Special Reports

Colombia: systematic murders of social leaders multiply during the pandemic

International call to stop violence against peoples. Leaders denounce attacks during forced crop eradication.

Since the beginning of 2020, at least 103 social leaders and defenders of territories, and 24 former FARC members undergoing a reinsertion process in line with the Peace Accords, have been murdered in Colombia, according to local NGO Indepaz. The Continental Day for Democracy and against Neoliberalism (La Jornada Continental),  … Read more

The dire consequences of the gas expansion plans in Mozambique

We don't have to create another example in Africa of extractive industries causing conflicts and social instability

Cabo Delgado, the northernmost province of Mozambique, is suffering. The invasion of the transnational gas industry, attacks by extremist groups and military deployment from a government that seems to hate its people, are all creating a frightening breeding ground for murders, forced disappearances, the persecution of journalists and social activists  … Read more

RECORD NUMBER OF LAND CONFLICTS IN BRAZIL IN 2019

There were five conflicts per day, representing a 23% increase from 2018, and 32 defenders murdered during the year.

Throughout 2019, the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) recorded 1833 conflicts in the countryside (averaging five per day), 23% more than in 2018. This is the highest number on CPT records in the past five years. There was also a 14% increase in the number of murders (from 28 to 32),  … Read more

Remembering Dilma Ferreira on the first anniversary of her murder

Dilma was Coordinator of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) in Tucuruí, northern Brazil.

On 22 March 2019, Dilma Ferreira was brutally murdered in her home, together with her partner, Claudionor Costa da Silva, and neighbor, Milton Lopes. In celebration and remembrance of her life and struggle, Real World Radio interviewed Soniamara Maranho, Tchenna Maso and Cleidiane Vieria, fellow Coordinators at MAB. We asked  … Read more

Meeting for new UN framework to protect biodiversity to be held in Italy

Organizations warn of low ambition, false solutions and lack of attention on the true culprits of environmental devastation

Environmental federation Friends of the Earth International reaffirms its concern over the lack of ambition in the new framework currently under negotiation at the UN, which will set the basis for the protection of biodiversity globally from 2020 to 2030. A Friends of the Earth International delegation will participate in  … Read more

A rebel, but conscious youth

Visit to El Maizal community in Venezuela: an example of autonomy and food production

Socialist community El Maiza, located between Lara and Portuguesa states, in Venezuela, is a reference for the community movement of the country. Founded 11 years ago, with diverse self-managed companies, El Maizal is proud to show visitors their productive diversity and their political-ideological framework, with self-government as their banner. One  … Read more

“They have turned our community into a cemetery”

Thousands of people remembered the 272 victims of the crime committed by Vale in Brumadinho (Brazil)

At 12:28 on 25 January, 2019, Dam 1 of the Córrego do Feijão mine, containing 12,000,000 cubic meters of toxic mud, collapsed and spilled the mud over 9 kilometers to the city of Brumadinho (Minas Gerais) and then along the path of the Paraopeba River. The Brazilian Movement of People  … Read more

Healing through the struggle for Human Rights

Heavy metal poisoning, depression and breathing problems: some of the many health issues reported after Brumadinho dam collapse

Lead, mercury, cadmium and zinc are just some of the heavy metals found in the toxic mud left over from mining activities. Government officials in Minas Gerais, Brazil, identified levels of these metals up to 21 times above the acceptable metal in the mud that spread through Brumadinho and the  … Read more

Australia: this is climate change

“The best way to help is to get involved: transform our systems to put communities and the environment first.” —FoE Australia

“Australia is experiencing an unprecedented fire crisis. 10 million hectares have been burned already. Nearly 2000 homes have been destroyed and many lives lost. The fires are so immense they have created their own weather systems, sparking more fires by generating their own dry electrical storms. Firefighters have never seen  … Read more

International Human Rights Day: cases of serious violations across Asia

New report exposes Human Rights abuses against defenders of territories and peoples´ rights

Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific launches on Tuesday 10 December, International Human Rights Day, a new report that warns: “everyday, somewhere on this planet, environmental human rights defenders are being threatened, defamed, assaulted or murdered for defending their territories.” The new publication, launched by press release today, is entitled  … Read more