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Residents belonging to the indigenous Ngäbe-Bugle people living on the traditional indigenous territory surrounding the Barro Blanco dam in Panama, have filed a complaint against the Dutch development bank FMO. The bank has invested $ 25 million in the dam that is currently under construction in the river Tabasará. The Ngäbe-Bugle blame FMO for not adequately following its own social and environmental standards. FMO also violates international agreements relating to indigenous peoples. For Both ENDS, Anouk Franck is closely following FMO’s activities.

The Netherlands and Europe are investing far too much in gas pipelines and storage facilities. The number of gas pipelines is already enough to meet the demand for gas. The planning and construction of pipelines (financed with European funds) that have to transport gas from Russia, Central Asia and North Africa to Europe and the Netherlands is getting out of hand. The current capacity for transport and storage in both the Netherlands and Europe is enough to meet European demand until 2050. Therefore, the 'gas hub' that was built for liquefied gas in Rotterdam is unnecessary. This is one of the conclusions of the report "The Price of Gas" that was commissioned by Both ENDS.

Recently, many newspapers have written about Brussels’ rush to finalize the trade agreement between the EU and the South American Mercosur countries. According to the European Commission, national parliaments do not need to approve it because the trade part and the “political” part have been separated. This “splitting” means that the trade part can be approved as an EU-only decision by the European Council and the European Parliament, while national parliaments are sidelined and the political-cooperation part is postponed. Both ENDS and its partners are deeply concerned and are calling on the Dutch government to vote against this outdated agreement.

The EU is the world's largest "importer of deforestation," due to the huge volumes of unsustainably produced soy, timber, palm oil, and other raw materials that EU member states import. After many years of delay, the European Parliament and the European Council passed a law in December 2023 to address this problem: The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Both ENDS is part of a broad coalition of organizations that have been pushing for this European legislation. However, there is now a serious delay, and perhaps even postponement, of the law's implementation. Objections have been raised by a number of member states, who are sensitive to lobbying by certain business sectors and producer countries.

This week several Both ENDS colleagues visit Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal to meet Christine Teunissen and Luc Stultiens with partners from Mozambique, Indonesia and the Filippines to talk about the destructiveness of dredging worldwide and especially in projects with the aid of the Dutch government.

Read their plea

While in The Netherlands November 10 was cold and grey, a heated discussion took place in Suape, Brazil. On this day, local residents of the area – which has been claimed by the port of Suape – gathered for a meeting with the chairman of the Bar Association (BA) of Pernambuco, Mr. Pedro Henrique Alves Reynaldo. Though it is likely that the Bar Association will file a complaint against the port authority of Suape, a clear picture of the situation will first have to be constructed. For this reason as many people as possible were invited to share their stories.

The People Summit strives to critically analyse the goals and propositions of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, and present actual sustainable alternatives. These goals were recently confirmed at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro.