Both ENDS at IUCN congress Barcelona
In cooperation with partners Both ENDS will organize multiple workshops at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. During the event from 5-14 October more than 8,000 of the world's leading decision makers in sustainable development: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia will share ideas and initiatives. Together they will debate, share, network, learn, commit, vote and decide. The objective: ideas, action and solutions for a diverse and sustainable world.
Because of the great diversity participants Both ENDS will focus on three important subjects: Gender and Biodiversity, Small Grants and Certifying Commodities. Both ENDS will also be present as a partner of Drynet.
Gender and biodiversity conservation and management: communicating a lost world?
Tuesday 7, October 2008, 11:30 - 13:00, room 122. Addressing gender inequity issues in biodiversity conservation and management as part of sustainable use of natural resources is crucial. Not only from the perspective of equality and social justice, but also because men and women have distinct attitudes, responsibilities and (traditional) knowledge related to biodiversity. Women play an important role in biodiversity management and conservation, but their representation and influence in decision-making structures is often limited.
The organizers (Both ENDS and Alterra in cooperation with ALTER-Net) welcome practitioners, researchers and policy makers to help us develop this strategy and share their views and experiences!
Small grants - Big changes: The case for investment in small grant schemes for financial support to projects in developing countries!
Wednesday 8, October 2008, 14:30 - 16:00, room 131. Topics which will be highlighted include: lessons from evaluated small grants programmes; some challenges of SG Funds (e.g. overhead costs, decision making, accountability, results & impact); what can be learned from development organisations receiving funding from their governments? What can be learned from Small Grants Funds in the USA which do not receive government funding? The purpose of the workshop is to engage and get feedback from bilateral and multilateral donors, such as the European Commission, and large foundations with respect to their own experiences and plans with regard to the promotion and funding of small grant schemes.
Convenors: Both ENDS and The World Bank (to be confirmed), the National Committee of the Netherlands for IUCN, the IUCN Regional Office for Europe and the French IUCN National Committee.
Certifying commodities, beauty or beast?
Thursday 9, October 2008, 14:30 - 16:00, room 119. Things have moved on in the last 4 years. International Roundtables have discussed what credible certification should look like, certified Palm Oil is on the market, the ISEAL Alliance has had considerable success in strengthening and promoting certification, local initiatives for standard setting have sprung up, and 'eco' labelled products are becoming increasingly prominent on our shelves. There is a need to review this topic and see how far we have come in answering some of the questions and challenges posed by the 2004 Congress, and to identify key areas for future improvement.
Convenors: Both ENDS and the National Committee of the Netherlands for IUCN.
Read more about this subject
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Dossier /Trade agreements
International trade agreements often have far-reaching consequences not only for the economy of a country, but also for people and the environment. It is primarily the most vulnerable groups who suffer most from these agreements.
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Dossier /International trade and investment with respect for people and planet
The network of international trade and investment treaties is large and complex. The Netherlands alone has signed more than 70 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and is party to the trade and investment agreements concluded by the EU, like the EU-Mercosur and EU-Indonesia trade deals.
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Dossier /Rights for People, Rules for Corporations – Stop ISDS!
Indigenous communities in Paraguay saw their attempts to regain their ancestral lands thwarted by German investors. In Indonesia, US-based mining companies succeeded to roll back new laws that were meant to boost the country’s economic development and protect its forests. This is the level of impact that investment treaties can have on social, environmental and economic development and rights. Why? Because of the ‘Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement’ clauses that are included in many such treaties.
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News / 15 October 2026ISDS infringement complaint filed with the European Commission
The Netherlands and Portugal join four other EU countries facing such a complaint.
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Press release / 15 October 2026Dutch and Portuguese organisations file EU complaint over investment treaties that let companies and sanctioned Russian oligarchs sue EU countries for compensation
The Netherlands and Portugal join four other EU countries facing such a complaint, as the Global Days of Action against Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) begin.
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Dossier /Dare to Trust: the power of unconditional funding
At Both ENDS we cherish our long-term relationships with partners in our global network. These relationships are based on equality and built on trust. The trust we have in each other has developed from years of strategic cooperation, including joint advocacy around common agendas, knowledge sharing, networking, and mobilising and sharing resources to advance environmental justice.
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Dossier /Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA)
GAGGA rallies the collective power of the women's rights and environmental justice movements to realize a world where women can and do access their rights to water, food security, and a clean, healthy and safe environment.
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News / 5 October 2026Rural Women's Assembly wins Right Livelihood Award
We are thrilled to share that our partner the Rural Women's Assembly (RWA) is one of this year's Right Livelihood Laureates! The award, often called the "Alternative Nobel Prize", honours RWA for bringing together more than 178,000 women farmers in eleven Southern African countries. Together, these women stand up for their land, their seeds and their right to make decisions about their own lives and bodies.
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News / 29 September 2026Summary - Both ENDS complaint under the EU-New Zealand trade agreement
On 29 September 2026, Both ENDS lodged the first complaint on climate grounds with the European Commission's Single Entry Point. It asks the Commission to examine whether Aotearoa New Zealand has broken two promises both sides made in the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: not to weaken or set aside environmental laws in order to encourage trade or investment, and to effectively implement the Paris Agreement.
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Publication / 29 September 2026
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Publication / 29 September 2026
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News / 29 September 2026Q&A: New Zealand's climate rollback and the EU trade agreement
On 29 September 2026 / 30 September in Aotearoa New Zealand, Both ENDS lodged a complaint with the European Commission under the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. These are the questions we are asked most often, and our answers. The complaint summary, the case explainer and the key public sources are linked at the end of this page.
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News / 29 September 2026What happens now? A timeline of the SEP Case
What happens now? On 29 September 2026 / 30 September in Aotearoa New Zealand, Both ENDS lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission. It is the first complaint to the EU's Single Entry Point on environmental and climate grounds. It asks the Commission to hold New Zealand to two promises it made in its trade agreement with the EU: not to weaken environmental protection to encourage trade or investment, and not to undermine the Paris Agreement on climate change.
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Press release / 29 September 2026New Zealand faces its first climate complaint under EU trade rules
UTRECHT / WELLINGTON, 29 September 2026 /30 September in Aotearoa New Zealand
Both ENDS, a Dutch environmental justice organisation, has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission arguing that New Zealand has broken the climate promises it made in its free trade agreement with the European Union. It is the first complaint on environmental and climate grounds under the Commission's Single Entry Point, the mechanism that lets civil society ask the EU to enforce the sustainability commitments in its trade agreements.
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News / 10 September 2026Rutu Foundation receives UNESCO Literacy Prize for multilingual education
Both ENDS’ partner the Rutu Foundation for Intercultural Multilingual Education has been awarded the 2026 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize for its language friendly school programme. This prestigious prize recognises the importance of multilingual education and the right of children to learn in an environment where their home languages are valued.
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News / 7 September 2026Unprecedented criminal conviction in the Mariana disaster case breaks mining industry's cycle of impunity
A Brazilian federal court has, for the first time, criminally convicted a mining company and three of its managers for their role in the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam, one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazil's history. Our partner Instituto Cordilheira, which represented victims as assistant prosecutors in the case, calls it a historic breakthrough after years of impunity.
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Dossier /Communities Regreen the Sahel
In various countries in the Sahel, vast tracts of land have been restored by the local population by nurturing what spontaneously springs from the soil and protecting the sprouts from cattle and hazards.
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News / 3 September 2026Restoring Land, Restoring Hope: Both ENDS at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia
From 17 to 28 August, governments gathered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for COP17 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). At stake was more than how the world responds to land degradation and drought. It was also a question of who gets to shape land restoration, whose knowledge counts, and where the money goes.
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Letter / 14 July 2026
Statement on CAO Cambodia Microfinance Case
The independent complaints mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank Group found that the IFC violated its own Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework by investing in six banks providing microfinance in Cambodia.
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News / 6 July 2026Strengthening Women's Land Rights Across the Rio Conventions
From 29 June – 2 July 2026, Tamara Mohr, GAGGA coordinator at Both ENDS participated in the 4th convening of the Women's Land Rights Initiative (WLRI) in Nairobi, Kenya.Hosted by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, TMG Research and the Huairou Commission, the event brought together grassroots organisations, (inter)national NGOs, government institutions and donors from around the world.
