First draft of the United Nations Global Biodiversity Framework is out

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has released the first draft of its global action plan that aims to halt biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework draft 1 was presented on 12 July 2021 and will undergo further refinement during online negotiations in the coming months. Thereafter, it will be submitted for…

David Castillo found guilty as co-perpetrator for the murder of Berta Cáceres

On 5 July, the city of Tegucigalpa sentencing court’s first chamber unanimously found David Castillo, Honduran businessman and intelligence officer, guilty of co-perpetrating the murder of Berta Cáceres. His sentence will be announced on 3 August. The ruling confirmed, among the main pieces of evidence, the numerous phone communications, text messages and WhatsApp chats through which Castillo coordinated actions to…

Nyéléni: the role of popular communications in the fight for food sovereignty

International movement for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni, published its newsletter number 44 with the title “Communicating for Food Sovereignty”. In their editorial, they explain why popular communications are an essential element in the struggle for Food Sovereignty “Just as the agro-industrial complex pushes for a homogenous, singular view of a global agrifood system, the international-corporate-media complex has also resulted in a…

“THEY SAID THAT IF BERTA WAS GONE, THE STRUGGLE IN RIO BLANCO WOULD DISAPPEAR”

The trial against David Castillo in Tegucigalpa has been underway since 5 April, although it actually began on 26 April. Castillo is a former intelligence officer from Honduras, trained at West Point military academy, who became a state official in the energy sector and then manager of Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA) Company, in charge of carrying out the Agua Zarca…

Total breaches obligations in Cabo Delgado

Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, owned by the French transnational company Total, is located in the Rovuma river basin, in the Cabo Delgado province, north of Mozambique, close to the border with Tanzania. On April 26, the project announced the temporary withdrawal of all its personnel and the indefinite suspension of its activities. According to JA! – Friends of…

Sovereign Cuba: Creating Vaccines for Life and Integration Between the Peoples

The market race for COVID-19 vaccines is widening the vaccine access gap. Some countries in the global North are buying more vaccines than they need for their entire population, while most countries in the global South are faced with shortages, resulting in slow vaccination programs. As long as vaccination efforts are driven by economic capacity, competition, and property, there will…

Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific demands justice for nine indigenous leaders killed in the Philippines

On 30 December 2020, nine Tumandok indigenous leaders were killed and 16 others arrested by the Philippine Army and National Police in a joint operation on Panay Island, located south of the Philippines. State forces allege that those killed were members of an insurgent group and that upon being served search warrants for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, they…

Pressure mounts on the WTO for a people’s vaccine to combat Covid

“The US's recent decision to back the waiver of intellectual property rights of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) shows that people power works,” said Sam Cossar, Co-coordinator of the Economic Justice and Resisting Neoliberalism program of Friends of the Earth International (FOEI). “The pressure is really now on the European Union (EU) and Australia not to continue blocking it. It…

Pressure on the WTO for Intellectual Property waiver on COVID vaccine

“Today high income countries are vaccinating 25 times faster than the lowest income countries,” warned the Coordinator of the Development and Intellectual Property Programme at Third World Network (TWN), Sangeeta Shashikant, on Thursday. “Intellectual property waivers are a must in the context of a pandemic,” she added in an interview with Real World Radio. This Friday, the World Trade Organisation…

BLACK LIVES MATTER: END OF PREPARATORY WORKSHOPS AHEAD OF 4TH TUCA CONGRESS

Representatives from different trade unions affiliated to the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) stressed their commitment with the struggle for racial equality today. They also expect to ratify this commitment during the 4th Continental Congress to be held by TUCA from 20-23 April. With the workshop titled “The fight for racial equality in trade unions and the world…