In a protest to defend the natural resources of Bangladesh on December 29^th, more than 35 people were left injured after police confronted the activists with batons and tear gas. The demonstration aimed to pressure the Bangladesh Ministry of Power and Energy to accept a set of seven demands, including the cancellation of concessions to build the Phulbari open-pit coal mine as well the eviction of GCM Resources, the London-based mining company currently financing the Phulbari project.

Gazprom, the major financer for Russia’s natural gas pipeline that would bisect the Ukok Plateau en route to China, appears to have dropped the project for 2012.

Two community activists who have been outspoken against the illegal logging and land concessions within the Prey Lang forest in Cambodia are being targeted by local police.  Roeun Sopheap and Sim Sean have reported patrols of police waiting outside their homes and have been living in hiding throughout the past month.

On December 15^th, GCM held its annual shareholders’ meeting in London, amidst throngs of protesters demonstrating outside the building.  Protesters waved banners tagging the project as”modern day colonialism,” and carried “eviction notices” from the people of Bangladesh telling the company to abandon the Phulbari Coal project and leave the country, according to a report from the news site Morning Star.

This short documentary about threats to the Prey Lang forest and the Kuy community’s efforts to protect it was produced by Cambodian student Kim Samath as part of the Southeast Asian Student Documentary Award Competition. To make her film, "Prey Lang - Fire of Light, Light of Hope," she traveled to the Prey Lang Forest to investigate how people live within Cambodia’s largest forest, which is under constant threat of deforestation.

See the film here:

In a vote of 2 to 1, Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court ruled that the Chinese owners of the Ramu nickel mine may dump toxic waste from their mine and refinery directly into the Bismarck Sea at Basamuk. The plaintiffs in the case were Rai Coast landowners Louis Medaing and 1083 others, representing thousands of Indigenous families whose livelihoods depend on the health of the marine ecosystem.

Over 250 activists were confronted by police during a Buddhist prayer ceremony for the protection of Prey Lang forest in Cambodia.  Held at the Angkor Wat complex on December 14^th, the event was organized by the Prey Lang Network to call attention to the destruction occurring within the Prey Lang forest, an area that is currently under threat from 33 separate

Yesterday a Kenyan court recognized the transfer of title to the property known as Eland Downs, from the African Wildlife Foundation to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the government agency that manages Kenya’s national park system. The decision is disputed by Samburu people who were evicted from the property last year when former president Daniel arap Moi sold it to the African Wildlife Foundation. In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, the African Wildlife Foundation transferred title to the property to the Kenya Wildlife Service to create a new Laikipia National Park.

Forest activists in the Prey Lang Network are gathering today in Cambodia’s famed Angkor complex to  pray for Cambodia and its future. Cambodia has lost its forests at an alarming rate. Now Prey Lang, the last large lowland evergreen forest, is at risk.