Shutter the lives of the affected communities
Shutter the lives of the affected communities
The loss of the usually fertile riverine soils land and rich biodiversity vegetation combined with changes in climate have made their present lives even worse, wishing they had known what was about to befall them before they lost their livelihoods by giving their fertile rich soils land for the dam.
Having been thrown away from the river, unable to easily access water and wood from the rich riverine vegetation and rich soils, women are now struggling to be able to cultivate and produce enough to feed their families from the poor, stony, erosion prone hillsides plots of land they received in place of their down the river Nile rich soils. They use so much energy and so much time and need much land of those poor soils to produce so little - not enough to support their families.
They walk long distances and take more time with many resulting social and health problems to get water home. Less rain and long droughts mean that they have to look for water most of the time in the year. Maintaining their hygiene is becoming difficult.
They also walk long distances and take a lot more time to the only "nearby'' Mabira forest (5km) to get fire wood to cook their food. Fewer meals are now cooked and easy to cook but less nutritive value foods are preferred due to lack of energy to cook the would be nutritive foods. "Given chance to go back to my former land, I would go running. I would rather live in my earlier grass thatched house than live in this brick house with a lot of suffering I am now going through" say Christine Nabwire one of the Naminya resettled community.
Women and girl children in the affected communities of Naminya resettlement, Malindi, Buloba and Kikubamutwe, have while on these long distances through thick and isolated sugarcane plantations to get firewood, experienced untold suffering. They have been raped, young girl children defiled, some times beaten if they resist and their firewood confiscated by the forest rangers or bad elements a long the long way between them and the forest.
Consequently they have suffered STDs in this era of HIV/AIDS, produced fatherless children, girl children dropping out of school due to pregnancies of rape and defilement and forced to become mother children (children mothering children.)
The Bujagali dam forcing them to poor stony easily eroded hillside soils, together with the prevailing harsh climate change conditions (less rain and long droughts) have only aggravated their conditions from bad to worse - an opposite of what they were told and promised by the Bujagali dam promoters. For sure, this is not the development to be - the dam claims to bring to the people.
Worse still, they don't see a ray of hope ahead. The electricity they were promised since 8 years now, the piped water among others never seem to come their way and climate changes are becoming worse each day that passes.
To these peoples life will never be the same again, it's lost and their livelihoods crushed. The search for energy should not come at this cost.
By Robert Kugonza - robertk@nape.or.ug
Coordinator, - African Rivers Network
c/o NAPE, P.O.Box, 29099, Kampala.
National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) is a NGO partner of Both ENDS
www.nape.or.ug
Posted by Both ENDS:
In addition to this article, please watch this artistic movie that tells the story of a local who lives on one of the beautiful islands in the Nile. This man is forced to leave his home, because of the constructions of the Bujagali dam in Uganda. A documentary from Baobabconnections:
Read more about this subject
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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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Publication / 23 May 2023
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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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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.
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News / 18 April 2023
The Future We See - dialogues about sustainable and just global systems
In these uncertain times of accumulating national, international and global crises, we need hope and inspiration more than ever. Fortunately, many hopeful ideas and initiatives are already existing that show that it is indeed possible to change the world - and especially the systems behind it - in a sustainable and fair way. What opportunities are to be found, what is hopeful, what is already happening and how can we, as the Netherlands, respond to this?
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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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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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Letter / 22 March 2023
Suggestions to the CRM Act appreciations for the Dutch government
While the energy transition via renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy, is fundamental to reduce EU CO2 emissions, we are concerned with the impacts it will have on the (geo-political) economy, people and environment. Our collaboration with civil society organisations in the Global South over the past 30 years has shown us that the patterns of consumption by rich countries, such as the Netherlands and the EU in general, have a devastating impact on people and the environment in mainly Africa, South-America and South-East Asia.
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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
Authors note rectification 13 April 2023
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