Climate Changes

Barrick Exploraciones Argentinas S.A. and others v. National Government

The Argentina Supreme court rejected the ruling of the federal judge in San Juan province, hence protecting the Argentina Glacier protection law. The law will now be applied across the country particularly to San Juan where the leading world’s gold producer , the Barrick Gold corp, has been struggling to bring its huge Pascua Lama mine on-stream. The Supreme Court verdict specified, that the National Glacier Law rightly and justly calls for a National Glacier Inventory to determine what areas should be protected by the law and where mining activity might be affecting glaciers and periglacial environments. The fear from the mining sector and from the provincial government which has been betting on mining for developing its economy is more than warranted.

SaveLamu et al. vs. National Environmental Management Authority and Amu Power Co., Ltd

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) of Kenya issued an EIA License to Amu Power Company to proceed with a coal-fired power plant project in the County of Lamu.  The organization Save Lamu, alongside several other community groups, challenged the issuance of the License on the grounds, inter alia, that the EIA failed to fully account for environmental harms, that the mitigation measures were inadequate, and that the EIA process did not involve adequate public participation.  The tribunal set aside the EIA License, ordering Amu Power, should it still wish to pursue the project, to undertake a fresh EIA adhering to each step of existing EIA regulations, and directing NEMA to comply with these regulations to engage lead agencies and the public in the licensing process and to provide and publish reasons for its ultimate