Both ENDS
Both ENDS and Forest Peoples Program have formally requested the European Parliament, Commission and Council and the EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, to consult indigenous and local communities impacted by EU trade in palm oil and other agricultural commodities in formal EU policy deliberations on these topics. Why did we decide to do so and what's it all about? Our colleague Michael Rice sheds some light on the matter.
Both ENDS together with partners from Indonesia, Malaysia, Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Kingdom, filed a joint submission to the French Government on its draft National Strategy to Combat Imported Deforestation (Strategie Nationale de Lutte Contre la Deforestation Importee – "SNDI").
This week, from 12 until 16 February, fourteen indigenous leaders and human rights defenders from forest countries came to the Netherlands to call upon Dutch policy makers to take serious action against human rights abuses, land grabbing and further deforestation in relation to large scale agriculture, timber logging and mining. The Dutch harbours of Rotterdam and Amsterdam receive enormeous amounts of soy and palm oil, both for the Dutch market and for further transport into Europe and elswhere.
The Dutch government expects PEFC International to undertake an investigation into its own role as a forest certification system, using the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). "It is about time the Dutch government takes a leading role in ensuring Malaysian timber entering The Netherlands is not associated with deforestation and human rights abuses," states Paul Wolvekamp of Both ENDS. "Considering that the Dutch government has the ambition to build 900.000 houses in the immediate future, involving massive volumes of timber, such as timber from Malaysia for window frames, builders, contractors, timber merchants and local governments rely on the Dutch government to have its, mandatory, timber procurement better organised, i.e. from reliable, accountable sources'.
A coalition of Malaysian and international NGOs has released a memorandum in response to the recent TPAC report on the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). The organisations express serious concerns about the independence, quality, and credibility of the assessment carried out by the Timber Procurement Assessment Committee (TPAC).
Under the pretext of a ‘Natural Resource Management Project’ funded by the World Bank, the Kenyan Forest Service has, again, started to forcibly evict the indigenous Sengwer people from their ancestral lands in the Kerangany Hills and to burn down their houses. This was documented on March 2nd, by a fact-finding team that was sent to the ground by the World Bank’s own inspection panel.
Because of the close relationship with their living environment, local communities often have the best ideas for the sustainable and equitable use and governance of land, water and forests. These environmentally just practices and processes successfully protect and restore ecosystems and address climate change. They are essential in the light of the multiple crises the world faces, but are in dire need of financial and policy support.
