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Bern Johnson interview on storycatchers.org

ELAW eBulletin ELAW is thrilled to welcome Alejandra Serrano to Eugene. She joins ELAW Fellows Ana Lucia Maya from Colombia, Thuli Makama from Swaziland, and Emilio d'Cuire from Honduras who arrived earlier this year.

ELAW Staff Scientists worked closely with Mexican partner organizations DAN and CEMDA to review the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a massive open pit gold mine in the buffer zone of the Sierra de La Laguna Biosphere Reserve.

ELAW Advocate, Autumn 2012: As the U.S. market for coal shrinks, big coal companies are looking to ship their coal overseas. ELAW is helping partners around the world protect communities, ecosystems, and the climate from the scourge of coal.

Uganda's High Court of Kampala ruled that plastic bags, commonly referred to as "kaveera," violate the right of citizens to a clean and healthy environment. The Court ordered that a bill be drafted "expeditiously" to regulate the use of all plastics less than 100 microns.

ELAW eBulletin ELAW partner Kenneth Kakuru and his team at Greenwatch are celebrating the ruling by Uganda's High Court of Kampala that plastic bags, commonly referred to as "kaveera," violate the right of citizens to a clean and healthy environment. The Court ordered that a bill be drafted "expeditiously" to regulate the use of all plastics less than 100 microns.

ELAW eBulletin Emilio D'Cuire, a young scientist who works at the Honduran Environmental Law Institute (IDAMHO) has arrived for an ELAW Fellowship to build skills to prevent mining abuses and protect the Mesoamerican Reef and the coast of Honduras from short-sighted tourism development schemes.

ELAW Advocate, Summer 2012: ELAW works with strong partners in Panama, and they are facing big challenges now. Developers are destroying critical mangroves, piling fill on fragile ecosystems, and building high rises. Mining companies seem to have an insatiable appetite for exploiting Panama’s resources.

ELAW eBulletin Lottie Cunningham Wren from Nicaragua and Ana Lucia Maya from Colombia have arrived in Eugene for ELAW Fellowships.

ELAW eBulletin ELAW’s newest Fellow, Thuli Makama is well-known within the African environmental law community because of her long commitment to protecting the rights of communities to live in a healthy environment. She is also well-known in Africa and abroad as a 2010 recipient of the Goldman Prize.

ELAW Advocate, Spring 2012: Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world. Sparse in people, but not minerals. The government of Mongolia has issued 3,000 mining licenses, and copper, coal, gold, silver, uranium and more are expected to rise to 95% of Mongolia’s exports. "The saddest part is seeing the herders leave the lands of their ancestors. They become laborers at the mines. It is very disturbing," says Bazarsad Nanjindorj, an attorney working with the Public Interest Lawyers’ Initiative, based in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

ELAW eBulletin: ELAW partners Ritwick Dutta and Rahul Choudhary have won a great victory protecting communities in India from short-sighted plans to build a coal mine.

ELAW eBulletin: ELAW partners in India have won a stunning victory protecting communities in Dhinkia, Gadakujanga, and Nuagaon Gram villages from short-sighted plans for an enormous steel manufacturing facility and port. India's newly formed National Green Tribunal has suspended plans for a project that would have cut forests and forced communities to leave lands that they have lived on for generations.

ELAW eBulletin: The ELAW office is an exciting place this week! Grassroots leaders from Haiti, Mongolia, and Russia have arrived, and partners from Guatemala, Canada, and Madagascar will join us soon. These ELAW Fellows are collaborating across borders to protect the Lake Baikal watershed, challenge polluting mining operations, and win justice for disenfranchised communities.

ELAW Advocate: Winter 2012 A severe Tropical Depression last year brought 30 inches of rain in 10 days to El Salvador and 10% of the country was left under water. Experts have long predicted that global warming would lead to increased frequency and intensity of severe weather events, and they identified Central America as a particularly vulnerable region. Tragically, they were right on both counts.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin ruled that Chevron has made "unduly burdensome" demands for information from ELAW.

ELAW eBulletin A federal court judge ruled that Chevron made "unduly burdensome" demands for potential evidence from ELAW. This order comes in connection with a case seeking justice for communities in Ecuador suffering the effects of oil pollution.

ELAW Advocate Winter, 2011: The Government of Peru has divided more than three quarters of the Peruvian Amazon into oil block concessions. Indigenous communities that have lived in these tropical forests for hundreds of years now face the prospect of their ancient lands becoming oil fields. ELAW partners at Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) are working with ORAU — a federation of Ashaninka, Yine, Shipibo and other ethnic communities in the Ucayali region — to help communities avoid the "oil curse."

ELAW Advocate, Autumn 2011: Clean, fresh water might be the most valuable resource on earth. Indeed, all living things need water. Yet, we do not have an infinite supply of water. The world’s six billion people are already using more than half of the planet’s accessible freshwater, while industrial emissions, destruction of wetlands and forests, and water privatization schemes threaten freshwater all over the world. Ensuring that people and ecosystems have equitable, sustainable supplies of clean water may be the greatest environmental challenge we face.

ELAW E-Bulletin: ELAW partner Hemantha Withanage sent fabulous news this week: Children in Sri Lanka will be protected from toxic lead. Sri Lanka's Consumer Affairs Authority has enacted new, stringent standards limiting the amount of lead in paint used in children's toys.

Victory in India! We are pleased to announce a big victory in India that will protect the public from excessive exposure to radiation! Last week, ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta successfully argued a case in front of India's newly formed National Green Tribunal.

Nine international ELAW visitors had the opportunity to tour NextStep Recycling's successful electronic equipment reuse and recycling facility.

ELAW and the Ems. ELAW will be the Featured Nonprofit at the Eugene Emerald's baseball game on August 4th. You can take part in a Eugene tradition and support ELAW.

ELAW Advocate, Summer 2011 After two decades, ELAW is now celebrating the arrival of the next generation of environmental leaders. ELAW partner Kenneth Kakuru from Uganda founded Greenwatch. His daughter Samantha is now on staff. Raquel Gutierrez has dedicated her life to protecting Mexico's Lake Chapala. Her son Pedro has joined her organization. Harper Johnson, daughter of ELAW Executive Director Bern Johnson, is one of many young ELAW volunteers with a passion for protecting the planet. ELAW has built an international corps of environmental defenders — 300 strong in 70 countries. We now welcome Samantha, Pedro, Harper, and the many others who are carrying on the important task of building a sustainable future, for all the world's children.

ELAW welcomes Maria Rosario Mayi to Eugene for a ten-week Fellowship. Maria works with the Dominican Republic's leading grassroots environmental law organization: Instituto de Abogados para la Protección del Medio Ambiente (INSAPROMA).

Imrich Vozár arrived Monday night from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, for a 10-day ELAW Fellowship. This is Imrich's first visit to the U.S. He is working one-on-one with ELAW staff while finding time to explore Eugene on the ELAW bicycle.

ELAW Partner Asis Perez took the oath of office today as new director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the agency responsible for the improvement, management and conservation of the Philippines’ fisheries and water resources.

Whale watching in the lagoons of Baja California is a trip of a lifetime. For ELAW Fellow Fernando Ochoa, it's just another day at the office. We have been thrilled to collaborate with Fernando on his work protecting some of the world's richest whale habitat from bad development projects.

ELAW Advocate, Spring 2011 Our hearts go out to the people of Japan who are struggling to recover from the twin blows of an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The disaster around the failure of the Fukushima nuclear facility continues to unfold. The recovery effort will continue for decades. We have worked with partners in Japan for many years, to protect communities and the environment. We recently contacted a few of these partners, to extend a hand and express our sorrow. The responses we received moved us, deeply. Naoki Ikeda, an attorney at the Osaka Branch of the Japan Environmental Lawyers Federation, gave us permission to share his response.

E-Bulletin We are saddened by the tragedy in Japan and our hearts go out to Japan's people. This painful event has opened a critical dialogue on the safety of nuclear power. Read a "Guest Viewpoint" by ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik in today's Register-Guard.

ELAW Fellows from three continents arrived on Monday to work with us to protect communities and the environment, and to participate in the 2011 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. Yesterday, we toured NextStep Recycling, a model for e-waste recycling.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Leading environmental attorneys from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Central and Eastern Europe will tour NextStep Recycling’s model facility in Eugene for managing electronic waste.