Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/546399
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JULY 2015 42 This Week The Kentish Plover is one of many birds that every year visit our shores, and I mean literally our shores. It's not interested in dry inland places and that's because this bird is one of that group known as waders. Waders generally have long or longish legs, which they use to walk about in shallow water along the shore probing with their bills for small worms, shrimps and other creatures from the mud or sand, or picking them off from the water. The Kentish Plover (M: Monakella Zghira) is a small wader – roughly the size of a sparrow – and its legs are not especially long by wader standards. It is a rather scarce visitor from spring to autumn and is not particularly eye-catching. The best chance of spotting one is to scan with binoculars the saltpans at Salina or Għadira nature reserve. These birds would of course love nothing better than to chase the waterline on a sandy beach but our summer beaches tend to be rather too action- packed for their liking. 464. KENTISH PLOVER GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 367: READ MORE – Visit http://www.foemalta.org/ links/wilmargrab to read the full report. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon Mural in Sliema car park leaves passers-by stunned Mural by street artist MTO A new Friends of the Earth International report on palm oil land grabs in Nigeria by Asia's leading agribusiness group exposes the need for a binding treaty to regulate corporate human rights abuses globally. Global palm oil trader Wilmar International Ltd. (WLIL.SI) has come under scrutiny for a large-scale land acquisition in Cross River State, Nigeria where it destroyed areas of High Conservation Value, including community food-producing areas and water sources essential to local communities, according to a report released today. The new report, Exploitation and empty promises: Wilmar's Nigerian landgrab, uses first- person testimonies, satellite maps, and Wilmar's own filings with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to demonstrate that the company failed to gain the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of communities directly affected by its operations; failed to produce adequate Environmental and Social Impact Assessments; and failed to live up to promises of infrastructure development and benefit sharing, despite these promises being a primary incentive for local communities to allow the company to operate in Cross River State. Friends of the Earth International and other activists from the Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and the Treaty Alliance, a growing global alliance of civil society groups, are campaigning for a legally binding international treaty to prevent and remedy corporate human rights abuses during a UN gathering in Geneva. The treaty is supported by many diverse governments including those of Ecuador, South Africa, Indonesia, India, China as well as the Vatican and by more than 800 organisations, including the UN Human Rights Council. Existing voluntary guidelines on business and human rights do not provide access to justice and remedy for victims of corporate abuse, according to Friends of the Earth International, which advocates for a legally binding system to put human rights above the corporate privileges. The report cites academic and community-based research showing that Wilmar's Nigerian operations may displace subsistence food production by thousands of local farmers. Nigeria palm oil land grab exposes need for human rights treaty The creation of a French artist in Sliema has left passers- by stunned at the huge mural depicting a man leaning forward, trying get through a hole in the wall. Painted by graffiti and street artist MTO, the mural is part of the Sliema Arts Festival. The mural is part of a second graffiti, which will not be painted in Malta but in northern Italy. The artist was inspired by migrants who strive to find a better life in Europe.