Both ENDS
IUCN-NL, Both ENDS, and 16 other Dutch and international civil society organizations (CSOs), networks, and expert groups are calling on the Dutch government to invest more strongly in locally led forest management and forest-based economies. This should be done within the framework of Dutch international cooperation and its associated policy instruments.
After months of lobbying of a group of NGOs, including Both ENDS, the United States Congress has opposed weakening of the investment criteria, the so-called ‘safeguards’ of the World Bank. The Congress sent a letter to the US Treasury, stating that the Banks’ social and environmental criteria for investments should not be weakened and the Treasury should oppose this. This is a great success for civil society organisations from around the world - including Both ENDS – which have been working for years to maintain and even improve the current investment criteria of the World Bank.
On the 14th of April, Both ENDS wil host a workshop called 'Small Grants, Big Impacts' on the annual Africa day in Amsterdam. The workshop aims to demonstrate that so called 'small grants funds' effectively deliver (devopment and climate) money where it matters, to people that need it the most. Large development banks, funds, donors and governments could use small grants funds as alternative financing mechanisms to make sure their money benefits people and their environment now and it the far future.
The work of the partners of Both ENDS can be dangerous. The story of Odey Oyama, director of the Rainforest Resource Development Centre in Calabar, Cross River State in Nigeria, gives proof to this. Since a few weeks he is hiding. Just in time he heard – indirectly – that he is wanted, and three weeks ago the police suddenly invaded his house. Odey is afraid to return to his family. It seems that his work has engendered too much resistance[1]. He writes to us: "Absolutely without any warrant whatsoever, men and officers of the police forced their way into my residence on Sunday January 27th, 2013, through one of my bedrooms. Previously I had actually reported to the police that I was in need of protection by reason of some of the things I heard and perceived around. "
Both ENDS and SOMO welcome the signing of the agreement of understanding between four Indigenous Ngäbe communities in Panama and the European development banks FMO and DEG on June 17th 2025. The arrangement includes a community development program that, together with a public statement issued by the banks, aims to recognize and mitigate some of the negative impacts caused by the Barro Blanco hydropower dam. We wish to congratulate the community-based organisation Movimiento 10 de Abril (M10) for its perseverance to seek justice for the affected communities, and we acknowledge the commitment of FMO and DEG to pursue a solution to their long-standing dispute with the communities arising from their partial financing of the hydropower project since 2011.
Three days after the first homes were flooded as a consequence of the Barro Blanco dam, the government of Panama signed an agreement about this dam with a number of representatives of the Ngäbe-Bugle people. The affected communities however have still not been involved in the process. Both ENDS is worried about these developments.
