Both ENDS
Our staff are pleased to share the experiences of their travels, project visits and meetings with partners and others. Their blogs give a unique and personal insight into the work of Both ENDS!
COVID-19is placing our economy under a magnifying glass. Now that a large part of global trade has come to a standstill, the tension between international economic activity and local well-being is becoming more visible. That is very clear in northern Mozambique, where one of the world’s largest gas fields was discovered in 2011. Dutch companies are investing in the processing and transport of the gas.
Last weekend there was an article in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant about the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya. I was surprised and angry about how the story was presented. How can people be so blind to the perspectives of others? And how can a progressive paper like De Volkskrant devote so much space to such an unnuanced account? This is exactly why such projects lead to conflicts.
Last month I visited COPINH in Honduras. I stay in their house where I've been before. It has changed.The walls are decorated with colourful paintings, and there are altars for Berta Cáceres, their former leader who was murdered in March 2016. Instead of a simple fence, the building is now being protected by a thick wall with barbed wire. There are security camera's everywhere.
I'm in green Guatemala. But despite the idyllic scenery, the green covers a lot of problems. This I discovered during a trip to the sugar cane plantations at the coast.