What's new

This week the European Investment Bank (EIB), or ‘Europe’s house bank’, presented a concept policy note which outlines future policies on loans in the energy sector provided by the bank. Network organisations CEE Bankwatch and Counter Balance, both of which Both ENDS is a member, monitor policies and investments of the EIB. They find the new proposal very disappointing and have therefore sent a press release. Huub Scheele from Both ENDS, who has been working with our colleagues from CEE Bankwatch and Counter Balance for years, explains why.

Exactly a year ago the United Nations organised the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development. Over 45.000 representatives of states, companies and civil society organisations were present, including Nathalie van Haren of Both ENDS. The conference will go into history as a failure. But there was a bright spot: the voluntary commitments made by individual governments, companies and CSOs. Ban Ki Moon called them ‘bricks and cement for sustainable development’. What are these commitments, what was promised, and what are the results, one year later? Peter Zomer, intern at Both ENDS, looked into the matter.

And will James Amaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, ask the Panama government to halt the construction of the disastrous dam for the time being? This is what Both ENDS calls for in a letter to mr. Anaya, together with 12 civil society organizations, including four from Panama. It’s urgent because the Barro Blanco Dam, planned in the Tabasará river, is destructive to the Ngäbe indians.

Recently six volunteers travelled to Africa to conduct a research for Both ENDS on how the Negotiated Approach is put into practice within Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).The Negotiated Approach is an approach that enables local communities to defend their rights and to propose strategies that fight poverty and ensure a viable ecosystem in the long run. The succes of the approach was already proven in India, yet little is known about Africa. But the report the volunteers are writing can bring about a change.

At the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, an important discussion is now being held. The discussion is about the question if strict rules will be imposed on the least developed countries for the protection of intellectual property. These regulations are meant to protect investments in the development of new products, but they also block the development of the poorest countries. Thus far, these countries were therefor excepted from regulations for developed (i.e. rich) countries, but this agreement ends July 1^st this year. Both ENDS’ Burghard Ilge has been working to make sure the agreement will be prolonged. ‘I fear many people in these countries will no longer have access to medicine and study books.’

I’m very happy about the judgement of the Indonesian Constitutional Court, which has ruled on May 16 that woodlands of native communities may no longer be indicated as state forests. This means that the Forest Act, which says all woodlands are owned by the state, has to be adjusted. Because of this law, it was easy for large companies to get permission to start large-scale palm oil and acacia plantations on woodlands that often have been managed by local communities for decades.

Few will have missed the recent uprisings in Turkey. What began as peaceful protests when one of Istanbul’s last green areas had to make way for the construction of a new shopping mall, has developed into violent clashes between the Turkish police and protesters. TEMA, a Turkish partner of Both ENDS, was right in the middle of protest.