“It can be argued that voters in the Hawke's Bay Regional Council elections voted emphatically against the proposed Ruataniwha Dam.”

So read the editorial in Sunday’s Hawke’s Bay Today. A 5-4 pro-dam majority on the old council now looks like a 5-4 or even 6-3 advantage against the dam (if the councillor who’s currently on the fence dismounts on the side of the anti-dammers).

Don’t you just love democracy? 

Anyone who cares about water quality in New Zealand should take a moment to celebrate this victory.  

The Ruataniwha Dam would be a golden ticket to more industrial dairy farming in Hawke’s Bay. The dam company’s own report suggests it would drive an additional 9,000 ha of dairying. That’s a lot more cows, a lot more urine and faecal matter and a lot more runoff.

The district’s wa...

The Department of Conservation describes itself as “the Government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural heritage”.

Which is why New Zealanders are scratching their heads over the department’s decision to fight a court ruling that … conserves New Zealand’s natural heritage. 

A bit of background for those not familiar with the case. At the end of August, the Court of Appeal ruled in Forest and Bird’s favour that a land swap (involving parts of the protected Ruahine Forest Park) to allow the Ruataniwha Dam to proceed, was unlawful.

The land, which borders the Makaroro River and Dutch Creek, has high conservation values, but DoC downgraded it so that it could be swapped and the area flooded for the dam.

Er, no, said the Court of Appeal, that’s not how it goes. 

(the land ...

Last year’s devastating fires in Indonesia were devastating for public health and the environment — and every one of them was a human-caused disaster.

A study released last week by Harvard and Columbia reports that more than 100,000 people in Southeast Asia may have had their lives cut short by the toxic smoke and haze from Indonesia’s massive 2015 forest fires. In Indonesia alone, the study estimates 91,600 premature deaths as a result of the fires.

It’s hard to imagine a catastrophe of this scale; in many ways, the world is just now coming to terms with the magnitude of the fires, the aftermath, and the lives taken.

As Indonesia’s fire season approaches this year, we need to resolve that this human-environmental tragedy never happens again.

To stop this, we must understand why the f... Read more >

In August 2016, Prestel Books published Photos That Changed the World, including this image of the Greenpeace Brent Spar campaign, captured by David Sims on 16 June 1995.

Greenpeace approaches Brent Spar, 1995, dodging a Shell water cannon. Photo by David Sims, Greenpeace. Selected for "Photos that Changed the World," from Prestel Books.

The story begins in the 1950s, when Royal Dutch Shell found oil near Groningen, in Permian sandstone linked to North Sea formations. By 1971, Shell had located the giant Brent oilfield in the North Sea, 220km east of Shetland, England. The Brent field produced a valuable, low sulphur crude, and set the standard for the European, or "Brent", oil price.

In 1976, Shell constructed the Brent Spar, a floating oil storage tank, 147 metres tall, with thick st... Read more >

For Indigenous activists defending their traditional lands, Brazil is one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Xavante indigenous people from Maraiãwatsede with traditional body paint for war. Due to conflicts over land ownership, this traditional painting is now a daily ritual in the lives of Indians.

 Last year alone, 50 environmental activists – including Indigenous activists – were murdered in Brazil for standing up to illegal logging, mining and agribusiness.

The injustice isn’t limited to violence. Indigenous Peoples in Brazil also face years of red tape and bureaucracy to get their lands officially recognised and protected, giving industry plenty of time to move in and damage their territory.

Many Indigenous communities – like the Guarani-Kaiowa – have been fighting for the...

Last year, Indonesian forest fires shocked the world. Some called them ‘the worst environmental disaster of the 21st century’. So why hasn’t that shock turned into action - and why are fires blazing across Indonesia again?

Decades of forest destruction by palm oil and paper companies laid the foundations for 2015’s Indonesian forest fires. The Indonesian government responded with a firm commitment to crack down on rogue companies. Hundreds of thousands of us pushed brands like Colgate to toughen up their ‘no deforestation’ policies.

But while some progress has been made, some of the biggest palm oil traders are still sitting on their hands. One particular company, called IOI, has been making and breaking promises on forest protection for almost 10 years. It is one of the biggest palm oi...