Ep. 49. Mining, Bouganville and Obama's Energy Forum

Aired on 2SER 4 April 2009

Click to Download: Ep. 49. Mining, Bouganville and Obama's Energy Forum

This Week’s Guests: We are joined by Joanne Apea-Bosco-Dateransi, a landowner from Panguna in Bougainville, and Waratah Rosemary Gillespie, as Joanne travels the country on a speaking tour. Today we talk about the Bougainville civil war in 1989 which resulted in the closure of Bougainville Copper Limited’s (BCL) mine (54% owned by Rio Tinto) and the installation of an autonomous government. This was the first successful closure of a mine by indigenous peoples anywhere in the world, and sadly there are now heated attempts by the PNG government and BCL to re-open the mine… with some help from the Australian government too.

Obama's Energy Forum
US President Barack Obama has announced a ‘Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate’, set for April 27 and 28 in Washington. 16 nations have been invited, including China, India, Germany, France and Australia. Some have noted the forum is quite similar to former President Bush’s ‘Major Economies Meetings on Energy Security and Climate Change’, which was considered an attempt to side-step or undermine UN climate negotiations. But what a difference a new face and apparent change in attitude can make. Obama is casting the forum as a chance to knock out some understanding between major industrialized and developing countries before the meetings in Copenhagen later this year. So is he helping us out? The 3rd Degree's Nick Hollins spoke with Tony Moore from the Australian Conservation Foundation and Damien Lawson from Friends of the Earth Australia.

Sneak Peak!
We hear a quick sneak peak for next week's nuclear and mining special - the Australian Conservation Conservation Foundation's Dave Sweeney talks about the role of mining companies in environmental and social disasters.

Events This Week:
Well you probably can't get there, but London is in lock-down this week as G20 begins and protesters respond with 'Climate Camp G20', a 24 hour camp in the heart of London. We highly recommend you check out climatecamp.org.uk The camp also coincides with the annual international extravaganza, Fossil Fools Day, fossilfoolsdayofaction.org

Presenters: Hannah Walters and Libby King