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The European Bank voor Reconstruction and Development wants to provide $40 million to a Kuwaiti company that is going to start doing oil drilling in Egypt. Huub Scheele from Both ENDS together with Egyptian NGOs urges the EBRD to postpone the decision, as the money is not going to contribute to any positive changes for the Egyptian people.

That's the message of the Fair, Green and Global Alliance (ActionAid, Both ENDS, Clean Clothes Campaign, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Eart Netherlands), SOMO and Transnational Institute) to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. On Thursday afternoon the minister will speak to the House of Representatives in a General Consultation. Our coalition has worked hard to convince the political parties that the view of minister Ploumen is not right.

On Wednesday 22 May is the official launch the Rich Forests Initiative: an exciting moment for Both ENDS and its partners after months of hard work. Roos Nijpels from Both ENDS explains what the Rich Forests initiative is and why the initiative is needed right now.

In 2007, fifteen organisations from all over the world joined forces in a programme called DRYNET. The goal was to work together to counter the degradation of drylands. DRYNET believes that local organisations and communities living in drylands should be at the heart of this effort. Yet, these organisations and communities are often not adequately involved in designing and implementing the projects and policies that affect their livelihoods. To change this, DRYNET’s programme provides a supportive framework that link local organisations around the globe. 

Between 2010 and 2013, Both ENDS, within an alliance of Indonesian and Dutch organisations and universities, conducted a pilot project to improve the spatial planning in the district of Sanggau in West-Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, to help local communities with the recognition of their land rights. We can show you a beautiful documentary about one of the villages in this district, Terusan.

How can companies be stimulated to use cleaner production methods and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases? In Europe the answer was thought to be found in a system called the ‘EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)’, implemented in 2005.  Within this system, European companies get a fixed maximum number of ‘emission rights’ which they may either use themselves or sell to other companies – for example in case they emit less than they’re permitted to. Unfortunately the system has only had contrary effects, which is the reason why many organisations including Both ENDS, want it to stop immediately.

Last week Both ENDS’ deputy director, Paul Wolvekamp, was elected board member of the RSPO, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Until November, when new elections will take place. “I hope that after the next elections my place will be taken by a social NGO from the South, because that group is not represented well enough in the RSPO.” Therefore Paul, within the RSPO, aims for a stronger voice of NGO’s, plantation workers and small-scale palm oil producers in the South.