Some of the environmental impacts of African mining development could potentially be offset: mining set-asides could protect some wildlife habitats, whereas improving transportation networks could increase crop yields and spare land for conservation. Threats are not uniform spatially, and much of the Congo Basin is devoid of mineral occurrences and may be spared from direct mining impacts. We illustrate these threats in Central Africa, which contains the vast Congo rainforest, and show that more than a quarter of 4,151 recorded mineral occurrences are concentrated in three regions of biological endemism-the Cameroon-Gabon Lowlands, Eastern DRC Lowlands, and Albertine Rift Mountains-and that most of these sites are currently unprotected. We review the environmental threats from African mining development, including habitat alteration, infrastructure expansion, human migration, bushmeat hunting, corruption, and weak governance. Quinn, who told a court earlier this year that he was down to his last 11,000 euros, an aging Mercedes and 166 acres of land, was “far from being the person who had his finger on the button”, his lawyers said on Thursday when claiming he was not in a position to reverse the movement of assets.Africa is on the verge of a mining boom.
Quinn’s use of loans to make the ill-fated investments in the former Anglo resulted in the failed lender pursuing him for debts of almost 3 billion euros in a global treasure hunt from courtrooms in Dublin to the British Virgin Islands.
Thousands of locals, including sporting figures and politicians, have twice held rallies since August to support him in the court proceedings. He is still regarded by some as a hero thanks to his role as a big employer in his home county of Cavan. In the country’s boom years, Quinn turned a rural quarrying operation on his family farm into a global business empire spanning wind farms, cement plants and hotels, only to become the subject of the largest ever Irish bankruptcy order four years after becoming its richest man. It is the subject of intense negotiations in Europe to ease the burden as Dublin attempts to exit its program next year. Ireland’s costly banking rescue helped push the country into seeking an international bailout two years ago this month.
“I cannot ignore the extent and degree of contempt of court on his part, the appropriate term by reasons of non compliance with the orders is 9 weeks,” said Dunne, who deemed Quinn “evasive and uncooperative” when giving evidence. He was initially spared prison and ordered to disclose information regarding assets spread as far afield as Russia, Ukraine and Belize.īut Justice Elizabeth Dunne told a Dublin high court on Friday that Quinn, 66, only had himself to blame over contempt she described as “nothing short of outrageous.” He was found guilty of contempt of court in June for violating an order not to block state-owned Anglo, since renamed the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC), from seizing foreign property assets worth an estimated 500 million euros. Quinn, whose four billion euro ($5.2 billion) business empire collapsed after a disastrous investment in the now failed Anglo Irish Bank, is the first major player jailed in connection with the country’s economic collapse, having come to personify its boom and bust. A woman cycles through the financial district of Dublin, February 24, 2011.
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