ASIA:NewsRoom

Action Alert: March 2-10, 2010

Ecological nightmare is associated with a planned nickel and cobalt mine on Halmahera Island in Indonesia. Twenty-one per cent of Weda Bay Nickel’s mining area is actually part of Indonesia’s protected area system and includes the Lalobata and Aketajawe National Park. The mine will destroy 35,155 ha of protected forest. Approximately 17 million tons of rock will be dug each year from this small and fragile island rich in biodiversity.

Export of the nickel and cobalt from this mine is expected to reach 65,000 tons each year. The mine plans to dump their waste into Weda Bay. The mine plans to use sulfuric acid heap leaching to extract the nickel from the ore.

We reject the role of the World Bank (through MIGA) and financial institutions everywhere that provide insurance and funds to dangerous projects such as the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine.

Support the Halmahera people and ecosystem by reading and signing on to the letter below before March 10, 2010. Sign the letter by sending an email with your full name, organization and country to luluk@jatam.org The letter will be sent to the World Bank and associated parties.

Indonesian version found here: http://www.jatam.org/content/view/1208/1/

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Press Release

Md. Iqbal Kabir

Today (15 February, 2010) a Division Bench of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh comprising of Mr. Justice Syed Mahmood Hossain and Mr. Justice A.T.M. Fazle Kabir, has directed the respondents to take effective measures to prevent forced flow of saline water by the shrimp cultivators in the 217,000 hectres (17% of total forests of the country) of agricultural lands of coastal districts of Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Noakhali and Cox’sbazar.

The direction came from a writ petition (writ petition No. 57 of 2010) filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and Nijera Kori to stop saline water commercial shrimp cultivation in the agricultural lands and forest lands of the coastal districts of Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Noakhali and Cox’sbazar and also of Chakaria Sunderban and Sonadia islands.

On behalf of BELA and Nijera Kori, Advocates Probir Niogi, Syeda Rizwana Hasan and M. Iqbal Kabir appeared before the Court.

Asia Solidarity against Industrial Aquaculture wishes you a very happy 2010.

Copenhagen, December 11th 2009. Southeast Asia Fish for Justice (SEAFish) network, Tambuyog development Center (Philippines), Levende-hav (Denmark), KIARA-Fisheries Justice Coalition (Indonesia), Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (Vietnam) have concluded the Fisheries, Fishers Rights and Climate Change forum and presents this statement in relation to UNFCCC COP 15 negotiations. It represents the views and solutions from small-scale fishers in the Southeast Asian region and Denmark.

We reiterate the demand that the developed countries led by the United States, EU, Japan, that have been mostly responsible for carbon and greenhouse gases emission should bear a corresponding historical responsibility for climate change in accordance with Article 3.1 of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, and depletion of fish stock in Southeast Asia.

Developed countries should bear the cost of funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and they should not be passed on as loans to be paid by the developing countries. We do not accept market-oriented “technofix” solutions to climate change problems such as carbon trading and offsets that pass on the burden of addressing climate change to the developing countries. We assert the following basic principles to guide the implementation of adaptation measures to climate change in coastal areas:

1. Respect for traditional and customary rights of fisherfolk and coastal communities to their fishing grounds
Recognition of the rights of fisherfolk and coastal communities to control and manage their fishing grounds
Recognition and taking into account of human-induced activities such as overfishing and ecologically harmful investments in coastal and marine areas that result in resource degradation and worsen the impacts of climate change in fisherfolk and coastal communities, as well as endangering their food security and physical security
Participation of the fisherfolk in building coastal community resilience to climate change and the adoption of local knowledge and capacities in efforts and measures toward this end
Regulation of fisheries trade and enhancement of domestic markets toward food security and building community resilience

Contact Persons, Copenhagen, Denmark

Dinna Umengan (Tambuyog, Philippines) +4552677740

Abdul Halim (KIARA, Indonesia) +4550597824

Knud Andersen (Living Sea, Denmark) +4520487421

KIARA (Fisheries Justice Coalition), ASIA (Asia Solidarity Against Industrial Aquaculture), NAFSO (National Organization of Fisherfolk), WFFP (World Forum of Fisher Peoples), and WFF (World Forum of Fishworkers and Fish Harvesters) released a joint-statement on the sidelines of the World Summit on Food Security on November 18th, 2009 at Rome. Read the statement.

With mangroves in the Sunderbans having acted as a natural buffer against cyclone Aila, residents of three villages in the region have decided to plant them in 75 hectares on their own land. More…

The Government of West Bengal announced yesterday that it was acquiring land to build concrete embankments in the Sunderbans. Activist groups have protested the decision, arguing that it would lead to even greater destruction of mangroves. More…

Conservationists in Scotland have condemned plans by the WWF, a long-standing critic of fish farming, to launch an accreditation scheme for the industry. Read the article.

A article on oil-palm cultivation in Aceh, Indonesia. Read the full article.

Time magazine reports on Syeda Rizwana Hasan of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA). BELA is an ASIA member. Read the article.

More than five thousands shrimp farmers belonging to the Windu Shrimp Farmers Union (P3UW) on Sunday, October 11, 2009 in PT. Aruna Wijaya Sakti (AWS) zone, Tulang Bawang, Lampung, organized a demonstration in Lampung.

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An article (in bangla) published in Prothom Alo … Read the full article

The impact of climate change on people living on small islands and in coastal areas may be included in environmental discussions, after the country’s delegation to the ongoing climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand, managed to include oceans in the negotiating texts… Read the entire article

MPs, economists, local-government representatives and farmers in Bangladesh demand a ban on shrimp cultivation. Read the New Age’s report.

The Commerce Minister of Bangladesh yesterday said that the government “will do everything” to protect the interests of the people who have been facing harsh economical and social fallout from the increased salinity and diminished fertility of land. Read the Daily Star report.

The Indonesian government reacts to protest by promising an investigation. Read the Jakarta Globe’s report on the government’s response.

Activists in Indonesia protest against the issue of island-permits by the government. Read the Jakarta Globe’s report.

A delegation from ASIA met the Agriculture Minister of Bangladesh to discuss the policies relating to usage of water bodies. Read Bangladesh Country Campaigner’s report.

A Daily Star report on false charges filed by the shrimp mafia against farmers in Dakope, Bangladesh. Read the article.

The EU threatened to cancel shrimp imports from Bangladesh due to high levels of nitrofuran. The government has banned export till the matter is resolved. Imagine what the EU could do if it really cared about the people and environment in Bangladesh… Read the article.

Rizwana Hasan, executive director of BELA recently received the Goldman Environmental Prize. Read the news report.