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

Whenever forests are brought under government control in the form of Reserve Forest, the traditional rights and claims of indigenous peoples are squarely ignored. The imposition of the modern land registry and government forest management systems has also contributed to a decline in women’s role in forest management in Bangladesh, and consequently their status within their communities.

what happened

Friends of the Earth Bangladesh/BELA aims to secure appropriate conservation measures for VCFs, and promote better understanding of forest rights amongst communities in the CHT region.

The first step, undertaken in 2009, was to assess the current VCFs, particularly in Khagrachhari (in the Upazilas of Khagrachari Sadar, Matiranga, Mahalchari and Dighinala) and also in Rangamati. More information was needed about how the VCFs meet peoples’ livelihood demands, and about how the VCFs themselves are faring at the moment. 

Friends of the Earth Bangladesh interviewed tribal communities, spoke with a range of government officials, and met with journalists, teachers, civil society members and other professionals. Four multi-stakeholder discussion meetings were held to share the findings of the surveys, and a video documentary recording people’s testimonies about the VCFs and their expectations has also been compiled.

The results were clear. Friends of the Earth Bangladesh found that forest resources, including biodiversity, are protected most effectively when local people’s links to it are also protected. When these links are broken, others consider the forests as little more than a commodity to be traded. Exploitative practices and commercial exploitation spring up, degrading the forests and their biodiversity. 

Many springs and aquifers that were traditionally sources of drinking water for the communities have dried up, as natural forest has been replaced with commercial plantations that extract more ground water. Those who were reliant on the forests tend to fall into poverty, with no alternative income generation opportunities.

However, the survey showed that even though the VCF forest management model is sustainable, it is not preferred or even recognized by the government. In some areas, the total land managed as VCF is significant, but in general the number of VCFs is shrinking. This has seriously affected the livelihood needs of the indigenous communities, as well as the involvement of women in forest management. There is constant pressure from the government to dismantle community structures.

what changed

The project itself has helped to define the meaning of forest rights in Bangladesh. It has also allowed Friends of the Earth Bangladesh to document the needs, demands and aspirations of forest dependent communities regarding protection and management of their forests.

The importance of the VCF model of community-forest management has been clearly demonstrated, and many stakeholders, including the communities themselves, are much more aware of communities’ rights and the value they bring as forest custodians. The scene is now set for a strong campaign to enhance the status of and encourage community forest management in Bangladesh.

what next?

Friends of the Earth Bangladesh will push for a reform agenda to make forest governance inclusive, just and equitable. This will involve supporting communities in asserting their rights, changes to the legal regime, replication of the VCF model, and recognition of the traditional governance structures of forest dwellers in relation to forest management.

with thanks to our funders: the sigrid rausing trust

Groups in FoEI’s APac region are demanding a full assessment of ADB projects to determine their impacts on climate change, and the integration of climate change mitigation measures into all project designs. They are also engaged in increasing communities’ and media understanding of the full social, environmental and economic implications of ADB projects.

Indonesia, for example, is the ADB’s largest debtor, and Indonesia’s annual debt repayments consume a staggering 40% of the country’s national budget. Despite the ADB’s claims that it is acting on behalf of marginalized communities, ADB projects are responsible for widespread social and environmental destruction, including the escalation of gender inequality, and the destruction of ecosystems by mining, aquaculture and other projects. Impacts are being felt most severely by local communities, fisherfolk, and Indigenous Peoples. FoE Indonesia/WALHI aims to help create an Indonesia that is independent, free from debt, willing to seek reparations from creditors, and committed to ensuring gender justice.

what happened

FoEI members in the Asia Pacific (APac) region published a report entitled, “Climate Impacts of the ADB’s Business: How the Asian Development Bank finances climate change.” This report includes three case studies, focusing on: wetland destruction and flooding caused by the Southern Transport Development Project in Sri Lanka; the destruction of mangrove forest by a shrimp aquaculture project in Bangladesh; and the ADB’s ‘climate account’ in Indonesia. Collectively these studies illustrate the ADB’s failure to consider or address the climate change impacts of its projects in the Asia and Pacific region. The report was distributed during the official UNFCCC climate change negotiations and civil society meetings in Bangkok (October 2009) and Copenhagen (December 2009).

The report also recommends climate justice as an alternative basis for sound and equitable development, and makes specific forward-looking recommendations on climate finance. FoE APac exposed underlying problems with the ADB's current involvement in climate finance, specifically with respect to the replenishment of the Bank’s Climate Fund, and their support for false solutions such as projects on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. With a combination of hard-hitting campaigns, testimonies and a public tribunal, they were able to explain why these projects are not beneficial for people in the region. 

It was clear that FoE’s interventions during the ADB’s 42nd AGM in Bali (2-5 May 2009) successfully conveyed this growing resistance to ADB: this led to the Bank reviewing its climate financing schemes. 

During the AGM, FoE APac also advocated - in both the official and outside events – for the ADB to address climate change concerns effectively and equitably in all its strategies, policies and projects. This should include integrating climate change concerns into projects’ Environmental Impact Assessments, and changing the ADB’s Energy Policy (especially relating to coal), its Renewable Energy policy, and its climate initiatives. FoE APac called for real solutions to climate change. 

At the AGM, FoE Indonesia fielded campaigners with expertise on climate justice, privatization, debt and water issues. They held meetings with and lobbied Indonesia’s National Development Planning Board (BAPPENAS) and the Ministry of Finance. This later led to more engagements and meetings between FoE Indonesia and government representatives.

A key feature of the project during 2009 was the fact that it enabled FoE APac to help mobilize the new and growing Asian People’s Movement. During the course of the year, FoE APac was able to increase its engagements, partnerships and alliances with communities, organizations, coalitions, social movements and federations from a wide range of sectors (including fisherfolk, labor, women, farmers and environmental justice groups). Public education and media outreach were also a priority and FoE Indonesia held public education activities, press briefings, and focus group discussions, and distributed the Declaration of the Asian People’s Movement to civil society organizations. 

Impressive press coverage during the ADB AGM, also helped secure an increased number of media briefings and invitations to participate in public debates hosted by the media. It also led to increased political debate on Indonesia's current debt in both print and broadcast media. 

This widespread focus on movement-building by FoE Indonesia and others culminated in the launch of the Asian Peoples' Movement campaign against the ‘Asia Destructive Bank’ during the ADB AGM. This new campaign is now supported by several key coalitions, movements and organizations from across the Asia Pacific region. The launch and activities during the AGM involved public workshops, debates and tribunals that exposed ADB projects in various countries; and solidarity actions, mass mobilizations, demonstrations, rallies, and daily actions in front of the AGM center. 

The Asia Peoples' Movement has now met on several occasions, strengthening its forces and increasing its resistance and mobilization across the Asia Pacific region. It has linked these diverse groups and movements in key areas such as on climate justice and energy (the Asia Pacific anti-coal campaign), mines and minerals (the Asia People’s Movement Against Mining), and forests and climate (the REDD campaign).

Overall, these activities have resulted in a broader engagement with allies, and escalating public concern about the ADB’s impacts. The project contributed to a significant increase in communities’ awareness and understanding about the negative impacts of the ADB’s projects in Indonesia and elsewhere, and how these may affect people directly in their everyday lives. In the past, there was a degree of confusion about whether or not to resist Bank projects given their short-term ‘economic gain.’ This important change will help Friends of the Earth to build more momentum for a transformative agenda seeking real solutions, including those based on local traditional practices. 

There is also increased understanding about the impacts that many ADB-financed projects have on women (as in the case of women impacted by lack of access to energy following energy sector privatization). This heightened focus on gender concerns has also increased FoE APac’s engagement and activities with impacted women. 

what was learned

The report was the first to be published by the newly formed FoE Asia Pacific (APac) region. It proved to be an extremely useful tool for educating people about climate finance, and also in terms of helping to develop FOEI’s international position on climate finance indicators prior to UNFCCC COP-15 in Copenhagen. 

However it took more time than expected to collate the information across such a large and diverse region, meaning that the publication of the report was delayed, and the report was not available in time for the ADB AGM. This delay had a knock on effect, preventing FoE APac sponsoring a related event during the ADB AGM. Thus technical problems had an impact on FoE’s advocacy. This is an important learning event for the federation.

The size and complexity of the civil society event and mobilizations that took place around the Bali AGM were also challenging for FoE Indonesia as the host country group. However, the group’s success in undertaking these activities reaffirmed its confidence in its ability to organize and mobilize events on this scale. It also enabled the group to assess which areas it needs to improve (administration) and which areas it should invest in and tap into more (its campaigning skills and close relationships with communities and others sectors). FoE Indonesia also played a vital role in facilitating relationships and alliance building during the AGM.

The project deepened and strengthened relationships between FoE groups in the Asia Pacific region, and their engagement in and the links between the different FoEI program areas, especially Economic Justice-Resisting Neoliberalism, Climate Justice & Energy, and Forests & Biodiversity. This has, in turn, helped to strengthen the FoEI federation as a whole.

what next

We are now in an excellent position to monitor climate finance in the region, based on FoEI’s new climate finance indicators.

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

The 1995 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal bans the export of toxic waste. Yet many of these ships come from countries such as the US and the UK. They are illegally exported by owners seeking to cut costs.

Friends of the Earth Bangladesh/BELA is striving to ensure that such ships can only be accepted by Bangladesh’s ship-breaking yards when they are certified as being free of toxic substances, as required by the Basel Convention. They also want the Bangladeshi government to enact and enforce standards that genuinely protect workers and the environment. So far, for example, none of the 36 ship-breaking yards in Bangladesh has ever had or applied for environmental clearance.

what happened

In 2009, Friends of the Earth Bangladesh scored a resounding victory when the Bangladeshi High Court declared that all ship-breaking yards operating without environmental clearance – in other words all of them - should close their operations within a matter of weeks. This followed a writ filed by Friends of the Earth Bangladesh, challenging the entry of a Greenpeace-blacklisted ship, MT Enterprise. 

The Court also banned Bangladeshi ship-breakers from importing end-of-life vessels without first ensuring they have been pre-cleaned of hazardous materials.

Rizwana Hassan, Programs Director of Friends of the Earth Bangladesh and an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, was awarded the 2009 Goldman Award for spearheading the legal battle to reduce the impact of Bangladesh’s ship breaking industry. She also received the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global 500 award for Friends of the Earth Bangladesh’s outstanding work. Rizwana is a Board member of the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking.

what next?

Friends of the Earth Bangladesh will continue its efforts to ensure that these rulings are upheld and enforced. Securing tighter environmental regulations in Bangladesh could also set a precedent for similar legislation being enacted in other countries such as India, Turkey and Pakistan

For more information on the Goldman award: www.goldmanprize.org

For more information go to: www.shipbreakingplatform.com

Photo: Courtesy of AdamCohn

12 percent of the funding for Friends of the Earth International comes from the membership dues paid by the member groups, and 0.7 percent comes from sales and donations. Member groups contribute a percentage of their income on the basis of their revenue from two years ago to the international network. This core funding is used to cover the

operational costs of the Secretariat.

subsidies

86.5 percent of our income is subsidies received from government agencies and foundations. These funds are granted 

to us for specific projects and campaigns and for our Membership Support Fund.

membership support fund

Our Membership Support Fund seeks to pool resources and share them across FoE member groups for the following 

objectives: network development, program coordination, capacity building, strengthening national campaigns, and increasing participation in international campaigns.

In 2009, we distributed 995,266 Euros to 32 of our members: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, El Salvador, England, Wales & Northern Ireland, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Liberia, Malaysia, Malawi,Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestina, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Togo, Tunesia, Uganda and Uruguay.

We also distributed 106,142 Euros to the our regional groupings for regional meetings and capacity building.

our funders

Friends of the Earth International gratefully acknowledges financial support from:

• HIVOS
• NOVIB/Oxfam Netherlands
• The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS-TMF/MFS)
• The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Matra)
• The European Union (joint grant with IPS)
• The Sigrid Rausing Trust
• The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
• The Netherlands Committee for Sustainable Development (NCDO)
• The Isvara Foundation
• The C.S. Mott Foundation
• The Wallace Global Fund
• The Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• The V. Kahn-Rasmussen Foundation

Their financial support has been crucial in strengthening our campaigns and our network.

membership support

"It wasn't an oil spill that made Nnimmo Bassey an environmentalist. It was a massacre — the 1990 assault by Nigeria's armed forces on the village of Umuechem, where residents of the oil-rich Niger Delta had accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company of environmental degradation and economic neglect."

TIME magazine feature about Friends of the Earth International Chair Nnimmo Bassey, who was nominated a 'Hero of the Environment 2009.'

"As chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) for the past six years, Syeda Rizwana Hasan has struggled to bring better environmental and labor regulation to Bangladesh's 36 shipbreaking yards, where, she says, "nobody is present" to ensure labor laws are followed or international guidelines against toxic waste-dumping are met."

TIME magazine feature about Friends of the Earth Bangladesh/BELA Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan who was nominated a 'Hero of the Environment 2009.'

"Other countries are using the US's [climate change negotiations] position as an opportunity to try and avoid stringent legally binding emissions cuts which they should implement at home."

BBC news, 9 October 2009, quoting Meena Raman, Honorary Secretary, Friends of the Earth Malaysia.

"It is a crisis of democracy when campaigning charities like Friends of the Earth are prevented from speaking up on behalf of communities around the globe within the [UN Climate Change] talks themselves. This draconian measure is completely unjustified - the Copenhagen conference is fast becoming an international shambles."

The Telegraph, 17 December 2009, quoting Andy Atkins, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"The World Bank should be greening its energy portfolio. It's difficult to understand why the World Bank or Norway would be pouring money into an unproven [carbon capture and storage] technology ... rather than pour money into renewable technologies."
The New York Times, 14 October 2009, quoting Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth US International Policy Campaigner.

"Isaac Rojas, co-ordinator of the forest and biodiversity programme at Friends of the Earth International, said: "All over the world, plantations destroy the lands and livelihoods of local communities and indigenous peoples, as well as biodiversity and water resources. They also store less carbon than natural forests. Friends of the Earth International and the Global Forest Coalition want the UN's Committee on Forestry to stop promoting plantations and to urge governments immediately to halt the conversion of forests into biofuel plantations."
The Independent, 25 October 2009.

"We cannot allow carbon traders to damage the world. There is no such thing as clean coal or clean crude. Leave the oil in the soil, leave the coal in the hole. To those who want to pollute at home and plant a tree somewhere we say no."
Agence France Presse, December 12, 2009, quoting Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International Chair.

"For non-governmental organisations like Madre Tierra [Friends of the Earth Honduras], the 2009 coup in Honduras represents the consolidation of historical exploitation - led by the country’s long-standing oligarchy that controls approximately 80 per cent of Honduran wealth - and a worsening of the situation for the poorest and most vulnerable people in Honduras."
Red Pepper magazine, 24 September 2009, published a story by Juan Almendares, director of Movimiento Madre Tierra/Friends of the Earth Honduras.

In recent years we have explored many legal options for holding corporations accountable for their actions, both in the countries where the actions in question took place and in the countries where the corporations are based. As a result, governments around the world are being required to take action to hold corporations accountable for their practices and their impacts on social welfare and the environment. We have also developed a database of 15 (semi) legal cases that FoE groups have brought against TNCs, to make sure that our collective experience is shared, remembered and built upon.

We have also pursued other strategies, including the use of existing corporate regulations on misleading advertisement; working in the European Parliament to ensure lobbyists are obliged to disclose information about their clients and budgets; filing complaints at the OECD and at the World Bank Inspection Panel; and helping affected communities make best use of legal avenues to challenge harmful projects and policies.

Finally, we continued building relationships with other civil society organizations working on legal strategies (the Climate Justice Program in the UK, for example, and Earth Rights International in the US).

Our results in 2008 showed that these strategies are extremely effective. In Africa, for example, FoEI supported twelve Nigerian communities in filing an official complaint with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel concerning the West African Gas Pipeline project in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. We also facilitated an exchange visit from Nigeria and Ghana to Togo, allowing campaigners and community leaders to share their experiences and build stronger solidarity. FoE Nigeria held an environmental monitors’ training workshop in Lagos for communities that were impacted by the pipeline project, and organized a strategy session among Nigerian communities to enable them to learn how to organize themselves more effectively and find out how to engage with the Inspection Panel. We also drafted international media advisories, which received worldwide coverage. Following that, FoE Nigeria presented the project and its problems at the Public Hearing on the World Bank in October in Europe. In the end, the Inspection Panel ruled that many of the communities’ complaints were valid. As such, this campaign is a stellar example of just how effective taking local needs and wishes to the national and global levels can be.

Again in West Africa, oil corporations in the Niger Delta refuse to put a stop to gas flaring, even though it has been illegal in Nigeria since 1984. Most people in the region are poor fishermen and women and farmers, unable to stand up to multi-billion dollar corporations. The Nigerian government has also failed to enforce its ban on gas flaring which should have come into force in December 2008. FoE Nigeria is using legal channels and litigation to stop gas flaring and oil spills being pursued through the Nigerian courts, including by providing close collaboration to the lead counsel, organizing field trips in the Niger Delta to identify communities affected by new spills, and recording damages to be presented as further evidence. With the support of FoE Netherlands, in 2008 four fishermen and farmers from the Niger Delta, who had lost their livelihoods due to oil spills from pipelines or installations owned by Shell, filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands against Royal Dutch Shell for oil pollution in the Niger Delta.

In Asia, recourse to legal tools is more established. Because of the different political contexts in which they operate, many of our groups in Asia are lawyers’ organizations and already use legal strategies as their main means of achieving environmental justice in their home countries. For example, the efforts of FoE Bangladesh, through public interest litigation known as PIL, have truly sensitized the concept of ‘environmental justice' in Bangladesh: the country now has special courts to deal with environmental offenses.

FoE Malaysia assists lawyers working on important legal cases involving Indigenous communities defending their land and Native Customary Rights, against logging and plantation encroachments, illegal sand quarrying, aluminum smelting, and wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution. FoE Malaysia gathered and drafted witness statements, and produced maps. These cases will help shape future interpretation of Native Customary Rights law.

FoE Papua New Guinea carried out a number of important patrols and fact-finding missions to protect the rights of people threatened by illegal and unsustainable forest practices and oil palm expansion in Papua New Guinea.

FoE Indonesia continues to empower communities to defend themselves and to stop environmental destruction in West Kalimantan. This includes sharing and spreading information about similar resistance experiences, such as how Indigenous People in the Ketapang District are persuading their local government to resist exploitative development in the region; and how local communities have been criminalized for demonstrating against oil palm plantation company PT Ledo Lestari which is violating Indigenous People’s rights on the Indonesia-Malaysia border.

Another victory was reported by FoEI's EJRN program in a case they have been pursuing together with other NGOs in the Philippines: the Supreme Court in Manila ordered the transfer of an oil depot housing three oil firms, and dismissed an appeal by Chevron, Petron Corp, and Pilipinas Shell.

During the EU-Latin American Summit in Lima in May 2008, we held workshops at the civil society forums on a number of critical issues, arbitration between companies and governments through the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). A new worldwide campaign on ICSID was launched at the summit, involving groups in Europe, Latin America and US, and this was complemented by a resolution in the European Parliament that supports our demands for community rights and liability of companies. We also launched the booklet ‘The Story of IIRSA’; a popular education production that explains what IIRSA is through attractive illustrations and storytelling. We also prepared three cases for the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on European transnational corporations, focusing on the energy sector.

FoEI also continued to host the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), which includes many FoE groups. The coalition launched two reports (‘Fair Law’, and ‘With power comes responsibility’) containing concrete proposals about changes to EU law intended to prevent human rights abuses and environmental degradation within the sphere of responsibility of European multinational enterprises. The ECCJ proposes to make parent companies liable for their subsidiaries; establish a parental company duty of care for environmental, social and human rights issues; and introduce mandatory environmental reporting. Our efforts have been rewarded with a resolution in the European Parliament supporting our demands for community rights and liability of companies.

The European Commission also responded with interest, setting up an interdepartmental working group to study and discuss the proposals with ECCJ and FoE. The Commission is finally willing to look into what mandatory measures are needed in addition to its policies on voluntary corporate social responsibility, and has announced it will start a study of the legal framework on human rights and environmental issues applicable to European companies operating outside the EU, in order to identify governance gaps.

Around the world, governments are beginning to take action to hold corporations accountable for their practices and their impacts on social welfare and the environment including in other countries. Examples of this trend include the case that FoE Germany won against the German government, in which the court ruled that the German Export Credit Agency must disclose the climate impacts of subsidies it has provided to corporations for projects in developing countries. The Dutch government will also start research into holding Dutch companies liable for problems they have caused outside the EU, and will also look into how victims can get better access to justice. The UK parliament will start to investigate whether or not the existing legal system in the UK provides sufficient protection against human rights violation by companies. A new law in Argentina will force companies registered in Buenos Aires employing more than 300 workers to report on social and environmental impacts. The criteria for reporting have been developed by the ETHOS Institute (Brazil) and also follow UK standard AA 1000 on Accountability.

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.

In 2008, we conducted many activities to support the development of our member groups, as we understand that the strength of FoEI lies in the strength of our member organizations, their capacity to win victories at the local and national level, relate their struggles in a global context, and act in solidarity with fellow member groups in other countries and across regions.

Our Membership Support Fund seeks to pool resources and share them across FoE member groups for the following objectives: network development, capacity building, strengthening national campaigns, and increasing participation in international campaigns.

In 2008, we distributed 1.22 million Euros to 35 of our members: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestina, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Togo and Uruguay.

In addition to this fund, other membership support activities in 2008 included facilitation and accompaniment of regional development, particularly in Asia Pacific and Africa. FoEI provided strategic support and facilitation assistance during regional meetings and in setting up regional structures, as well as one-on-one support to member groups in those regions to encourage their participation in the international federation. 

Other areas of membership development are the facilitation of relationship building among member groups across regions; helping to overcome language barriers through timely translations; creating spaces for sharing experiences, such as exchanges and gatherings; and ensuring that member groups are present in the federation and don't fall off the map.

As a result of regional outreach efforts to new groups, eight new groups were admitted as associate members at the BGM. The new member groups are:

• Sustainable Development Initiatives (SDI) - Liberia
• Citizens for Justice (CFJ) - Malawi
• Otros Mundos - Mexico
• Justiça Ambiental (JA!) - Mozambique
• Centre for Environmental Justice (CFJ) - Sri Lanka
• Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (LEAT) - Tanzania
• The Haburas Foundation - Timor Leste
• National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) - Uganda

new chair

Nnimmo Bassey, the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, was elected as the Chairperson. In his acceptance speech to the members present in Honduras he highlighted the unique period in history we are in:

"We stand at the crossroads of history with the scaffoldings erected by capitalism and neo-liberalism collapsing like a pack of cards. No matter how many people live a lie, the lie remains a lie. People may decide to live in the imaginations of their minds, but the truth is that sooner than later the reality knocks us back to concrete challenges. We stand at a crossroads, but we must take the right turn and FoEI is well positioned to take the lead in that march."

new excom

Several new members joined the existing Executive Committee, which will guide the federation in the right direction over the next two years. The ExCom composition is the following:

• Karin Nansen - FoE Uruguay, Vice-Chairperson
• Jagoda Munic - FoE Croatia, Treasurer
• Meena Raman - FoE Malaysia
• Mario Godinez - FoE Guatemala
• Rizwana Hasan - FoE Bangladesh
• Bobby Peek - FoE South Africa
• Sarah Jayne Clifton - FoE England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Elizabeth Bast - FoE United States