Overview of Both ENDS events at COP30 in Belem, Brazil
Both ENDS is present at COP30 to advocate for genuine access to climate finance for locally led, gender-just climate solutions, and for the mechanisms that make these possible, including those supporting farmer-led restoration. The organisation also engages to highlight the crucial connection between climate negotiations and the trade and investment frameworks that shape them.
Below is an overview of the Both ENDS team at COP30 and a detailed look at the activities and side-events in which Both ENDS will participate.
November 11th, 15.00-16.30 (Room 7) – Blue Zone
From pledges to locally-led climate action: gender-just indigenous solutions to end deforestation
Co-hosted with the Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA), this event showcases Indigenous and women-led forest and climate solutions that are already halting deforestation and restoring ecosystems. It facilitates dialogues between community leaders, policy makers and funds, calling for direct, equitable finance to scale these locally led, gender-just models and turn global pledges into measurable community action. (Both ENDS is one of the alliance members of GAGGA).
November 15th, 15.00–16.30 (Room 7) - Blue Zone
Exiting ISDS: Phasing Out a Major Obstacle to Climate Action
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) enables corporations to sue governments over climate policies, creating a major barrier to the energy transition. We are launching a global initiative from COP30 to COP31 to phase out ISDS and align investment rules with climate goals. Featuring speakers from civil society and governments across Colombia, Honduras, Uganda, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, this coalition will champion a just framework that prioritizes people and the planet. Co-organize by Both ENDS and partner SEATINI (Uganda).
November 17th, 13.15-16.00, Canada Pavillion, Blue Zone
Canada’s Climate Finance for Global South Grassroots Action
Women’s rights organizations, women-led community organizations, and feminist movements are designing and delivering solutions that tackle the climate crisis on multiple fronts. With deep ties to their communities, they offer context-specific solutions that are built to last. Their focus on root causes means they have the ability to advance climate solutions, gender equality, and human rights simultaneously. And they get concrete results that improve lives. With funding from the Government of Canada, organizations like the Equality Fund, the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, and KAIROS support this grassroots, transformative climate action. (Both ENDS is one of the alliance members of GAGGA)
November 18th, 16.00-17.30 (Global South House, Canto Co-Working Space, in Belem Town)
Feminist funding for climate, economic justice and resilience: Successful approaches from the ground
This event, co-organized by GAGGA partners Tierra Viva and the Rural Women's Assembly, alongside Fundo Agbara and Instituto Baixada Maranhense, GAGGA will explore successful approaches to funding local feminist climate and economic justice initiatives. What strategies have proven effective, why do they work, and how can funders better strengthen and build upon these grassroots models? The discussion will be grounded in the experiences of local voices from Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines and Central America. (Both ENDS is one of the alliance members of GAGGA).
> This event is invitee-only
November 19th, 13:15-14:45 (Room 3) – Blue Zone
Scaling Locally-Led Land Restoration for Climate, Community and Food System Resilience in the Sahel: from local success to global influence
Co-organized by SECS (Sudan), ENDA-TM and IED Afrique (Senegal), SPONG (Burkina Faso) and Both ENDS (Netherlands), this event will showcase inspiring community-led restoration and adaptation initiatives across the Sahel that are restoring degraded lands, strengthening food systems, and building climate resilience.
Through concrete experiences from local leaders and organisations, and a panel discussion with expert stakeholders, the session will explore barriers and opportunities to ensuring that global policy and financing frameworks truly enable the scale-up of these proven, locally-rooted solutions.
November 20th, 10:00-11:30 (UK Pavillion, Blue Zone)
Exploring the Conflict, Gender, Climate Nexus: policies and financing for a locally led approach
At the intersection of climate change, conflict, and rising authoritarianism, women and girls face disproportionate impacts, including increased violence and diminished resources. Strengthening women's leadership is vital to building resilience and peace.
Join GAGGA and frontline women leaders for a critical dialogue on unlocking policies and finance for a locally-led approach. This session will feature new FCDO-supported research and firsthand accounts to provide donors with concrete recommendations for supporting gender-just climate action in the world's most vulnerable contexts. (Both ENDS is one of the alliance members of GAGGA)
November 20th, 10:00 à 11:00 (Senegal Pavillion, Blue Zone)
Communities Regreen the Sahel: Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) for climate resilient landscapes, communities and food systems
Co-organized by IED Afrique (Senegal), SPONG (Burkina Faso) and Both ENDS (Netherlands), this session will explore how community-led land restoration and inclusive governance can strengthen food security and resilience — key priorities under the Global Goal on Adaptation and broader COP30 agenda on climate-resilient food systems. Drawing on local experiences from across the Sahel, the discussion will bring together practitioners, researchers and policymakers to examine how restoring degraded lands and empowering communities contribute to climate action, and how policy and finance mechanisms can unlock the enabling conditions to scale these approaches.
For more details about GAGGA’s full program: https://gaggaalliance.org/cop30/
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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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Dossier /Gas in Mozambique
In 2011 one of the world’s largest gas reserves was found in the coastal province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of Mozambique. A total of 35 billion dollars has been invested to extract the gas. Dozens of multinationals and financiers are involved in these rapid developments. It is very difficult for the people living in Cabo Delgado to exert influence on the plans and activities, while they experience the negative consequences. With the arrival of these companies, they are losing their land.
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News / 27 november 2025Communities and International Consortium Present Community-Led Plan for Nature-Based Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise in Coastal Bangladesh
Local communities in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh—together with an international consortium including Uttaran, CEGIS, and Both ENDS—have presented a community-led plan to confront climate change and accelerating sea-level rise through nature-based adaptation. The People’s Plan for Upscaling Ecosystem-Based Adaptation outlines a scalable strategy rooted in local ownership and generations of lived experience. At its centre is Community-Based Tidal River Management (CBTRM), a proven approach that reduces waterlogging, raises land elevation, and restores ecological balance by working with natural tidal and sediment dynamics.
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Blog / 25 november 2025COP30 shows why dismantling ISDS is essential for real climate action
Standing in Belém during COP30, I felt the weight of the moment. We came to the Amazon hoping for decisive progress on phasing out fossil fuels, yet the final outcome fell far short of the ambition science and justice demand. The agreement brought welcome commitments on adaptation finance and global indicators, but it refused to confront the structural forces that make climate action so difficult.
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Dossier /Wetlands without Borders
With our Wetlands without Borders program, we work towards environmentally sustainable and socially responsible governance of the wetlands system of the La Plata Basin in South America.
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Environmentally Just Practice /Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs)
About one in every six people, particularly women, directly rely on forests for their lives and livelihoods, especially for food. This shows how important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and forests are to ensure community resilience. Not only as a source of food, water and income, but also because of their cultural and spiritual meaning.
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News / 5 november 2025Interview: Both ENDS at COP30 for Climate Justice and Systemic Change
Both ENDS is present at COP30 to advocate for genuine access to climate finance for locally led, gender-just climate solutions and the mechanisms that facilitate this, including those for farmer-led restoration. Furthermore, the organisation participates to ensure the crucial connection between the climate negotiations and the trade and investment frameworks that shape them.
Learn more about the Both ENDS team at COP30 below, and find all the activities and side-events in which Both ENDS will participate.
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News / 14 oktober 2025Communities regreening the Sahel: strengthening resilience from the ground up
How can communities in the Sahel strengthen their food systems in the face of climate change and other shocks? Through the ARFSA Programme, Both ENDS and its partners SPONG (Burkina Faso), CRESA/INRAN (Niger) and IED Afrique (Senegal) are working together to show that locally led landscape restoration works. -
Publication / 9 oktober 2025
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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 /Amplifying environmentally just practices
Because of the close relationship with their living environment, local communities often have the best ideas for the sustainable and equitable use and governance of land, water and forests. These environmentally just practices and processes successfully protect and restore ecosystems and address climate change. They are essential in the light of the multiple crises the world faces, but are in dire need of financial and policy support.
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Publication / 2 oktober 2025
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News / 23 september 2025With the undemocratic splitting of the EU-Mercosur deal, Europe is missing the chance to lead on fair trade
Recently, many newspapers have written about Brussels’ rush to finalize the trade agreement between the EU and the South American Mercosur countries. According to the European Commission, national parliaments do not need to approve it because the trade part and the “political” part have been separated. This “splitting” means that the trade part can be approved as an EU-only decision by the European Council and the European Parliament, while national parliaments are sidelined and the political-cooperation part is postponed. Both ENDS and its partners are deeply concerned and are calling on the Dutch government to vote against this outdated agreement.
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Dossier /Soy: trade in deforestation
The rising demand for soy is having negative consequences for people and the environment in South America. Both ENDS reminds Dutch actors in the soy industry of their responsibilities and is working with partners on fair and sustainable alternatives.
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News / 9 september 2025Simplification Must Not Mean Weakening: Why the EUDR and other Environmental Legislation Must Stay Strong
Both ENDS warns that the current debate on “simplification” of EU environmental law must not become an excuse to weaken or postpone urgently needed safeguards. In earlier contributions to the drafting of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Both ENDS relayed the voices of local and Indigenous forest-dependent peoples, who consistently urged the EU to take responsibility for the massive deforestation linked to European imports. They underlined how this deforestation destroys biodiversity, undermines climate stability, and erodes their rights, livelihoods and cultures.
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Dossier /Towards a socially and environmentally just energy transition
To address the climate crisis we need to urgently transition away from fossil fuels towards clean, renewable energy. However, this transition is not only about changing energy sources. It requires an inclusive and fair process that tackles systemic inequalities and demanding consumption patterns, prioritizes environmental and social justice, and which does not repeat mistakes from the past.
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News / 16 juli 2025Case Study: Women Advocating for Gender and Climate Justice in Burkina Faso
The Women Environmental Programme Burkina Faso (WEP BF or WEP) is leading the way in gender-just climate solutions, putting the power of advocacy directly into the hands of women farmers. “In Burkina Faso, women play a crucial role in food production and natural resource management, yet they continue to face systemic barriers to land ownership,” explains a WEP team member. “Despite legal provisions, deeply ingrained customary norms remain dominant, restricting women’s access to land as user rights only, which need to be mediated through male family members.” Without secure access to land, they face significant obstacles in sustaining their agricultural activities, improving local food security, and fully participating in their communities.
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News / 16 juli 2025Case Study: Fighting Environmental Transphobia and Social Fragmentation in Brazil
In the face of environmental transphobia, a form of discrimination where trans and gender-diverse communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation,excluded from climate policies, and often met with stigma and exclusion by environmental justice movements, Grupo Orgulho, Liberdade e Dignidade (GOLD) has emerged as a bold and visionary force for change in Brazil. At the heart of this movement is Débora Sabará ,GOLD’s leader, a travesti activist who has fought tirelessly to place the perspectives andneeds of LGBTIQAPN+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer, Asexual, Pansexual, Nonbinary and other identities), Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities at the center of environmental justice conversations.
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News / 16 juli 2025Case Study: Community Paralegals Defending Land Rights from Extractive Industries and Land Grabs in Mozambique
Across Mozambique, land represents more than just territory. It is the cornerstone of livelihoods, culture, and autonomy for many communities. When companies arrive, claiming large portions for mining, oil exploration or agribusiness, residents face significant challenges in asserting their rights. Mozambique’s Land Law (1997) grants communities user rights, ensuring they can occupy and use land for subsistence and cultural purposes.
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News / 16 juli 2025The challenges of climate change, gender inequality, and conflict
This FCDO-supported project, part of the GAGGA programme, brought together 6 women-led community-based organisations from around the world to explore how they navigate the combined challenges of climate change, gender inequality, and conflict. Through a Feminist Participatory Action Research approach, the organisations documented strategies ranging from land rights advocacy to climate-resilient agriculture, highlighting how extractive industries, militarisation, and patriarchal systems drive exclusion and insecurity. Their findings are now informing donors and policymakers on the need to support grassroots women’s leadership. In the following interview, the project lead shares more about the research, key insights, and its broader impact.
