what happened

Friends of the Earth’s long-term goal is to halt the expansion of the palm oil industry in the region. In 2009 Friends of the Earth Australia initiated a project designed to develop a new national campaign in Australia, and develop a common understanding and shared regional campaign activities with other Friends of the Earth groups in Indonesia (Friends of the Earth Indonesia/WALHI), Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia/Sahabat Alam Malaysia), and Papua New Guinea (Friends of the Earth Papua New Guinea/CELCOR). 

FoE Australia hired project coordinators who initiated research and travelled to affected areas both within Australia and Indonesia, to get a better understanding of the real world impacts of agrofuels production, to strengthen links with regional campaigners, and to map future activities. Communications by telephone and skype were supplemented with face-to-face meetings in Jakarta (February 2009), Bangladesh (May 2009), and Bali, Indonesia (May 2010).

In Australia, campaigners participated in multiple public meetings, and ongoing government roundtable and lobby meetings. They also produced a range of communications materials to assist partnership development and education with both national and regional NGOs.

FoE Australia succeeded in developing a clear and targeted national agrofuels campaign strategy, and built and strengthened relationships with Australian networks working on palm oil, deforestation issues and agrofuels.

what changed

Although this campaign is only in its infancy, there have already been some key successes. In particular, FoE Australia and partner groups in Australia focused on halting the use of palm oil products in food manufacturing in Australia. In 2009 this resulted in several major food manufacturers agreeing to remove palm oil from food production. These included Cadburys (chocolate), KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Woolworths (Australia's biggest retailer).

The campaign is supporting the work of a National Government Senator to develop a Bill to introduce national legislation introducing mandatory labelling for all food products containing palm oil in Australia.

what was learned

Friends of the Earth Australia found that China, and to some degree India, are the main recipients of palm oil from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Previously it had been thought that the EU was the main importer. This knowledge will be extremely important in terms of developing and targeting agrofuels campaigning in the region.

The project has enabled FoE Australia to establish a core project volunteer team but securing further funding will be essential: some important collaborative activities were missed in 2009 because funding was not available. Yet fundraising is difficult in Australia, because the campaign is new, and many potential donors still believe ‘biofuels’ are a clean green energy source.

In addition, agrofuels is a complex area that touches on many different campaigns, including deforestation, food sovereignty, human rights and climate change. This can be a challenge when it comes to developing and structuring a campaign that links into and meets the needs of different campaigns in different countries.

what next? 

FoE Australia will be seek to secure additional campaign funding to maintain paid staff throughout the life cycle of the developed campaign plan. It will also develop a joint position paper for APac members to discuss and develop. Work is also continuing on developing a common regional campaign target. 

Research into Malaysia’s pivotal investment and China’s impact within the region will also continue, although it is difficult to access verifiable research data from Chinese government agencies or academic institutions. Research will also focus on the use of plantations within offsetting programmes as companies seek to ramp up their profits with the onset of carbon reduction market-based mechanisms, such as carbon trading schemes. 

Education activities will focus on both business and decision makers, and will challenge the common misconception that agrofuels are carbon neutral and a green solution to mitigate climate change. 

with thanks to our funders: the sigrid rausing trust

• In January 2009, FoE Indonesia sent a complaint to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, following the Australian government’s failure to fulfil a promise to respond directly to Indonesian organizations challenging the activities of Australian mining companies. FoE Indonesia has compiled a dossier detailing the involvement of numerous Australian mining companies in environmental destruction and human rights violations.

• In February 2009, communities in Guatemala asked the legislature and the Ministry of Energy and Mines to issue a moratorium on mining licenses of all types, until reforms to the Mining Act are agreed with them. Social organizations in the affected municipalities claim that current amendments to the document do not provide for community interests. 

• Also in February, and after years of being marginalized in relation to decisions about their ancestral lands, the Subanon people on Mindanao island came another step closer to asserting control over their territory. Their lands are currently being exploited by TVI Resource Development Phils (TVIRDI), a subsidiary of Canadian mining company TVI Pacific. Around 20 Subanon Indigenous People and farmers living within the TVIRDI mining area in Mount Canatuan, the Subanon tribe’s sacred site, halted blasting and drilling activities at the Canadian company’s open-pit mining operation, after a successful occupation of the site. 

• In March 2009, the Ghana National Coalition on Mining, a group of communities affected by mining in Ghana and civil society organizations including FoE Ghana, opposed the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency, which had granted environmental permits to Newmont Ghana Gold Limited and Adamus Resources to conduct surface gold mining activities. 

• In September 2009, FoE Hungary published their first annual alternative report on the Hungarian Oil Company (MOL). The report held a mirror up to the company’s annual report and assessed the company’s activities in 2008. After examining company data, the authors gave examples showing that the company’s practices do not actually match up to its rhetoric. 

• Also in September, FoE Costa Rica, together with and as part of Costa Rica’s popular movement, participated in a visit to mining company Crucitas, organized by the Supreme Court of Costa Rica, which had suspended Crucitas’s mining permit. There is a risk that the Supreme Court will favor the mining company, in which case FoE Costa Rica plans more mobilizations across the country, to stop this mining company restarting its activities.

• Again in September, FoE Guatemala organized an international mission to verify violations of human, environmental and economic rights by mining transnational corporations operating in Guatemala, such as GoldCorp. The aim of the mission was to ensure that the voices of victims, who are criminalized in Guatemala, can be heard at the international level. Participants included FoE Uruguay, FoE El Salvador, and FoE Costa Rica, together with people from Amnesty International and others. 

Building strong networks and alliances against the mining and extractive industries is also a priority for the RMOG Program. For example, a new network in Colombia, the Colombian Network Against Mining, has been established to challenge transnational corporations operating in Colombia with the support of the Colombian government. One of the first acts of this network was to support the demands of workers and the population struggling against British Petroleum in Tauramena, Colombia.

Many other critical activities were also undertaken by the Federation in 2009. For example:

• In Nigeria, the Second National Consultation on the Environment, 25 - 26 November 2009, saw civil society leaders, community-based organizations, civil society organizations, development experts, academia, legal practitioners, the media and representatives of government agencies come together to consider a post-petroleum Nigeria. The event was organized by FoE Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

• FoE Philippines and Alyansa Tigil Mina co-hosted a discussion on "Tracing the Gold, Tracing the Money," in Cagayan de Oro City on 29 June. The event was designed to give participants the knowledge and skills they need to find out how mining companies finance their activities and where they sell their products. This kind of research often reveals excellent intervention points for advocates wanting to stop mining operations in their localities.

• A new report from FoE Netherlands, "Mining Matters," which was published in June 2009, reviewed practices used in mining tin (in Indonesia, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burma), bauxite (Guinea and Jamaica), and copper (Chile, Peru, Zambia and Indonesia (Grasberg)). It also examined the policies of seven companies using imported metals in the Netherlands.

• Security forces arrested the director of FoE Indonesia and the Head of FoE Indonesia's Regional Department during a peaceful protest organized by FoE Indonesia and other NGOs together with fisherfolk organizations. The groups organized an event parallel to the World Ocean Conference (WOC) and Coal Triangle Summit 2009 which was held in Manado, Indonesia, 11-14 May. The peoples’ gathering was to draw the attention of WOC to small fisherfolks’ concerns – especially their call to ban the dumping of tailing minings into the sea - and to demand that these concerns be put on the WOC’s agenda.

• In 2009 Young FoE Norway’s priority campaign was against oil drilling off the beautiful Lofoten Islands, home to the world’s largest stock of cod and biggest cold water coral reef. They started several local groups in a network called "O`olkaction against oil drilling outside the Lofoten Islands." They also took a group of representatives from political youth parties out to the Lofoten Islands for one week, to highlight the fact that there are other possibilities besides drilling for oil in Northern Norway. 

• FoE France has published a synthesis report "Public subsidies to fossil fuels in France and the European Union," which reveals that the wealthy oil industry benefited from French subsidies of over €400 million between 2004 and 2008, mainly in the form of export guarantees. FoE’s research also shows that €6 billion of European money has been given to the fossil fuel industry over the past five years. 

The main areas of work of the program are:

• Community Resistance
• Campaign Against Corporations
• Policies and Mechanisms that Promote Mining, Oil and Gas
• Decreasing Consumption to Stop Demand for Mining, Oil and Gas

coordinators and participants

Co-coordinator: Natalia Atz Sunuc, FoE Guatemala
Co-coordinator: Romel Cardenas de Vera, FoE Philippines

The RMOG steering group includes:

• For Africa, Chima Williams, FoE Nigeria
• For APac, Natalie Lowrey, Australia
• For ATALC, Andres Idarraga, Colombia
• For Europe, Geert Ritsema, Netherlands
• For North America, Adina Matisoff, FoE USA

This is a new FoEI program and the co-coordinators and steering group are still in the processing of developing and implementing a fully-fledged strategy and workplan. Groups that have expressed an interest in participating include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curacao, El Salvador, FoE Europe, EWNI, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Togo and the US.

In 2009, FoEI’s advocacy efforts in the area of economic justice contributed to several positive developments in the EU, the OECD, the UN and a number of countries, regarding corporate practices that threaten the environment, human rights, and people's livelihoods. They have variously helped to influence policies and policy dialogue, and to strengthen civil society.

For example, through the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), which FoEI is a very active member of, the EJRN Program has developed legal proposals for corporate accountability and to improve OECD guidelines. The OECD now plans to revise its guidelines for multinational companies in order to improve them.

The EJRN Program has also been successful in its efforts to persuade the EU to improve its policies and practices with respect to human rights, international trade, and corporate regulation. The EU has finally started research into improving protections for developing country citizens, against the negative impacts of EU-based business.
  
EJRN also developed proposals for the EU and G-20 to regulate both EU lobbying and the financial sector. This included a campaign for the implementation of an EU lobby registry, which has now been implemented, although it only calls for voluntary registration. FoE is now pushing for this registry to be made mandatory, and together with ALTER EU has published research on current low levels of participation in the register and insufficient data quality ("The Commission's Lobby Register One Year On: Success or Failure?").

Friends of the Earth also filed a complaint with the European Commission arguing that the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), the main lobby group of the chemical industry in Brussels, had falsified its lobby expenditure report. The European Commission agreed with our conclusions and deemed CEFIC's lobby registration inaccurate and in breach of the code of conduct. The Commission temporarily suspended CEFIC and asked it to correct its stated lobby budget.

FoE also won a case with the European Ombudsman, challenging a case of conflict of interest, concerning EU officials that accepted gifts from companies that they were supervising. The EU is now preparing new rules concerning EU officials and conflicts of interest.  

A successful multilingual, easy-to-use cyberaction also saw 381 parliamentary candidates, including 75 MEPs-elect from 16 countries, signing pledges on lobby transparency and ethics, trade policy, financial market rules and corporate accountability.

As part of its ‘Global Europe’ campaign, the EJRN Program continued to support and strengthen civil society organizations representing Indigenous communities and local communities impacted by these policies. In 2009, this included calling for the suspension of the EU-Peru trade negotiations particularly over concerns about human rights violations. FoE also supported a delegation of representatives of Indigenous Peoples from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, who toured European capitals to publicize the impacts of mining and biofuels. Although the EU-Peru negotiations have not yet been suspended, this collaborative campaign has so far resulted in a commitment from the European Commission that the negotiated Associated Agreement with Peru will not contain any provision which would be detrimental to the rights of indigenous people; and will contain proposals that guarantee that trade and economic development respect the environment, as well as a binding human rights clause.  

A focused effort to persuade Shell in particular to improve its business practices continues to be a priority for the EJRN Program. This has included support to FoE Nigeria in its campaign to expose the harmful nature of gas flaring. Shell's Utorogu Gas Plant and Chevron’s Escravos Gas Plant are the main sources of gas that feed the West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAGP) financed by the World Bank and its private sector insurance arm, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). FoE Nigeria's research and consultation with local communities revealed the harmful health impacts of processing a local cassava snack which is dried directly from the heat emitted from the flared gas. As a result, local residents raised the issue with the government and the campaign contributed to the decision by the Foreign Minister to publicly commit to enforcing the ban on gas flaring as of January 2010. FoE Nigeria has also prepared a lawsuit against ENI, an Italian gas company, for gas flaring.  

Efforts in Nigeria have been complemented by campaigning at the international level. FoEI collaborated with several organizations to publish "Shell's Big Dirty Secret," which documents Shell's continued investment in the dirtiest forms of energy and its position as the world's most carbon intensive oil company. An OECD complaint filed by FoE Netherlands resulted in a commitment by Shell to improve its oil depot in the Philippines and its communication with surrounding communities, but Shell refused to engage on the most crucial element of the case, relocation of an oil depot.

On 3 December the Netherlands-based court case against Shell got under way in The Hague. The case has been brought by three Nigerian communities and FoE Netherlands/Miluedefensie over oil pollution in Nigeria. Shell asked the court to rule that the Dutch court has no jurisdiction over Shell Nigeria, but on 30 December the court held that the Dutch court does have jurisdiction. Given that Shell has now lost this point, an important hurdle has been overcome, and the 'real' lawsuit can begin. This is the first time in history that a Dutch company has been brought to trial in a Dutch court for damages occurring abroad.

In the US, the ShellGuilty campaign launched by FoEI, Oil Change and Platform London, finally saw justice done when Shell was forced to pay US$15.5 million in an out-of-court settlement for its complicity in the 1995 murder of nine Nigerian activists who opposed its gas flaring, under the US Alien Tort Statute.

Among the many national campaigns that fall under the umbrella of the EJRN Program, FoE Uganda's efforts to stop or improve the Bujagali dam has been very effective. Bujagali Electricity Limited (BEL) and the Ugandan government have revized their compensation policies and procedures for communities affected by the construction of a dam on the River Nile that is financed by World Bank and the African Development Bank. Bujagali Electricity Limited is now providing water tanks to communities affected by the dam and those affected by the transmission line have been promised electricity to their homes. FoE Uganda has also succeeded in submitting a legal case against Lafarge group (a mining company) for illegal mining operations in Queen Elizabeth National Park, a 1,978 square kilometer protected area.

Friends of the Earth has also succeeded in getting the world’s largest steel company, Arcelor-Mittal to make some improvements to its operations in India, South Africa, and Liberia. In collaboration with several other organizations including Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance, Karaganda Ecological Museum in Kazakhstan and the Sustainable Development Institute in Liberia, we published a report on the company's operations operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Liberia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Romania and the Czech Republic. The report, "Arcelor-Mittal: Going nowhere slowly - A review of the global steel giant's environmental and social impacts in 2008-2009," looks at the company's current practices and makes concrete recommendations to management, shareholders, International Financial Institutions and local and national authorities. FoEI also participated in shareholder meetings of ArcelorMittal and a community meeting with the board; and sent a fact finding mission to Liberia, with seven national and European media representatives, to investigate the company’s environmental, social and human rights impacts.

In 2009, the UN adopted the Ruggie Framework for Business and Human Rights, in response to pressure to improve its oversight of corporate behavior, from civil society groups including Friends of the Earth International. In a Joint NGO statement, a group of NGOs including FoEI congratulated the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, whilst agreeing with him that the “international community is still in the early stages of adapting the human rights regime to provide more effective protection to individuals and communities against corporate-related human rights harms.” The Human Rights Council must now broaden the focus beyond the elaboration of the ‘protect, respect, and remedy’ framework, to include an explicit capacity to examine situations of corporate abuse.

The EJRN Program was also very successful in strengthening the impact of hundreds of community individuals and activists across the world, including through:

• Friends of the Earth's Third Annual Latin American Sustainability School, which trained 40 activists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,  Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.   

• The Asia Pacific Workshop on Economic Justice and Strategic Planning for Campaigns, which trained 25 activists from Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste. 

• Community exchanges between communities in Central America affected by climate change (120 individuals attended), between communities throughout Latin America affected by agribusiness (150 individuals), and between communities in Africa affected by Arcelor-Mittal's mining operations. 

• Supporting FoEI representatives to attend EU conferences on corporate social responsibility, transparency with respect to lobbying, and meetings with members of the European Parliament. This included a delegation of FoEI representatives from Central American to the European Parliament, to testify to the behavior of European companies in Latin America.

• On-going technical assistance for civil society organizations in the South campaigning against harmful corporate practices. This assistance has facilitated joint North-South work on many European companies including Stora Enso, Shell, Arcelor Mittal, Monsanto, ENI, and Wilmar. 

Many other publications and other communications materials have been published including:

• "Global Europe: The tyranny of ‘free trade’ the European Way," which examined the negative consequences of Europe's shift away from a social-liberal foreign policy discourse to an approach that puts economic motivations front and center.  

• "Poison Fire," a video documentary exposing oil and gas abuses in Nigeria and featuring FoE Nigeria volunteers.

• "Would you Bank on Them?" a report on the biased composition of La Rosiere group, that advised the EU on policies to address the financial crisis, which was published in collaboration with SpinWatch, Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control. 

• "A Captive Commission, the role of the financial industry in shaping EU regulation," a report on the biased composition of EU advisory groups in the financial sector. The findings of the report formed the substance of a FoE complaint to the EU Ombudsman. 

• "Public money for fossil fuels in the EU and in three EU member states," by Friends of the Earth, Oil Change International and PLATFORM.

• In the US, a written presentation was submitted to the Obama Administration committee reviewing Investor Protection Agreements, at the beginning of 2009.

• In addition, research and preparation of the upcoming publication "Calling the EU’s Bluff: Who are the real champions of biodiversity and traditional knowledge in the EU-Central American and EU-Community of Andean Nations Association Agreements?" was completed.

The EJRN Program working areas are:

• Global Europe. The objective is to expose the negative impacts and the corporate bias of the European Union’s ‘Global Europe’ agenda, and to counter trade and investment agreements that are likely to harm men and women and the environment. The ATALC region is very much involved in the Global Europe campaign, as is Friends of the Earth Europe, which has called on the EU to suspend trade negotiations with Peru and Honduras, especially after the killings of Indigenous People in Peru, and the military coup in Honduras. These violent events are indicative of the harmful effects that the EU’s Global Europe agenda can have on indigenous and local communities.

• Corporate Power: The objective is to expose and counter corporate crimes and their social, environmental and human rights impacts, specifically on women and men’s productive and reproductive activities. This campaign also aims to counter corporate influence over governments and institutions including international financial institutions, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In particular, it seeks to develop and advocate for legal measures that give rights to women, men and communities, to protect themselves against corporate power. 

The EJRN Program is very much engaged in collaborative work with the other FoEI Programs. Cross-cutting areas, include the following:

• With the Forests and Biodiversity Program, EJRN is driving the Campaign against Plantations, currently focused on ATALC and some FoE Europe groups, and soon to include the African and APac regions. EJRN’s contribution is to contribute to the Plantations campaign by exposing and countering the role of relevant corporations, trade and investments; and to foster activities that enable communities to resist. 

• With the Resisting Mining Program, the EJRN is supporting concrete campaigns to stop the mining activities of certain companies such as Shell, Holcim and Arcelor Mittal.

• With the Climate Justice and Energy Program, EJRN is focusing on Climate and Finance, particularly building a common position at the federation level, including on carbon markets and the Clean Development Mechanism. EJRN is also involved in efforts to build the Movement of Victims and People Affected by Climate Change in Latin America (MOVIAC); and exposing and rejecting World Bank involvement in climate change, including through policies and programs to promote Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) and its Climate Investment Funds (CIFs).

• With the Food Sovereignty Program, EJRN is working to create a joint campaign against agribusiness companies worldwide. 

• Similarly, the EJRN Programme is contributing to the Agrofuels Campaign by exposing and countering the role of corporations, trade and investments.

Coordinators and participants

Co-coordinator: Sebastián Valdomir, FoE Uruguay, sebastian@redes.org.uy 

Co-coordinator: Anne van Schaik, FoE Netherlands, anne.van.schaik@milieudefensie.nl (until Sept 2009)
Corporates Campaign Coordinator: Paul de Clerck, FoE Netherlands, paul@milieudefensie.nl

The EJRN Steering Group includes:

• For ATALC: Grace García (FoE Costa Rica), Mario Godínez (FoE Guatemala) as alternate; 
• For Africa: Bobby Peek (FoE South Africa); 
• For Europe: Asad Rehman (FoE EWNI), Charly Poppe (FoE Europe) as alternate; 
• For the US: Karen Orenstein (FoE US); 
• For Asia Pacific: Hemantha Withanage (FoE Sri Lanka)

Groups that participated actively in the EJRN Program during 2009 included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, EWNI, FoE Europe, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, México, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leona, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uruguay and the United States.

Photo: FoEI's Angry Mermaid Award targeted the worst corporate lobbyists around climate change in Copenhagen, December 2009. Naomi Klein and FoEI's Nnimmo Bassey helped to deliver the award at the ceremony.

An excellent example of our work to empower communities is the Movement of Victims Affected by Climate Change in Central America (MOVIAC) initiative, which continued in 2009. As part of this, more than a hundred representatives of Central American movements, organizations and networks, met in June, in El Salvador. MOVIAC is an invaluable and inspirational component of the Affected Peoples Campaign. Many other FoEI member groups are now inspired to create similar national and regional grassroots movements with affected communities.

FoEI’s work with affected communities also included the Climate School: Building and Mobilizing Climate Justice, which took place on 24 March 2009, in Medellin, Colombia, within the framework of the actions against the Inter-American Development Bank’s 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting, also in Medellin. In addition, a series of community exchanges between communities in Central America has enabled 120 individuals to live in and exchange experiences with other communities challenged by climate change.

FoEI has also focused on developing and deepening key alliances, in order to contribute to building a diverse, effective and global movement for climate justice and energy sovereignty. For the CJE Program this has involved working closely with key social movements such as La Via Campesina and the World March of Women, throughout the year. In particular, we agreed to cohost a joint assembly at Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen, to advance the design of a political agenda that would allow us to move forward in mobilizing and organizing the defence of land. Additionally, we enhanced our cooperation with other coalitions and strategic alliances including Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, Jubilee South, the Global Forest Coalition, Jubilee South, the Durban Group, REDLAR and others.

Key moments in the evolution of these alliances in 2009 included:

• An event, "Talks between Environmentalists and Indigenous Peoples," at the World Social Forum, 31 January 2009, Belem do Para, Brazil. Organized by FoEI and the Global Forest Coalition, these strategic talks between Indigenous Peoples and environmentalists, with over 100 participants, allowed us to advance in the establishment of political agreements and strategic actions to build climate justice and to fight against the exploitation of nature.

• "Environmentalists and Indigenous Peoples united for Climate Justice," at the Foro Andino, in Colombia, 18-19 March 2009. Organized by Friends of the Earth, this event also strengthened the developing relationship between environmentalists and Indigenous Peoples from the Andean region including the U`wa, Wayuú, Nasa, Misak, Quichua and Aymara. The focus of the meeting was the impact of climate change on Indigenous Peoples’ lands and the need to move forward with a shared strategy and joint actions for climate justice.

• The 5th REDLAR Mesoamerican Conference, Boquete, Panama, 22-25 April 2009. FoE was able to promote the idea of combining Energy Sovereignty, Climate Justice and buen vivir  (literally ‘good living’) to the 264 representatives from Mesoamerica and other areas of the continent. This latter concept is central to the social movement and Indigenous Peoples in America, and is referred to as Abya Yala.

• 1st Continental Summit of Indigenous Women of Abya Yala and the 4th Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala, in Puno, Peru, 27-31 May 2009. Together with over 5,000 attendees, Friends of the Earth participated in talks, workshops and meetings at both summits. This was an excellent opportunity to contribute to the establishment of the concept of buen vivir and to strengthen ties and move forward with strategies for climate justice.

• Friends of the Earth also participated in the Asia Pacific Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice organizing meeting, to contribute to preparations for the week of civil society activities that took place in parallel to the Bangkok UNFCCC intersessional meeting, 28 September to 9 October 2009.

• At the 1st International Climate Justice Tribunal, Cochabamba, Bolivia, 14-16 October 2009, FoEI presented a case about sugarcane cutters in South-western Colombia to the tribunal, contributing to the debate on environmental crimes, the climate and environmental debt. This case was the direct result of an international mission for the verification of agrofuels in Colombia, which FoEI organized in July 2009, with the participation of more than 40 international delegates. The mission visited five regions in Colombia which have been severely impacted by the expansion of sugar cane and palm oil to produce agrofuels.

• The months preceding COP-15 in Copenhagen involved extensive and improved collaboration with social movements - especially Via Campesina and the World March of Women - and other civil society organizations, around plans for Copenhagen, including the joint Klimaforum events, mobilizations and media work. FoEI also participated in Climate Justice Action preparations, and organized and participated in a Climate Justice Now! strategy meeting in Bangkok in October.

In 2009 FoEI's campaigning on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations involved the production and distribution of a substantial number of policy proposals and analyses in the run-up to COP-15 in Copenhagen. A new and rapidly developing focus in this respect is climate finance, a cross-cutting campaign being run with FoEI’s Economic Justice Resisting Neoliberalism (EJRN) program. We developed a robust position paper in collaboration with campaigners from the EJRN campaign, which formed the foundation for much of our campaigning before and during Copenhagen. FoEI also began to contribute to the climate finance debate within the climate justice movement. Nearly 10,000 copies of our climate finance materials, "Financing Climate Justice: Ensuring a Just Agreement on Climate Change," and "Financing Climate Justice: Summary of Demands and Ethical Criteria Matrix" were distributed in Copenhagen, in English, French and Spanish. FoEI’s ethical criteria matrix provides governments with a set of criteria for judging climate financing mechanisms proposed during negotiations.

Thousands of copies of our 2008 publication "REDD Myths: a critical review of proposed mechanisms to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries" were also re-printed and distributed in Copenhagen, as was "Voices from communities affected by climate change." In addition, 5,000 copies of the popular FoEI newspaper, "Climate Justice Times," were also distributed.  

The joint efforts of FoEI and key allies has helped to ensure that a number of governments, such as Bolivia, have officially voiced their concerns about the potential negative impacts of UNFCCC, World Bank and national policies to finance Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), especially if REDD is used to support plantations and is funded through carbon markets. As a result of lobbying by FoEI and allies, the UNFCCC’s REDD draft reflected these concerns. A key element in this effort was a side event on the potential impacts of REDD on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and biodiversity and the risks of GE trees, on 3 June, parallel to the meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies to the UNFCCC in Bonn. This was co-organized with the Global Forest Coalition and the International Alliance on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forest. Many FoEI member groups have also been informed and thus enabled to participate in national REDD policy discussions currently underway.

During the year we also produced a video trilogy, "Towards Solutions on Sustainable Energy Practices". In addition, we distributed and publicized a Friends of the Earth Europe Study entitled "The 40% Study: Mobilizing Europe to Achieve Climate Justice," which shows that domestic emissions cuts of at least 40% in Europe by 2020 are both feasible and affordable.

This research, combined with our advocacy activities, also allowed us to be particularly effective in persuading governments in many countries in the global North to introduce binding climate change laws that will help to reduce those countries’ carbon emissions. This was especially the case in Europe where FoE has focused on its Big Ask campaign: France, Scotland and the UK passed climate change laws setting emissions reductions targets, and it seems likely that similar laws will soon be passed in a number of other European countries including Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland and Slovenia.

Other member groups have also been very active on climate change. In March 2009, for example, FoE Japan organized an international workshop on climate change impacts and solutions faced by developing countries, with presentations from the Japanese government, the World Bank and several international organizations. FoEI’s involvement focused on showing how climate change and its false solutions are a result of the current neoliberal production and consumption model.

Although Copenhagen was an abject failure, it was a key moment in the intergovernmental debate on mitigating and adapting to climate change, because of the urgent need to agree and develop a successor to the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol before it expires in 2012. FoEI took a team of 400 activists to Copenhagen: some of them were engaged in lobbying and advocacy work within the Bella Center, whilst others were focused on the daily mobilizations and alternative events, including the Klimaforum, which were so important to ensuring governments heard the critical voices of civil society.

From the talks in the Klimaforum, demonstrations on the streets, and actions in the conference centre, the message was loud and clear: any climate agreement must be based on climate justice. This was an important development: before Copenhagen the term ‘climate justice’ was much discussed in civil society meetings but more-or-less unknown elsewhere. During Copenhagen on the other hand, it began appearing frequently in the mainstream media.

We promoted the development of many actions/spaces for campaigning and mobilizing during COP-15 and Klimaforum09. This included FoE Europe’s work developing the Flood for Climate Justice, an extremely successful demonstration which more than 5,000 people from many countries participated in. The event also involved mock carbon traders trying to sell carbon offsets to protestors, and a fake carbon stock exchange. It ended in front of the Danish Parliament with the creation of a massive human banner reading “Offsetting is a false solution.”

FoEI also drew public attention to our positions and alternatives for sustainable livelihoods through both traditional and new creative media activities and actions. During Copenhagen, we posted 37 blog entries and 9 videos on FoEI's You Tube channel, and 300 high-quality images on Flickr. Prior to Copenhagen, we created a website to feature the Angry Mermaid Award which included an animation story on the effect of corporate neglect of climate change on communities in the South: the website had 23,851 views. In Copenhagen's Klimaforum09, we presented an interactive Climate Capsule installation with videos, photos and drawings from around the world. We also conducted outreach on climate change during the international tour of the rock band Radiohead, and produced the graphic novel "Speechless" about the history of economic globalization.

A further key objective for the CJE program is to stop World Bank pollution of the climate debate. During 2009 we continued to monitor and conduct advocacy around the World Bank’s framework on clean energy investment and the emission-trading schemes promoted by IFIs. In September we organized a public forum on climate debt alongside the Intersessional Meeting on Climate Change in Bangkok, and a public forum on climate change and financing. FoEI was co-organizer of an international meeting on Financing Strategy and Climate, along with other networks and organizations including Jubilee South, Focus on the Global South, and Oilwatch. FoEI also supported the production of the FoEI Asia Pacific (APac) region’s first climate publication, "Climate Impacts of the ADB's Business: How the Asian Development Bank Finances Climate Change."

FoE also participated in the civil society campaign to stop governments subsidizing the climate-wrecking fossil fuels industry. In April 2009, we published Public Money for Fossil Fuels in the EU and three EU Member States, to identify the many sources of public investments in harmful industries. In 2009, both the G-20 and the UN made agreements to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, which will have a positive impact on policies regarding renewable energy.

Some FoE groups are also focusing on private finance and its role in driving climate change. FoE Netherlands, for example, has conducted research into systems for measuring carbon footprints, which was presented during a Banktrack meeting for private banks in Washington. The Climate Working Group of banks involved in the Equator Principles is now organizing workshops to develop and implement such a methodology. The outcome of our activities is that among these banks the question is not 'whether' or 'why' they should measure carbon footprints, but 'how'. FoE Netherlands has also convinced private banks in the Netherlands to commit to improving their energy-related investment policies.

The Climate Justice & Energy Program working areas are:

• Energy sovereignty
• Climate and finance / Carbon and forest markets
• UNFCCC (including REDD), and
• Stopping World Bank pollution of the climate debate.

Cross campaign areas include:

• With the Forests and Biodiversity Program - the REDD campaign
• With the Forests and Biodiversity Program, the Food Sovereignty Program, and the EJRN Program - Agrofuels
• With the EJRN program - Financing and Climate, particularly building a common position at the federation level, including on carbon markets and the Clean Development Mechanism

Coordinators and participants

In 2009, the co-coordinators of the Climate Justice & Energy (CJE) Program were:

• Hildebrando Vélez and Irene Vélez, FoE Colombia
• Joseph Zacune, FoE EWNI
• Stephanie Long, FoE Australia
  

 The CJE Steering Group included:

• For ATALC: Eduardo Giesen, FoE Chile,
• For Europe: Sonja Meister, FoE Europe,
• For Africa: Michael Keania Karikpo, FoE Nigeria
• For North America: Karen Orenstein, FoE US

Groups that participated actively in the CJE Program in 2009 included: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belgium (Flanders and Brussels), Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, England, Wales & N Ireland, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay and the US.

Communities on the outer islands and in the highlands are most vulnerable. In low-lying areas, for example, king tides and cyclones are making people’s lives impossible: the Carteret Islanders are the world’s first community to be relocated because of climate change. Yet these communities have little engagement in or impact on the debates and decision-making processes on climate change, even though they are the worst affected.

As a country, Papua New Guinea contributes to global warming, mainly through deforestation caused by logging and palm oil expansion, as it produces materials and goods for consumption in rich, industrialized countries. The country has the third largest tropical rain forest in the world (after the Amazon and Congo forests), and it is vital that destruction of this vital ‘carbon sink’ stops. Papua New Guinea is leading a coalition of rainforest nations who argue that they could reduce their deforestation rates if compensated by richer countries for doing so.

Friends of the Earth Papua New Guinea / CELCOR and other NGOs have serious concerns about whether Papua New Guinea’s government is really ready to take up this challenge, especially in light of the prevailing culture of corruption. With no proper regulations in place, there is a risk that increasing the value of forests, or engaging in carbon markets, could have significant negative impacts.

what happened?

FoE Papua New Guinea carried out campaigning, advocacy and public awareness work on climate change.

They held workshops in New Ireland and Bougainville, to raise community leaders’ awareness of climate change and the operations of international financial institutions. Both workshops involved ‘community legal education’ - empowering participants with knowledge about relevant laws and how they could use them to protect their natural resources.

Other public awareness work included appearances on radio talk shows on NBC Karai Radio, and the production of three brochures on palm oil and climate change.

FoE Papua New Guinea filmed interviews with the Carteret Islanders, and took pictures of king tides and cyclones in Papua New Guinea, material that can be used in international campaigns to illustrate the effects of climate change. They also recorded testimonies of women talking about the effects of oil palm plantations on their livelihoods.

FoE Papua New Guinea also collaborated with other NGOs in PNG and internationally to share information and address concerns about their government’s approach to carbon financing mechanisms.

They held a workshop on climate change for NGOs and community based organizations, in collaboration with FoE Australia, PNG Eco Forestry Forum and the University of Papua New Guinea's Marine and Coastal Research Unit. There were presentations and discussions on topics including climate change variability, adaptation, mitigation, and proposed and existing carbon financing approaches, including Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and the Clean Development Mechanism. An Action Plan was agreed, which all participants are committed to delivering.

The workshop ended with a press conference for print and television media, at which it became apparent that the journalists had a low level of understanding of climate change and the current debates between NGOs, government and other parties. The participants therefore held a short briefing session to help the journalists report on the issues.

FoE Papua New Guinea worked with other NGO partners to develop a position paper on carbon financing in PNG. An NGO statement was developed and published in a national newspaper to raise awareness of the deals the government is embarking on, particularly in relation to REDD. The statement covers issues concerning prior informed consent, equity sharing, illegal logging, good governance, monitoring sustainability, land ownership, monocultures and corruption.

They also monitored a World Bank loan for expansion of oil palm plantations in the country.

what changed?

The Climate Change Workshop enabled FoE Papua New Guinea to build capacity of NGOs and community based organizations on climate issues, and to establish a network of well-informed partners. This new network, which also includes government agencies, trade unions, faith-based organizations and private sector representatives, is linking communities in Papua New Guinea with the outside world.

The workshops in New Ireland and Bougainville energized and motivated communities to take action to stop oil palm development. Community members who attended the workshop in New Ireland have formed a Climate Change Committee, to fight threats such as carbon trading, which they fear will mean more plantations.

Young people from the Carteret Islands are now vocal and passionate about climate change and willing to take action to make a difference in their society.

lessons learned

Media misreporting of the Climate Change workshop meant that the NGOs’ position was misrepresented, leading to unnecessary debates with the government. This has underlined the importance of raising journalists’ awareness of climate change issues.

The greatest need is to educate the general public on carbon trade issues, to prevent people rushing into carbon trading activities before they have understood the potential negative impacts. This means that information has to be presented in an easily understandable form; FoE Papua New Guinea is therefore planning to produce flyers and clear and concise brochures.

what next?

Production of awareness materials and promotional items is ongoing. There is a strong demand for more community legal education workshops, and for capacity building work in areas targeted for oil palm development.

FoE Papua New Guinea envisages filing an Inspection Panel Claim in respect of the World Bank loan for oil palm plantations.

Major campaign strategies will be implemented in 2009 in collaboration with network partners.

climate justice and energy

Our Climate Justice and Energy (CJE) Program’s overall objective is to build a diverse, effective and global movement for climate justice. In 2009, FoEI continued our close collaboration with key social movements, especially La Via Campesina, and the World March of Women, and the new Movement of Victims Affected by Climate Change in Central America (MOVIAC). New links with indigenous networks and movements were also fostered at key events during the year, and FoEI collaborated with many other networks including Climate Justice Now!, Asia Pacific Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice, and Climate Justice Action.

The CJE Program’s goal is to ensure that rich industrialized Annex I countries had committed to needed emissions reductions, and to financing and transferring technology to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. We published a substantial number of policy proposals and analyses in the run-up to the COP-15 UNFCCC in Copenhagen, in December 2009. This included an ethical climate finance criteria matrix, which provided governments with a set of criteria for judging climate financing mechanisms proposed during negotiations.

FoEI took a team of 400 activists to Copenhagen, who variously engaged in lobbying and advocacy work, and organizing and participating in alternative events and daily mobilizations, including our hugely successful Flood for Climate Justice mobilization. The joint efforts of FoEI and key allies helped to ensure that a number of governments, including Bolivia, officially voiced their concerns about the potential negative impacts of UNFCCC, World Bank and national policies to finance Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).

Although the results of the Copenhagen summit were extremely disappointing, many FoEI member groups in the global North have been very effective in persuading their governments to introduce binding national climate change laws, which will help to reduce those countries’ carbon emissions. This was especially the case in Europe where France, Scotland and the UK passed climate change laws setting binding emissions reductions targets. It seems likely that similar laws will soon be passed in a number of other European countries including Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland and Slovenia.

During 2009 we also continued to monitor and conduct advocacy around the World Bank’s framework on ‘clean energy investment’ and the emissions trading schemes promoted by the international financial institutions (IFIs). In 2009, both the G-20 and the UN made agreements to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, which will have a positive impact on the development and spread of renewable energy technologies.

food sovereignty

FoEI’s Food Sovereignty Program aims to halt the corporate control of food, and stop the spread of genetically modified organisms: it defends the right of people to determine and control their own food systems. In 2009, we attended the High-Level Meeting on Food Security in Madrid where Via Campesina and FoE Spain’s joint actions outside the conference got excellent coverage, and Henry Saragih from Via Campesina was eventually invited to speak on behalf of civil society in the final plenary session. The response from the conference was striking: the applause was deafening, and the meeting ended without consensus on a new 'Global Partnership', which was in line with civil society proposals (although the official website is less clear about this outcome).

The 17th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) also saw important progress on food sovereignty when proposals from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food included peoples’ right to access land and define their own food policies, and the need for governments to support the least protected people and implement food production models that do not contribute to climate change. This position strongly echoes the positions of Vía Campesina and FoEI, although it does not yet go far enough.

The struggle for a GM-free world remains a priority, and includes campaigns against soy monocultures, genetically modified (GM) food aid, and the dominant model of production. FoEI is campaigning to increase land available to family farmers and for rural agriculture. In 2009, we published our annual research report on GM crops, "Who Benefits from GM Crops? Feeding the biotech giants, not the world’s poor," which challenges the ability of GM crops to contribute to poverty reduction, global food security or sustainable farming.

Friends of the Earth groups and allies are also maintaining pressure on the GM industry at the national and regional levels. This has had a particularly marked impact in Europe, where European Commission efforts to allow two new varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize to be grown in Europe, and to force Greece, Hungary and France to drop their national bans on a similar GM maize, were overturned by member states. Civil society organizations were clearly instrumental in this. This resistance received a further boost in April, when Germany banned Monsanto's GM maize MON810. This was a huge success for FoE Germany and other environmental and agricultural organizations who have worked hard for this outcome for many years. There have also been strong FoE campaigns against GM crops in many countries, including Mexico, Nigeria and Paraguay.

FoEI is also starting to build a new global campaign challenging agribusiness, with Via Campesina and the World March of Women. In 2009, this included regional food sovereignty forums in Paraguay and Nigeria. Together with Food and Water Watch and the European Co-ordination of Via Campesina, we also produced a groundbreaking film, "Killing Fields: the battle to feed factory farms," which investigates the impacts of growing soy in South America to feed factory farms in Europe.

agrofuels

FoEI’s Agrofuels Campaign aims to stop the production, trade and consumption of agrofuels, by raising public awareness about its negative impacts on local communities and globally. In 2009, the campaign focused on strengthening local communities’ defence of their territories, and exposing ‘false solutions’ to the climate and energy crisis. A prerequisite for this was compiling FoEI members’ research, reports, and national and regional positions.

The Agrofuels Campaign integrates FoEI’s ongoing campaign against deforestation caused by oil palm plantations. 2009 was particularly notable because of the World Bank’s suspension of its investments in oil palm plantation companies. A coalition of local and international NGOs, spearheaded by the UK organization Forest Peoples Program and including FoE Netherlands, had previously filed a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s internal watchdog, the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman office (CAO), about a series of loans to palm oil giant Wilmar International. A joint report by three NGOs (FoE Netherlands, Kontak Rakyat Borneo and Gemawan) had examined Wilmar's plantations in Sambas, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and found that the company was working with dubious licenses, and was entangled in land rights conflicts and illegal logging activities. This complaint triggered an audit by the CAO, which concluded that the IFC had violated its own procedures, and that commercial interests had overruled the IFC's environmental and social standards.

FoEI groups from Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea also joined forces to develop and propose a mandatory code of conduct for Malaysian palm oil companies operating in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. They received positive responses from Malaysia’s Human Rights Council and the Opposition Party, who accepted that Malaysian palm oil expansion has created adverse impacts. Friends of the Earth also filed a complaint with the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against the Malaysian Palm Oil Council for falsely advertising that palm oil is the "only product able to sustainably and efficiently meet a larger portion of the world's increasing demand for oil crop-based consumer goods, foodstuffs and biofuels." The ASA ruled that this statement was misleading, as was the Malaysian Palm Oil Council’s claim that palm oil contributes to alleviation of poverty. In November 2009, we also filed a grievance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) against the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, for violating the members' Code of Conduct and continuing to mislead the public and make unsubstantiated claims about the production, procurement and use of palm oil.

A process of capacity-building on agrofuels, land rights and monoculture was also initiated in Central America. We helped to coordinate different groups and communities wanting to work together on agrofuels. A video on Monocultures, Land and Agrofuels in Central America was created by FoE El Salvador with communities’ support. FoEI also organized an international delegation to gather evidence on the impact of agrofuels in Colombia.

Friends of the Earth’s aim of reaching a broader public was also substantially achieved through the broadcasting of footage from our commissioned film, "Lost in Palm Oil."

Lobbying efforts in Europe remain focused on challenging the EU’s target of 10% of all road transport fuel coming from ‘renewable’ sources by 2020, with a majority likely to come from agrofuels. Key to this is increasing Europeans’ awareness of the impacts of agrofuels and about potential alternatives. This included the publication of "Biofuels: handle with care," an analysis of EU biofuels policy with recommendations for action, in November 2009.

forests and biodiversity

FoEI’s Forests and Biodiversity Program campaigns against illegal logging and deforestation, and works with communities and local people to uphold their rights to manage their forests. We also expose and oppose the negative impacts of monoculture plantations of crops such as sugar cane, palm oil and soy, planted to produce agrofuels.

The Forests and Biodiversity program’s focus on strengthening and promoting sustainable local initiatives means that some of its key activities and successes occur at the national level. For example, in Uruguay Friends of the Earth successfully halted construction of the controversial pulp and paper mill proposed by ENCE who had been planning to invest US$1,500 million. In Malaysia, Friends of the Earth filed a lawsuit to save a water-catchment forest on the Jerai mountain in Kedah from a quarry project that has been illegally approved by the state government. The Indonesian President identified illegal logging as a form of entrenched corruption, saying that he appreciated the efforts of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth which have been active in criticizing the forest management of his government.

The Forests and Biodiversity Program is also focused on challenging and changing intergovernmental policies that already or potentially could contribute to the destruction of forests and biodiversity, For example, it participated in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s High-level Working Group on the 2010 biodiversity target and post-2010 target(s), and successfully persuaded governments to incorporate a number of key paragraphs into the final 2010 Biodiversity Targets.

Collaborative side and parallel events during intergovernmental forums, including meetings of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Copenhagen, and the World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires, were also successful in raising civil society’s concerns and challenging government perspectives. FoEI also produced a video about the performance of Finnish pulp and paper company Stora Enso in Uruguay, and created a photo exhibition on the impacts of cellulose/logging corporations in the Southern Cone of South America, which was exhibited at the World Forestry Congress.

The program also participated in the 2009 World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil, co-hosting a workshop on plantations, market mechanisms and false solutions, with the Global Forest Coalition; and published "Community-based Forest Governance: from resistance to proposals for sustainable use."

economic justice-resisting neoliberalism

The Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism (EJRN) Program’s objective is to build sustainable societies by building people’s power and dismantling corporate power, stopping corporate-led neo-liberalism and globalization, and challenging the institutions and governments that promote unequal and unsustainable economic systems.

For example, through the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), which FoEI is a very active member of, the EJRN Program has developed legal proposals for corporate accountability and to improve OECD guidelines. The OECD now plans to revise its guidelines for multinational companies. The UN has also adopted the Ruggie Framework for Business and Human Rights, in response to pressure to improve its oversight of corporate behavior from civil society groups including FoEI. The EU has also started research into improving protection for developing country citizens, against the negative impacts of EU-based business.

The EJRN Program also developed proposals for the EU and G-20 to regulate both EU lobbying and the financial sector. This included a campaign for the implementation of an EU lobby registry which has now been implemented (although it only calls for voluntary registration so far). FoE also convinced the European Commission that the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) had falsified its lobby expenditure report, and the Commission temporarily suspended CEFIC as a result. Additionally, FoE won a case with the European Ombudsman concerning EU officials that accepted gifts from companies they were supervizing. The EU is now preparing new rules on conflicts of interest.

In 2009, FoE’s ‘Global Europe’ campaign called for the suspension of the EU-Peru trade negotiations, particularly over concerns about human rights violations. FoE also supported a delegation of representatives of Indigenous Peoples from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, who toured European capitals to publicize the impacts of mining and biofuels. Although the negotiations have not yet been suspended, this collaborative campaign has so far resulted in a commitment from the European Commission that the Associated Agreement with Peru will not contain any provision which would be detrimental to the rights of indigenous people; and will contain proposals that guarantee that trade and economic development respect the environment, as well as a binding human rights clause.

A focused effort to persuade Shell to improve its business practices continues to be a priority for FoEI. This has included support to FoE Nigeria in its campaign to expose the harmful nature of gas flaring, which contributed to the Nigerian foreign minister publicly committing to enforcing the ban on gas flaring as of January 2010. Efforts in Nigeria have been complemented by campaigning at the international level: FoEI collaborated with several organizations to publish "Shell's Big Dirty Secret," which documents Shell's continued investment in the dirtiest forms of energy and its position as the world's most carbon intensive oil company. An OECD complaint filed by FoE Netherlands resulted in a commitment by Shell to improve its oil depot in the Philippines and its communication with surrounding communities.

In the US, the ShellGuilty campaign launched by FoEI, Oil Change and Platform London, finally saw justice done when Shell was forced to pay a US$15.5 million out-of-court settlement for its complicity in the 1995 murder of nine Nigerian activists who opposed its gas flaring, under the US Alien Tort Statute.

On 3 December the Netherlands-based court case against Shell got under way in The Hague. The case has been brought by three Nigerian communities and FoE Netherlands/Miluedefensie over oil pollution in Nigeria. Shell asked the court to rule that the Dutch court has no jurisdiction over Shell Nigeria, but on 30 December the court held that the Dutch court does have jurisdiction. Given that Shell has now lost this point, an important hurdle has been overcome, and the 'real' lawsuit can begin. This is the first time in history that a Dutch company has been brought to trial in a Dutch court for damages occurring abroad.

The EJRN Program was also very successful in strengthening hundreds of community individuals and activists across the world, including through the Third Annual Latin American Sustainability School, and community exchanges in Latin America. Many other publications and communications materials were published during the year.

resisting mining oil and gas

FoEI’s Resisting Mining, Oil and Gas Program is a new FoEI program, and groups are concentrating on planning joint campaign work and mapping FoEI’s current work with communities. Some international activities are also underway however, and these included a number of actions against Canadian open-pit mines on 22 July, in countries including Australia, Canada, Mexico and Thailand, to mark the Global Day of Action Against Open Pit Mining. Another important event was the "Conference on Extractive Industries: Blessing or Curse? Impacts of the Oil and Gas Industry," held by FoE Europe in Brussels in October.

Some FoEI groups already have established campaigns on mining, oil and gas, resulting in some important national developments and successes. In December 2009, for example, FoE Hungary celebrated the introduction of a landmark ban on the use of cyanide in mining. FoE Philippines has filed an Alternative Mining Bill, intended to introduce a new mining policy to regulate the exploration, development and utilization of mineral resources. Many FoE groups, including in Indonesia, Guatemala, the Philippines, Ghana, Hungary and Costa Rica, are also working on an on-going basis with local communities affected by mining.

Testimonies from mining communities also feature strongly in FoEI’s new media projects, as do videos on tin mining in Indonesia, and oil pollution in Nigeria, both of which can be seen on YouTube. FoEI also embarked on an ambitious project to create a series of video testimonies by women affected by large-scale metal mining.

Friends of the Earth member groups continue to work on issues related to water, defending water territories for the benefit of communities and biodiversity. We work together with local communities in protecting the right to water, and opposing privatization of water and ‘development’ projects that pollute rivers and that use large quantities of water. Finally, we mobilize the public to vote for new laws and regulations that keep water in the public domain and uphold water as a human right.

Gender

FoEI’s gender program focuses on deepening our understanding of why the feminist perspective is critical to the FoEI federation. Such an understanding can shed light on the ways in which the current neoliberal economic model affects men and women differently, both in terms of its social and environmental impacts. It also reveals the self-perpetuating nature of the patriarchal society. For FoEI, a fuller comprehension of the harsh realities faced by women in different countries and regions across the world will help us construct better and more effective campaign strategies, and change the way we ourselves act. A document on how to work from a gender perspective has already been completed and circulated internally.

Together with allied social movements including La Via Campesina (LVC) and the World March of Women (WMW), we aim to support women to resist, transform and mobilize, both at the local and international levels, to bring about the world they want to live in.

In 2009, we focused on integrating a gender analysis into our programs on Food Sovereignty and Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism (EJRN), and to support the inclusion of a feminist perspective into the EJRN Program’s analysis of the global financial crisis. FoEI was also invited to participate in WMW’s Second Regional Encounter in the Americas, in August 2009, in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Gender campaigners also supported the production of video testimonies from ‘Women Re-sisters’, women resisting mining, some of which can currently be viewed on the FoEI YouTube channel.  Friends of the Earth also participated in La Escuela de Formación de Dirigentas (a school for future women leaders) organized by the Coordinadora de Organizaciones del Campo (CLOC) and Via Campesina del Cono Sur, in Paraguay, in July 2009.

Friends of the Earth Uruguay/REDES has been particularly active in promoting FoEI’s focus on gender, in terms of supporting the international coordination of this complex and cross-cutting issue, providing conceptual contributions, and engaging actively at the national level. In June 2009, this included publication of a book that considers the impacts of forest monocultures and soya on the displacement of rural populations, with a special emphasis on the consequences for human rights and gender relations. FoE Uruguay also drafted numerous papers on food sovereignty and gender concerns including a report on the role of rural women in the defense of food sovereignty, based on investigation and interviews with women from la Red de Grupos de Mujeres Rurales (the Network of Rural Women).

To address this situation, Friends of the Earth Nigeria / Environmental Rights Action and other civil society organisations aim to increase awareness of climate change impacts, fight for stronger liability regimes for the corporations responsible for biodiversity destruction, and promote genuine grassroots climate change solutions for local communities.

what happened: In 2007, FoE Nigeria dedicated some of its human and financial resources to outreach strategies, ranging from increasing journalists’ capacity on the issue, to reaching as many remote Nigerian communities as possible. They trained 20 members of the media on effective climate change reporting, including broadcast journalists and national daily newspaper reporters.

At FoE Nigeria’s Environmental Parliament, a roundtable of stakeholders from diverse social sectors converged to brainstorm on how to tackle the problem more effectively. A new edition of FoE Nigeria’s magazine on climate change issues was also broadly circulated.

Furthermore, and despite the danger posed by travelling in the some regions due to violence, the Host Communities Network was successfully established. This is a network of communities from across the Niger Delta and South Nigeria, which are either at the sites of extractive industries or are affected by their activities.

what is changing: Gradually, Nigerian civil society is gaining a higher level of awareness of the realities posed by climate change, and a greater determination to curb them. Climate change issues have a higher profile in newspapers and other mass media, and stakeholders from various social sectors are discussing and debating the issue.

More and more community-based groups are getting involved and coordinating on climate justice issues, for example, the above-mentioned Host Communities Network, composed of 20 communities spread across the Edo, Delta, and Rivers states.

Advocacy and media pressure has forced the government to make a pronouncement about the new December 2008 deadline to stop gas flaring, despite tremendous pressure exerted by corporate oil giants to extend the deadline to 2010.

what next: The new deadline for ending gas flaring in Nigeria, "is still unacceptable to us", says Maria Ohenhen of FoE Nigeria. Their campaign continues, and more than ever FoE Nigeria needs other FoE groups "to continue to support us and show their solidarity until gas flaring ends". Last year, FoE Australia put FoE Nigeria’s cyberaction on their website, and many others sent letters of support. This international solidarity helps the activists maintain their hope for a better life in Nigeria.

with thanks to our funders: the dutch ministry of foreign affairs

Given the crucial nature of the talks, Friends of the Earth climate campaigners from around the world converged in Bali, and Friends of the Earth International carried out many activities to emphasise the need for climate justice. We also highlighted key forest issues related to the climate change agreements, and shed light on the threats posed by the fast-growing biofuel trade. Last but not least, we used this opportunity to build up unity and cooperation within the international civil society movement on climate change.

spotlight on biofuels: On November 29, before the climate talks began, FoEI urged governments not to promote biofuels as a solution to climate change, citing disastrous environmental consequences on all continents.  The growing biofuel trade would result in "displacing entire communities and Indigenous Peoples — simply to fill the tanks of cars," according to Hildebrando Velez of FoE Colombia.

solidarity village: Peoples from all over the globe took part in the Solidarity Village for a Cool Planet in Bali from December 7-10.  FoEI and other civil society movements organised this initiative to provide a space for affected communities, indigenous peoples, women and peasants to give testimony and build relationships among themselves. People spoke about their direct experiences of climate change and of real solutions. Key issues included enforcement of land rights for forest conservation, food and energy sovereignty, privatisation, trade liberalization and agrofuels. However, an overriding theme running through all these issues was that of corporate globalization taking over the climate agenda, and the need to resist this agenda with an alternative one to realize sustainable societies.

international day of action: On December 8, 2007 people from social organizations and movements around the globe took the fight for social, ecological and gender justice onto the streets for an Global Day of Action. FoE Indonesia were the local hosts of the action in Bali, which saw hundreds of locals join international activists to march in the hot afternoon sun in Bali’s capital of Denpasar. They waved banners, danced and sang for climate justice, sending a strong message to negotiators on the need for urgent action to address climate change. View a video of the action here.

unveiling tricky trade talks: Also on December 8, FoE groups warned that informal trade talks taking place behind "closed doors" on December 9-10 were "deeply worrying" and must not derail progress on tackling climate change. Convened by the Indonesian government, with trade ministers from 30 countries including the US, EU, Brazil, India
and China, the talks will cover "mutual supportiveness" between the WTO and the UNFCCC regimes, among other issues.

world bank: hands off our forests! On December 10th, FoEI coordinated an action and press work urging governments to reject a new World Bank initiative that promotes the inclusion of forests in carbon markets. This carbon trading proposal, called the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, claims to promote forest protection by subsidizing industrial tree plantations. Yet this will happen at the expense of communities, ecosystems and food production, and will actually result in more indigenous peoples being displaced, and more carbon emissions.

Read the statement and a list of endorsing organizations here.

bali movement building – climate justice now! 
FoEI took a lead role in initiating “Climate Justice Now!”, a new coalition of many social movements and groups that came together at Bali.  Our goal is to enhance information exchange and cooperation, in order to intensify actions to prevent and respond to climate change. We all agree that the fundamental principle of justice must lie at the heart of all measures to tackle climate change, and that this principle must in no way be sacrificed.  This new coalition has greatly increased our capacity for movement building and justice-based lobbying for future climate and energy campaign work.

See more here.

other key events with FoEI/WALHI participation included, along with other NGOs, a Financial Institutions and Climate Change conference (December 6-7), and screening of the Friends of the Earth International "Lost in Palm Oil" documentary by Inge Altemeier at the IIED mini film festival.

focus on negotiations: In terms of lobbying and media work, Friends of the Earth International chose to focus on Annex I (global North) obligations relating to emission reductions, technology sharing, deforestation and adaptation.  This included a communication on December 4, when FoEI urged all delegates to achieve a clear plan for action and a strong mandate to tackle climate change at the crucial UN climate change talks. Negotiators at Bali did eventually reach a deal to take the Kyoto Protocol forward. However, FoEI expressed deep disappointment at the weak content that followed on from numerous attempts by some delegations to derail the talks. Fortunately the European Union, Australia and developing countries stood their ground in a united front calling for emissions cuts in the range of 25 - 40 percent, as demanded by climate scientists. This provides some indication of ambition but still leaves much work to be done.

An full analysis of the Bali meeting by FoEI can be found here.

with thanks to our funders: the dutch ministry of foreign affairs, the c.s. mott foundation, the wallace global fund, the isvara foundation, hivos, oxfam novib, and the swedish society for nature conservation.

Throughout 2007, Friends of the Earth Papua New Guinea / Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights continued their work to protect the rights of people threatened by illegal and unsustainable forest practises and oil palm expansion.

what happened: FoE PNG carried out many activities throughout the year. One highlight was attending a forestry and oil palm workshop in August 2007 in Cairns Australia, organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation and attended by many PNG NGOs.  The workshop stressed the need for a good relationship with European, Australian, and New Zealand governments, and a strong consumer campaign in Europe and China where demand for PNG timber is high.

In September 2007, FoE PNG staff attended the Friends of the Earth International Forest and Biodiversity Programme meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon. One major challenge, as yet unresolved, is whether member groups will simply say “no” to all forest destruction and logging, or work to strengthen current policies, institutions and governance.

In terms of other work, although the national election created a huge disruption to FoE PNG’s work plans, they still managed to carry out a number of important patrols and fact finding missions. One entailed taking a member of the Rainforest Action Network on a patrol to communities affected by proposed oil palm expansion, particularly with respect to palm and soy oil giant Cargill. The tour was successful and RAN has pledged to assist FoE PNG in campaigning against oil palm expansion at the international level, especially in the USA.

Another fact-finding patrol was motivated by national government approval of a massive, 300,000 hectare agro-forestry project in the Musa-Collingwood Bay area. Political influence in the approval was suspected, and landowners, who were not consulted, required urgent legal assistance as this project would definitely affect their livelihoods, if developed.

In a similar case, FoE PNG and partner NGOs carried out a patrol in the East New Britain province, to investigate an agro-forestry project approval in Lsul Baining. The communities in this remote and hard-to-access area made it clear that they were not consulted and did not want the project. They have requested FoE PNG’s legal services to take possible legal action, namely a court injunction.

In July 2007, FoE PNG was invited by RAN to join a delegation of southern countries affected by agribusiness for a RAN campaign launch and speaking tour in the US. Lynette Hambuga of the Sorovi Women’s Council and George Laume, FoE PNG’s oil palm campaigner attended. They were able to dialogue with students at one of the USA’s largest universities on the threats posed by oil palm plantations.

Finally, towards the end of 2007, a capacity-building exercise entailed engaging a volunteer from Australian Business Volunteers, who gave staff hands-on training in proposal writing, project planning and fundraising.

what is changing:  FoE PNG is delighted to be moving forward on its work with RAN. “This is a really big step forward for CELCOR, as it has established an effective networking and relationship with RAN for campaigns at the international level, specifically at the consumer level or the company’s headquarters, and it is foreseen that local issues will be exposed at a much higher level,” said a FoE PNG staff member.

There was also a major success with regard to the proposed giant Musa-Collingwood Bay agro-forestry project. FoE PNG applied for an injunction to halt the project, and request a review and community consultation. They also engaged a television crew to interview landholders and produce a documentary, which was aired. Communities, educated elites from the area, and some local parliamentarians also became active, calling for the proposal to be withdrawn. As a result, this project has been put on hold for an indefinite period, and will continue to be closely monitored by FoE PNG.

what we learned:  At the workshop in Cairns, one suggested strategy under discussion by PNG NGO partners is a website to promote PNG certified timber overseas. Understanding carbon trading, which has big implications in PNG, was another key topic, especially given the PNG government has not revealed its plans and policies on this. Strategies were discussed to obtain disclosure about these plans.

The meeting in Cairns also affirmed the need for NGO partners in PNG to campaign more at the political level, at which the main drive for illegal logging and palm oil expansion occurs. FoE PNG has already begun working with Local Level Governments (LLGs), however this work will now merely be strategic, as new national government amendments have removed LLG’s participation at Provincial Assemblies and Provincial Governments.

The approach to the current government is difficult, particularly given its possible intention to make environmental NGOs illegal. One possible strategy is working with parliamentarians with a strong record on advocating for their people’s rights, to fight for these issues from the floor of parliament. Another is to make use of the “Whistle Blower” strategy that exposes scandals and triggers huge media and public outcry.

what next:  At the Cairns workshop, they agreed all partners should now put more effort in building the relationship with existing international partners for market or consumer campaigns either for palm oil or logging. FoE PNG is also planning a legal patrol to the East New Britain province before action is taken to combat the massive agro-forestry proposal there.

with thanks to our funders: the dutch ministry of foreign affairs

If you would like to become a cyberactivist, please join here!

In 2007, our website hosted a number of urgent cyberactions at www.foei.org/en/get-involved. Hundreds of individuals around the world responded to each action, often with inspiring results as you can read in these cyberaction highlights.

The community testimonies area of our websites, where people around the world speak for themselves, continued to grow throughout the year. Read more about this initiative here.

And our web team covered many special events, including the December 2007 UN climate meeting where Friends of the Earth campaigners published a Bali blog and photo gallery about their activities and demonstrations. A dedicated team from Australia; England Wales and Northern Ireland; Malaysia and Indonesia uploaded daily blog posts and photos. The main blog page received around 2,000 views with individual pages getting around 200 views each in December. The photo gallery had more than 15,000 views!

According to the French Electricity Transport Network, more than three million homes took part in the action in France. A further four million homes were recorded as taking part in countries including Spain, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Australia.

Participants who took part made a symbolic gesture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching off their lights for five minutes. In Paris, even the Eiffel Tower and some other major monuments switched off their lights.

According to FoE France’s director, Anne Bringault, "The action exceeded our expectations, and spread far beyond activist networks. This mainstream event confirms that people are very concerned and ready to act concretely, as shown by a TNS Sofres poll that 86 percent of French people are willing to reduce their electricity consumption."

The drop in electricity use in France alone corresponded to the total consumption of the city of Marseille.

More information here.

The Carteret Islanders are amongst the world's first “climate refugees”. They have fought for more than twenty years to prevent their lands from being flooded by the rising ocean, by building sea walls and planting mangroves. However, storm surges and high tides continue to wash away homes, destroy vegetable gardens, and contaminate fresh water supplies. It has been estimated that by 2015, the Carterets could be largely submerged and entirely uninhabitable. The Carteret community has organised itself through the NGO Tulele Peisa, to organise relocation to the island of Bougainville.

During the speaking tour, Carteret Islanders visited Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Newcastle, and took part in public meetings, lobbying events, a series of roundtable forums, and media events.

The islanders’ plight highlights the need for rich countries like Australia to address climate change by significantly reducing their emissions, and to support adaptation and resilience-building in climate-affected communities.

Friends of the Earth Australia

Pacific Island nations are some of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Rising seas are already causing the flight of some Pacific Islanders, including the inhabitants of Tegua Island in Vanuatu, and the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea.

FoE Australia’s long campaign to gain justice for these peoples saw a major success in June 2007, when Greens Senator Kerry Nettle introduced a bill in Federal Parliament to formally recognize and create mechanisms to deal with climate refugees from Pacific Island nations.

The bill proposes an amendment to the Migration Act, to insert a new visa class called a “climate refugee visa” for people displaced due to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels.

“The establishment of a climate refugee visa in would go some way towards facing up to our responsibilities to act on this issue,” said Friends of the Earth’s climate justice spokesperson, Emma Brindal.

The former Howard Government long ignored the requests of Pacific Island nations for assistance. While the Greens Bill was not supported by either of the main Parties, it provided valuable focus to the issue of displacement. The change in government following a November 2007 election has opened a window of opportunity for a more humanitarian approach.

Photo credit: Pip Starr