectares of forest land has been effectively locked away from people who have been dependent on them for centuries. Lopsided conservation policies can be apportioned the …
