Both ENDS
Just before summer, on June 27th we participated in a panel discussion on inclusive conservation in a learning event organized by WWF Netherlands. Several organizations joined in a discussion on inclusive, decolonial, rights-based, and community-led approaches in conservation. We discussed the barriers, gaps and opportunities in how power is shared, inclusion promoted, and accountability practiced in our work. The question raised was: as Dutch-based organizations, are we doing enough to really work inclusive? In 2023 Both ENDS started an Examination of Power process to research how power is experienced in our partnerships. I share a couple of practical tips and insights that I feel might benefit the greater conversation around Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) in our sector.
Water is literally life, the lifeblood of ecosystems, of nature, of humans. However, in many places the distribution and use of water is unjust and unsustainable. Water management is generally focused on short-term economic interests, on maximizing the profit of a well-connected few at the expense of people and nature. This dominant view of water and water management has its origins in the European industrial revolution, which became the global norm through colonialism and globalization. But according to Melvin van der Veen and Murtah Shannon, water experts at Both ENDS, this view will have to give way to equitable, sustainable and inclusive water management. Both ENDS cooperates with and supports communities and organisations worldwide who are working to this end.
Political Cafe in the Bank We Trust: Testing the water
How can the right to water and sanitation enhance the World Bank's policy and practice in the sector?
Thursday October 9th, 2008 / 5 pm to 6.45 pm
Overflow room for Preston Auditorium, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW Washington D.C
The World Bank has agreed to suspend all new investments in the palm oil industry by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) - an independent body within the World Bank focused on the private sector - with immediate effect. In a letter to Both ENDS' partner Forest Peoples Programme, Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, writes that all existing investments will be re-examined, pending a number of guarantees that must limit damage to humans and the environment.
Brussels, Belgium - 14 December
A landmark 1,193,652 submissions to the EU's public consultation on deforestation were handed over to the European Commission this afternoon, all of which demanded a strong EU law to protect the world's forests and the rights of people who depend on them. The one million+ submissions have made this the largest public consultation on environmental issues in the history of the EU, and the second largest ever.
Few will have missed the recent uprisings in Turkey. What began as peaceful protests when one of Istanbul’s last green areas had to make way for the construction of a new shopping mall, has developed into violent clashes between the Turkish police and protesters. TEMA, a Turkish partner of Both ENDS, was right in the middle of protest.
Both ENDS co-wrote a Joint CSO Submission on the Draft Revised Version of the EIB Transparency Policy to the EIB. The transparency policy does not adequately reflect key international standards and principles regarding transparency, as set out in the Global Transparency Initiative's Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions.
The policy should meet the nine key principles as set out in the Global Transparency Initiative's Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions, namely: 1) the right of access,; 2) automatic disclosure,; 3) access to decision-making; 4) the right to request information; 5) limited exceptions; 6) appeals; 7) whistleblower protection; 8) the promotion of freedom of information; and 9) regular review.
