Between 2009 and 2012, French banks granted more than 4 billion euro in loans to European producers of agrofuels, and have issued these companies stocks and bonds for a total amount of more than 3 billion euro according to new research from Friends of the Earth France and Oxfam France. The groups called on French banks to stop financing agrofuel producers – who threaten global food security and are fuelling land grabs, especially in Liberia.
Social movements in Guatemala are being increasingly criminalised, repressed, intimidated and subjected to human rights abuses, according to representatives of indigenous and feminist social movements, including Friends of the Earth Guatemala.
A coalition of groups [1], including Friends of the Earth, Birdlife, Biofuelwatch, Compassion in World Farming and European Environment Bureau has united to call for European governments, and the EU as a whole, to reduce Europe's land footprint – the amount of land we use each year for food, textiles, wood, biofuels etc [2].
Monrovia, Liberia – Palm oil companies are grabbing more than 1.5 million acres of land in Liberia and are violating the human rights of local communities, according to Liberian NGOs including Friends of the Earth Liberia.
On the eve of a United Nations meeting in Liberia, that will discuss the future of development in Liberia, Friends of the Earth International is backing the local NGOs' demands for the government to renegotiate contracts for land concessions and reassess its agricultural development strategy.
Europe’s land footprint is 640 million hectares a year – an area equivalent to 1.5 times the size of Europe itself. This is the land required to make everything that we consume, from food to material products to fuel.
Friends of the Earth Europe, alongside Anywaa Survival Organisation, GRAIN and Re: Common called on major farmland investors today, such as banks and pension funds, to stop facilitating land grabs. The call comes on the eve of a global farmland investment conference in London on 3-5 December.
Burning whole trees in power stations can be dirtier than coal, concludes a new report in the UK by Friends of the Earth, the RSPB, and Greenpeace.
Using the UK government's own data, the report 'Dirtier Than Coal, finds that electricity generated by burning conifer trees could increase greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to coal over a 20 year timeframe.
On the 3rd December, Friends of the Earth Europe will be holding a conference discussing the causes of, and solutions too, Europe’s excessive land footprint. The half-day conference, ‘Resource Efficiency in Europe: reducing Europe’s land dependency and its impacts’, taking place in the conference hall of The Press Club, Rue Froissart 95, Brussels, will discuss the latest policy developments and environmental, social and economic benefits of moving to a resource efficient future.
In Europe, we are currently consuming an area of land one and a half times the size of our continent. This amount is increasing and as a continent Europe is putting more and more pressure on the limited land the planet has left. This is pushing up food prices, driving land-grabs, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss, and increasing social inequalities.
In Europe, we are currently consuming an area of land one and a half times the size of our continent. This amount is increasing and as a continent Europe is putting more and more pressure on the limited land the planet has left.
Our current land footprint is pushing up food prices, driving land-grabs, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss, and increasing social inequalities.
Friends of the Earth believes urgent measures are needed to monitor and reduce Europe’s global land use.