“Nicaragua defies canal protests”, 27 December 2014

…An [independent] assessment…concluded that the canal would cause “very significant environmental impacts”, and probably would not have been approved under Nicaragua’s usual rules…The Humboldt centre estimates that the canal zone will pass through or near 282 communities, including a large tract of indigenous communal land. The canal concession gives HKND the right to seize this and other land, and Nicaraguans far from the canal route have reported visits to their land by Chinese surveyors accompanied by Nicaraguan military escorts…