A self-educated yak herdsman in Mongolia has won an international environmental award for forcing the closure of destructive mining operations along a river in the landlocked country.
Tsetsegee Munkhbayar is one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize, the largest award of its kind in the world. The winners, selected from six regions of the world, will be announced in San Francisco today. Each receives a prize of US$125,000.
Munkhbayar created the Onggi River Movement, which helped convince the government to tighten and better enforce mining regulations, leading to the revival of once dried-up lakes and rivers.
"I spent my childhood by the banks of the Onggi River and I think of myself as one with the river," Munkhbayar said.
He set up the movement in 2001 to pressure the government to better regulate the mining industry after seeing the impact outdated mining methods were having on the river. At first his appeals to the government were ignored, then he organized protest marches.
His group also appealed to candidates during a 2004 national election, who after they won helped form a parliamentary lobby group for the protection of the Onggi River.
"Munkhbayar was chosen because of the huge impact he has had on the issue of responsible mining and water protection in Mongolia," said Richard Goldman, the founder of the prize.
"Not only has he worked with governmental leaders in crafting appropriate legislation, but he has also made it a point to continue educating the public about their water resources," Goldman said in an e-mail.
Munkhbayar said one of his goals was to educate the public about the environment and their rights.
"They do not realize that these mining operations lead to irreversible ecological damage," he said.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS