Friends of the Earth International

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Tesla Ventura, a human rights campaigner in Honduras and member of Friends of the Earth Honduras (Movimiento Madre Tierra), documents how she was singled out and harassed by the authorities as result of her work.

Even when sufficient information is provided about a particular project or plan, people, and particularly marginalized groups like indigenous people, people of colour and women, are not always allowed access to decision-making channels.

When people’s environments and human rights are threatened, they have the right to safely express their discontent through protest. The right to freedom of opinion and expression is a well-established civil and political right in both national and international law, and is fundamental to the concept of democracy and the respect of human dignity.

People have the right to play an active role in protecting their environments, and access to information is key to securing this right.

The concept of collective rights emerged because individual human rights do not guarantee adequate protection for indigenous peoples and other minorities exhibiting collective characteristics. These groups face various threats to their livelihoods, to their environments, to their health and to their security, and their very survival may depend upon the recognition and protection of their collective rights.

Environmental rights mean access to the unspoiled natural resources that enable survival, including land, shelter, food, water and air. They also include more purely ecological rights, including the right for a certain beetle to survive or the right for an individual to enjoy an unspoiled landscape.

In many countries in the global South, vast tracts of land are being converted to tree plantations to provide commodities such as rubber, palm oil and woodpulp for consumers in the global North.

One of the most eye-catching activities co-organized during the Climate Summit in Poznan in December was a bike tour around the Old Town organized by the Polish Ecological Club/FoE Poland.

Before 2008, climate change received only sporadic attention from the media in Chile, and few people beyond the technocrats that participate in UN negotiations and investors in carbon markets had any understanding of the issue. FoEI’s Climate Change program had not yet been able to reach out to civil society in the country, and was thus unable to benefit from debate with and the participation of Chilean people.

building capacity to resist, mobilize and transform in latin america and the caribbean

Friends of the Earth South Africa was the driving force in developing a global community response to the poor corporate environmental practice of the global steel giant ArcelorMittal, which is based out of Luxemburg.

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Members of civil society movements gathered in Sardinia for an alternative G8 summit ahead of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy.

Ahead the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, members of civil society movements gathered in Sardinia for an alternative G8 summit. Here is their statement on the climate, energy and natural resource management crisis.

Social movements in Honduras need your support as they continue to demonstrate against the illegal government of Roberto Micheletti and call for the reinstament of the elected President, Manuel Zelaya.

Friends of the Earth International is alarmed by the increasing violence and repression after the coup d'etat, kidnapping and illegal transportation of the democratically elected President of Honduras. We stand in solidarity with the men and women of Honduras who continue to struggle for democracy and respect for human rights.