The ruling military junta of Burma is moving the country’s governing headquarters to a remote compound in the northern jungle. Media reports in mid-November confirmed that civil servants in the capital city, Yangon (Rangoon), are rapidly being transferred to a site called Pyinmanaa that permits limited unsupervised communication with or from the outside world. The […]
Botswana’s government recently initiated a new round of forced evictions and human rights violations against the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, according to Survival International (SI), a London-based NGO that advocates for indigenous rights. The Bushmen have lived in the Kalahari for thousands of years. During the 1980s, the Botswana government designated part of their […]
Logging and the development of an ecotourism resort threaten Australia’s Recherche Bay, where one of the earliest known meetings between Tasmania’s Aboriginal people and European explorers took place. According to historians, archaeologists and ethnologists, Recherche Bay has significant cultural and historical value. French expeditions landed there in 1792 and again in 1793, staying several weeks […]
Bulgaria’s coastal tourism industry may be thriving at the cost of irreplaceable environmental resources. The buildup in recent years of high-rise hotels, roads and other tourism infrastructure around the popular Sunny Beach resort along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast has some environmental advocates concerned about the impact of development on natural resources and regional aesthetics. Sand, […]
C. RAJA MOHAN Indian Express 13 June 2005 LHASA, JUNE 13 As its internal transport infrastructure expands rapidly, Tibet is looking forward to eventual rail and road links with India and other neighbouring countries to promote greater cross-border trade and tourism. Once it develops tourist facilities near Kailash Manasarovar, Tibet will be ready to receive […]
The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) will allow developing countries whose populations suffer heavily from malaria to continue spraying the controversial insecticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) until an effective vaccine is found. UNEP’s decision, which was announced in early May, is seen as acknowledging a need among developing countries to use DDT to fight malaria, while urging […]
Signs of growth in the Israeli tourism industry may be related to a period of relative stability between Israelis and Palestinians. According to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, 25% more tourists visited the country during the first three months of 2005 than during the same period last year. Tourism has also increased in the Palestinian […]
Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently authorized the creation of a 6,500-square-mile reservation for indigenous people in the country’s northern state of Roraima. The president’s decision begins another chapter in a 30-year-long struggle that has resulted in the deaths of more than 20 Brazilian Indians, according to Amnesty International. Creating the reservation will […]
A case brought by Burmese villagers against U.S. oil company Unocal was settled out of court in late March. The company was accused of allowing human rights abuses – including murder, rape and forced labor – to occur during construction of the Yadana oil pipeline in rural Burma (Myanmar) during the 1990s. The settlement came […]
