Thursday 17 July 2008

Tribe takes on global mining firm

The Dongria Kondh people of Golgola, from Orissa, India, fight Vedanta Resources who want to mine their hills for bauxite. Critics say mining the hills may cause severe environmental damage, and could disrupt the Dongria's way of life.

India's Wildlife Institute has said that mining threatens an important ecosystem with irreversible changes.

A Supreme Court committee which investigated the project said Vedanta Aluminium violated guidelines in the Forest Conservation Act when it built its refinery and should have its environmental clearance withdrawn.

And Norway's official Council on Ethics, which monitors investments for the country's huge state pension fund, said investing in Vedanta Resources, which has many mining interests, presented "an unacceptable risk of complicity in current and future severe environmental damage and human rights violations".

Norway's government sold all the Vedanta shares it held which were worth $14m. (BBC)




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