Leonie Wezendonk: Lobbying at the Green Climate Fund
Leonie Wezendonk: Lobbying at the Green Climate Fund
But how do we get the board members to listen to the message of 'direct access for local actors'? It’s my first time at a meeting like this, and I’m not the only ‘green’ delegate. Most of our group members have not been at a UNFCCC or another climate convention before, so we could use some strategic advice. Therefore on Monday, our first day in Berlin, we had a brilliant meeting where we learned how to get this message heard by the board members.
We learned about the importance of finding out what the current positions and needs of the GCFs board members are. Knowing what WE want is one thing, but just shouting the message is not enough. We already have an idea of the positions of our “own” board members (from the Philippines, Benin, Colombia, India and Netherlands) but now we should also find out what THEY are struggling with. How can we help them? If we offer them a so-called ‘win-win solution’, they will surely ask for our e-mail addresses and want further advice!
We also need to know more about the power balances within the board; who are the powerful parties? Which board members are in favour of direct access? Which members are completely against it and who are the ones we can still convince?
And if we know this, HOW should we spread the message? With good examples! We should bombard the board members with local experiences of what works - and of course what doesn’t. Stories told by Ken, Chy, Pratim and Jorge, stories from their own experience. Those are the examples that stick in our head. And if they stick in ours, they will most likely stick in the board members’ heads too.
Ken Kinney, for instance, is de director of the Development Institute (DI), an NGO in Ghana. He and his organisation obtained $25.000 from the so-called Global Environment Facility (GEF) for a biodiversity project in a mountain area in Ghana. This was only half of what he actually needed to conduct the project. The other $25.000 ('co-finance') had to be raised by the community, which unfortunately is always the case for GEF-projects that support communities.
The money was not found, so Ken had to do the best he could with half the budget, making the project much less efficient than it could have been. As finding co-finance often turns out to be impossible for local communities, this example shows that co-finance for local projects is NOT an option in the design of the GCF.
Today, armed with examples like these, we are putting into practice what we learned. Focus our lobby message, come up with specific stories for specific Board Members, and of course do whatever we can to meet them in the corridors to actually tell these stories and get them interested. And then hopefully by the next Board meeting in June direct access to the Green Climate Fund will already have been adopted!
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Event / 28 September 2023, 16:00 - 17:30
The Future We See - Food Systems
What does a food system look like that serves the well-being of people and the planet?
While agriculture and livestock food production in the world have become increasingly large-scale, industrial and ever more efficient for decades, the damage and inequality this food system causes is also becoming increasingly clear. Across the world, more and more people are therefore engaged in alternative, sustainable food production that ensures many generations to come to still have access to fertile, healthy land and clean water.
In this talkshow, we highlight some of these examples and hope to fuel the dialogue about this topic.
Speakers:
- Rosinah Mbenya - PELUM Kenya (via Zoom)
- Matt Canfield - University of Leiden
- Ida Simonsen - Dutch UN Youth Representative Biodiversity and Food
- Caring Farmers - t.b.c.
Moderator
Farid Tabarki - Studio Zeitgeist
Inspired? Join our 'The Future We See' - talkshow on September 28th! You can either attend live or online, quietly listen or actively participate in the discussion - or during the drinks afterwards. We hope to see you there!
Get your free tickets for the liveshow (limited!) or to join online here!
Also take a look at our previous session
To get a glimpse of the atmosphere, see a short video of our last session (about economic systems): https://youtu.be/AUNGcROovnc
And to dive in a little deeper, watch this compilation: https://youtu.be/nzuwIREeiNo
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News / 21 September 2023
Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action supports the African People’s Counter COP
Six out of nine planetary boundaries have been crossed (Stockholm Resilience Centre) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that the world is likely to breach global temperature of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels between now and 2027. COP28 is the moment of the first Global Stocktake, which means the assessment of where we are at in reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement.
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News / 18 September 2023
Empowering women for sustainable change in Liberia
In the heart of Liberia, the Western Region Women Network Association (WERWONA) is scripting a story of resilience, advocacy, and transformation. This journey began in September 2022 when WERWONA, supported by Both ENDS's partner Sustainable Development Institute, embarked on a mission to empower women leaders and communities in Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, and Gbarpolu counties to reclaim their rights to land and natural resources. This shows how the partnership between Both ENDS and local organisations is driving positive change in Liberia.
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News / 11 September 2023
Our director Danielle Hirsch will stand as a candidate for the Dutch parliament
Danielle Hirsch, our director, is running as candidate for GroenLinks-PvdA in the parliamentary elections in November this year.
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News / 24 August 2023
Recognition of the transformative work of the ILED Network by GEF
A wave of international recognition is shedding light on the valuable role that indigenous communities play in looking after our planet's most vital ecosystems. Last night in Vancouver, two of our partners won a grant in the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program: the ILED Network and AIDER (Peru). Our colleague Eva Schmitz was present to receive the prize on behalf of the ILED Network.
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News / 17 July 2023
Counter summit in Brussels: civil society organisations call for sustainable and fair trade
On 17 and 18 July, representatives of the governments of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union meet in Brussels for the EU-CELAC summit. The European Commission and several EU Member States want to use this moment to accelerate the ratification of the trade and investment treaties between the EU and Mexico, the EU and Chile and the EU and the South American Mercosur countries*.
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Letter / 26 June 2023
Letter to EU governments on the GSP reform
CSO reject EU policy reform that would legalize EU trade sanctions against developing countries, based on their migration policies
An important trade and development policy tool of the EU is the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which allows developing countries to export goods to the EU at low or no tariffs. The current GSP Regulation is to expire end of this year.
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Publication / 23 June 2023
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News / 15 June 2023
How Agroecological Logbooks empower women farmers in Brazil
In the Jenipapo community, in the north-east region of the Caatinga Biome in Brazil, farmer Fátima Maria dos Santos runs her farm. Fátima is applying the principles of agroecology on her farm by having a cistern that collects rainwater, retaining native vegetation and developing an agroforestry system that comprises of native and fruit trees and crops and medical plants. Fátima is also one of the first farmers to be part of the 'Caderneta Agroecológica' or 'Agroecological Logbook' initiative, that stimulates women farmers to monitor their food production. This way, they get more insights about the value of production for the family, about monetary and non-monetary benefits and the preservation of soil health and biodiversity.
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News / 15 June 2023
Biocultural corridors to restore the La Plata Basin
Even a region like the South American La Plata Basin, known for it's majestic rivers and wetlands, is struggling with drought. A group of organisations united in the Wetlands without Borders network strive to turn the tide.
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News / 15 June 2023
Combating drought by protecting saplings
Koussanar, in eastern Senegal, is a small town that is expanding rapidly, surrounded by villages still rooted in rural and nomadic life. The region is hot and dry, which is exacerbated by climate change. The soil in the region is also dry and often exhausted due to a combination of factors such as unsustainable agricultural practices, (peanut) monoculture, intensive agriculture, forest fires and overgrazing. Today, however, the region's farmers and nomadic pastoralists take a different approach. They are working towards a better future by committing to the restoration of degraded land using Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR).
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News / 14 June 2023
Both ENDS’s partners combat land degradation and drought
For decades, the local partner organisations of Both ENDS have been developing and promoting ways to fight land degradation, desertification and drought in their surroundings. And this accounts not only for regions like the Sahel, but also for forests and wetlands. To celebrate the UNCCD's Desertification and Drought Day 2023, we'd like to show a few examples of how our partners restore ecosystems to serve the well-being of people and the environment.
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Publication / 25 May 2023
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Event / 25 May 2023, 16:00 - 17:30
The Future We See: economic systems
What does an economy look like that serves the well-being of people and the planet?
A wide range of great ideas about a transition to sustainable and just economic systems already exist, including ways to get there and examples that show that it is really possible. In this talkshow, we highlight some of these examples and hope to fuel the dialogue about this topic.
Inspired? Join our 'The Future We See' - talkshow on May 25th! You can either attend live or online, quietly listen or actively participate in the discussion. We hope to see you there!
Get your free tickets for the liveshow (limited!) or to join online here!
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Press release / 23 May 2023
60th anniversary of Dutch bilateral investment treaties no cause for celebration
On 23 May, the Netherlands celebrates 60 years of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The first BIT was signed with Tunisia in 1963. These treaties were intended to make an important contribution to protecting foreign investments by Dutch companies. A study by SOMO, Both ENDS and the Transnational Institute (TNI), however, shows that in practice they mainly give multinationals a powerful instrument that has far-reaching consequences people and the environment worldwide.
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Publication / 23 May 2023
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Letter / 4 May 2023
Letter from NGOs to Dutch export credit agency: CSR policy must be strengthened
The Dutch government, through its export credit agency Atradius DSB (ADSB), provides export support to companies that undertake activities abroad. The state wants projects it insures to have no negative consequences for people and the environment and therefore sets requirements for corporate social responsibility (CSR). A consultation on CSR policy ran until the end of April, to which a coalition of thirteen social organisations from the Netherlands and abroad, including Both ENDS and Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth the Netherlands), responded.
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News / 4 May 2023
18 reasons for a Dutch agricultural policy with an international perspective
Our manifesto "The Dutch Agriculture Agreement reaches further than the Netherlands: offer prospects for sustainable farmers and consumers worldwide" has now been signed by over 70 civil society organisations, agricultural organisations and companies, environmental organisations and scientists from around the world. Below, a few of them give their personal motivation why they support the manifesto.
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Publication / 24 April 2023
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Press release / 21 April 2023
Manifesto: The Netherlands can reduce its international footprint with new Agricultural Agreement
The Dutch Agriculture Agreement, which is currently under development, is too much focused solely on the Netherlands. That is the opinion of a broad coalition of more than sixty NGOs, farmers' organisations, scientists and companies that have today sent an urgent letter to agriculture minister Piet Adema and foreign trade and development minister Liesje Schreinemacher. The government's agricultural policy should also aim to reduce the Netherlands' enormous agrarian footprint beyond our borders, by taking food security and the preservation of biodiversity as its starting points. The coalition has published a manifesto in which it sets out how reform of the Netherlands' foreign agricultural policy could be given shape.