Our achievements in 2021

To achieve our vision of a sustainable, fair and inclusive world, Both ENDS works to empower civil society, to change the system so it prioritises people and the planet, and to support transformative practices. The numbers and successes below together show the broad variety of our achievements along each one of the three pathways.

STRONG CIVIL SOCIETY

Both ENDS works with civil society organisations around the world. We support them financially, but also engage in joint strategising, mutual capacity development and collective advocacy efforts. Our partner network embraces the whole world. The map below shows where our partners are situated; their activities might cover even more countries:

SYSTEMIC CHANGE

In order for systems to prioritise people and the planet, Both ENDS and partners aim to change the system step by step, policy by policy. Where policies are already strong, they need to be implemented, and where they are absent, we advocate for new ones to be enacted, on all levels:

TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICES

According to Both ENDS and partners, transformative practices are the future. There are many of these bottom-up, planet-friendly practices. Below some numbers of a selection of practices that many of our partners work on. Also important is to take into account the gender aspect of these practices, in order for men and women to benefit equally:

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SOME EXAMPLES OF OUR IMPACT IN 2021

STRONG CIVIL SOCIETY

  • Repression, harassment and violence against environmental human rights defenders – our partners among them – is on the rise. In 2021, the GAGGA alliance of which Both ENDS is part, commissioned in-depth research to learn more about how women and girl environmental defenders (WGEDs) understand and experience structural violence, their diverse strategies for dealing with it and what kind of support they want and need from donors.  Meanwhile, as harassment of communities and organisations opposing the EACOP pipeline in Uganda intensified, 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.
  • During various moments in 2021, seven FGG partners from Manila (the Philippines), used their strengthened lobby and advocacy capacities in (i) consultations with Atradius DSB and due diligence consultants of the project’s lenders group, and (ii) jointly submitting four letters of concern, in relation to the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project, addressed to Boskalis, Atradius DSB, The Netherlands Ministry of Finance and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both ENDS provided financial support, facilitated stakeholder meetings and access to Dutch actors, and jointly strategised with partners.
  • RSPO Outreach to intermediary organisations initiated by Both ENDS together with the Forest Peoples Programma (FPP) and the RSPO secretariat, led RSPO to enter into partnership with Both ENDS’ partners and contacts. These conducted trainings, funded by RSPO, for Southern CSOs, communities, women’s organisations and workers, on issues of human rights and women’s rights. This enabled amongst others (indigenous) women, environmental and human rights defenders and affected victims of land grab and other violations to voice their concerns, issue complaints through RSPO’s complaints system, and negotiate remedy. In some instances, it helped bridge the divide between communities and plantation companies. It also helped increase grassroots contribution to RSPO policies and to concrete remedial measures.

  • In West Kalimantan, Indonesia, twenty indigenous women participants from four communities who are involved with existing cases with oil palm plantations and the forestry sector, followed a training on women leadership for human rights and environmental defence. They have strengthened their leadership capacity and women activism and improved the ability to advocate for women issues in their own home communities. Subsequently they received training on understanding human rights and how to apply FPIC, in particular community and gender based human rights and environmental defending monitoring systems. Actual advocacy will follow in the upcoming year. Both ENDS contributed with financial support.

SYSTEMIC CHANGE

  • In close collaboration with allies and partners from Mozambique, Ghana, Uganda and Togo, the Netherlands and other countries, in 2021 Both ENDS stepped up the pressure on governments, including the Netherlands, to put an end to export credit support for fossil fuels. By the end of the COP26 in Glasgow, 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  Also 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.
  • Policy makers of Burundi committed to review all current Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) for possible stopping and renegotiation during a workshop on ISDS clauses in BITs provided by two FGG partners from Uganda and Tanzania. Both ENDS provided technical knowledge and financial support. The commitment of the policy makers is new and means an important opening to stop harmful BITs for Burundi and true ownership of this step by Burundi policy makers.
  • Due to joint advocacy, the newly adopted Environmental and Social framework of the European Investment Bank (EIB) is reflecting the link between gender and climate change. Impact assessments will now include assessment of climate impacts on women and disaggregate data by gender, ethnicity, generation, wealth, food and water security, accessibility to finance, age and other identity markers.
  • Seven partners from the Mercosur bloc strengthened their knowledge on the EU-Mercosur deal through knowledge exchange and in-depth interviews in preparation for the EU-Mercosur publication. During the interviews, local groups in the Mercosur countries have expressed their concerns around the EU-Mercosur agreement, and notoriously its harmful impacts on their livelihoods. Both ENDS conducted and analysed the interviews, functioning as a bridge between the local groups from the Mercosur bloc and the HandelAnders! coalition. The publication resulted in questions in Dutch Parliament from SP and PvdD. Moreover, the aim is to spark further debate and knowledge exchange between CSO´s in 2022.

TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICES

  • Partners across the La Plata Basin region of South America expanded agroecological practices as a key strategy to strengthen livelihoods, fight deforestation, and conserve the region’s vitally important wetlands. In total, the 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. 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 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.
  • In 2021, together with partners International Analog Forestry Network (IAFN), CENDEP Cameroon and Proyecto Ayurvida in Puerto Rico, Both ENDS provided feedback on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Sectoral Guidelines on Ecosystems and Agriculture. As a result, agroecology is now recognised as one of the objectives in the Sectoral Guidelines draft, which will be brought to the board in 2022.
  • With funds from Turing Foundation and support from Both ENDS, our partner SDI (Liberia) was able to support four communities in two counties in Liberia to better understand their land rights and to train them on Analog Forestry as an alternative livelihood. The introduction to Analog Forestry was done by our partner CENDEP (Cameroon), and has inspired the communities on how land and forest resources can be used sustainably to increase income. SDI is now considering to become an ‘Analog Forestry-hub’ in Liberia. The organisation investigates ways to tailor Analog Forestry trainings to increase the participation of women farmers and to have facilitators/trainers in the communities to provide on-site technical support and to empower their neighbours.

  • in 2021, a partner in Asia used its increased knowledge on fundraising and strengthened funding base to sustain its policy work with regards to protection and restoration of forest and streams and tree nursery development, and recognition of the key role of women in successful tree nurseries and plantation programmes, e.g. by featuring a resource center and wild food nursery garden. Both ENDS contributed through mutual capacity development including financial support and fundraising assistance.

A word from our board and director

A word from our board and director

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to pose significant challenges to our collective efforts, with partners, to advance environmental justice worldwide. Yet when we reflect on 2021, above all we are proud of what Both ENDS and our partners were able to accomplish in the face of a prolonged global crisis. We made support for our partners our top priority and adapted our plans accordingly, doing whatever we could to respond to their needs during this critical time.

Our experience over the past two years confirms the wisdom of our decentralised, flexible funding system, which enables the organisations we support to do what they need to do in the context of great uncertainty. Our ability to successfully navigate the crisis also showed the value of our open, transparent relationships with donors. It helped increase their broader appreciation for the way innovative, flexible funding systems work in practice.

A great example is the Autonomy and Resilience Fund, which we rapidly launched early in the pandemic with our partners in the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA). In a matter of months, we were able to mobilise resources for women environmental defenders and their communities in 21 countries around the world. By documenting, learning and sharing our experience with this type of innovative finance, we were able to convince donors of its effectiveness. We are delighted that the GAGGA Alliance was recently awarded a special €1.3 million grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery to support continuation of the Fund.

Together with our partners, we celebrated some major successes in the area of climate justice in 2021, including the landmark legal decision requiring Shell to reduce its CO2 emissions, a case on which we were co-plaintiffs. Other major successes resulted from decades of advocacy by Both ENDS and partners for more socially just and sustainable public finance, supported by countless case studies revealing the devastating impacts of fossil fuel investments on communities in the South. In October, we welcomed the decision by ABP, the largest Dutch pension fund and fifth largest pension fund in the world, to stop investing in oil, gas and coal producers. A month later, we celebrated the announcement by the Dutch government in its decision to join other rich countries in ending export financing for fossil fuels.

These are significant policy shifts that resulted from Both ENDS’s strategic combination of dialogue and activism that is rooted in close partnerships with a range of environmental justice organisations, and our long-term commitment to working on these issues. Much work, however, remains. We will continue to closely monitor progress and continue to engage with decision-makers toward the end goal of a just transition.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Both ENDS remained a strong, resilient organisation in 2021. We secured funding to ensure continuity of our work on ecosystem restoration, and built relationships with new donors to step up our transformative work on agroecology, and sustainable and just food systems. We continued to develop and learn about what it means to be a self-organising organisation, including taking stock of what individual leadership and autonomy means within our unique organisational structure. Given our structure, and the added challenge of working remotely, we are incredibly proud to have renewed our ISO certification, even earning the highest marks for our quality management systems.

Going forward, a top priority will be to improve our ability to support partners in the context of increasing pressures and risks. The disintegration of multilateral structures, the rise of authoritarian regimes, increasing conflict over resources, growing marginalisation of civil society – we have come to the regrettable conclusion that these are no longer separate occurrences, but are part of a worrisome global trend. We are in the process of consulting with partners and reaching out to our allies and to Dutch Embassies to see how we can effectively and proactively respond to this ‘new normal’, so that safety nets and emergency support is available to partners whenever they may need it.

As we write this report, Russia is waging a war on Ukraine, which profoundly affects the context in which we are working and the trends we observe. A food crisis is looming, confirming that the growing dependence on global food value chains poses very serious risks to billions of people worldwide. There is an urgent need to shift our foreign policy toward promoting resilient, sustainable local food systems. The war has also added a new geopolitical dimension to the discussion of our dependency on fossil fuels. Our collective challenge will be to ensure that these developments serve to accelerate – in the Netherlands and worldwide – the just energy transition that is so urgently needed.

The challenge we face is formidable. Fortunately, an ever growing number and diversity of actors are rallying behind the call for system change. As this report shows, we are achieving great things. Both ENDS is convinced that by working together – by connecting people – we can secure the changes we need to make our vision a reality.

Danielle Hirsch, Director
Paul Engel, Chair of the Board

A growing movement for agroecology

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.

 

Rice production in Buena Hora com-munity, Bolivia

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration: Champion farmer picking the pods from    a Terminalia avicennioides in Kaffrine, Senegal

agroecology in Bangladesh

Farmer in field where Both ENDS supports agroecology and Tidal River Management in Bangladesh

 

 

A breakthrough in finance, a break with fossil fuels

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 and partners at Climate COP 26

Both ENDS and partners at Climate
COP 26 in Glasgow

protesting at Climate March, Amsterdam

Tweet about the presence of Both ENDS and partners at the Climate March on the 6th of November

An article in Dutch newspaper NRC about the Dutch Ministry of Finance approving  an export credit insurance worth more than 900 million euro’s to Dutch dredger Van Oord for taking part in the controversial TotalEnergy LNG project in the North of Mozambique.

 

Supporting civil society to work freely and safely

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.

Women of Awoo Village in Karuma trying to remove some of the building materials from their huts as they are being evicted, Uganda

An announcement for a summer course about how to defend communities against extractivism, Bolivia

“Companies come to do mining and take our water, forest and land. This is also violence against women” – WHERD Jankabai along with women and children in campaign on issues faced by women – Panna, Madhya Pradesh, India