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Human prosperity and healthy ecosystems go hand in hand. Across the globe, local communities are engaged in a variety of people- and planet-friendly practices, often building on knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation.

Together with partners, Both ENDS aims to upscale and mainstream the wide array of transformative practices that are advancing environmental, social and gender justice – everything from inclusive water governance to farmer-managed natural regeneration to analog forestry. We support partners to develop, strengthen and broaden successful practices by connecting practitioners, building evidence, and learning and communicating about what works best. We engage in joint advocacy and fundraising to expand policy space and financial support so that transformative practices become the new norm.

Expanding agroecology in the La Plata Basin

Fundamentally changing the current food and agricultural system towards greater ecological sustainability, social justice, and resilience is a top priority for Both ENDS and our partners worldwide. Together, we are contributing to the growing global movement for agroecology, a term that encompasses a diverse set of agricultural and food production practices which work in harmony with societies and ecosystems.

As part of the Wetlands without Borders programme, partners across the La Plata Basin region of South America further expanded the agroecological practices as a key strategy to strengthen livelihoods, fight deforestation, and conserve the region’s vitally important wetlands. In total, Wetlands without Borders partners developed more than 200 agroecological gardens and plots in 2021, as well as seven new demonstration farms designed for training for showcasing agroecology to a wider community. Capacity building for individual farmers resulted in 43 trained agroecology practitioners across the region.

Among other achievements, FIRE Paraguay, which specialises in ecosystem restoration, created a new multifunctional agroecological model farm in Carlos A. López municipality. The group began planting an analog forest on the farm, which creates an ecologically stable and socio-economically productive landscape by mimicking a natural forest. Lessons from their experience were shared with other members of the International Analog Forestry Network. Another partner in Paraguay, Codes, helped to realise 23 new agroecological urban gardens in Puerto Casado in 2021. At the request of local communities, the group provided seeds, supplies and technical assistance.

Building resilience and community

In addition to advancing healthy ecosystems, agroecology strengthens community resilience and ensures a stable supply of food in the face of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, and other environmental and climate disasters. In Brazil, where Both ENDS and our partner Forum Suape have long worked with local fisher and farmer communities in their struggle against the destructive expansion of Port Suape, a new agroecology initiative with women proved a resounding success in 2021.

The Suape port expansion has caused severe harm to the local ecosystem and communities, including displacement, water pollution, damage to coral and mangroves, and depletion of fish stocks. With Forum Suape’s support, groups of women in two of the port-affected communities each developed a collective agroecological garden, as well as new backyard gardens – 16 in total. The new gardens enabled the women to increase and diversify their food production, and strengthen their economic well-being but also recapture lost traditional knowledge and practices and reconnected the women in a deeper way to the land of their ancestors. The women, which include members of Brazil’s Afro-descendant Quilombo community, also participated in exchange visits and trainings that focused not only on agroecology but also their rights as citizens. Significantly, the initiative brought together both young and older women, fostering cross-generational learning as well as the revival of agricultural practices that had come to a halt due to the port expansion.

Increasing government support and development finance

In addition to strengthening the agroecological practices on the ground, Both ENDS and our partners advocate to increase government recognition and support for agroecology. In Brazil, partners Reesolbio and Instituto GAIA celebrated codification into state law of an annual Mato Grosso Agroecology Week. In partnership with the University of the State of Mato Grosso, local partners co-organised the first official Mato Grosso Agroecology Week in October in the municipality of Caceres. Over 5,000 people participated in the event, which provides a valuable space for the dissemination of information about agroecology and demonstration of agroecological practices to practitioners and farmers, as well as the wider population.

In the Netherlands, Both ENDS teamed up with Oxfam Novib and others to focus attention on the opportunity to increase Dutch financial support for agroecology. Research commissioned by Both ENDS and undertaken by Profundo found that only nine percent of Dutch official development assistance (ODA) over the last ten years has supported a holistic food system transformation based on agroecological principles – a conclusion supported by a similar study, focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, commissioned by Oxfam Novib. The findings of both reports were shared in discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and have helped put the issue on their agenda. (A joint follow-up paper is planned for 2022.)

In our work on agroecology and Dutch development finance, we have also stepped up collaboration with a broad spectrum of organisations in the Netherlands that have an interest in agricultural development. Under the auspices of a new informal coalition, Food4All, we organised a high-level meeting with both Ministries which focused, among other things, on the opportunity for the Dutch government to more prominently support agroecology, including financially. As a coalition, we also raised our collective concerns with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the risks of corporate capture of the UN Food Systems Summit, and the troubling lack of involvement of civil society and voices from the Global South. On the European level, we are pleased to have helped form Finance4Agroecology, a new ‘community of practice’ consisting of civil society organisations, academics and researchers in some ten European countries working to expand finance and policy space for agroecology.

Nurturing sustainable livelihoods and advancing climate and environmental justice requires nothing short of system change – a fundamental rethinking of the way the world does business, so that people and plant take priority over profits.

When local people have a decisive say in what happens in their community and to the environment around them, much good can be achieved. But when it comes to global finance, more often than not local communities are excluded from decision-making that profoundly affects them. Their voices are ignored, or worse, violently silenced.

Both ENDS works with partners worldwide to amplify the voices of communities that are experiencing first-hand the devastating social and environmental impacts of unsustainable financial policies and practices – from climate change to pollution to forced displacement.

Billions in public money for fossil fuel projects

For more than two decades, we have worked to draw attention to an obscure, yet hugely influential type of financial institution: export credit agencies (ECAs). ECAs provide government-backed insurance or guarantees to domestic companies doing business internationally. As such, they are one of the largest sources of public financial support for projects in developing countries. Our analysis has shown that via their ECAs, governments support the fossil fuel sector with billions of dollars each year, in direct contradiction to globally-agreed climate and sustainable development goals. Not only is such support commonly associated with human rights violations, it locks in long-term dependence on fossil fuels at a time when investment in renewable energy is urgent.

In close collaboration with allies and partners from Mozambique, Ghana, Uganda and Togo, in 2021 Both ENDS stepped up the pressure on governments, including the Netherlands, to put an end to export credit support for fossil fuels. Sustained advocacy and outreach kept the issue on the agenda of the Dutch Parliament and in the media, and even informed negotiations for the new coalition government.

Beyond the Netherlands, we co-launched the website Fossil Free ECAs, which put a spotlight on the harmful impacts of ECA projects (see below) and made a clear case for urgent action by governments worldwide. We collectively reinforced our message throughout the year, including in a meeting at the OECD, which facilitates global rule-making for public ECAs.

A breakthrough at the UN climate conference

A critical juncture came in November at the UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow. In close collaboration with partners and allies, we kept the pressure on: concerted media outreach and a side event highlighted the local and global climate impacts of ECA policies, as well as other adverse environmental and social impacts. We demanded that governments follow the positive example of the UK, the US, Canada and others and decisively commit to aligning public finance to a 1.5°C warming limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Our work paid off. By the end of the COP, 34 countries, including the Netherlands, and five international financial institutions signed a joint statement agreeing to end new, direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022 and to prioritise support towards a clean energy transition. The decision represents a major breakthrough, translating to some $24 billion of public finance that will now shift away from fossil fuels. What’s more, the number of countries actively working together on how to implement the commitment – the Export Finance for Future (E3F) coalition – grew from seven to ten members.

Action needed now for communities in Mozambique

Both ENDS, together with Milieudefensie, SOMO and Friends of the Earth Europe, continued to maintain pressure on the Netherlands to act urgently, not only for the climate, but also to protect local communities, nature and the economy. We supported and echoed the demands of our Mozambique partners, calling on the Dutch government, the Dutch ECA (Atradius Dutch State Business) and others not to provide export support for a large liquid natural gas project in Cabo Delgado, in North Mozambique.

The gas project is connected to an escalation of violence in the region, where some 2,600 people have been killed and more than 700 thousand have fled. Among the refugees of a major attack in March 2021 were members of Both ENDS’ long-term partner UPC, the Union of Peasants of Cabo Delgado. With financial support from Both ENDS, UPC was able to provide urgent humanitarian relief – kits of clothing and food – to the families of members displaced by the conflict.

Just a day after the attack in March, Atradius Dutch State Business (ADSB) agreed to insure the Dutch dredging company Van Oord for €900 million for its work on the Mozambique LNG project. Both ENDS joined our allies in condemning the decision and calling on ADSB to increase transparency about its decision-making process. Through a freedom of information request, we obtained documents that served as the basis for critical media coverage and questions in Parliament about ADSB’s support for the project. In December, in response to the pressure, the Dutch State Secretary of Finance decided to commission independent research into ADSB’s human rights due diligence process. We will continue to monitor the process.

A momentous decision by Dutch pension fund ABP

For years, Both ENDS has played a key role in the movement calling on Dutch pension fund ABP – the largest pension in Europe and the fifth largest in the world – to divest from fossil fuels. Our research has shown that ABP has some fifteen billion euros invested in fossil fuel projects that are causing severe social and environmental harm to local communities and contributing to dangerous climate change. Through advocacy and facilitation of dialogue between partners, investors and governments, we have reinforced the pension divestment campaigns of Fossielvrij NL, Groen Pensioen and allies across Europe and the world.

Finally, after seven years of unwavering pressure, we welcomed ABP’s momentous decision, announced in October, to stop investing in oil, gas and coal producers and to sell off its current holdings by early 2023. As always, Both ENDS will keep a watchful eye on implementation of the policy.

Responsible divestment

As the movement for fossil fuel divestment continues to grow, we will also work to ensure that companies don’t just divest, but divest responsibly. To that end, in light of Shell’s plans to sell its onshore holdings in Nigeria (and focus on offshore), we facilitated a dialogue between our Nigerian partners, ABP (a Shell investor) and Shell Nigeria (SPDC), drawing attention to the need to address ongoing social and environmental problems linked to Shell’s decades-long operations in the country.

Similarly, we supported our Panamanian partner Movimiento 10 de Abril (M10) in its negotiations with Dutch development bank FMO about its exit from the Barro Blanco dam project, which has been associated with major human rights and environmental violations. FMO is currently in the process of designing a responsible exit from the highly contested project.

Both ENDS works to bring about the systemic change needed to ensure unconditional respect for human rights and planetary boundaries. Systemic change entails dealing with issues at all levels, from the local to the global. Our aim is to help strengthen the power of local communities, while simultaneously working to tackle the key drivers behind social and environmental harm. Both ENDS plays a key role in drawing the links between practices and policies in the Netherlands and internationally to their impacts in communities across the world.

Systemic change is urgently needed to protect the Earth’s forests and the rights of forest peoples. Deforestation and forest degradation are driven by global demand for products like palm oil and soy. Tackling the problem requires not reduced demand and better policies and practices at international levels, but also improved recognition of community land rights – a key focus of our work with partners in 2020.

Improved regulation of the palm oil industry

In February, Both ENDS and the Forest Peoples Programme convened a meeting in Malaysia of representatives from some 25 environmental justice, human rights, women’s, youth and indigenous peoples’ organisations from countries across Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. All are working to address the negative impacts of the palm oil industry. In a collective statement that came out of the meeting, the groups highlighted the role of palm oil companies in land-grabbing and deforestation, with particular emphasis on the impacts of women, who play a vital role as custodians of indigenous culture and repositories of knowledge about forests, plants, nutrition, traditional medicine and the like. The groups called on governments of both palm oil-producing and consuming countries to improve regulation of the industry and ensure protection of human rights.

Alongside pressing for regulation, Both ENDS uses its influence as a board member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to improve the sector’s implementation of RSPO’s strong global standards meant to diminish the harm of palm oil production. In 2020 we contributed to greater attention in the RSPO to the gender dimensions and gender-specific risks in relation to palm oil production, when RSPO finalised their practical guidance on gender inclusion and compliance.

Land rights for palm oil affected communities

Both ENDS’s partners work hard to support communities in their struggles to preserve and secure their land rights in the face of powerful economic and political actors, including palm oil companies. Some long-fought struggles of indigenous peoples and local communities resulted in important victories this year.

In the Peruvian Amazon, Both ENDS and several international organisations have been supporting FECONAU, a local organisation that represents a number of indigenous communities in their struggles against the spread of palm oil. Years ago a company illegally acquired large swathes of their territories, cut down the rainforest and planted palm oil, destroying not only vital primary forest but also the indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, which depended on an intact ecosystem. After years of lobbying the local Santa Clara de Uchunya government, FECONAU succeeded in securing recognition of the indigenous peoples’ rights to 1,500 hectares of the illegally grabbed land. The community also achieved a significant victory in its struggle against a palm oil company when the country’s environmental regulator ordered the company to suspend its operations and pay a $2.5 million fine for environmental damages.

In Liberia, our partners celebrated a hard-won victory when the government adopted a new Land Rights Act, which promises improved land security to indigenous peoples. The new law includes strong protections for community customary land rights and is considered one of the most progressive in Africa. The next step is to put the law into practice. Both ENDS’s partners are currently supporting communities in preparing a land claim for one million hectares of village forest to protect it from being cleared to make way for monoculture palm oil plantations and other developments. A similar effort is underway in Kalimantan, Indonesia, where Both ENDS’s local partner is supporting communities to secure their lands (50,000 hectares) under Indonesia’s social forestry law using customary title provisions, such as Hutan Adat and Hutan Dessa. Their claim is currently being processed by the District Authorities.

Long-term advocacy to stop Europe’s imported deforestation

The pressure on local communities’ forests and land – in Peru, Liberia, Indonesia and many other countries – is directly linked to Northern demand for soy and palm oil. Both ENDS and our Southern partners have been advocating for years to push the European Union for strong legislation against ‘imported deforestation’ – deforestation caused by products imported to the EU.

In 2020 the EU finally began the process to draft such legislation by launching a public consultation. The campaign #Together4Forests, led by several international NGOs and backed by more than 160 environmental groups, including Both ENDS, encouraged people to engage in the public consultation and to insist that the EU tackle the forest footprint of its consumption. More than a million European citizens responded by demanding a strong EU law to protect the world’s forests and the rights of people who depend on them.

In the Netherlands, Dutch Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten admitted that the response was a signal that cannot be ignored. Both ENDS, along with the other Dutch organisations involved in the campaign, called on the Minister to take the lead in Brussels in pushing for strong legislation and to encourage other EU member states to join her. In this process, Both ENDS aims to create space for the voices of locally affected peoples, their concerns, experiences and solutions, and to ensure that European decision-makers hear the wake-up call and are inspired to act.

Community members receive ownership rights of their rice fields. Kalimantan 2020. Photo by GEMAWAN

The community of Santa Clara de Uchunya receives its land title. Photo by FECONAU

Dutch minister Schouten receives the 1.2 million signatures for a strong deforestation law

Both ENDS aims to ensure that civil society can work freely and safely to influence decision-making related to ecosystems, environmental justice and human rights. In many places around the world, the space for civil society organisations to operate is shrinking. Repression, harassment and violence against environmental human rights defenders – our partners among them – is on the rise.

Learning from and mobilising resources for women and girl environmental defenders

In 2021, as part of the GAGGA Alliance, we developed our knowledge about the specific challenges and strategies of women and girl environmental defenders (WGEDs). WGEDs often play a leading role in efforts to protect land, territories, and natural resources, and to advance gender and climate justice. In February, in collaboration with LILAK, the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme, Keystone Foundation and Stockholm Environment Institute, we co-hosted a virtual roundtable on supporting Grassroots Women Environmental Human Rights Defenders. The event brought WGEDs from Asia together with international donor agencies, development organisations and others. The aim was to raise awareness about the strengths and challenges of grassroots women environmental human rights defenders and to explore possibilities for new funding, research and policy partnerships to support them in their struggles.

With support from the Ford Foundation, GAGGA commissioned in-depth research to learn more about how WGEDs understand and experience structural violence, their diverse strategies for dealing with it and what kind of support they want and need from donors. The research was designed to strengthen both our own efforts to support WGEDs and to influence other donors to do the same. Our findings confirmed the importance of providing accessible, flexible and longer-term financial support to WGEDs, addressing their digital and physical security needs, as well as providing support in the form of capacity building, advocacy and communications.

A key conclusion from the research, which was based on input from with 62 grassroots and regional organisations involved in GAGGA, was that the current level of support for WGEDs worldwide is seriously inadequate. Throughout 2021, Both ENDS and our GAGGA partners stepped up collective efforts to mobilise new resources for the vital work of WGEDs – with success. GAGGA’s collaboration with the Ford Foundation led to a new three-year grant of USD $1 million dedicated to supporting (young) women, girl, trans, intersex and non-binary environmental defenders to respond to and resist structural violence, and contribute to the reduction of gender-based violence in the context of the defense of land, territory and the environment.

We also submitted a proposal – approved in 2022 – for a special grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery to support continuation of GAGGA’s Autonomy and Resilience Fund (ARF). Launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ARF was designed to support WGEDs with flexible funding to strengthen community-driven systems of resilience and autonomy. The small grant mechanism aims to support WGEDs and their communities to sustain themselves through short-term crises and increase their resilience into the future, in case of future crises.

Amplifying civil society voices to stop plans for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Alongside of mobilising resources, Both ENDS supports partners via networking and alliance-building, and by creating spaces for them to make their voices heard. In 2021, we continued to support the Ugandan-based Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and Environment Governance Institute (EGI), long-term partners of Both ENDS, in their work alongside many local, national and international organisations to support communities affected by fossil fuel projects, such as the planned 1400 kilometre-long East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). A joint project of TotalEnergies and the national oil companies of China, Tanzania and Uganda, among others, EACOP would transport crude oil from the Albertine Graben region of western Uganda through Tanzania for export. Preparations for the project have already displaced several communities and many more would face the same fate. The project poses significant risks to water resources and wetlands, and is completely at odds with the need to not develop new fossil fuel projects to stay within the critical 1.5°C warming threshold.

Both ENDS has supported AFIEGO and EGI in their aim to communicate about alternatives to oil development. The groups – which also work to promote off-grid solar energy for rural communities, some 90% of whom have no access to electricity – have highlighted the fact that EACOP would not benefit locally affected communities in Uganda. In March Both ENDS helped focus investors’ attention on the risks of EACOP, as well as effective alternatives to fossil fuel development. The webinar featured presentations by staff from AFIEGO, BankTrack and Reclaim Finance, and was attended by some 20 investors, including the asset manager of Dutch pension fund ABP, which has investments in TotalEnergies. The collective efforts of Both ENDS and allies worldwide have inspired some key investors to steer clear of the pipeline.

Risks to environmental defenders in Uganda

Meanwhile, harassment of communities and organisations opposing the EACOP has intensified. In August, the National NGO Bureau ordered 54 civil society organisations to halt operations, AFIEGO among them. In October, AFIEGO’s offices were raided, as were the offices of other community-based organisations that are speaking out against EACOP. On several occasions, AFIEGO staff has been unlawfully arrested for speaking out against the pipeline.

In response to the increased repression, Both ENDS and the network members have called on governments and the EACOP companies to take action to ensure the safety of environmental human rights defenders. We reached out to the Dutch Embassy in Uganda to help strengthen support for the safety and work of AFIEGO and other environmental organisations in the country.

As we increasingly contend with risks and threats to our partners, we recognise the need to put in place a more systematic and proactive approach. In addition to mobilising resources for environmental defenders (see above), we aim to minimise risks to partners as well as strengthen and streamline our response in urgent situations. First steps in that direction include plans for training for partners in digital security and efforts to forge stronger connections with national and international organisations specialised in supporting the safety and security of rights defenders.

Both ENDS collaborates with civil society organisations (CSOs) worldwide to pursue the structural changes they believe are needed and to amplify the voices of the communities they work with. Building strong, trusting relationships with our partners around the world is absolutely crucial to realising our vision. It is at the core of everything we do. So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we immediately responded by reaching out to partners to show our solidarity and to ask them about their challenges and needs.

At the local level, the impacts of COVID-19 and measures to address it were severe, particularly for women. They faced food shortages, loss of access to water, loss of income due to closing of markets, intensified pressure from family members and children at home, increased threats due to policing and militarisation. The standard work of Both ENDS’s partners – communication and meeting with communities, organising, mobilising, monitoring and participating in decision-making processes – became incredibly difficult or impossible. More often than not, policy processes became even more inaccessible and secretive. Lockdowns required people to stay at home, while companies were allowed to proceed with business as usual. The voice of civil society was effectively muted in diverse policymaking forums, from local decisions about mining licenses to negotiations of the World Trade Organization.

Flexible support to partners

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Both ENDS assured partners of flexible and sustained support to carry on their vitally important work. When it was clear that the pandemic would endure, funds that had originally been allocated for meetings and travel were made available to partners to deal with the challenges brought on by the pandemic and lockdowns. Among other things, as part of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), Both ENDS helped set up a one-time funding initiative, the Autonomy and Resilience Fund, to address the urgent needs of women environmental defenders and their communities. In total, €255,000 was quickly distributed to 41 women-led community-based organisations and seven NGOs in 21 countries around the world for diverse initiatives, including many to strengthen local food and water systems, traditional medicine, and community well-being.

A grant to Colectivo CASA, a women’s collective in Bolivia, supported the group to implement a community garden based on an ancient system of work sharing and exchange, known as ‘Ayni’. The main objective of the garden was to foster solidarity production and exchange of products among women in the community, with the aim of safeguarding biodiversity and strengthening food sovereignty as a measure of resilience to the crisis. The grant covered the costs of seeds, organic fertilizer, and rental of a tractor, as well as inputs for water harvesting. In addition, the grant supported an ancient ritual of thanks to promote solidarity, as well as respect and gratitude for Mother Earth and her fruits.

New ways of sharing information

Although many 2020 activities had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, some activities simply took on a new form. A Southeast Asia Regional Coastal People’s Assembly, organised in September by Solidaritas Perempuan with support from Both ENDS, consisted of three sessions over three weeks that combined both online and face-to-face group participation. The first session, ‘How Small-Scale Fisheries Feed the World: A Reflection from the COVID-19 Crisis’, had some 75 participants online and was attended physically by another 70 participants in three villages in Indonesia. The unique format enabled broader participation from local fisherwomen. Moreover, a video recording of the sessions was converted into campaign material used for discussions with communities in other coastal areas.

One of the top priorities for our partners during the lockdowns was to maintain communication with communities. With flexible support from Both ENDS, partners could invest in digital infrastructure to stay in touch despite travel restrictions, and could continue to share vital information, for example through radio programmes and text message recordings. Similarly, for us at Both ENDS, good communication with partners was of utmost importance as the crisis unfolded. Our central message was: do what you need to do as an organisation and as an individual, and above all, take care of yourself and each other. 2020 proved to us that strong, long-term relationships and flexible support are not only the key ingredient for achieving the change we seek in the world, but also for enduring crisis.

Community garden. Photo by Colectivo CASA

Session at the Regional Coastal People’s Assembly. Photo by Solidaritas Perempuan

When visiting communities, partners often had to bring goods due to collapsed transport systems. This is a boat expedition by partner GAIA, an organisation working with communities in the Pantanal. Photo by Eduardo G. Oliveira