Our house is on fire – let’s act

30 August 2019

by Jagoda Munić, director of Friends of the Earth Europe

“I want you to act as if our house is on fire”, climate activist Greta Thunberg told politicians at the World Economic Forum in January this year, seeking to motivate them to urgently put a stop to runaway climate change.

31 July 2019

Campaign launches to ban pesticides and transform agriculture in Europe

A new campaign has been launched today to stop the collapse of nature and to save rural livelihoods in the EU by phasing out pesticides.

Civil society organisations from across the EU have submitted a proposal to the European Commission for a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) calling for new legislation to phase out pesticides, restore biodiversity and support farmers to transform our food and farming system. [1]

4 June 2019

Demanding peasants' rights and a humane CAP

Disguising business interests with citizens’ environmental concerns, biofuel production and the deregulation of GMOs were among the priorities on the agenda of the meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Bucharest, Romania, these last few days. At the last minute, the Romanian Presidency of the EU requested that the reform of the CAP be dealt with in this Council, for which it sent a draft, with the aim of furthering negotiations ahead of the next Official Council meeting on 17 June, although there are countries that refuse to further discussions until the EU budget is concerted.

14 May 2019

New report shows €60bn spent on unsustainable farming in the EU

The EU must urgently reform damaging farming subsidies to stand a chance of saving nature, preventing the worst effects of climate change and reviving small farms and our rural regions, according to a new report released today.

6 May 2019

World faces ecological collapse unless urgent action taken

European governments and the European Union must take a lead in halting global ecological collapse, warned Friends of the Earth Europe, in reaction to a major global assessment published today.

25 March 2019

More Farmers, Better Food

Sustainable small farmers should be put at the core of EU agricultural policy, according to a new paper released today by the Nyeleni Europe and Central Asia Platform for Food Sovereignty.

7 March 2019

Farming should work in harmony with nature, not kill it

In the wake of shocking reports of insect and wildlife decline, attention is turning on intensive farming in Europe.

15 February 2019

Save the bees! Chemical farming reaches tipping point in Bavaria

Over 1.7 million people have supported a campaign to make farming more nature-friendly in the Southern German state of Bavaria.

18% of the eligible citizens of Bavaria have signed a mass petition demanding bee-friendly farming – the biggest petition in the history of the Bavarian state - although the support of only 10% of the population is needed for such a petition to be legally recognised by the state government.

Germany
7 February 2019

Beyond the CAP – why we need a common food policy for Europe

By Stanka Becheva, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe

18 January 2019

35,000 march in Berlin for sustainable farming

35,000, loud, colourful and determined people took to the streets of Berlin today to give agriculure ministers from around the world a message: it's time to overhaul policies that promote outdated and dangerous industrial farming.

Germany
14 January 2019

EU-US trade talks set to restart, raising fears for European agriculture

The US Congress has given the green light to start new trade negotiations with the European Union, raising concerns around potential impacts on EU agriculture.

While the European Commission is aiming for an industry-only deal, the US government is strongly pushing for agriculture to be included in any agreement. This would likely open up the same controversies around food safety and agriculture tariffs that helped sink previous EU-US trade talks. 

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