Press releases
BIOFUEL “WONDER-CROP” JATROPHA FAILS TO DELIVER
BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)/ABUJA (NIGERIA) January 21, 2011 – The much-touted biofuel crop jatropha is neither a profitable nor a sustainable investment, according to a new report released by Friends of the EarthInternational today.
Cancun package merely prevents collapse and leaves kyoto protocol on life support
CANCUN, MEXICO, 11 December 2010 – The agreement adopted at the UN climate talks in Cancun has failed to make progress on the most essential part: steep, binding emissions cuts for developed countries. Friends of the Earth International warns that this agreement provides a platform for abandoning the Kyoto Protocol, replacing it with a weak pledge and review system as a legacy of the Copenhagen Accord, that would lead to a devastating five degree Celsius warming.
governments urged not to rush into redd deal and focus on effective forest conservation
CANCUN, MEXICO, 9 December 2010 – Draft texts on REDD (Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation) currently on the table don’t ensure forest conservation and look at forests only as carbon storage. They do not safeguard the rights of Indigenous People nor do they ensure the protection of natural forests.
World Bank should stay out of carbon markets and climate finance
CANCUN, MEXICO, 8 December 2010 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick is coming to the climate negotiations in Cancun today to announce the establishment of a multi-million dollar fund to promote the creation of carbon markets in developing countries. Friends of the Earth International strongly opposes carbon markets and the perverse role of the World Bank in climate change and carbon trading.
cancun week 2: friends of the earth international analysis
CANCUN, MEXICO, 6 December 2010 - For the second week of UN climate negotiations in Cancún, the biggest challenge is to keep the Kyoto Protocol in place as the mechanism for aggregate science and equity based developed country targets - established without markets or offset loopholes - and to prevent it from being pushed aside by developed countries to make way for a voluntary pledge-based paradigm. Friends of the Earth International demands an open and transparent process in Cancun, with no 'green rooms', to achieve this goal.
nnimmo bassey to receive 'alternative nobel prize'
STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN/CANCUN,MEXICO, December 3, 2010 – This Monday, Friends of the Earth International chair Nnimmo Bassey will be one of the five recipients of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award. This award is often referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'.
the people’s voices: mobilizations in cancun
CANCUN, MEXICO, 4 December 2010 - To make sure the people's voices and demands are heard during the UN climate negotiations currently taking place in Cancun, Friends of the Earth International is engaged in several popular mobilizations.
rich countries must reject any secret text that puts in place process that could kill kyoto
CANCUN, MEXICO, 3 December 2010 – A new, secret text from the Mexica presidency, which would effectively begin replacing the Kyoto Protocol with the Copenhagen Accord, might be on the table this weekend at the climate talks in Cancun. Ministerial level officials are said to arrive early, before the start of the High-Level Segment next week, and may be presented with it this weekend. Friends of the Earth International is concerned by this rumor and urges countries not to accept any such proposals should they be put forward.
Japan threatens progress at climate talks in Cancun
CANCUN, MEXICO December 1, 2010 – Japan’s recent announcement to abandon the Kyoto Protocol is a threat to vital progress needed at the UN climate talks in Cancun, warned Friends of the Earth International.
Forest deals set to harm the environment and reward corporate investors
Cancun, 29 November 2010 - Dangerous forest projects are being established in tropical rainforest countries, in anticipation of agreement on reducing deforestation at the UN climate talks, a new Friends of the Earth International report shows today. The report comes on the first day of the UN climate talks.
Governments urged to turn away from carbon trading at climate talks
November 26, 2010 - Ahead of the United Nations climate talks in Cancún that start on Monday, November 29, Friends of the Earth International calls on governments to reject the role of carbon markets in international climate agreements.
GLOBAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF KEN SARO-WIWA'S MURDER
NOVEMBER 10, 2010 – Today, on the 15th anniversary of the murder of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, remembrance activities are being organized all over the world by Friends of the Earth International and others. They continue his legacy of defending territories, resisting corporate rule and state repression and seeking justice for communities who suffer from the practices of companies like Shell.
EUROPE'S BIOFUELS PLANS DRIVING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, NOVEMBER 8, 2010 - Plans to increase the use of biofuels in Europe over the next ten years will require up to 69 000 square kilometres of new land worldwide and make climate change worse, a new study reveals today [1]. The report finds that an area over twice the size of Belgium will need to be converted into fields and plantations – putting forests, natural ecosystems and poor communities in danger, if European countries do not change their plans for getting petrol and diesel from food crops by 2020.
UN ADVISORY GROUP ON CLIMATE FINANCE REPORT FALLS FLAT
NOVEMBER 5, 2010 - A new report on climate change financing options released today by a U.N. Advisory Group unwisely emphasizes carbon markets and other private finance options, while irresponsibly advocating an increased role for multilateral development banks (MDBs). Despite concluding that public sources of climate finance are available and promising, the report's findings downplay the role that public finance can and must play in helping developing countries deal with climate change.
high level advisory group on climate change must avoid pitfalls
LONDON, November 4, 2010 - Speaking in advance of the anticipated release of the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, tomorrow, convened by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon in the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference last year, Friends of the Earth's Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman said:
Market mechanisms are a false solution to biodiversity loss
NAGOYA, JAPAN, 28 October, 2010 – With only one day of negotiations left at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s summit in Nagoya, Japan, Friends of the Earth International urgently calls on governments to reject false solutions to halt biodiversity loss, such as trading biodiversity credits and other market-based mechanisms.
CLIMATE CHANGE: RICH NATIONS BACKTRACKING
TIANJIN, CHINA, Saturday, October 9, 2010 -- With talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change set to close here today, members of Friends of the Earth International said they were disappointed by the lack of progress, particularly rich countries’ threats to abandon their existing legal commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
Climate Talks : Developed Countries Must Stop Stalling
WASHINGTON DC (US) / TIANJIN (CHINA), October 1st, 2010 – On the eve of a new round of UN climate talks due to start on Monday in China, Friends of the Earth International called on developed countries to stop stalling on deep emission cuts and to collaborate with developing nations to produce a strong, just climate agreement.
'Alternative Nobel Prize' Awarded to FoEI Chair Nnimmo Bassey
STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) / LAGOS (NIGERIA), September 30, 2010 – Friends of the Earth International, the world's largest federation of grassroots environmental organisations, is proud to announce that its chair, Nnimmo Bassey from Nigeria [1], will be a recipient of the 2010 'Right Livelihood Award'. [2]
HEADS OF STATE MUST TAKE FIRM STEPS TO HALT BIODIVERSITY LOSS
NEW YORK, USA, September 22, 2010 – Heads of State discussing ways to save biodiversity today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York must commit to taking firm and immediate steps to halt the alarming biodiversity loss worldwide, said Friends of the Earth International.
