The UN Convention on Biological Diversity urged the governments on November 29th to conduct strict risk assessments and consult indigenous people and other local communities before releasing organisms into the environment with “exterminator technology” such as gene drives. The decision to consult the people about this dangerous genetic modification of organisms was celebrated by Friends of the Earth and the…
Days before the first anniversary of the murders of eight indigenous people of the Philippine village Datal Bonglangon, Mindanao Island, on December 3rd, 2017, one of the lawyers supporting the local community, Pochoy Labog, directly accused the company that has been occupying this native territory since early 1990s. He is also accusing Rodrigo Duterte´s administration, due to its policies complacent…
Monday marks the first anniversary of the massacre of eight indigenous people in Datal Bonglangon village, South Cotabato province, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The inhabitants of the small community paid with their lives the demands for their ancestral lands and the resistance to the coffee and mining industry for export. Their blood taints the company and Rodrigo…
With certain advances in the recognition of the role of indigenous people and local communities in terms of the conservation of biological diversity, the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity came to an end in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Nevertheless, some environmental organizations are worried about the role of corporations in the official…
This November, the West African Caravan on Water, Land and Seeds is traveling through West Africa to promote food sovereignty and agroecology. People are joining the caravan to defend small-scale food producers' access to natural resources. The Caravan represents hundreds of victims of land and water grabbing and exposes the failings of industrial food production. The Caravan is passing through…
The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) started on Saturday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, under the theme “Investing in biodiversity for people and planet”. The event will take place through November 29th. Environmental activist Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International´s Forests and Biodiversity program coordinator, who is present at the COP, warned that…
The European Union disengaged with this process despite the pressure of civil society and the constructive engagement of all countries in all other regions of the world, but we know that with or without the EU we are going to have the 5th session,” Lucia Ortiz, Economic Justice Program Coordinator at Friends of the Earth International told Real World Radio on Friday…
“As Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), we are here (at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva) because we are working with communities, and those communities are affected by transnationals corporations, so we need a Binding Treaty to hold accountable those transnationals which violated human rights”, said Kwami Kpondzo, from FOEI, in an interview with Real World Radio. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txedt5BnvZo&feature=youtu.be[/embed] Kwami,…
Mageswari Sangaralingam, member of SAM – Friends of the Earth Malaysia, warned on Friday that in Asia there are communities affected by corporate crimes, and that the victims, especially of transnational corporations, don´t have access to justice. “So where do you go to access justice if there is a problem of environmental issue or human rights violations?”, when the existing…
“We really call upon the European Union to be constructive, to support the conclusions and make sure that next year we are here to take the next step in this important United Nations treaty that will protect human rights,” activist Ike Teuling, from Friends of the Earth Europe, told Real World Radio on Friday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSK3vhfbLk&feature=youtu.be “So the last thing that…
