Forests and Biodiversity


The impacts of industrial plantations on African women

"We need help around the world," said Patiente Etim from Mbarakum Community in a new Friends of the Earth Africa documentary on the impacts of industrial plantations on women. "The chemicals used by the plantation company affected my son-in-law's eyes. He was a sprayer with GOPDC/SIAT and through the exposure to the work hazard, the chemical affected his eyes. He…

What happened at the African Peoples Tribunal?

The African Peoples Tribunal (APT) that took place this year, after its first edition in November 2020, was developed by Friends of the Earth Africa, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), Friends of the Earth International, and Rainforest Action Network. This time, the APT took 10 cases, from 10 countries where Friends of the Earth has member groups, grassroots or…

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…

Covid-19 : Le chemin des peuples de la crise à la reprise

La Radio Mundo Real et les Amis de la Terre International présentent cette émission spéciale, qui vise à mettre en évidence les impacts de Covid-19 et des réponses nationales à la pandémie sur les peuples et les territoires. Nous examinons comment les mouvements sociaux et les groupes membres des Amis de la Terre ont répondu à la pandémie, nous analysons…

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…

“Monoculture plantations are the visible face of the agribusiness model”

21 September marks the International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Tree Plantations. This day was declared in 2004 by rural communities in Brazil, to expose the impacts of industrial tree plantation projects expanding in their territories and to reaffirm their determination to resist plantations and recover their territories from corporations. Together with Isaac Rojas, we mapped how monoculture plantations are…

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…

Australia: this is climate change

"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 anything like it. Scientists are now saying many billions of…

The win-win situation hidden behind the Amazonia fires

"How agribusiness and financial markets profit from the devastation of the world´s largest tropical forest". In this first part of a series of two audio-visual reports, Friends of the Earth Brazil unravels the forces behind the crimes that take place in Brazilian forests. In its second part, the organization analyzes, together with allied movements, the future of the affected communities…