In 2012, almost one hundred permits were issued to Oltenia Energy Complex (OEC), allowing the company to cut down hectares of forest to make way for coal mines. The permits were issued illegally, however, as Bankwatch Romania proved in court over the past six years. After many lawsuits and complaints to the relevant authorities, a sign of progress came this summer when the Romanian Ministry for Environment informed criminal investigation bodies about this situation.
When both parties come to the table ready to participate in a meaningful way, a dispute resolution can serve as a valuable opportunity for companies, as well as the communities impacted by its operations.
Celebrate the rights of those 5 per cent who hold 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity. Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Environmentalism and democracy on the rise in Albania
August 1, 2018 | Read more
Public participation is a prerequisite to functioning democracy. Environmental justice is crucial to sustainable development. But in Albania, a small, southeastern European country only recently emerging from decades-long, self-imposed isolation, democracy is still struggling to be born, and suffers from often being confused with unchecked capitalism.
From the outside, this tragedy might seem like a natural disaster, a force majeure. But one cannot ignore the human factors at play.
Children dropping out of school, trees cut, people living in fear of another wave of forced evictions – the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) project reveals the critical absence of human rights safeguards in the EU’s overseas development financing.
