member group victories in 2004
blow to philippines mining act
In January 2004, the Supreme Court
of the Philippines declared unconstitutional
provisions of the Philippines Mining Act that
allow the operation of 100% foreignowned
mining corporations, an unexpected victory
for the indigenous peoples and community
partners of LRCKSK/ Friends of the Earth
Philippines who filed the lawsuit in 1997.
Friends of the Earth International's
cyberaction alert on the issue resulted in
some 250 letters being sent to the Philippine
government. Although the ruling was reversed
in December following political and corporate
pressure, this has only strengthened the
resistance against large-scale transnational
mining in the Philippines .
public rejects south korean
nuclear dumpsite
In February, residents of Buan
county in South Korea held a referendum to
decide whether or not a proposed nuclear
dumpsite should go ahead. Ultimately, 72% of
eligible voters participated in the
referendum, with 91% of them voting against
the dumpsite. The referendum was preceded by
more than 200 nights of candlelight vigils, a
41-day strike by young students, highway
blockades by local people, and demonstrations
with more than 20,000 participants. Although
the government claimed it would not accept
the referendum results, the project
ultimately fell through due to lack of
interest from local municipalities.
british supermarket expansion
curbed
In early 2004, Friends of the Earth
England, Wales and Northern Ireland 's legal
expert identified a loophole in UK planning
law which allowed large retailers to install
mezzanine floors in their stores, often
doubling their size, without the need for
planning permission. Further research showed
that the uncontrolled expansion of stores in
this way was a serious threat to small shops
and local suppliers, and that it increased
pollution levels due to additional traffic.
Friends of the Earth's suggested amendments
to the Planning Bill were successfully taken
through Parliament in a brilliant break for
local shops, local economies and people
without cars.
victory against fumigation in
colombia
In March, CENSAT/Friends of the
Earth Colombia and others in the “Grupo
Defensa Parques” coalition demonstrated in
front of the Ministry of Environment against
the environmentally and socially dangerous
fumigation of coca, which is considered
illegal although it is a traditional crop for
indigenous communities. In response, the
government announced a halt to fumigation in
national parks, although non-protected
tropical forests continue to be sprayed.
military school in costa rica
defeated
Friends of the Earth Costa Rica won
their campaign to stop the United States
government from setting up a military academy
in the country in March. A national alliance
against the militarization of Costa Rica
carried out strong local resistance and lobby
work in order to achieve this important
victory.
scottish superquarry saga finally
ends
In April 2004, Friends of the Earth
Scotland's longest running campaign of ten
years came to an end as global aggregate
company Lafarge Aggregates announced that it
would withdraw its plans to establish what
would have been Britain 's biggest quarry on
Harris in the Western Isles. Friends of the
Earth Scotland, supported by many groups in
the international network, participated in
the campaign by providing evidence in
Scotland 's longest-ever planning inquiry,
supporting community action, and carrying out
13 years of media and lobbying work.
italian butterfly project wins
award
The Padua Butterfly ARC, an
initiative of Friends of the Earth Italy, won
the 2004 Romeo and Juliet award for
creativity in May. The ARC is a space for the
public to view living butterflies and learn
about sustainable economies. As butterflies
provide a subtle indicator of an area's
natural balance, declining in numbers as
pollution increases, Friends of the Earth
Italy is promoting the establishment of
Clockwise more butterfly preserves to
encourage local sustainable development. Many
of the butterflies in the ARC are cultivated
by indigenous women in Latin America ,
providing them with environmentally and
socially sustainable incomes.
maltese temples prevail over waste
dump
In June 2004, the Maltese
government withdrew its plans for two
polluting and potentially hazardous landfill
sites just 300 meters away from the world's
oldest freestanding Neolithic temples, relics
of a matriarchal society that existed some
4,000 years ago. Friends of the Earth Malta
had warned that the limestone temples would
be seriously damaged by the leaking of
corrosive gases, including sulphur dioxide,
from waste delivery trucks and
bulldozers.
bayer drops court case against foe
in the uk
In June, Bayer CropScience, the
multinational agro-chemical and biotech
corporation, dropped its court action against
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and
Northern Ireland . The company had tried to
prevent Friends of the Earth from telling the
public how to access safety data on
pesticides, including a weedkiller for use on
GM herbicidetolerant crops in the UK
australian nuclear dump
trashed
Following a six-year campaign by
Friends of the Earth, other environmental
groups and indigenous organizations, the
Australian government abandoned its plans for
a national nuclear waste dump in the desert
region of South Australia in August 2004. In
particular, this was a sweet victory for the
Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, a group of senior
Aboriginal women who have tirelessly traveled
the continent to resist the proposal.
keep your waste, say czechs
Following a public campaign and
lobbying by Friends of the Earth Czech
Republic, the national parliament voted
against a proposal to amend the Waste Act in
order to allow the import of foreign waste
for incineration. The amendment would have
brought enormous amounts of waste to be
burned in the country and heavily damaged the
country's developing recycling sector.
tough gmo law in
germany
In 2004, Friends of the Earth Germany won
its fight for a tough liability law that
holds GMO farmers and operators financially
liable when their crops contaminate non- GMO
crops. As the law is under continuous
pressure from political opponents, the group
also ran a parallel campaign for GMO-free
regions. The result by the end of 2004:
12,000 farmers, most of them conventional,
agreed not to grow GMOs on 430,000 hectares
in more than 60 regions.
polluting gold mine in indonesia
shut down
In August, Indonesian police
suspended the operations of US mining giant
Newmont's Minahasa Raya gold mine after tests
confirmed that the company had dumped
millions of tons of mercury and arsenic-laced
mining waste into Buyat Bay since 1996.
WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia has long
campaigned against the mine in collaboration
with local community members, who are
suffering from a range of health problems
including neurological and skin complaints.
Newmont is now being sued by the Indonesian
ministry of environment.
farmers send golf course in malta
soaring
In September, a proposal for an
18-hole golf course and country club on prime
agricultural land in Malta was refused. This
was an important victory for Friends of the
Earth Malta and the 150 farming families that
depend on the land for their livelihoods. The
golf course consumed 1.8 million cubic meters
of water each year and required massive
inputs of fertilizers and pesticides.
jordan river in the spotlight
In 2004, Friends of the Earth
Middle East released a report revealing that
the Jordan River will cease to flow by 2005
if all of the planned water diversion plans
go ahead. The Jordan 's critical state also
received widespread international media
attention at a Friends of the Earth Middle
East conference held on Peace Island in
March, where Israeli, Palestinian and
Jordanian mayors agreed to cooperate in
restoring the river and improving the
livelihoods of local residents
clearing up the dutch skies
In October 2004,
Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth
Netherlands erected a huge banner with a
satellite image of air pollution in Europe
along a major motorway. The image, which
showed enormous concentrations of NO2 over
the Netherlands , was in protest of the Dutch
government's plans to build more roads.
During the course of the year Friends of the
Earth succeeded in reducing the official
speed limit on roads through densely
populated areas, and geared up for a
high-profile court case against the Dutch
government for its violation of European
clean air legislation.
new zealand rejects nuked
mangoes
At the end of 2004, Friends of the
Earth New Zealand discovered that the big
black blotches covering mangoes imported from
Australia were likely caused by irradiation
in their country of origin. Working together
with Friends of the Earth Australia, they
exposed the dangers of irradiation and
published photos of the damaged mangoes in
the media, causing consumer outrage and
statements by major supermarkets that they
would not import or sell irradiated
Australian mangoes.
norwegian rivers protected
Throughout 2004, Friends of the
Earth Norway campaigned hard to protect the
country's last relatively untouched rivers, a
unique part of the world's natural heritage.
Two out of three Norwegian rivers are already
dammed and exploited for hydroelectric power
production. In cooperation with local action
groups and other environmental organizations
and supported by a FoEI cyberaction alert,
Friends of the Earth Norway managed to have
53 rivers protected under the new River
Protection Act.
slovakians protect wolf and
lynx
In 2004, after nearly five years of
campaigning, Friends of the Earth Slovakia
succeeded in establishing two private
reserves: Wolf Private Nature Reserve and
Lynx Private Nature Reserve. These are the
first strict forest reserves in Central and
Eastern Europe , with all human intervention
banned. Funds for buying the land for the
Wolf Reserve were raised through a “buy your
own tree” campaign, which brought in
donations from people in 19 countries.
famous spaniards for the
environment
Friends of the Earth Spain worked
to engage high-profile people in their
activities in 2004. For example, the Minister
of Environment, a famous television presenter
and the writer Salomé Ortega joined 8,000
others in putting their handprints on a
painted forest to symbolize leaves and their
commitment to fighting climate change. The
artwork was then sent to the European Energy
Commissioner as a plea to make the transition
towards sustainable energy.
water as a human right in
uruguay
In a major victory against the
privatization of public services, more than
60% of the Uruguayan people supported the
October referendum to include water as a
human right in the national constitution.
REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay was a
leading member of the coalition that called
for the referendum. The outcome ensured a
halt to the privatization of drinking water
services and guarantees the public,
participatory and sustainable management of
the country's water resources.
chemicals out of cosmetics in the
united states
In 2004, Friends of the Earth
United States worked with women's health,
environmental justice, labour and faith
groups to educate corporations and the public
about the toxic chemicals used in cosmetics
and personal care products. More than 100
cosmetics companies committed to removing
chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and
other health harms from their products by
signing the Compact for Safe Cosmetics
(www.safecosmetics.org). Since the launch of
the campaign, four of the world's largest
cosmetics companies – L'Oreal, Revlon,
Unilever and Estée Lauder – have agreed to
reformulate their products globally to meet
new EU standards.
climate justice tour through
australia
Friends of the Earth Australia
organized a Climate Justice Tour through the
country in April and May 2004. International
guests from Nigeria , Samoa and Tuvalu talked
to the Australian people about climate
change, oil, equity and the small island
states of the Pacific. Tour participants
spoke at public fora, met with politicians
and indigenous traditional custodians, and
talked to the media.
czech wilderness prevails
Friends of the Earth Czech Republic
's campaign to persuade the Ministry of
Environment not to chop down trees infested
with bark beetle in the Sumava National Park
was victorious in 2004. The long-running
campaign, which included a blockade in 1999,
was precedent-setting in that the government
accepted the purpose of national parks as the
preservation of wilderness rather than the
management of nature.
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