Mining

The case of the small village of Trun in Bulgaria – threatened by a new gold-mining project – is a stark illustration of how the interests of biodiversity, nature and ordinary people living in the area can simply be dismissed. A proliferation of such projects could have a serious impact on the ecology of the entire region, as well as contributing to a global impact on the climate.

In developing countries raw materials more often lead to inequality and conflict rather than prosperity and peace. But for most countries leaving the riches in the soil is not an option. What is needed for the fair mining of natural riches?

International environmental policies focus on safeguarding renewable natural resources. Little attention, however, is paid, to the much more difficult problem of non-renewable natural resources, such as metallic ores and phosphate. A survey of the dilemmas.

The Labour Party leadership in the UK is over. Confounding the critics and the bookmakers (the odds for Corbyn to win were 100-1 when the campaign began!), the maverick left-winger Jeremy Corbyn has been elected as Labour’s leader, and by a thumping majority!

On Greece’s Halkidiki peninsula, in the North-East of the country, a monumental battle is taking place. The town of Ierissos and its inhabitants have become emblematic of this struggle, by taking a stand against an immensely powerful opponent. That opponent is Eldorado Gold.

Much to the surprise of everyone, the strongest protests in Romania’s late transition were related to environmental destruction.

Eldorado Gold now owns all gold-mining projects in Greece. The company is harming the environment and avoiding taxes; and the way Greece deals with this problem can determine some important developments in Europe.

As the world rapidly continues to urbanise, cities will have to play a progressively greater role in the move towards a low carbon economy. By working towards the creation of a closed circular economy and a slow economy cities could be well placed to lead the transition.

Greens need to forge a broad alliance against neoliberalism with some unexpected allies, such as the coal miners. Ahead of COP 19 which takes place this year in Warsaw, Poland how can the green movement in Poland move forward?