Environmental activists are being killed in Honduras over their opposition to mining
- Details
- Category: Regional News
- Published: Sunday, 09 May 2021 15:56
Giada Ferrucci
Two men shot Arnold Joaquín Morazán Erazo to death in his home in Tocoa, Honduras, one night in October 2020. Morazán was an environmental activist and one of 32 people criminalized by the Honduran government for defending the Guapinol River against the environmental impacts of a new iron oxide mine in the Carlos Escaleras National Park.
So far, at least eight people who have opposed the mine have been killed, putting its owner, Inversiones Los Pinares, at the centre of a deadly environmental conflict in the mineral-rich Bajo Aguán region. Local communities are concerned about the mine’s potential ecological damage. In their attempts to defend their territories, local leaders have been surveilled, threatened, injured and imprisoned, and some, like Morazán, have been killed.
Three-quarters of the world’s mining companies are headquartered in Canada. Canadian mining firms are mired in corruption and human rights abuses around the world, yet Justin Trudeau has reneged on pledges to regulate them and end the abuses
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte officially lifted a nine-year ban on new mining projects Thursday, in a controversial move aimed at boosting state revenue and spurring investment in the country's coronavirus-devastated economy. The mining industry has stagnated since 2012 when Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, imposed a moratorium on new projects following public backlash over a series of devastating mining accidents. The executive order released Thursday was welcomed by the mining sector -- but green groups branded the decision "outrageous" and warned it could lead to more environmental disasters.
Australian-Canadian miner OceanaGold Corporation (OceanaGold) and the Philippine government are now finalizing the terms of their updated Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) for the resumption of the operations of the Didipio gold and copper mine in Nueva Vizcaya.
From tropical rain forests to drinkable water, a vast share of the planet’s essential environmental resources are found in developing countries. When growth-oriented governments and powerful Western corporations set their sights on these lands, or the minerals beneath them, local people standing in their way frequently find themselves bulldozed.
Spokesperson for the Australian National Campaign on Mining in the Philippines (ANCoMP) Andrew Morrison believes that Australian-Canadian mining company OceanaGold is misleading the public about its mine in Didipio in Central Luzon.
