Bulletin 279 - July 2026

Forest-dependent Peoples in many countries are facing the destruction of their territories in the name of 'clean energy' and the 'energy transition'. These Peoples also continue to face devastation caused by the production of today's main source of energy: fossil fuels. This reality shows that 'clean energy' and the 'energy transition' only exist on paper.

An overview of the links between oil and gas extraction in the Niger Delta and deforestation and major oil spills that have occurred over recent decades in one of Africa's leading oil-producing regions. Their impact on a region of immeasurable environmental and cultural wealth has led many communities in Nigeria to fight against oil giants such as Shell.

What is being promoted globally as ‘clean energy’ is revealing expanding frontiers of mineral extraction shaped by conflict and cross-border tensions. In the Mekong and Salween basins, mining activities are destroying forests and polluting rivers and watersheds, particularly in Myanmar, one of the world’s most important exporters of heavy ‘rare earth’ minerals.

In a climate of repression, the Ecuadorian government is racing against the clock to begin construction on the largest hydropower dam in the country. This project could devastate dozens of Shuar communities and submerge a vast area of ancestral territory in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Decades of industrial energy production have destroyed vast areas of forest in Southeast Asia. The ‘energy transition’ trend is triggering a new wave of activities that lead to more deforestation in the region. Forest conservation programs, meanwhile, put the blame for deforestation on forest-dependent communities.

The government of Brazil plans to increase gas production in the coming years and invest billions of dollars in infrastructure for the sector. Among the planned projects is a gas pipeline that could cross hundreds of kilometers of the Amazon rainforest, boosting predatory industrial activities and impacting communities.

More than 20 years after the article was first published in the WRM Bulletin, the dispute over minerals continues to fuel a violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The analysis presented 20 years ago sadly remains relevant today: "Behind the myth of ethnic rivalries are the old colonial powers that continue to plunder the riches of post-colonial Africa."

“The Political Construction of AI”, produced by the Turkish organization bianet.org, recently interviewed Larry Lohmann, from The Corner House and a member of the WRM Advisory Committee. He characterizes ‘artificial intelligence’ (‘AI’) as a form of “machine colonialism” marked by indefinitely-ballooning energy consumption and brutal grabs of water and low- and zero-cost labour.

The documentary “Pig Feast: Colonialism in our time" presents a vivid picture of the struggle of Indigenous Peoples across the island of Papua against destruction of their territories. The film highlights indigenous resistance against large-scale projects that destroy peoples’ life spaces. One such project is the National Strategic Project Merauke, with 2.5 million hectares currently the world´s largest deforestation Project.

Indigenous Peoples from Ecuador are calling for support to stop the expansion of the oil frontier in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Three million hectares of the Amazon rainforest are to be handed over to oil companies, impacting countless Indigenous Peoples.

The Energy Transition Observatory is a platform providing information about the impacts of supposedly 'clean energy' projects on Indigenous and Quilombola territories, conservation units, and agrarian reform settlements in Brazil.