Both ENDS
The Samdhana Institute is a South-East Asian small grants organization with strong connections to Indonesian grassroots environmental and women’s groups, with national offices in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Disposable fashion items continue to flood into the country, the nitrogen crisis has brought construction to a standstill and energy poverty is on the rise, but Dutch politicians are contemplating their navels. These are problems that we can never solve on our own. The clothes we wear, the food on our plates, and the electricity that comes out of our wall sockets – they are all produced in global trade and production chains. With far-reaching consequences, both in our own country and far, very far beyond our borders. It would be naive to think that we can solve all these problems through domestic policies alone. And vice versa: we would be evading our responsibilities if we continued to believe that the Netherlands only plays a humble role on the global stage. Latest figures show that the Netherlands is the fourth largest exporter and the seventh largest importer of products worldwide. With the elections on the way, it is time to look beyond our own small country. Because it is also important to vote with a worldwide impact.
This event will showcase the vital need to advance agroecology as a people, nature and livelihood-centred approach towards climate adaptation and mitigation. It will make the case for agroecology and climate action based on researched and carefully selected case studies on agroecology in Africa and how it is and can continue contributing to adaptation and mitigation of the impacts of climate change.
For more than thirty years, Both ENDS has collaborated with partner organisations around the world to advance environmental justice. Our relationships with partners, many of which span decades, are based on shared values, respect and trust. Together, we are strengthening knowledge, networks and movements, and engaging in joint advocacy aimed at bringing about a more just and sustainable world.
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.
Happy Women's Day!
Friday March 8th we celebrate a gender equal world; free of stereotypes, bias, and discrimination. Around the world women are powers of change. We proudly present you; the voices of the next generation of environmental leaders of the JWH initiative. All our grantees are driving change in the environmental sector and have a strong say about the inclusive world.
On 28 November 2007, the Saramaka people won a ground-breaking court case against Suriname at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). The Court ruling included the provision that Suriname could no longer grant concessions on tribal territory without the permission of the inhabitants. Ten years later, little has come of implementing this ruling in practice.
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.
