Location
Global Witness exposes the hidden links between demand for natural resources, corruption, armed conflict and environmental destruction
Mission
Many of the world’s worst environmental and human rights abuses are driven by the exploitation of natural resources and corruption in the global political and economic system. Global Witness is campaigning to end this. We carry out hard-hitting investigations, expose these abuses, and campaign for change. We are independent, not-for-profit, and work with partners around the world in our fight for justice.
Vision
We want a better world -- where corruption is challenged and accountability prevails, all can thrive within the planet’s boundaries, and governments act in the public interest.
For two decades we’ve been campaigning for full transparency in the mining, logging, oil and gas sectors, so that citizens who own those resources can benefit fairly from them, now and in future.
We believe that the only way to protect peoples’ rights to land, livelihoods and a fair share of their national wealth is to demand total transparency in the resources sector, sustainable and equitable resources management, and stopping the international financial system from propping up resource-related corruption.
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Resources
Displaying 26 - 30 of 45Rubber barons: how Vietnamese companies and international financiers are driving a land grabbing crisis in Cambodia and Laos - the film
A webpage with video and satellite imagery map showing forest area in Kratie being cleared for rubber plantations by a number of companies including Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Vietnam Rubber Group.
Rubber barons: how Vietnamese companies and international financiers are driving a land grabbing crisis in Cambodia and Laos
An independent investigative report on the impact of investment of Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Vietnam Rubber Group and two International Financiers (IFC and Deutsche Bank) on local livelihoods, land rights and environment in the project areas in Cambodia and Lao. It includes a map showing all known ELCs allocated in Cambodia as of 2013 as well as a map showing all known concessions and land leases across Laos.
Rubber Barons: How Vietnamese Companies and International Financiers are Driving the Land Grabbing Crisis in Cambodia and Laos
In Rubber Barons, Global Witness documents the devastating impact of Vietnam’s rush for rubber on local communities in Laos and Cambodia. The investigation also shows how international financiers Deutsche Bank and the International Finance Corporation were backing these land grabs – often in contravention of their own policies. In both Laos and Cambodia, national laws are supposed to protect forests, limit the size of foreign land concessions and require consultation with local communities over land use, but these laws are rarely enforced.
Dealing with Disclosure: Improving Transparency in Decision-Making Over Large-Scale Aquisitions, Allocations and Investments
Land deals are frequently agreed in secret between governments and investors. This lack of transparency in the allocation of land fosters an environment where elite capture of natural assets becomes the norm, where human rights are routinely abused with impunity, where environmental destruction is ignored and where investment incentives are stacked against companies willing to adhere to ethical and legal principles.
A disharmonious trade: China and the continued destruction of Burma’s northern frontier forests
The report documents on illegal logging and illegal export of timber to China in Kachin State in Burma, which is on the border of China and where deforestation is at its worst. It also documents the response of the relevant authorities in both Burma and China to ‘A Choice for China’, a Global Witnessexposure of the massive illegal timber trade between Burma and China in 2005 which resulted in a ban on logging and timber transportation in Kachin State in Burma and a Chinese ban on the importation of Burmese timber followed by Interim Measures to control the trade.Key findings are: