LATIN AMERICA: WHY ARE ENVIRONMENTALISTS DYING?

 Published: - Aug 30, 2017

It is one of the most dangerous regions for these activists

Latin America registered 60% of deaths of environmental activists in 2016. Almost

four people per week were assassinated last year while trying to protect their
lands, forests, and rivers from mining enterprises, timber companies, and
agricultural businesses, according to data reported by the NGO Global Witness. In
this report, Brazil has the largest amount of deaths, with 37 killed, followed by
Colombia, with 22. For Billy Kyte from Global Witness, Brazil’s situation stems from
a growing expansion of the cut down of trees and agro-industry in the Amazon,
which was made evident by Michel Temer’s decisions in the Ministry of Human
Rights. In Colombia’s case, where numbers have reached a historical high, the
situation is attributed to the results of the peace agreements with the FARC;
displaced communities are returning to their original lands, areas that used to be
occupied by the FARC and that are now looked at with greed by companies
looking to extract raw materials.
The most dangerous country in the world for environmental activism is Honduras.
Since 2010, there have been more than 120 homicides registered related to this
issue. The most well-known case took place in the Central American country; the
assassination of Berta Cáceres, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in
2016 for organizing the Lenca people, the biggest indigenous population of the
country, against the construction of the Agua Zalca Dam in Gualcarque River. This
river is sacred to indigenous communities and vital to their survival.
The industrial goals prevail over the communities’ necessities due to a combination
of the capacity to lobby towards the instances of environmental control,
organizations marginal to the law, and state complicity. Due to the economic
interests involved, impunity seems to be the rule in these cases. If the murderers
are detained, the brains of the operation are rarely reached. There are reasons to
believe that the numbers reported are a lot smaller than the real amount of victims
and activists targeted: most of the affected communities are usually in isolated
areas, in jungles or in the middle of mountain chains, far from the institutions where
they can report these issues.
Numbers indicate that 2017 will be even more deadly than 2016. Around the world,
there have already been 117 defenders of the environment assassinated and most
of them have been in Latin America. Fingers point to governments, companies,
and investors because, as stated by Global Witness investigator Ben Leather, they
are the ones who must guarantee that communities are consulted on the projects
that might affect them, that activists are protected from violence, and that the guilty
are brought to justice.
Latin American Post | María Andrea Otero
Translated by Laura Rocha Rueda
Copy edited by Susana Cicchetto
 RENEWABLE RESOURCE
A renewable resource is a substance of economic value that can be replaced or
replenished in the same or less amount of time as it takes to draw the supply
down. Some renewable resources have essentially an endless supply, such as
solar energy, wind energy and geothermal pressure, while other resources are
considered renewable even though some time or effort must go into their renewal,
such as wood, oxygen, leather and fish. Most precious metals are considered
renewable as well; even though they are not naturally replaced, they can be
recycled because they are not destroyed during their extraction and use.

BREAKING DOWN 'Renewable Resource'

A renewable resource is different from a non-renewable resource, as once a
nonrenewable resource is used, it is depleted and cannot be recovered. As the
human population continues to rise, the demand for renewable resources
increases.

Types of Renewable Resources

Natural resources are a form of equity, and they're known as natural

capital. Biofuel, or energy made from renewable organic products, has gained
prevalence in recent years as an alternative energy source
to nonrenewable resources such as coal, oil and natural gas. Although prices are
still higher for biofuel, the growing scarcity of fossil fuels will result in higher prices,
due to supply and demand, and will make the price of biofuel more competitive.
Some types of biofuel include biodiesel, an alternative to oil, and green diesel,
which is made from algae and other plants.

Other renewable resources include oxygen and solar energy. Wind and water can
also be used to create renewable energy. For example, windmills harness the
wind's natural power and turn it into energy.

From: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/renewable_resource.asp#ixzz4rShjPO
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 NONRENEWABLE RESOURCE
A nonrenewable resource is a resource of economic value that cannot be readily
replaced by natural means on a level equal to its consumption. Most fossil fuels,
such as oil, natural gas and coal are considered nonrenewable resources in that
their use is not sustainable because their formation takes billions of years.

BREAKING DOWN 'Nonrenewable Resource'

Types of Nonrenewable Resources

Fuels created from nonrenewable resources are still the primary source of all the
power generated in the world, due to their affordability and high energy content.
Usually, nonrenewable resources are formed from organic carbon material which,
over the course of billions of years, is heated and compressed enough to change
form into crude oil and natural gas. Crude oil and natural gas are then used to
manufacture everyday forms of fuel, including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and
propane.

The term nonrenewable resource also refers to minerals and metals from the earth,
such as gold, silver, and iron, which are similarly formed as a long-term result of
geological processes such as plate tectonics. These resources are often costly to
mine, as they are usually deep within the Earth's crust, but they are much more
abundant than fossil fuels. Some types of groundwater are considered to be a
nonrenewable resource, if the aquifer is unable to be replenished at the same rate
at which it's drained. Also, nuclear materials such as uranium are nonrenewable
resources.

From: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nonrenewableresource.asp#ixzz4rSiH
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 SHAREHOLDER

A shareholder is any person, company or other institution that owns at least one
share of a company’s stock. Because shareholders are a company's owners, they
reap the benefits of the company's successes in the form of increased stock
valuation. If the company does poorly, however, shareholders can lose money if
the price of its stock declines.

Unlike the owners of sole proprietorships or partnerships, corporate shareholders

are not personally liable for the company's debts and other financial obligations.
This means that if the company goes under, its creditors cannot demand payment
from shareholders like they could from the owners of privately held entities.

Also unlike the leadership of other business types, companies with shareholders
rely on a board of directors and executive management to run things — meaning
the actual owners, the shareholders, don't have much say in the day-to-day
operation of the business.

From: Shareholder http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shareholder.asp#ixzz4s7VoGWtO 

WHAT IS A 'STAKEHOLDER'

A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a company, and can either affect or
be affected by the business. The primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are
its investors, employees and customers. However, the modern theory of the idea
goes beyond this original notion to include additional stakeholders such as a
community, government or trade association.

Stakeholders can be internal or external. Internal stakeholders are people whose

interest in a company comes through a direct relationship, such as through
employment, ownership or investment. External stakeholders are those people
who do not directly work with a company but are affected in some way by the
actions and outcomes of said business. Suppliers, creditors and public groups are
all considered external stakeholders.

From: Stakeholder http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp#ixzz4s7W0JLFz