Discovery of gas in Mozambique: blessing or curse?
COVID-19is placing our economy under a magnifying glass. Now that a large part of global trade has come to a standstill, the tension between international economic activity and local well-being is becoming more visible. That is very clear in northern Mozambique, where one of the world’s largest gas fields was discovered in 2011. Dutch companies are investing in the processing and transport of the gas.
The people who live in the area where the gas was discovered were promised all kinds of benefits. Instead, however, they have lost their land, seen crime increase and have only been able to find low-skilled work. Despite the enormous investments, they have no basic services. This is fertile ground for militant movements like Al-Shabab, whichare growing rapidly. Since 2017, thousands have died and 200,000 people have fled their homes. Under pressure from the coronacrisis, the violence is getting more and more out of hand. In situations like these, COVID-19 aid to Africa can and must be deployed on the basis of a broader development perspective.
There is hope. In the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where the gas was found, a basis has been laid for rolling out broader development plans through consultations between the government, foreign investors and the local population. Local people have organised themselves and are working closely with civil society organisations on the negotiations with companies and government. Unfortunately, this has become more and more difficult in recent years. As a result of rising violence, companies are increasingly turning in upon themselves. The government has sent troops to the area, which has increased the tensions. Journalists are arrested and organisations that work with local people are being accused of recruiting members for the militant movement.
Now that Dutch trade and development minister Sigrid Kaag is taking resolute steps to alleviate the most severe needs in Africa, it is important to look at places like northern Mozambique through a different lens. The Netherlands can use the emergency COVID-19 aid to ensure a better balance between international commercial interests and the interests of the local population.
In concrete terms, that means investing in basic services and improving local food productivity. At the same time, we can reduce lawlessness by strengthening local governance structures and – as a first step – ensuring that our own embassy and companies take them into serious consideration in their decision-making processes. To put a stop to the current Wild West situation, rules on labour and environment must be clear and apply to all companies. That will also enable civil society organisations to perform their binding role more effectively.
Here in the Netherlands, we have first-hand experience of the consequences of a one-dimensional commercial perspective on gas extraction. Let us learn the lessons from our own problems in Groningen and make sure that an uncontrollable situation does not arise in which local residents systematically get the worst deal. If we do that, we can offer the people of Cabo Delgado real added value.
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Blog / 12 May 2020
Post-corona economy: five recommendations for the Dutch government on achieving the SDGs and the goals of the climate agreement
By Daniëlle Hirsch and Maria van der Heijden
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Blog / 16 April 2020
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Blog / 13 May 2020
You can’t eat gold, copper and gas
You can't eat gold, copper and gas
"The virus is spreading quicker than the information" – that was the first we heard in the Netherlands about COVID-19 in many African countries and the measures they were taking to tackle it. While states of emergency were announced, borders were closed and we saw image after image of violent police and army responses, many people outside the big cities did not know that what was going on. When the situation became clearer, serious concerns arose about the consequences of the measures that had been taken: the informal economy coming to a standstill, food shortages and internal migration flows.
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Blog / 5 May 2020
Freedom
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Blog / 15 April 2020
Now is the time! Investing in a socially just and sustainable society
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Blog / 13 April 2020
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News / 2 April 2024
The Climate lawsuit against Shell
Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and 6 other organisations are confidently heading into Shell’s appeal of the 2021 climate ruling, which will take place on April 2nd in The Hague. In the landmark lawsuit against the oil and gas company, the court decided that Shell must slash its CO2 emissions by 45%, in line with international climate agreements.
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News / 19 May 2020
Effective strategy to tackle COVID-19 calls for a global reset
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News / 29 June 2020
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On 23 July 2020 a global network of NGOs working to strengthen corporate accountability for environmental destruction and human rights abuses, including Both ENDS, published an open letter to European Commission DG Justice Commissioner Reynders. The letter is a response to his recent commitment to propose legislation in 2021 on both corporate due diligence and directors’ duties as part of an initiative on sustainable corporate governance.
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Dossier /
Everything becomes fluid under pressure: behind the scenes in Corona time
In these times of worldwide lockdown all attention is focused on the care sector, on the sorrow of those who are losing their loved ones, on children getting home-schooling and the neighbour who can no longer go the supermarket herself. Politicians and civil servants are hard at work trying to control the COVID-19 crisis and the economic crisis it has caused. -
Blog / 14 April 2020
Stop WTO talks until everyone can take full part in them again
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is often seen as an institution in crisis, powerless and no longer relevant, and especially after US president Donald Trump decided in 2019 to pull the plug on one of the WTO’s most important bodies (the one dealing with trade disputes). Now, more than 150 civil society organisations, networks and interest groups from around the world have signed an urgent letter to WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, because they are seriously concerned about the state of affairs within the organization.
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Blog / 20 May 2020
'Comfortably staying home with the family': three women in Latin American villages about the Covid-19 crisis
"The Covid-19 crisis is affecting everyone, but in different ways. In some countries, people are feeling the consequences less than in others, in cities the problems are completely different to in the countryside, and men are suffering from the restrictions totally differently to women. Some of the organisations that we work with in Latin America talked to rural women about the effects of the crisis on their everyday lives and what they are doing to keep their heads above water. Below is a small selection from these conversations (freely translated from Spanish) to give some idea of the situation women in remote areas are finding themselves in, of the enormous solidarity they are experiencing and of the solutions, which largely lie in stimulating local food production." - Danielle Hirsch
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Blog / 16 June 2020
The political and industrial elites in Indonesia grasp their opportunity
In September 2019, the streets of Jakarta were filled with angry demonstrators protesting against the Omnibus Employment Law. The law will ease the rules for mining, make it much more difficult to hold companies liable for criminal acts and severely restrict the power of the national anti-corruption committee. At the moment, such protests are completely impossible in Indonesia because of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated lockdown measures. And Indonesian people already had few other means of exerting influence on decision-making and legislative processes.
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External link / 19 October 2020
Alarm over possible wave COVID19 corporate court cases via ISDS
Countries might face a wave of cases from transnational corporations suing governments over actions taken to respond to the Covid pandemic using a system known as investor-state dispute settlement, or ISDS. In June 2020, 630 organisations already called on governments to urgently take action to shut down this threat. With this video we invigorate this message, as the threat, unfortunately, has not decreased.
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Press release / 29 June 2020
Press release – Call by 265 organisations to the EU: “Do not sign the EU-Mercosur trade agreement”
Germany must use its influence as president of the EU in the second half of this year to ensure that the controversial EU-Mercosur free trade agreement is not signed. This is the message in a letter presented to German chancellor Angela Merkel today by 265 civil society and environmental organisations from the EU and Mercosur countries. The deal between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will stimulate destruction of the natural environment and the violation of human rights in vulnerable areas in South America. The agreement will also give European farmers an unfair competitive advantage. Dutch signatories to the letter include Greenpeace and Both ENDS and various organisations united in the Handel Anders! coalition.
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News / 3 July 2024
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News / 18 June 2024
Dutch government threatens to put human lives at risk again in infamous TotalEnergies gas project in Mozambique
The Dutch government threatens to blunder again by providing export support for TotalEnergies' controversial gas project in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. This follows from an analysis of 9000 documents from FOI requests, commissioned by Milieudefensie and Both ENDS. Anne de Jonghe, Both ENDS: “When the export support was issued in 2021, critical voices were minimized, while TotalEnergies was heard and trusted. That should not happen again."
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Event / 26 October 2023, 20:00
Debate: Fossil disaster in Mozambique
In 2021, the Dutch government provided a €1.000.000.000,- worth export credit support to Totals Mozgas project in Cabo Delgado, despite civil society warnings about human rights and environmental risks. The gas exploitation fueled a violent conflict, culminating in the Palma attack, displacing 800,000 people and killing 1,200 people.
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Letter / 4 May 2020
Letter to Minister Kaag with five recommendations to achieve the SDGs and the climate agreement
The Corona crisis is showing us just how closely our current economy is irrevocably intertwined with the pollution of the planet and is making people all around the world more and more vulnerable. Both ENDS and MVO Nederland (CSR Netherlands) – are particularly concerned about what we hear about human rights, climate and the environment. We ask the Dutch government, in a letter to Minister Kaag, to commit to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
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Letter / 1 April 2020
Letter to WTO: Stop talks until everyone can take full part in them again
More than 150 civil society organisations, networks and interest groups from around the world have signed an urgent letter to WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, in which they call for the WTO to postpone the negotiations until all members are able to participate in them fully - physically instead of online.