Sierra Leone

annual report 2009 - executive summary

Download a summarized version of the 2009 annual report.

Resisting oil, mining and gas program highlights

The Resisting Mining, Oil and Gas Program is based on a vision in which the world does not depend on minerals, oil and gas. Its objective is to dismantle corporate control over minerals, oil and gas, and to stop the destruction and violations of communities and ecosystems.

Opposing the certification of palm oil, jatropha and sugar cane monocultures

Our campaign to expose the role that agrofuels corporations have played in misleading the public was heard by the UK’s Advertising Standard Authority, who ruled that an advertisement placed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and aired on the BBC was misleading because it said that Malaysian palm oil is sustainable.

Agrofuels campaign highlights in 2008

The main goal of FoEI's agrofuels campaign is to halt the development, production and trade of agrofuels, which is threatening food sovereignty and biodiversity, and has been shown to be a false solution to the climate crisis.

focusing on the links between industrial agriculture and trade

In 2008, FoE groups from all regions compiled case studies focused on defending territories and land rights from agribusiness and controversial agricultural expansions, such as deforestation for palm plantations in Asia or land evictions for soy and tree monocultures in South America.

strengthening the fight for a GM-free world

The fight for a GM-free world is still a priority for the food sovereignty movement. In 2008, FoEI continued providing a comprehensive assessment of the impact of genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture.

africa: mapping the expansion of agrofuels

Switching to agrofuels has been portrayed as a golden opportunity, a ‘green’ solution that could tackle the world’s energy crisis and help to mitigate climate change. Industrialized countries, international financial institutions such as the World Bank, and multinational agribusiness, oil and transport companies are all promoting agrofuels as a panacea to the world’s problems.

nigeria: challenging agrofuels in west africa

It is increasingly recognized that filling gas tanks with agrofuels exported from Africa and other impoverished regions monopolizes productive arable land. This robs people of their farmland and violates local communities’ rights to food. Opposition to agrofuels means that corporations are now looking to Africa’s so-called ‘marginal lands’ – which they regard as being unimportant or worthless – as a testing ground for the production of crops like cassava and oil palm. Yet the concept of ‘marginal lands’ ignores the various important ways in which local communities utilize their lands.

member groups

Friends of the Earth International is made up of the activities and actions of our 76 member groups, and it is our mission to support and strengthen their work at the local level. These groups mobilize people, resist socially and environmentally damaging projects and policies, and help to transform their societies in tens of countries around the world. Their local work in turn allows us to campaign on the regional and international levels, and to seek political support for the rights of people everywhere to sustainable livelihoods and for social, economic, gender and environmental justice.

sierra leone: water, not privatisation, for the people

As it emerges from years of devastating conflict, Sierra Leone faces further obstacles in achieving its Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without access to clean water. Currently only 46 percent of people in the capital city of Freetown have access to safe drinking water, and only 30 percent to basic sanitation services.

africa: monitoring the introduction of gmos

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entering African countries pose a growing risk to human health, the environment and poor farmers’ food security. Their governments are under major pressure to introduce GMOs from multinational corporations, which argue (despite lacking evidence) this will improve food security. Africans are also vulnerable to introduction of GMOs through food aid, from donor agencies such as USAID.

foei works to keep africa gm free

In the African region, Friends of the Earth International’s campaign against genetically modified (GM) organisms has been built around biosafety policy issues. Here are some of the main campaign highlights in the region for 2007.