2012
UN Biodiversity Talks Favor False Solutions to Biodiversity Crisis
HYDERABAD, INDIA, October 19, 2012 - After two weeks of talks, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference [1] comes to a close here today with Friends of the Earth International criticizing negotiators for focusing on false solutions to biodiversity loss and favoring corporate polluters over people and the planet.
Rio+20 Declaration: A Gift to Corporate Polluters
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), June 20, 2012 – The deal on the table at the Rio+20 Summit [1] does nothing to address the environmental and social crises that the world is facing; it simply allows multinational corporations to continue exploiting people and the planet without restraint, according to Friends of the Earth International.
Rio+20: Friends of the Earth International to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: "Stop the business lobby at the UN"
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), 19 June 2012 – On June 22 Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey will meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and deliver a civil society statement denouncing the corporate domination of the United Nations.[1]
Rio+20 summit under corporations' undue influence
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), JUNE 18, 2012 – One the eve of the Rio+20 United Nations Earth Summit [1] on June 20-22, Friends of the Earth International warns world leaders that multinational corporations such as oil giant Shell have an undue influence over the Rio+20 Earth Summit.
Rio+20 summit must listen to People's Summit
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), JUNE 16, 2012 – While world leaders and the business sector gather for the Rio+20 Earth Summit due to take place here on June 20-22 [1], Friends of the Earth International campaigners are gathering with social movements from around the world at an alternative Summit [2] focused on human rights and environmental justice on 15-23 June.
Rio Summit participant denied entry in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), JUNE 15, 2012 – A participant of the UN Summit in Rio de Janeiero was denied entry into Brazil by the Brazilian authorities.
Reclaim the United Nations campaign starts today
BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) / RIO DE JANERIO (BRAZIL) JUNE 4, 2012 – Tomorrow, on World Environment Day, just two weeks before a major United Nations (UN) Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Friends of the Earth International starts a campaign urging the UN to limit the excessive influence of multinational corporations on its decision-making processes.
Seventy thousand people ask oil giant Shell to clean up its mess in Nigeria
AMSTERDAM (THE NETHERLANDS), May 21st, 2012 – On the eve of the annual general meeting of oil giant Shell, Friends of the Earth International announced that it will deliver to Shell CEO Peter Voser some 70,000 signatures of people who want Shell to start cleaning up its mess in the oil-rich and highly polluted Niger delta in Nigeria.
UN Global Compact turns a blind eye to corporate malpractices
AMSTERDAM / RIO DE JANEIRO, May 10, 2012 - Institutions and initiatives of the United Nations, such as the Global Compact provide far too much room for influence by private corporations. A Civil Society Statement to halt the corporate capture of the UN, raises concerns in run up to the Rio Conference.
New report uncovers land grab in Uganda
WASHINGTON DC / BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) / KAMPALA (UGANDA) 23rd April 2012: Released on the eve of a World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty [1], a new report reveals widespread violations of people’s rights and environmental destruction from a land grab initially funded by the World Bank in Uganda. [2]
Opposition to biotech giant Monsanto growing worldwide, new report shows
APRIL 4, 2012, WASHINGTON (US) / MONTEVIDEO (URUGUAY), PARIS (FRANCE), – Today, the day that biotech giant Monsanto (NYSE: MON) releases its second quarter earnings, a new report by civil society organisations shows that around the world small-holder and organic farmers, local communities and social movements are increasingly resisting and rejecting Monsanto, and the agro-industrial model that it represents.
Polluting Brazilian mining giant Vale exposed
DAVOS (SWITZERLAND) / PORTO ALEGRE (BRAZIL), 27 JANUARY 2012 -- With more than 25,000 votes, the Brazilian mining giant Vale has been crowned the 'world's worst corporation of the year' at the January 27 'Public Eye Awards' in Davos, Switzerland [1]
Rio+20: Protest Against ‘The Future Corporations Bought’
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), June 22, 2012 – Friends of the Earth International delegates joined on June 21 a key protest by a group of young people and civil society organisations denouncing world leaders’ failure to tackle the planetary crisis at the UN Rio+20 Summit. [1]
Rio+20 Summit Condemned as Sell Out of People and the Planet
RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL), June 22, 2012-- Friends of the Earth International today strongly condemned world leaders for selling out people and the planet in their Rio+20 declaration which falls way short of the action needed to tackle the planetary crisis we face, and does not include any of the real solutions demanded by the people at the alternative Peoples Summit. [1]
Gates foundation-led green revolution promotes false solutions to hunger in Africa
Friends of the Earth International warns against damaging industrial farming promoted by the Gates Foundation at the Agricultural Green Revolution Forum 2012, Arusha, Tanzania on 26-28 September.
Key Hearing in Court Case on Oil Giant Shell's Nigerian Oil Pollution
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER 10, 2012 -- For the first time in history, a European company, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, will appear in a Dutch court to account for damage it caused abroad, Friends of the Earth International announced today.
Nnimmo Bassey To Be Awarded Rafto Prize for Human Rights
BERGEN (NORWAY) / LAGOS (NIGERIA), September 27, 2012 – Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey [1] will be the recipient of this year's Rafto Prize for Human Rights. Friends of the Earth International is proud of Nnimmo and his award.
30 January: Verdict Expected in Court Case on Oil Giant Shell's Nigerian Oil Pollution
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER 11, 2012 -- For the first time in history, a Dutch court verdict is expected about the case of a European company, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, which appeared in court today to account for damage it caused abroad, says Friends of the Earth International. [1]
Biodiversity Talks Should Oppose 'Financialization' of Nature
HYDERABAD, INDIA, October 12, 2012 - While ministers start gathering here ahead of a second week of United Nations Biodiversity talks [15-19 October], preparing to discuss where to garner billions of dollars needed to preserve global biodiversity, Friends of the Earth International warns against Nature being ' financialized' (being given a price, bought, sold, and converted in financial mechanisms), which many multinational corporations are lobbying for.
Biodiversity Talks Should Oppose 'Financialization' of Nature
HYDERABAD, INDIA, October 12, 2012 - While ministers start gathering here ahead of a second week of United Nations Biodiversity talks [15-19 October], preparing to discuss where to garner billions of dollars needed to preserve global biodiversity, Friends of the Earth International warns against Nature being ' financialized' (being given a price, bought, sold, and converted in financial mechanisms), which many multinational corporations are lobbying for.
Food Crisis Talks: Governments Should Scrap Biofuels, Not Push GM Crops
ROME (ITALY) / LONDON (UK), October 16, 2012 – As Governments gather in Rome today, World Food Day, to discuss the global food price crisis, Friends of the Earth International warns in a new report [1] that agriculture donors such as the United States and United Kingdom are pumping money into genetically modified (GM) crops at the cost of farming methods better suited to tackling hunger.
2012
Friends of the Earth International press releases 2012
FoEI Chair Nnimmo Bassey Awarded 2012 Rafto Prize for Human Rights
BERGEN (NORWAY) / LAGOS (NIGERIA), November 4, 2012 – Friends of the Earth International, the world's largest federation of grassroots environmental organisations, is proud to announce that its chair, Nnimmo Bassey, who is also Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria [1], received the 2012 Rafto Prize for Human Rights [2] in Norway on November 4.
International Mission in Guatemala and El Salvador: 'Transnational corporations pillage natural resources and violate human rights'
SAN SALVADOR (EL SALVADOR), November 19, 2012 - An international mission organized by environmental federation Friends of the Earth International in Guatemala and El Salvador has verified systematic human rights violations and criminalization of environmental activists and communities resisting mining and hydroelectric projects.
New Report: Smartphones devastating Indonesian island people, forests, and corals
LONDON (UK) / BANGKA (INDONESIA) 24 November 2012 – Smartphones sold by best-selling brands almost certainly contain tin from a paradise island in Indonesia where tin mining is destroying forests and farmland, choking coral reefs and devastating many communities, according to a new Friends of the Earth investigation released today: ‘Mining for Smartphones: the True Cost of Tin’ [1]
UN Climate Talks: Urgent Progress Still Not in Sight
DOHA, QATAR, 23 November 2012 – While delegates from around the world prepare to meet for the annual United Nations climate talks in Doha next week, Friends of the Earth International expressed strong concerns over the continued lack of progress by developed countries which are supposed to take the lead to stop climate devastation and avoid catastrophic climate change [1].
Investors must stop land grabbing, say civil society groups
LONDON (UK), November 30, 2012 – Major farmland investors such as banks and pension funds must stop facilitating land grabs, say civil society groups [1] on the eve of a global farmland investment conference in London on 3-5 December. [2]
Doha climate talks: Industrialised countries block climate action
DOHA, QATAR, December 8, 2012 – Friends of the Earth International has strongly condemned the governments of industrialised countries for blocking action on the climate crisis at a failed UN climate summit in Qatar.
Social and environmental organizations expose new trade agreements between the EU and Central America, Peru, Colombia
BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), SAN JOSE (COSTA RICA), December 11, 2012 – Today, in response to the European Parliament’s passing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia and Peru, and an Association Agreement with Central America, social and environmental organizations warn in a public statement [1] about the negative impacts of these agreements on the people and the environment [2].
