Before the Green Revolution came to Sri Lanka in the 1960s, with the imposition of modernised machinery, high yielding varieties, increased use of fertilisers and other agrochemical inputs, the country had an ecologically sustainable agricultural system. Farmers used mixed farming techniques and cultivated in a manner that protected the natural environment and human health. They maintained soil fertility through the…
“We've been expecting this sentence for almost a year. This opens a very important stage in order to realise this guilty verdict against one of the killers of my mother, our comrade Berta Cáceres,” said Bertha Zúniga, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The leader warned that the judicial decision could still…
The EU-Mercosur trade deal, agreed in 2019 but yet to be ratified, is set to benefit European agrochemical companies whilst having dire consequences for nature, local communities and Indigenous communities in South America. It will lead to a steep increase in exports of crop to Europe and import of dangerous agrochemicals to the southern cone, particularly Brazil. This is why…
On 7 April, 2020, the foundation and pipelines of the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE) and the Heavy Oils Pipeline (OCP) collapsed, causing a huge oil spill on the waters of the Coca River, which rapidly reached the Napo River. Both rivers are part of the Amazonas River Basin, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. This polluted the water, land,…
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…
Over the weekend, fruit of the popular struggle, the Chilean people elected their Constitutional Convention to draft a new Constitution to put an end to the one that has been in force since the Pinochet dictatorship. The event was divided into two days to comply with health protocols, and the results were historic. Simultaneously, regional governors, mayors and councilors were…
The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) addressed the Chair of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Thanawat Tiensin, last week, demanding a new course for the Food Systems Summit set to take place in September 2021. “The CSM cannot jump onto a train that is heading in the wrong direction,” state the member organisations in this…
One month after the murder of João Alberto Silveira Freitas by the security guards hired by Carrefour supermarkets in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Patrícia Gonçalves, member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Earth Brazil and activist in the Front in Defense of Quilombola Territories in Rio Grande do Sul, analyzes the measures taken by the company and the…
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…
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…
