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 …
Environmental pollution is responsible for a significant share of violent crime and antisocial behaviour, according to an analysis by Roger Masters of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. He says metals in, drinki, disrupt the neuro social, economic and psychological factors cannot fully explain why some counties in the US have only …
MORE than 200 fisherfolk from Andhra Pradesh went on a hunger strike in New Delhi recently to protest against the Aquaculture Authority Bill, 1997, which would virtually nullify the Supreme Court (SC) judgement banning aquaculture in the coastal regulation zone. The bill was debated and cleared within an hour by …
Officials of Royal Dutch Shell, the international oi1company, had to yet again face the wrath of angry natives of Niger delta. 'This time, the protesters were not Ogonis but members of the Ijaw community who stormed six Shell facilities taking 127 Shell staff hostage. The protest soon spread eastward through …
The Warao communities in the Orinoco river delta of Venezuela are up in arms against transnational companies involved in oil exploration in three areas of their homelands. At a conference in Tucupita, the capital of Delta Amacuro state, they demanded immediate end to all oil-related activities and an investigation into …
The sathins (village-level female social workers) have been in the forefront of the Women's Development Programme (WDP) in the rural areas of Rajasthan. However, their commitment and success have brought them little in terms of remuneration. Under the banner of the Sathin Karmchari Sangh, the sathins have been demanding fair …
The 144-MW Kali Gandaki :' (KGA) hydroelectricity project in Syngja, Nepal, was recently inaugurated. Various national NGOs, in collaboration with their international counterparts, have been opposing the construction of the project arguing that the KGA would cause environmental imbalance, adversely affect biodiversity and cause displacement and soil erosion.
Burglars beware! Harare is fast emerging as an ideal venue for 'watch-snakes'. Zimbabwe has a low rate of violent crimes but a fairly large number of burglaries. As most jobs offer a month's vacation, the majority of employed Zimbabweans are forced to leave their houses unoccupied for long durations. In …
Indian fisherfolk are protesting again. They had demanded immediate cancellation of the existing licences issued to Joint venture, chartered, lease and test fishing vessels. Dismayed by the government's inaction on their demands, the fisherfolk launched an indefinite blockade of the Vishakhapatnam, Kandla and Mumbai ports in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and …
The Taj group of hotels has been under fire for the past year due to its decision to construct a three-star hotel resort at Murkal, in the heart of the Nagarhole national park near Mysore in Karnataka. The conflict between the local adivasis and the hotel chain came to a …
A 400-strong group took part in a demonstration to remove miners and woodcutters from the Sarare indegenous area in the state of Mato Grosso on January 11. The demonstration was supported by the federal, military and forest police, the national mineral research department and the Brazilian institute for the environment …
The spirit of Ken Saro-Wiwa still lives on in Ogoniland and so does the spectre of Royal Dutch Shell, the petrochemicals giant. According to the movement for the survival of the Ogoni people (mosop) leader Ledum Mitee, crackdown by the Nigerian military over the past year in Ogoniland has assumed …
the Ibaloi tribals of northern Philippines are resisting a mega dam yet again. The San Roque multipurpose dam is projected to be one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, having a capacity of 345 mw. The dam, to be built on the lower Agno river at San Roque will destroy …
the destruction of natural forests all over India to meet commercial demands and the needs of an expanding population has had a profound impact on its environment. Although attempts to tighten bureaucratic control to protect forests have often led to conflicts with local communities, it has systematically increased over the …
RECENTLY, I was in Mao, the first town across the Manipur border - and a picturesque hill village south of Kohima in Nagaland. At the highway hotel we were told that the last bus had just left, and now there was no way of getting to Imphal till the day …
THE Egyptians are ready for battle to protect what they consider their nature- al right over the river Nile. The threat comes from neighbouring Sudan, which shares the river and has declared its plans of blocking it. The Nile travels 6,695 km from its remotest headstream in Burundi to the …
THAT bringing in political support to highlight industry vs environmental issues could be disastrous, should have dawned on Agra's industrialists and factory owners on September 5. While their call for an Agra bandh was only moderately successful with schools, banks and government offices remaining open, the intended demonstration at the …
CHINA has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the violent protestations raised in the rest of the world and gone ahead with yet another nuclear test on August 17. Earlier, Chinese authorities had expelled activists of the international environmental organisation Greenpeace who were holding their first demonstration …
On May 28,1995, 3 jeeps full of uniformed officers and forest guards along with a truck and a tractor arrived in Haliasahi, a remote Adivasi hamlet in Kashipur block, Rayagada district, Orissa, and seized the entire stock of hillbrooms belonging to the local Mandibisi Mahila Mandal (MMM). Hillbrooms are a …
The Platform for Action is an agenda for women’s empowerment. It aims at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and at removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share …
