Down2Earth - Day 2
Down2Earth - Day 2
Some observations from yesterday's presentations:
Kanayo Felix Mwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) began his speech stating that poor people deal everyday with the challenges of agriculture, food and climate change and not with official statistics and growth numbers. He advocated for a new green agro-ecological revolution that:
* Includes small-scale farmers as partners, therefore land tenure issues must be solved, low input crops must the focus of attention and consequently ecological product chains
* Is evergreen, therefore the focus must be on agro-forestry, PES and scaling up successful agro-ecological approaches
* Must be knowledge-based and community-led, as top-down knowledge does not work and local and traditional knowledge is the key to sustainable natural resource management.
Louise O. Fresco, Professor Sustainable Development in International Perspective at the University of Amsterdam stressed that there should not be too much on climate change when addressing agriculture, as the challenges the world faces today would not be solved if the climate was not changing. However, climate change aggravates the global food security, poverty and environmental degradation. It is all about global change: human induced change on water, soil, nutrients and climate.
Robert Watson, Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia emphasised that agriculture is more than productivity, it is multifunctional and multi-sectoral and to achieve food security, it is critical that we put the small-scale farmer in the middle. People need to get affordable food and at the same time, the farmers need fair prices while seeking to sustainable and climate proof agriculture. To fulfil our food and energy needs while conserving current natural resources, intensification of agriculture, improvement of tenure systems, access to financing services for small-scale farmers, feminisation of agricultural extension services and ending of distorting trade systems are crucial elements.
Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International critiqued the new Dutch government as The Netherlands has a track record on international cooperation, women's and human rights and as a consequence of the plans of the new government The Netherlands might loose this position.
Today, I got very enthusiastic about the presentation of Dennis Garrity, the Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). He stated that there is a chronic underinvestment in agriculture research. He challenged the audience to imagine farmers that are producing their food crops under a canopy of trees that help the soils and crops, and that vision succeeded in smiles on the faces present. He displayed successful cases of evergreen agriculture (also known as or agro-forestry :) ). He ended his speech with: 'Small-scale farmers can green and cool the planet, let's given them our support!'
Another remarkable presentation was done by Ralph Ashton, convenor of the Terrestrial Carbon Group, which is an international group of specialists from science, economics, and public policy. A Rubik's cube and a woman who swallowed a horse played illustrative roles in his presentation showing that the solution for the challenges that the world is facing is not to focus on only one side of the cube and that solutions should not cause bigger problems. He presented his Roadmap for Action, consisting of 7 elements and a clear timeframe, stressing that NO new institutions needed to be established and that we have all the ingredients.
The foreseen outcome of this conference is a Roadmap for Action. Although this roadmap is going to be discussed by ministers, it will not be a negotiated document. Therefore, it is not (yet) clear in which process this Roadmap will fit in. Because of this unclarity is prevailing, CSOs present at the conference have defined 10 clear cut steppingstones for the Roadmap of Action that will be handed over with courtesy to government delegates.
Tomorrow more about this!
Read more about this subject
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Event / 23 March 2023, 09:00 - 11:00
Towards just water governance in Colombia; a dialogue on the Transformative Water Pact
Online side event at the UN Water conference in New York
This event will present The Transformative Water Pact (TWP), an innovative framework for water governance that has been developed by environmental justice experts from around the world. The TWP will serve as a starting point for dialogue between representatives of the government of Colombia, academia, regional and international NGOs in relation to Colombia's current ambitions in multi-scalar water governance.
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Event / 23 March 2023, 13:15 - 14:30
Making finance for gender just water and climate solutions a reality!
The UN Water Conference is an important event that brings together stakeholders from around the world to discuss water and climate solutions. This year, GAGGA is organizing a side event during the conference that you won't want to miss!
On Thursday March 23rd, from 1.15 -2.30 pm, GAGGA will present their commitment to support, finance, and promote locally rooted, gender just climate and water solutions within the Water Action Agenda. This event will inspire other stakeholders to join in their commitment, while presenting inspiring examples of such solutions presented by local women from Nepal, Kenya, Paraguay, Mexico, and Nigeria.
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Publication / 21 March 2023
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News / 21 March 2023
Agua es vida: Both ENDS and water governance
Water is literally life, the lifeblood of ecosystems, of nature, of humans. However, in many places the distribution and use of water is unjust and unsustainable. Water management is generally focused on short-term economic interests, on maximizing the profit of a well-connected few at the expense of people and nature. This dominant view of water and water management has its origins in the European industrial revolution, which became the global norm through colonialism and globalization. But according to Melvin van der Veen and Murtah Shannon, water experts at Both ENDS, this view will have to give way to equitable, sustainable and inclusive water management. Both ENDS cooperates with and supports communities and organisations worldwide who are working to this end.
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Press release / 20 March 2023
A Transformative Water Pact : A radical response to the global water governance crisis
Academics and civil society representatives from around the world came together to articulate an alternative vision and framework for water governance, in the run-up to the UN Water Conference 2023 in New York. The Transformative Water Pact was developed in response to the continued exploitation of nature, neglect of human rights and the extreme power-imbalances that characterize contemporary water governance throughout the world. It details an alternative vision of water governance based on the tenets of environmental justice, equality and care.
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Publication / 15 March 2023
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Publication / 15 March 2023
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Publication / 9 March 2023
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Press release / 9 March 2023
Dutch Pension funds do not vote in line with climate ambitions
Most Dutch pension funds and their asset managers do not vote consistently in favour of climate resolutions at the oil and gas companies and banks in which they invest. That is the conclusion of a report published today by Both ENDS and Groen Pensioen. Eleven of the twelve* Dutch pension funds studied have made public statements and pledges about adapting their policies in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. But their voting behaviour does not sufficiently correspond with these pledges. Only pension fund PME votes for 100% in line with its own climate promises.
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Publication / 9 March 2023
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Event / 5 March 2023, 13:00
Feminist March
On Sunday March 5 Both ENDS will be joining the Feminist March (called Women's March before). It starts at 1 PM at De Dam in Amsterdam.
With our block "Feminists for Climate Justice" we'll gather in front of Madame Tussauds.
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News / 4 March 2023
Op-ed: We can’t leave tackling the climate crisis to men
Make women and gender equality a priority in climate policy, wrote Rebecca Heuvelmans (Women Engage for a Common Future), Marjon Melissen (ActionAid), Esin Erdogan (Simavi), Annelieke Douma (Both Ends) and Eva Lia Colombo (Wo=men Dutch Gender Platform) in Dutch newspaper Trouw. Sunday March 5, they'll join the Feminist March in Amsterdam.
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Event / 2 March 2023, 14:00 - 15:30
Inclusive finance for land governance: A conversation with donors
Both ENDS and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to the fourth webinar in the Whose Land? Inclusive Pathways to Land Governance series. This fourth Whose Land? webinar will focus on the question: How can donors fund land governance initiatives through an inclusive process?
More information about this event is available on Landportal.org
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Letter / 28 February 2023
175 CSOs call on world leaders to end OECD export finance for oil and gas
This joint position launched by 175 civil society organisations from 45 countries calls on world leaders to end OECD export finance for oil and gas, and explains how it can be done.
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News / 20 February 2023
Almost 60 organisations send a letter about fossil export support to Dutch Parliament
Today, a letter, undersigned by almost 60 organisations from countries that face the consequences of fossil fuel projects or stand in solidarity, has been sent to the Dutch Members of Parliament. This Thursday, a debate about the export credit facility and the policies around it, will take place in the Dutch Parliament. The coalition calls upon Dutch politicians and policy makers to stand up against any form of export support for fossil fuel projects that are to be executed by Dutch companies abroad, expecially in the global South.
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Letter / 20 February 2023
Letter of international CSO's to Dutch Parliament: close gaps in Dutch policy on limiting public finance to fossil fuels
In October 2022, the Dutch government published a policy to implement the COP26 statement in which it promised to stop public finance for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of 2022 . The proposed policy, unfortunately, has quite some 'loopholes' that make it possible for the Dutch government to keep supporting large fossil projects abroad for at least another year. These projects often run for years and will have a negative impact on the countries where they take place for decades to come.
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News / 6 February 2023
Op-ed: Dutch construction project in the Philippines shows that voluntary corporate social responsibility doesn’t work
This op-ed was published in Dutch newspaper Trouw on the 3rd of February this year
Abuses committed during the construction of an airport in the Philippines show the urgent need for legislation on corporate social responsibility here in the Netherlands, say Murtah Shannon of Both ENDS and Maartje Hilterman of IUCN NL on behalf of a coalition of Dutch and Philippine organisations.
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News / 5 February 2023
Using Philanthropy, Advocacy and More to Shift Power
(This interview was published on January 18th in Inside Philantrophy)
Most people in philanthropy don't enter the sector because they have dreams of working in a financial institution. But that's exactly what they're doing. The philanthropic sector as we know it today was deliberately designed by the robber barons of the early 19th century as a response to extreme wealth inequality they created through exploitative labor practices in the oil, steel and shipping industries. Whether to genuinely make amends for the harms they created or to engage in reputation washing, the industrialists cornered the market on philanthropy, guarding against legal challenges to its tax shelter functionality and curtailing regulatory legislation that could induce democratic decision-making. Today, the value of philanthropy stands at about $2.3 trillion, which is 3% of the global economy.
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News / 10 January 2023
In Memoriam: Irene Dankelman
With pain in our hearts we say farewell to Irene Dankelman. She was pioneer in the field of gender and environment and one of the founders of Both ENDS.
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Video / 31 December 2022
Let's work together towards a green, just and healthy 2023!
At Both ENDS, we were happy to finally be able to meet many of our partners again in 2022. Although digital meetings are here to stay, they will never beat a live encounter every once in a while where we get to know each other's contexts, learn from each other and motivate and inspire one another.
But be it live or online, together we will work towards a green, just and healthy 2023!