Opinion: "Sustainable land use needs radical policy change"
Today, an op-ed by Nathalie van Haren and Stefan Schüller was published in the Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant about the IPCC's latest report "Climate Change and Land". Below you find the English translation.
Read the Dutch version on the website of De Volkskrant.
The IPCC's latest report, which was published last Thursday, is dealing with the current dominant model of land use. The Dutch media have managed to quickly simplify the solutions proposed by the report to "We consumers must eat less meat." The IPCC report, however, proposes a range of fundamental solutions that go far beyond eating or not eating meat, and specifies how we should proceed to speed up the transition to sustainable land use.
The report confirms that around the world, there are sustainable land use methods in place that show that food can be grown while taking climate change and healthy soils into account. These production methods are successful because local land users have a central role, so that the methods fit within the social and ecological context. This leads to a diverse range of sustainable, locally-driven initiatives such as agroforestry in Costa Rica, the harvesting of non-timber forest products in India and small-scale rooibos tea from South Africa. Closer to home there are food forests such as Ketelbroek near Groesbeek, about which de Volkskrant recently wrote.
Regreening the Sahel
A strong example of sustainable land use that responds to the challenges of climate change is the regreening of the Sahel. Farmers (f / m) and nomadic livestock farmers in Niger, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso have shown that by protecting trees and bushes, that spontaneously sprout from the soil, against dangers such as grazing cattle and desert winds, desertification can be turned around and the soil recovers. This way food can be grown again in the dry Sahel. Not only do the trees bear fruit for the farmers' own use or for the market, they also provide shade help manage the groundwater levels, which is good for the yield of the fields between the trees, helps livestock survive and prevents further land degradation.
The core message of the IPCC is that sustainable forms of agriculture focus on local land users. Local support and land rights are crucial. After all, if people have control and certainty over their land use and see that what they do is bearing fruit, they will invest more time and energy in trees and soil fertility.
Negative impacts of Dutch policies
Governments, international companies, banks and investment funds should therefore support these local initiatives instead of investing in large-scale solutions designed and imposed from a head office. And that offers a challenge for the Netherlands, far beyond the simple recommendation to eat less meat. Our agricultural and foreign trade and investment policies currently have a major negative impact on people and the environment around the world. The Netherlands is one of the largest importers of soy (for animal feed) and palm oil (for food, cosmetics and cleaning products) in the world. Its production leads to large-scale deforestation, land degradation and water pollution in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, and puts great pressure on local communities that manage their land sustainably. In the light of this IPCC report, Dutch diplomatic support for the "soy corridor" in Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil is an incomprehensible choice.
Local land users worldwide, with their various methods of sustainable land use, show us how things can be done differently. With the IPCC report at hand, policymakers inside and outside the Netherlands can feel supported to realise a true transition to fair and sustainable land use, which will keep the earth livable, now and in the future.
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Read more about this subject
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Dossier
The merits of community-based restoration
Globally, the area that is suffering desertification and land degradation is ever expanding. Unsustainable and often large-scale agricultural practices, including the copious use of pesticides and fertilisers, are a major driver of land degradation, aprocess that is further exacerbated by climate change, causing more erratic rainfall patterns, longer periods of drought and unpredictable growing seasons. This is very problematic not only for the hundreds of millions of people who directly depend on land and water for their livelihoods, but also for life on earth as a whole. It is clear that this process must be stopped and reversed, better sooner than later. But how to go about it?
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Alternative
Inclusive Land Governance
Both ENDS works with partners around the world to ensure that land is governed fairly and inclusively and managed sustainably with priority for the rights and interests of local communities.
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Alternative
Regreening
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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Publication / 11 July 2019
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Event / 6 September 2019, 13:00 - 15:00
UNCCD COP14: Communities regreen the Sahel
At the UNCCD COP14 in India, which is taking place from 2-13 September 2019, Both ENDS is co-organising a number of side events.
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Dossier
Inclusive ways to sustainable and healthy food for all
All around the world small-scale farmers are using sustainable and inclusive methods to produce food. Working together with nature and each other, they provide their families and communities with sufficient and healthy food. But their production methods are under pressure from large-scale agriculture and the globally dominant system of industrial food production. Together with our partners, Both ENDS is trying to turn the tide in favour of sustainable, local practices that are mostly known as 'agro-ecological' or 'nature-inclusive'. Why are we focusing on these methods, ? Agro-ecological practices are climate-proof and inclusive and increase the opportunities for communities around the world to produce their food sustainably.
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News / 18 March 2022
International Forests Day: the importance of forests for livelihoods and a healthy environment
Today is International Day of Forests. An ever more important day, as the amount of forest and forested area's on this globe is shrinking at a fast pace. One the main causes is our ever increasing demand for products such as soy and palm oil from area's that have been deforested for their cultivation. The current proposed EU-deforestation law to prevent this, is not strict enough and does not include the protection of other crucial natural areas such as grasslands, savannas and swamps, as well as the human rights of the millions of people living in these area's. During these past few weeks we therefore participated in the campaign #Together4Forests, calling on citizens to send a letter to their own responsible ministers. The campaign paid off: almost 54,000 letters were sent to European ministers across the European Union, demanding a strict forest law that guarantees the import of only deforestation-free products in Europe.
To celebrate this International Day of Forests, we would like to emphasise the great value of forests and other natural areas, directly or indirectly, for the livelihoods of at least 2 billion people. Below, we selected some examples that show how, throughout the world, local communities use many different ways to collect and produce food and other natural products in a sustainable way, while protecting and restoring the forests and forested area's they are so dependent upon.
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News / 17 June 2021
Celebrating community led initiatives on World Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Day
Today is World Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Day. Such a day is more than needed to get attention for desertification, land degradation and drought that are threatening and hitting hundreds of millions of people in many regions throughout the world. While the causes - such as large-scale agriculture, use of pesticides, water extraction and climate change - are clear and need to be stopped, it is just as important to focus on solutions like restoration and sustainable land use.– in line with World Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought Day's theme for this year: 'Restoration. Land. Recovery. We build back better with healthy land', we will therefore especially focus on inspiring solutions during the next few weeks.
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News / 15 March 2021
How well is the Netherlands progressing in achieving the SDGs?
In 2015, the United Nations instigated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These seventeen interrelated goals are intended to result, by 2030, in a better, fairer and more sustainable world in which no one is left behind. As a member of the UN, the Netherlands is committed to promote the SDGs and every year Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the central government publish reports on the progress made. The initiators of 'SDG Spotlight Nederland' however believe that there is a need for an annual report on the Netherlands' performance on specific SDGs from a different perspective. Fiona Dragstra and Stefan Schuller of Both ENDS contributed to the report on 2020 and tell us here why they think it is so important.
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Event / 26 April 2022, 10:00 - 11:30
How can civil society actors ensure inclusivity in their land governance work with communities?
Both ENDS and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to the first webinar in the Whose Land? - Inclusive Pathways to Land Governance series, which aims to provide a platform for stakeholders engaged in land governance to exchange on the importance of inclusivity and meaningful participation of all relevant actors in both formal and informal land governance processes.
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News / 10 August 2021
Opinion: The genie will escape from the bottle if we don’t change our approach to nature
As a response to the latest IPCC report, the directors of IUCN NL, Tropenbos International, Wetlands International, Both ENDS and the Institute for Environmental Security wrote an op-ed about the role nature policy can and should play in stopping climate change, which was published in Dutch in De Volkskrant of August 10, 2021. Below, you find the English translation of the article.
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Publication / 7 March 2022
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News / 14 March 2021
Vote for the Climate!
A number of our colleagues at Both ENDS made a lot of noise at various locations around the country today, as part of the national Klimaatalarm (Climate Alarm) campaign. Annelieke Douma gave a short speech in Haarlem on the major role played by the Netherlands in climate change and environmental degradation beyond our borders. She made a number of suggestions that would immediately make Dutch foreign policy a lot more climate-friendly. Below is the text of her speech.
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Event / 12 September 2019, 08:00 - 10:00
UNCCD COP14: From global frameworks to local actions
At the UNCCD COP14 in India, which is taking place from 2-13 September 2019, Both ENDS is co-organising a number of side events.
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Publication / 8 April 2019
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News / 20 June 2021
Organic wild rooibos in South Africa’s dryland
South Africa is the home of rooibos, an ancient, health giving herbal infusion, discovered thousands of years ago by the KhoiSan, indigenous peoples of the Southern part of Africa. During the last century, rooibos has been increasingly commercialised, mainly by white South African farmers who produce it on a very large scale, causing environmental damage, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. Fortunately, small-scale, environmentally sound and community-led rooibos cultivation initiatives also exist. Our long-standing South African partner Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG) has, for more than two decades, been involved in this type of rooibos cultivation with the communities in the Suid Bokkeveld, in the western part of South Africa. Although it was not always easy, Noel Oettle, senior advisor at EMG, thinks this way of producing is the future.
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News / 10 May 2022
Lobbying for local and sustainable practices during the UNCCD summit
From May 9 to 20, the 15th Conference of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (UNCCD COP15) will take place in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire. Governments, policymakers, civil society organisations and scientists from countries all over the world will discuss the problems around drought, land degradation and desertification that are increasing. Colleagues Nathalie van Haren and Stefan Schüller will be there, as will a large number of representatives of organisations with which Both ENDS has been working together for decades. But what is the purpose of the meeting, what is discussed and why is it important to be present? We asked Nathalie and Stefan.
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Event / 27 September 2019, 13:00
Climate Strike
On Friday 27 September, Both ENDS joins the Dutch Climate Strike and the march in The Hague.
This way we let our government know that there is no more time to waste and that it must take significant action in all policy areas to stop climate change.
More information on the Dutch Climate Strike can be found on https://klimaatstaking.nl/english/
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Event / 10 March 2019, 13:00 - 16:00
Climate March Amsterdam
On Sunday the 10th of March 2019 Both ENDS will be taking part in what is expected to become the largest climate march in The Netherlands as of yet. The march is organised by Milieudefensie, Greenpeace, Oxfam Novib, FNV, De Goede Zaak and the Woonbond and supported by Both ENDS and a large number of diverse civil society organisations. Together, we demand a safe future for ourselves, our children and for all people whose lives have already been or will soon be made almost impossible because of the effects of climate change such as droughts, disease, floods or food shortages.
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Publication / 14 January 2019