Extractive Industries


Covid-19: The peoples’ path from crisis to recovery

Real World Radio and Friends of the Earth International present this special show, which aims to highlight the impacts of Covid-19 and national responses to the pandemic on peoples and territories. We look at how social movements and Friends of the Earth groups have responded to the pandemic, analyse the politics behind the health crisis, and explore the possibilities for…

South African organisations urge government to investigate murder of anti-mining activist

Mama Fikile Ntshangase was shot dead at her home in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal province, by four gunmen on 22 October. She was Vice-Chairperson of a sub-committee of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO) and actively opposed the expansion of the Tendele coal mine near her home. “We feel that she was actually the target, and in killing her, the aim…

UN resumes negotiations for urgently needed binding treaty

This was the title of a virtual press conference held on Tuesday which urged States to engage to put an end to the impunity of transnational corporations. The press conference (a recording of which is available below) - hosted by the  Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity - took place after the start of…

ENVIRONMENTAL REFLECTIONS IN TIMES OF QUARANTINE (PART 1)*

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a symptom of the environmental imbalances that have resulted from treating nature as a commodity. We could argue that the impact of the pandemic would not have reached this magnitude if it weren’t for decades of neoliberalism, which has privileged business over lives: promoting agribusiness and extractivism, cutting down forests, and destroying vital water ecosystems.…

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

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 the second meeting of the Open Ended Working Group of…

New report reveals scandalous fossil fuel industry lobby at European Union

Oil and gas giants BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total, and their lobby groups, have invested 251 million euros since 2010 to influence the European Union, warns a new study by several European organizations. The research reveals that these five transnational corporations and their lobby groups currently employ 200 lobbyists in Brussels, Belgium, the EU's main administrative headquarters. In addition,…

Historic legal action against Total in France for operations in Uganda

Four organizations from Uganda and two from France filed a lawsuit against oil giant Total in French court on Wednesday,  accusing the company of not taking the necessary measures to respect human rights and the environment in its oil megaproject in Uganda. To make way for exploratory works for oil drilling, Total evicted approximately 5000 people from their lands, before…

Real World Radio Europe #23

This time we’re joining Sandra (+some special guests) from Bosnia and Herzegovina on a journey to the mountain village Pecka. This famously magical place is currently becoming a solar energy community, thanks to a ground-breaking crowdfunding campaign by FoE Bosnia and Herzegovina and partners.

BlackRock invests in burning the Amazon

“As fires rage across the Amazon, a report released today reveals that BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional investor with $6.5 trillion USD in assets, is deeply invested in the sectors most responsible for tropical forest destruction in the Amazon and around the world”, reads a press release issued by Friends of the Earth US about the new report. The report BlackRock’s Big…

Threats and abuses of the growing gas industry in Mozambique

Mozambique is rapidly becoming one of the Liquified natural gas (LNG) giants of the world. With little international media coverage, oil and gas monsters such as Exxon, Eni, Chevron, Shell and BP are rubbing their hands at the million dollar business prospects in this African country. Ongoing projects, whilst still in their exploration and construction stages, are already displacing local…