News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

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Religion is important in protecting the environment - interfaith groups

April 4, 2017  
Astro Awani

Kuala Lumpur: Religion plays a significant role in ensuring environmental sustainability and mankind, as God’s steward on Earth, has the responsibility to protect it.

This was the message conveyed by interfaith groups dedicated to tackle issues relating to climate change through a religious perspective.

During the dialogue...

Himalayan glaciers granted status of 'living entities'

April 1, 2017
Phys.org

An Indian court has recognised Himalayan glaciers, lakes and forests as “legal persons” in an effort to curb environmental destruction, weeks after it granted similar status to the country’s two most sacred rivers.

In a decision that aims to widen environmental protections in the mountainous region, the court granted the legal standing to glaciers...

Keystone XL: Environmental and Native Groups Sue to Halt Pipeline

Native American groups as well as environmental advocates are challenging the State Department’s approval, based on its about-face on the environmental impact.

By Phil McKenna
Inside Climate News
March 30, 2017

Several environmental and Native American advocacy groups have filed two separate lawsuits against the State Department over its approval of the...

Father James Martin: Why is climate change a moral issue?

March 29, 2017
By James Martin, S.J.
America Magazine: The Jesuit Review

Holy See calls for 'intergenerational solidarity' to deal with climate change

March 25, 2017
Independent Catholic News

The Holy See has called on the United Nations to promote “responsibility for those who come after us”, in the areas of climate change and justice for the poor. Archbishop Bernardito Auza’s words came in an address to a high-level discussion at the UN on “Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda”.

Legal challenges await Keystone XL pipeline after Trump grants permit

March 24, 2017
By Brian Roewe
National Catholic Reporter

The Keystone XL transnational pipeline received a long-sought presidential permit Friday as the Trump administration granted a green light to the $8 billion Canadian tar sands oil project. But hurdles still remain before construction can begin — starting with route approval in Nebraska, and promises from opponents to...

A wall in their river: Flooded Ngæbe communities continue to fight dam

March 23, 2017
By Tracy L. Barnett
Global Sisters Report

Kiad, Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, Panama - “Bulu Bagama is my positive name. Luis Jiménez, my negative one,” the Ngäbe elder began, standing on an expanse of cracked mud that covered what for generations was his family patrimony. A tumbledown shell of a house lay in ruins, and a few dead leaves clinging to one...

On World Water Day, African church leaders highlight shortages

March 22, 2017
By Fredrick Nzwili
Religion News Service

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) As she drives her family’s donkeys to a new borehole at the base of the Uuni Hills in eastern Kenya, Eunice Wambua says the water it provides is much cleaner than what she used to get from a dam several miles away.

“It was dirty water and we believed it colored our...

India court gives sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers human status

March 21, 2017
BBC News

A court in northern Indian has given the Ganges and Yamuna rivers the status of “living human entities”.

The high court in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand said this would help in the “preservation and conservation” of the highly polluted rivers.

It added that the “legal status” ensures that polluting the rivers would now amount to harming a...

Ganges and Yamuna rivers granted same legal rights as human beings

March 21, 2017
By Michael Safi
The Guardian

The Ganges river, considered sacred by more than 1 billion Indians, has become the first non-human entity in India to be granted the same legal rights as people.

A court in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand ordered on Monday that the Ganges and its main tributary,...

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