Category: Environment
Protestors Rally Against Sinohydro for Polluting Water Supply in Eastern Kenya
Protests turned violent this week in eastern Kenya's Kitui County, where local activists blocked the road to a Sinohydro construction site where they claim the Chinese contractor is polluting the local water supply. Sinohydro is building the new Kibwezi-Kitui–Migwani Road that will ...
UPDATE: Officials Confirm Chinese Mine At the Center of a Water Pollution Controversy Wasn’t Licensed to Mine in the First Place
Quick update on a story that we've been following for the past couple of weeks, focusing on allegations of pollution from a Chinese mining project in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory, on the outskirts of the capital Abuja: Already under investigation for ...
If the Oil Tanker That Ran Aground in Mauritius Was Chinese, the News Coverage Would Likely Be Very Different
Journalist and University of London China-Africa scholar, Hangwei Li, noted how apolitical the coverage of the devastating oil spill that's occurred off the coast of Mauritius. Li pointed out that almost none of the international news coverage of the wreck mentioned the ship's country ...
Nigeria Cracks Down on Illegal Chinese Mining
Last year the Nigerian government announced that it would no longer tolerate rampant illegal mining and would begin enforcement actions to crack down on the practice. To make sure that everyone knew how serious they were, the Federal Government
The Power of Good Journalism: Nigeria Takes Action Against Chinese Mining Company in Response to Investigative Report
It's not often that an African government takes decisive action against a Chinese extractive resource company. In fact, it's quite rare. So, it's notable when investigators from Nigeria's Federal Government descended on the Chinese-owned Hongao Mining Company's site near Abuja to ...
New Chinese “Super Trawlers” Threaten to Devastate Liberia’s Fishing Grounds Warns Conservation Group
The presence of six newly-built Chinese "super trawlers" in Liberia is prompting widespread outrage and worry that these massive vessels will decimate local fish stocks, according to a new report by the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation. The Chinese ...
Severe Drought Threatens Namibia’s Lucrative Beef Exports to China
With the country's dam levels now down below the critical 20% level, Namibia is running out of water, posing an immediate threat to both human health and the viability of the country's beef industry that has just begun exporting to the lucrative China market. ...
A Lawyer’s Perspective on What’s Ahead This Year for Two Controversial Chinese Bauxite Mining Deals in West Africa
University of Maryland legal scholar Zhang Jingjing is one of the world's leading experts on outbound Chinese investment, particularly involving cases that have serious environmental consequences. Over the years, she's been closely following developments in Guinea where Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB), a Singaporean/Chinese consortium, has a ...
Ghana Conservation Activists Fight Against China-backed Bauxite Mine in Rainforest
The Awaso bauxite mine is emerging as a critical flashpoint in China-Africa environmental ties and highlights tensions common to many countries between the need for African countries to best exploit its natural resources and the use of Chinese financing for projects in and around the continent's rapidly diminishing ...
Chinese Galamsey and the Illegal Lure of China’s Gold Rush
Some 50,000 Chinese migrants are said to have flocked to Ghana to stake a claim in the country’s illegal gold mining rush, with dire environmental, economic and social consequences. Ghana’s tradition of artisanal gold mining and the gold price boom ...