Search Climate Insights Directory
535 results
Smoky Canyon Mine: Proposed Expansion of Superfund Site Threatens Fish, Wildlife and Roadless Areas
The Smoky Canyon Mine, operated by the J.R. Simplot Company in Southeastern Idaho, is a Superfund site that releases toxic selenium into the environment. Earthjustice and other organizations oppose the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management's plan to expand the mine into two Roadless Areas, arguing that the existing contamination has not been cleaned up and that further discharges would cause irreversible toxic impacts to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including reproductive failure in fish and aquatic birds.
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Document type: Fact sheet
la cao en el perú; aprendisajes del diálogo como estratégia de desconflictivización
The report assesses the failure of the CAO Roundtable Dialogue in Cajamarca, Peru, arguing that the mechanism was manipulated by the Yanacocha Mine to serve as a public relations tool rather than a genuine conflict resolution instrument. It details how the mining company co-opted participants through economic agreements and systematically denied environmental impacts, leading to a loss of legitimacy and increased social polarization, culminating in the 2004 Quilish crisis.
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Document type: Report
Compliance with International Standards in the Marine Fisheries Sector
The report examines the gap between high compliance in fish processing plants and low compliance in harvesting and pre-processing stages in Pakistan. While market pressures drive processors to adopt HACCP standards to maintain EU exports, the harvesting stage suffers from systemic degradation, over-fishing, and a cycle of indebtedness among fisherfolk. The document argues that institutional failure and the perception of fisheries as an open-access resource have led to the use of destructive fishing gear and the depletion of stocks, necessitating a sustainable fisheries policy that integrates ecosystem management with the economic uplift of coastal communities.
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Document type: Report
Stopping the Kensington Mine Project
The document details a legal battle over the Kensington gold mine in Southeast Alaska, where the Army Corps of Engineers classified toxic mine waste as 'fill material' to bypass EPA limits. While the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal initially ruled the permit illegal in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed this decision in 2009, allowing the mine to operate and dump waste into a sub-alpine lake.
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Document type: Case study
USING INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
The document provides a comprehensive framework for using international human rights, labor, environmental, and health laws to safeguard children's health. It details specific treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Stockholm Convention, and explains the roles of global institutions like the WHO and UNEP. The guide outlines six primary functions of international law: providing blueprints for action, resolving disputes, promoting compliance, providing fora for discussion, building capacity, and promoting cooperation. It also includes case studies on housing rights in the Philippines and the Yacyretá Hydroelectric Project to demonstrate practical application of these legal tools.
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Document type: Guide
Focus on Mozambique
The report identifies five critical stressed ecosystem services in Mozambique: biodiversity, food and fibre provision, water supply/purification/regulation, fuel provision, and flood regulation. It links these ecological stresses to threats in human well-being, specifically the ability to be nourished, access clean water, obtain energy, earn a livelihood, and remain secure against extreme events. The analysis highlights that Gaza, Manica, Nampula, Sofala, and Tete are the most critical regions where all five ecosystem services and well-being constituents are threatened. High population density in Nampula and Zambezia also makes them priority areas due to severe chronic malnutrition and poor water access.
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Document type: Report
Full Cost Accounting for Agriculture
The document provides a comprehensive framework for full cost accounting (FCA) in agriculture, focusing on the valuation of non-market environmental and social costs and benefits. It details various valuation frameworks, such as Total Economic Value (TEV), and examines specific methodologies including market-based, circumstantial, and survey-based approaches. The paper applies these concepts to agricultural case studies in the UK and Japan, and reviews meta-analyses of wetland and water resource valuations to inform future integrated economic and environmental modelling for Agriculture and Agri Food Canada.
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Document type: Research paper
Leveling Mountain: Research and Mountaintop Removal Strip Mining
The document details how the U.S. Department of the Interior, under the direction of Deputy Secretary J. Stephen Griles, shifted the focus of a court-mandated environmental impact statement (EIS) from minimizing environmental damage to streamlining coal-mining permits. Despite federal agency data showing that mountaintop removal mining caused the loss of over 1,200 miles of streams and 7% of Appalachian forests between 1985 and 2001, the administration allegedly stripped 'significant' or 'severe' language from reports and omitted substantive alternatives to mitigate damage. The report highlights a conflict of interest, noting Griles' former role as a mining lobbyist and his frequent meetings with industry representatives during the EIS's redirection.
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Document type: Case study
E C O L O G I C A L S A N I T A T I O N
The document argues that conventional 'drop-and-store' and 'flush-and-discharge' sanitation systems are unsustainable due to water scarcity, pollution, and nutrient loss. It proposes ecological sanitation (eco-san) as a closed-loop system that treats human urine and faeces as resources. The guide details technical methods for sanitizing excreta—primarily through dehydration and decomposition—and provides diverse examples of eco-toilets from Vietnam, China, Zimbabwe, and Sweden. It emphasizes the agricultural value of recycled nutrients, the management of greywater, and the necessity of community participation and behavioral change for successful implementation. The document concludes with a vision for 'eco-cities' and 'eco-stations' to manage urban waste sustainably.
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Document type: Guide
Las Relaciones Entre el Comercio y el Desarrollo Sostenible en la Agricultura de Centroamérica
The document analyzes the intersection of trade, agriculture, and sustainable development in Central America. It highlights a growing trade deficit driven by commercial openness and a reliance on low-value generic exports. Environmentally, the region faces significant water and air pollution due to the intensification of agrochemicals and livestock production. The report argues that while Central American countries have significant room under WTO rules to implement 'Green Box' support measures for sustainable agriculture, they currently lack the fiscal resources and institutional coordination to do so effectively.
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Document type: Executive summary
agua para la vida y el sustento
The document outlines a global water crisis driven by overconsumption, pollution, and flawed management models. It strongly opposes the market-based approach to water management promoted by transnational corporations and international financial institutions, arguing that privatization often excludes the poor and ignores ecological health. Instead, it proposes a framework where water is treated as a human right and a public resource, prioritizing basic needs and ecosystem protection over industrial and commercial interests. The briefing calls for democratic, participatory governance, the protection of traditional management systems, and the cancellation of external debts for developing nations to enable investment in public water services.
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Document type: Briefing
Mercury and Midwest Power Plants
The document argues that coal-fired power plants are the largest unregulated source of mercury in the U.S., contributing significantly to the contamination of fish in the Midwest. It details how mercury bioaccumulates in aquatic food chains, posing severe risks to the central nervous system of fetuses and children, as well as harming wildlife like common loons and otters. The report highlights the economic threat to the regional fishing industry and advocates for stringent federal and state emission limits and better regulation of coal combustion waste.
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Document type: Fact sheet
International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua
The document examines the global trend of water privatization, highlighting how the World Bank and IMF pressure developing nations to privatize water services as a condition for loans. It details the dominance of French multinationals Suez and Vivendi, and the impact of trade agreements like GATS on water access. Through case studies from Bolivia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other regions, it documents tariff increases, environmental degradation, and social resistance, while proposing community-based management and 'soft path' alternatives to corporate control.
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Document type: Report
International
The document critiques the global trend of water privatization, highlighting how the World Bank and IMF use loan conditionalities to force poor nations to privatize water services. It details the dominance of French multinationals like Suez and Vivendi, the impact of trade agreements like GATS, and provides case studies from countries such as Bolivia, Malaysia, and Indonesia where privatization led to price hikes and social unrest. It advocates for water as a social and cultural good rather than an economic commodity, promoting community-based management and ecological restoration.
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Document type: Report
ONE SPECIES, ONE PLANET
The report examines the symbiotic relationship between sustainable development and environmental justice, asserting that the former cannot be attained without the latter. It identifies three key legal nexuses: the right to a healthy environment, community-based property rights (CBPRs), and procedural rights to participation. The text highlights systemic failures where vulnerable populations, particularly in the Global South and minority communities in the US, bear disproportionate environmental burdens. It recommends shifting from market-based to rights-based approaches, strengthening corporate accountability, and ensuring the meaningful participation of indigenous and local communities in decision-making processes.
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Document type: Report
traversing peoples lives
The report details the negative impacts of the Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project in Cameroon, specifically focusing on the failure of World Bank safeguard measures. It documents systemic issues including discriminatory compensation for indigenous 'pygmy' communities, the impoverishment of small farmers through inadequate payments, the pollution of drinking water sources, and the rise of prostitution involving minors. Additionally, it highlights poor labor conditions and the dismissal of injured workers. The document concludes that the World Bank is unable to meaningfully influence oil companies to respect human rights and the environment, suggesting the Bank should withdraw from financing oil projects entirely.
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Document type: Report
anglo – american plc: financing the summit, plundering the earth
The briefing by Friends of the Earth International criticizes Anglo-American Plc for environmental degradation and social injustice in its mining operations. In Zambia, the company is accused of polluting water and air, and securing secret agreements to avoid liability for pollution. In Peru, its planned copper mine threatens water scarcity and the livelihoods of local farmers. The document highlights the company's failure to comply with OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and calls for an international framework for corporate accountability.
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Document type: Briefing
choques con empresas gigantes
The report by Friends of the Earth International details 22 campaigns against multinational corporations across various sectors—including mining, oil, logging, and biotechnology—that are accused of destroying biodiversity and harming local communities. It highlights the failure of corporate self-regulation and 'greenwashing' strategies, specifically criticizing the outcomes of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the approach of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit. The document calls for the recognition of 'ecological debt' owed by Northern industrial nations to the Global South and demands a binding legal framework to ensure corporate accountability, including the right of communities to be consulted and to receive compensation for damages.
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Document type: Report
IAI Science Grant Program – Phase II General Guidelines
The IAI Science Grant Program – Phase II (SGP-II) is a competitive funding initiative designed to support the development of multinational research networks addressing global change issues in the Americas. The program offers one-time awards of up to US$ 30,000 for projects lasting up to one year, with a specific priority on 'Integrated Assessment, Human Dimensions and Applications' (Theme IV) and the participation of young scientists. Eligible proposals must involve institutions from at least three IAI ratifying countries and align with the IAI Science Agenda's four primary themes: climate variability, ecosystem/biodiversity studies, atmospheric/oceanic composition, and integrated assessments.
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Document type: Guide
Cradle to Grave: The Environmental Impacts from Coal
The report describes the comprehensive environmental and health impacts of coal in the United States, noting that the electric power industry is the nation's largest toxic polluter. It highlights that coal, used for over half of U.S. electricity, releases diverse toxic pollutants during mining, cleaning, transportation, generation, and disposal, affecting nearly 900 million tons of coal burned annually. These pollutants are linked to cancer, reproductive impairment, developmental issues in children, and damage to the nervous and immune systems. Additionally, the document identifies carbon dioxide emissions from power plants as the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change and notes that impacts vary by region, ranging from mining concerns in coal-field regions to inhalation risks in urban areas.
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Document type: Report