Both ENDS
Across Mozambique, land represents more than just territory. It is the cornerstone of livelihoods, culture, and autonomy for many communities. When companies arrive, claiming large portions for mining, oil exploration or agribusiness, residents face significant challenges in asserting their rights. Mozambique’s Land Law (1997) grants communities user rights, ensuring they can occupy and use land for subsistence and cultural purposes.
Even a region like the South American La Plata Basin, known for it's majestic rivers and wetlands, is struggling with drought. A group of organisations united in the Wetlands without Borders network strive to turn the tide.
On 12 and 13 February 2025, women from Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe gathered in Nairobi for the Africa Women Leaders in Agroecology (AWOLA) Regional Networking Forum. The event marked a significant moment in the leadership programme of PELUM Kenya, which empowers young women in their role as leaders in the agroecological transition. This project was made possible thanks to support from Both ENDS as part of the Fair, Green and Global (FGG) Alliance.
Both ENDS mourns the death of Khadija Catherine Razavi, founder of CENESTA – Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment in Iran.
We congratulate Joan Carling, member of the permanent commission on indigenous peoples of the UN, for having received the Lifetime Achievement Award as 'Champion of the Earth' by the UN Environment! This is the UN's highest environmental honor, given to six of the world's most outstanding environmental change makers once a year.
On December 6, the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Mercosur Summit sealed the agreement on the final text of the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement. Both ENDS condemns this damaging agreement for undermining human rights, the environment, and democracy in Europe, and in Mercosur countries. Should the agreement be ratified as it stands, it will have devastating consequences for the environment, indigenous communities, family farming and small-scale farmers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Last week the Agricultural Investment Summit took place in London, seeking to promote land as an emerging and expanding investment opportunity. Civil society organisations are concerned that this could lead to further land grabbing, threatening the livelihoods and food security of countless local communities in the global South. In a joint civil society statement Both ENDS urges pension funds and other financial institutions to stop such damaging investment practices.
