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ELAW eBulletin ELAW partner and Goldman Prize winner Rizwana Hasan at the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association has worked tirelessly to protect the human rights of ship breakers and safeguard fragile beaches.

Building Strong Organizations

ELAW eBulletin An op-ed by ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta was recently published in The Hindu. Ritwick describes how the National Green Tribunal is transforming the way environmental decisions are being made in India.

ELAW eBulletin Waterways in south central Siberia's Altai-Sayan Ecoregion are threatened by abandoned and proposed mining operations, and hydropower projects. This remote area, rich in biodiversity, sits at the junction of the mountains of Russia's Siberian taiga, the steppes of Kazakhstan, and the semi-deserts of Mongolia.

ELAW eBulletin The Peruvian Amazon is threatened by oil and gas operations, palm oil plantations, and artisanal gold mining. ELAW Staff Scientist Meche Lu was in Iquitos last week, the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest.

ELAW eBulletin The City of Cape Town is running out of places to put trash, so it proposed building a massive landfill in nearby Atlantis. Concerned about the potential impact of the massive landfill, local residents called on ELAW partners at the Legal Resources Centre for help.

ELAW eBulletin Kenyan attorney Benedette Mutuku and Tanzanian attorney Adolf Runyoro arrived in Eugene on Monday. These ELAW Fellows will work closely with the ELAW team to strengthen their organizations and tap legal and scientific resources.

ELAW eBulletin We look forward to welcoming ELAW Fellow Laura Palmese on Sunday. Laura is a public interest environmental attorney at Instituto de Derecho Ambiental de Honduras (IDAMHO, Environmental Law Institute). ELAW has worked with IDAMHO for many years to protect the Mesoamerican Reef and challenge short-sighted tourism development.

ELAW eBulletin Cancun is a poster child for coastal development gone awry, but nearby ecosystems can still be saved. ELAW Staff Scientist Heidi Weiskel was in Quintana Roo last week, collaborating with ELAW partners at the Southeast office of Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (Mexican Environmental Law Center). CEMDA is working hard to protect marine and coastal ecosystems from short-sighted development schemes.

ELAW Press The Goat Islands and two fish sanctuaries in the Portland Bight Protected Area may be destroyed to make way for a mega trans-shipment port, proposed by the international contractor China Harbour Engineering Company. ELAW partners at the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) have been speaking out to challenge this short-sighted project.

ELAW eBulletin A tragedy is unfolding in Jamaica. The Goat Islands and two fish sanctuaries in the Portland Bight Protected Area may be destroyed to make way for a mega trans-shipment port.

ELAW eBulletin ELAW celebrates this next generation of grassroots advocates!

ELAW Advocate, Summer 2013 Communities and ecosystems in Africa are under siege. Kenyans face eviction to make way for coal and hydropower projects, Lake Victoria is polluted, oil prospectors are invading Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park, and the government of Tanzania is weighing opening traditional Maasai lands to foreign big game hunting operations.

ELAW eBulletin The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) is teaming up with longtime partner L'Association Haitienne de Droit de l'Environnement (AHDEN) to support creating a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Haiti's Caracol Bay and to promote a new, holistic approach to the sustainable use and conservation of marine biodiversity.

ELAW eBulletin ELAW partner Gonca Yilmaz from Turkey stopped by the office this morning. Gonca helped fight this summer to save Taksim Square and Gezi Park.

ELAW Press India's National Green Tribunal has banned sand mining in rivers without environment clearance. The order was a response to a petition filed by ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta, reacting to the suspension of a civil servant who was overseeing a drive against illegal sand mining in Uttar Pradesh.

ELAW Press ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik weighs in on the Environmental Impact Assessment and the response of the government's expert group to expansion plans for the Kudankulam nuclear plant.

ELAW eBulletin New York Times reporter Jim Yardley interviews Bangladesh attorney Rizwana Hasan. ELAW has worked with Rizwana for more than 15 years.

ELAW Press Rizwana Hasan speaks with Jim Yardley at The New York Times about and environmental problems in Bangladesh.

ELAW eBulletin A report on ELAW Fellow Rahul Choudhary in the Eugene Weekly. Rahul defends communities and ecosystems before the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court.

ELAW Press Rahul Choudhary and his work sound like the basis for a Bollywood meets Erin Brockovich film.

ELAW Press ELAW partner Rahul Choudhary is the focus of a commentary by Sriram Khe.

ELAW eBulletin We are pleased to welcome Rahul Choudhary who arrived this morning for a 10-day ELAW Fellowship.

ELAW Advocate, Spring 2013 For too long, governments have failed to enforce environmental laws and allowed corporations to exploit natural resources for short-term gains. Citizens have been frozen out of decisions about the environment and government agencies have ignored sound science.

ELAW Press ELAW partner Golly Ramos has a regular column in the Cebu Daily News called “Mindfully Greenie.”

ELAW eBulletin Only 400 Asiatic Lions are left in the world. They all live in and around Gir National Park in the State of Gujarat, India. With all the lions living in one place, an epidemic could wipe out the entire population.

ELAW Press Cigarettes, plastic bags, food containers, caps, plastic bottles, and more litter the beaches in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Inadequate management of waste at the local level poses a regional challenge, according to a new report by the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW).

ELAW eBulletin ELAW partner and Oceana Attorney Audrey Matura has won a groundbreaking victory protecting the Belize Barrier Reef, the Laughing Bird Caye National Park, and Half Moon Caye Natural Monument from reckless oil development. Yesterday, a judge handed down a decision declaring six offshore oil contracts null and void.

Residents near India's largest copper smelter in Tamil Nadu are complaining of breathing problems and burning throat pain following a release of gas on March 23rd, 2013. Tamil Nadu's Pollution Control Board closed Sterlite Industries, a unit of London-based Vedanta Resources, but Sterlite filed an appeal. The National Green Tribunal has since ordered that the polluting facility remain closed except for a temporary restart of operations for the purpose of inspecting the plant.

ELAW eBulletin Plans by Barrick Gold to remove a glacier in the Andes to make way for a gold mine have been shelved by a Chilean court.

ELAW eBulletin ELAW Fellow Nataliya Horodetska arrived from Lviv on Sunday. This is orientation week for her at the University of Oregon's American English Institute. Nataliya will be with us for 10 weeks, to collaborate on her work as Legal Advisor at Environment People Law and improve her English.

ELAW partner Leo Saldhana at the Environment Support Group is pleased to announce that plans to clear valuable grasslands and forests to make way for nuclear, defense, space, and other high tech projects are on hold.