Environmental groups today welcomed the decision by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources to sue to halt construction of the Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-II pipeline. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources announced on August 3, 2006 that it will sue Shell’s Sakhalin II oil and gas project due to poor engineering that has resulted in land slides that are environmentally harmful and a safety hazard. Several independent environmental organizations have confirmed these findings.

We just received great news from Kosovo: almost all Roma families have been safely relocated from lead-contaminated camps where they lived for seven years. Two of the three lead-contaminated camps have been leveled (Kablare and Zitkovac). A few families remain in the Chesmin Lug camp, but almost everyone is safely relocated in the new camp Osterode.

Fresh photographs taken by Sakhalin Environment Watch from June 21-July 3, 2006 show continued severe erosion problems on Shell’s problem-plagued Sakhalin II oil and gas project on Russia’s Sakhalin Island. A photo report with written description can be found at:

Three environmental organizations released pictures today of recent environmental damage caused during construction of pipelines associated with Royal Dutch Shell's enormously risky Sakhalin II oil and gas project, located on Sakhalin Island, in the Russian Far East.[1] The photographs document violations of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company’s river crossing strategy, international banking policies and Russian law, despite Shell’s public commitment to prevent environmental damage. These pictures are available at:

For the past year, Global Response has supported the Penan indigenous people of Malaysia in their determination to stop industrial logging in their territories.  Several Penan communities have set up rustic blockades against logging trucks, and now they are facing police violence. They urgently call on the international community to support their courageous stand against logging in some of Malaysia?s last remaining tropical rainforests. Too many Penan martyrs have already lost their lives defending their Native Customary Rights and their rainforest territories.

 The Kanak group Rheebu Nuu has lodged complaints of corruption against the president of New Caledonia's southern province, Philippe Gomes, and the director general of the Goro Nickel company, Ron Renton.

This comes amid a conflict between Rheebu Nuu and Goro which nearly two months ago saw Rheebu Nuu activists destroy 10 million US dollars worth of vehicles and installations at the Goro construction site.

Rheebu Nuu has hired a French lawyer to draft the complaint which alleges that Mr Gomes has mixed his political post with his business interests.

The Hague, Netherlands - In the weeks running up to the May 16, 2006, Shell Annual Shareholder?s meeting in the Hague, the oil giant has embarked on a broad PR campaign to try to minimize the impacts of its massive Sakhalin II oil and gas project on the critically endangered Western Gray Whale. ?The world is watching the Gray Whales of Sakhalin. Alexander Rutenko is also listening,? the ad says, referring to that scientist?s monitoring of underwater noise impacts on the whale.

GENEVA - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should not make loans to Shell's giant energy project off Russia's Pacific coast without more measures to protect the environment, WWF said on Friday.

The conservation group said ice and poor weather around the proposed Sakhalin oil and gas operation would make it nearly impossible to clean up any spills for half of the year, placing marine life at risk in the case of an accident.

In a letter to Jewson Ltd., the British lumber company, 17 headmen and leaders of the Penan people of Sarawak / Malaysia have asked it to stop purchasing timber from their territories. "We would like to draw your attention to the fact that by purchasing timber from the Samling group you are making yourself part of the crimes committed against our communities", the Penan have written to Jewson?s managing director Peter Hindle in the letter published today. "Despite our repeated protests, Samling does not respect our boundaries and disregards our native customary rights.

The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations is accepting applications for financial assistance for any representatives of indigenous communities who wish to participate in the 2007 deliberations of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, or the Working Group on the Draft United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Applications must be submitted by October 1, and must be in English, French, or Spanish. The U.N.

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its partners in a billion Russian natural-gas venture are being confronted by environmentalists over the project's ecological consequences in a series of public hearings.

We received sad news from South Korea this week. The Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry may complete construction of a sea wall that will destroy the Saemangeum tidal flats – one of Korea’s most valuable wetlands and habitat for migratory birds.