EarthAction

Sir David Attenborough as the recipient of the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that Sir David Attenborough will receive the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to research, documentation, and advocacy for the protection of nature and its restoration.

Sir David Attenborough’s career as a broadcaster, natural historian, author, and environmental advocate spans over seven decades. He is most famous for his work with the BBC’s Natural History Unit, including landmark documentaries such as Life on Earth, the Living Planet, Our Planet and Our Blue Planet. In addition, his renowned advocacy work to preserve and restore biodiversity, transition to renewable energy, mitigate climate change and promote plant-rich diets contribute to the realization of many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The award is the UN’s highest environmental honour, and celebrates those who have dedicated their lives to tackling crises like climate change, species loss and pollution. To date, the Champions of the Earth has recognized 106 laureates, ranging from world leaders to technology inventors. They include 26 world leaders, 64 individuals and 16 groups or organizations.

The Press Release may be viewed here: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/david-attenborough-receives-uns-most-distinguished-environment-award

Feature Story may be viewed here: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/un-recognizes-broadcaster-attenborough-lifetime-achievement-award

David Attenborough exclusive interview with UNEP ED Inger Andersen: https://youtu.be/2YoLsUt4F58

Profile Video: https://youtu.be/Vlvn23rSt0M

Should you have any questions or further clarification please contact UNEP´s Director of Communication, Mr. Daniel Cooney, [email protected]

Radhika Ochalik

Secretary of Governing Bodies

Director, Governance Affairs Office

UN Environment Programme

Focus on land to safeguard climate and sustain life

Media Advisory
 

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Focus on land to safeguard climate and sustain life on our planet 

Côte d’Ivoire hosts first major conference in 2022 to tackle the interconnected challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss 

The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will take place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022. Heads of State, ministers and delegates from 196 countries are expected to attend this major event on the future of land management, alongside private sector, civil society, women and youth leaders. 

Journalists and media organizations worldwide are invited to attend the Conference to cover the meeting and participate in all events organized for the media. Online Registration | UNCCD  is now open for media wishing to participate in person or virtually.  

The COP15 theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity', is a call to action to ensure land, which is the lifeline on this planet, continues to benefit present and future generations.  

The Conference will focus on the restoration of one billion hectares of degraded land between now and 2030 and tackling the growing impacts of droughts, sand and dust storms, and wildfires. COP15 will also take action on key policies that can enable action on restoration, particularly land rights, gender equality and the role of youth in future land stewardship.  

In addition to formal negotiations, COP15 will include a high-level segment on 9-10 May. UNCCD COP15 will be the first of the three Rio Conventions meetings to be held in 2022, with Biodiversity COP15 and Climate change COP27 convening later this year in Kunming, China and Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, respectively. 

The Convention unites governments, scientists, policymakers, the private sector and communities around a shared vision to restore and manage the world’s land. The last Conference of the Parties took place in New Delhi, India, in 2019. It was preceded by COP13, which took place in Ordos, China.  

Journalists are required to submit the following documentation to be considered for participation. 

• Duly filled online application form 

• An electronic passport photograph 

• Official press card or a company photo identity card  

• Letter of assignment to cover the event 

On request, the secretariat will provide accredited foreign journalists with a Note Verbale to secure visas from the Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire closest to them.  

Detailed information on COP15, including the provisional agenda, is available here: cop15.  

For more information and to register, contact: Wagaki Wischnewski, [email protected] 

Read more about the UNCCD here

Peace Educator and Engaged Buddhist Dr. Paula Green Dies Aged 84

The renowned and internationally respected American peace-builder, psychologist, educator, and engaged Buddhist Dr. Paula Green has died at the age of 84. She passed away on 21 February due to complications related to cancer.

Dr. Green, founder and executive director of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding NGO, had 40 years’ experience as a psychologist and a peace educator and mentor in intergroup relations and conflict resolution. She was also on the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the steering committee of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB).

“Paula Green was very suddenly diagnosed with end-stage lung cancer, which spread throughout her body. She passed away last night,” shared INEB executive secretary Somboon Chungprampree. “This is very sad news. Paula has contributed so much over many years to the world and to our engaged Buddhist circles.” 

Dr. Green received plaudits and international recognition for her peace-building efforts in the Middle East and Bosnia, and was selected as one of the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award for 2009, which was presented to her by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in April of that year. The Unsung Heroes award is given to “individuals who, through their loving-kindness and service to others, have made their communities and our world a better place.” She also won the first-ever Prize for US Peacebuilding from the Alliance for Peacebuilding in 2018; the Outstanding Human Rights Activist Award from Kean University in 2015; the Psychology of Peace and Justice Prize from Psychologists for Social Responsibility in 2012; and the Leadership and Service as a Peacemaker Award from the Symposium for Engaged Buddhism in 2010.

“In my journey as a peace-builder, whether in my home country of the US or across the world in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, I have been privileged to serve as a peace-builder, educator, and dialogue facilitator, partnering with courageous and resilient community leaders in some of the world’s most difficult circumstances,” Dr. Green stated about her work. “It has been my mission to encourage those separated by war, enmity, prejudices, or perceived differences to seek understanding, discover common ground, learn new skills, and increase their capacity to promote peaceful societies for the benefit of all.” (Paula Green)

Read more at Buddhistdoor.net

2021 EarthAction Project & Campaign Report

2021 EarthAction Project & Campaign Report

The following projects and campaigns were made possible with your support. Thank You.

2020 Action: Every month, 2020 Action educated and mobilized thousands of US citizens and encouraged them to communicate with US policymakers on critically important peace and environmental issues. Each month, 2020 produced a timely Action Alert with meaningful actions for citizens to take to protect our environment and security—usually to contact a policymaker facing a critical decision. For details, read 2020’s 2020 Action Report at 2020Action.org. 2020 Action just completed its 35^th year!

Strategies to Boost Fair Climate Action in the 2020-2030 Decades: EarthAction sponsored a Side Event at COP 26 UN Climate Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, November 2021. We collaborated with The Group of Governance on Climate Change - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. They presented an equity-based analysis of the current NDCs; Climate Scorecard reported on efforts to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, and the Asociación Proteger described real cases of community driven improvement of housing and schools, based on local resources.

The American Friends of the Palestinian House of Friendship: EarthAction helped to raise over $100,000 to support the Palestinian House of Friendship (PHF) in Nablus, Palestine and their programs including: Summer Camps; a Skate Park; after school programs and e-learning for kids who were unable to go to school due to COVID; Girl Scouts (160 members) who served elders, needy families, and orphans in the community; an older women’s chorus and the formation of a younger women’s chorus called Zunnar; the Open Gate Music Studio that produced recordings throughout the year; the creation of a Little Free Library in Nablus; a cultural folklore festival in Asira with music, dance, and hand-crafts displayed which more than 2,000 people attended; and a new program called, “The Green Hands Initiative,” where children learn to love the land and to plant vegetables and fruits.

Support for Indigenous Peoples: In 2021, in collaboration with the Save Our Spirits (S.O.S.) Fund, EarthAction provided over $60,000 in much-needed support for indigenous and ancestral communities around the world. These projects included the following:

The Elders Project (TEP) in Colombia: We continued to work with and to provide assistance to the traditional authorities (Mamos) of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (SNSM) in Colombia. Rick Harlow, the Project Director, traveled to Colombia in August to distribute a new book of Kogui wisdom, published with TEP funding, to the pueblos of the SNSM. Rick returns to Colombia in December to coordinate the next Black Line Journey for the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamos pueblos. These activities are of great help to the Elders in their efforts to strengthen their spiritual traditional practices.

TEP has also been working with the Hopi Elders.  In October Rick traveled to Arizona to assist the Hopi in realizing a 1,300 mile pilgrimage to 11 sacred sites that define their ancestral territorial boundaries. TEP will continue working with the Hopi in 2022 as they realize another pilgrimage next summer.

The Lalakea Foundation: We provided a grant to their Nā Wāhine ʻĀpapalani, Hawaiian women cultural practitioners who have been conducting ritual and ceremony on Maunakea for many years. They are dedicated to honoring the sacred Piko O Wākea through prayer, chant and ceremony that acknowledge Nā Kānaka o ka Mauna, Deities of the Mountain, and form connectivity with the sacred through space and time. Due to COVID, this project was extended into 2021.

Hopi Community: We provided support to several Hopi communities for their COVID-19 Emergency Response Hopi Contact Tracing Projects. They trained people within the community to carry out contact tracing in a number of Hopi villages that were being hard-hit by the pandemic.

Q’eros Ceremonial Terrace Project in Ecuador: Through the Wiraqocha Foundation, Fredy Flores Machaca & Hannah Rae, received a grant on February 1, 2021 to design and build a terrace as the first phase of creating a museum and center for the preservation of the Q’eros culture. The terrace will be a sacred place for the Q’eros to gather for communal ceremonies.

Restoring Ancestral Connection to the Environment— a Community-Led Project of the Moken People of Koh Surin. The Global Purpose Group, founded and directed by Bodhi Garrett, was the sponsor of this project. In February 2021 they received an S.O.S grant to provide cultural and ecological preservation, education for children, meaningful income for adults, and community empowerment for the Moken community at Koh Surin National Park. The islands are located in the Andaman Sea of Thailand.

Kaibeto Navajo COVID Relief: On the Dine' Nation, Sharon Claw-Watson organized a team of 12 volunteers (Kaibeto Covid Relief Team) that served the communities of Kaibeto, Inscription House, Shonto, Redlake (Tonalea), Navajo Mountain and Rocky Ridge on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Our S.O.S. grant helped these communities to receive needed supplies including fresh food, healing herbs, water, medicines, vitamins, and boxes of food to keep the people in these communities, especially the elderly, healthy and safe from exposures to infection. Many of the volunteers used their own vehicles, traveling long rough unpaved roads to deliver supplies. Our grant provided food and needed supplies to 50 to 100 families for one to two months and paid for gas for the delivery vehicles.

Panina Makahiki/Closing Makahiki Ceremony 2021 in Hawaii: the project sponsor, Kohe Mālamalama O Kanaloa-Protect Kahoʻolawe Fund (PKF), received a grant for a closing ceremony in a series of ceremonies called, Makahiki Kaho‘olawe, that brought together their kūpuna (elders), kamaliʻi (children), kumu (experts/teachers) and ʻohana (families) from each island of Hawaiʻi to aide in their re-greening on the island and to secure blessings for Kahoʻolawe for the new year.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines received a grant to assist them with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic including the distribution of food relief consisting of rice, sugar, salt and cooking oil to a total of 500 families of indigenous people among the Ayangan tribe in the province of Ifugao. They also shared information on COVID-19 and held discussions on food security during the relief distribution in communities and conducted psycho-social sessions among vulnerable groups such as farmers, elders, youth, and informal workers.

Grass-Roots Organization for Women (GROW) Ghana: We provided support for Community-based Initiatives to address the impact of the Corona-19 virus in rural indigenous and local communities. They strengthened their outreach to prevent the spread of infection and addressed emerging public health issues that impacted vulnerable populations in rural areas who lacked access to essential services. This project went from June 2020 through May 2021.

NEW PROJECT Indigenous Solidarity Fund (ISF) In May 2021, EarthAction became the sponsor of ISF whose mission is to support elders, leaders, and wisdom-keepers of indigenous groups in Colombia and the Americas in their efforts to preserve and share their cultures and traditional practices. Click here to view a video made in 2021 by ISF Project Director Jesse Stammel of an urgent message from the revered Grandfather, Wisdom Keeper, Land Protector and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Werjayo Berito Kuwaru'wa of the U'Wa people in Colombia

Other Campaigns

Throughout 2021, EarthAction engaged in many other global campaigns for peace, justice and the environment through our website and social media. These included: the global launch of the Green Grids Initiative at the Climate Summit in Glasgow; COVAX, the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines; the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; The launch of the Youth Elders Fusion Initiative; For details visit: www.earthaction.org.

THANK YOU

EarthAction thanks all our Partner Organizations, members, donors and Board members for their ongoing participation and support. Special thanks to the Thomas D. Hormel Trust, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation, the Whatcom Community Foundation and the Save Our Spirits Fund.

Click here if you would like to make a donation to support our ongoing work.

2020 EarthAction Report

2020 EarthAction Report

A Brief Overview of EarthAction’s Projects & Campaigns

2020 Action

Every month, 2020 Action and the 2020 Action Education Fund, both projects of EarthAction, educate and mobilize thousands of US citizens encouraging them to communicate with US policymakers on critically important peace and environmental issues. Each month, 2020 produces a timely Action Alert with meaningful actions for citizens to take to protect our environment and security—usually to contact a policymaker facing a critical decision. For details, read 2020’s 2020 Action Report at 2020Action.org. This is 2020 Action’s 35^th year!

Support for Indigenous Peoples—Save Our Spirits Fund

In 2020, we expanded our collaboration with the Save Our Spirits (SOS) Fund to provide increased support for indigenous and ancestral communities around the world to help them preserve, strengthen, and pass on the spiritual practices and ceremonies and the wisdom of their elders.

This year, EarthAction made SOS grants to support the work of the following groups:

The Elders Project (TEP) in Colombia: We continued to work with and provide assistance to the traditional authorities (Mamos) of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (SNSM) in Colombia. Rick Harlow, the Project Director, made trips to Colombia to work directly with the traditional authorities to help strengthen their spiritual and traditional practices.

Indigenous Peoples Healing Fire at Assonet in Massachusetts was held on Saturday, November 28^th. It was organized by members of the Wampanoag Tribe. We hope this will help to lay the foundation for a permanent Indigenous Healing Ceremony Circle in the greater Boston area.

The Lalakea Foundation for their Nā Wāhine ʻĀpapalani, Hawaiian women cultural practitioners who have been conducting ritual and ceremony on Maunakea for many years and who are dedicated to honoring the sacred Piko O Wākea through prayer, chant and ceremony that acknowledge Nā Kānaka o ka Mauna, Deities of the Mountain, and form connectivity with the sacred through space and time. This project will extend into 2021.

Several Villages in the Hopi Community for their COVID-19 Emergency Response: Hopi Contact Tracing Project. This project will extend into 2021 and train people within the community to carry out contact tracing in a number of Hopi villages that are being hard-hit by the pandemic.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines to assist them with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the distribution of food relief consisting of rice, sugar, salt and cooking oil to a total of 500 families of indigenous people among the Ayangan tribe in the province of Ifugao. They also shared information on COVID-19 and held discussions on food security during the relief distribution in communities and conducted psycho-social sessions among vulnerable groups such as farmers, elders, youth, and informal workers.

Grass-Roots Organization for Women (GROW) in Ghana, for support of their project: Community-based Initiatives to Address the Impact of Corona-19 Virus Pandemic in Rural Indigenous and Local Communities. They are strengthening outreach to prevent the spread of infection and addressing emerging public health issues that impact vulnerable populations in rural areas who lack access to essential services.

Kitanglad Integrated NGOs Inc. (KIN), in Philippines for support of their program: Indigenous Womens Relief Against COVID-19 by Nurturing Culture and Nature. From May through August, KIN provided food and other support to community members, especially women, mothers and youths and their families belonging to the Daraghuyan-Bukidnon Tribe of Dalwangan in Malaybalay City, and the Talaandig Tribe of Songco, Lantapan, and Mt. Nebo, Valencia City. These tribal beneficiaries are partners in forest protection, biodiversity conservation and cultural survival of the tribes of Mts. Kitanglad Range Natural Park and the Mt. Kalatungan Range Natural Park.

Samdhana Institute, Philippines to assist with a response to the COVID pandemic to provide food relief to Erumanen ne Menuvu tribe (Manobo) in Southern Bukidnon, Philippines. Four hundred selected Menuvu families received food relief, to help them survive through the difficult period of the pandemic until they are able to plant for their own food.

Other Campaigns

Throughout the year, EarthAction engaged in many global campaigns for peace, justice and protection of the environment through our website and social media. For example, working with others, we helped to end the construction of hundreds of dangerous dams in Bosnia & Herzegovina, thus protecting Europe’s last remaining wild rivers! For details visit: www.earthaction.org.

Thank You

EarthAction thanks all our Partner Organizations, individual members, donors and Board members for their ongoing participation and support. Special thanks to the Thomas D. Hormel Trust, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation, and the Save Our Spirits Fund.

Nominations for Prestigious UN Award Opens

Nominations for the 2021 Land for Life Award of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) opened today. The submission of nominees will close after two months, on 28 January 2021.
 
The Award recognizes initiatives to halt, reduce and/or reverse land degradation that have had a positive impact on people and their land by using a holistic approach as well as practices that address both the environmental and social aspects of land management.
Under the theme “Healthy Land, Healthy Lives,” the 2021 Award will spotlight changemakers doing innovative land restoration and conservation that is both promoting the well-being of communities and improving their relationship with nature. It will reflect land as part of the solution, as the communities around the world recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build back better around a social contract for nature.
 
Winners will be invited to present their projects and work at international forums, including the Kubuqi International Desertification Forum in China, where the Award Ceremony will take place in mid-2021, and at the Fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at the end of 2021.   These forums offer winners special access to potential new funding partners and stakeholders.
 
Previous winners include World Vision (Australia), SEKEM (Egypt), Watershed Organization Trust (India) and Réseau MARP (Burkina Faso).

By winning the prestigious award, some have expanded their projects, secured new partnerships or been recognized by other international and national awards.

Mr. Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia, said “The Land for Life Award has played a significant role in lifting the profile of a relatively obscure intervention – Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) globally, giving it wider visibility and validating it as an effective tool in land and tree restoration. […] Today, FMNR is a normal part of the development lexicon when it comes to land restoration approaches and is considered a ‘best practice’ by many donors and development practitioners alike.”
“So much has awareness grown that the flagship intervention being promoted by the Global Evergreening Alliance, a coalition of NGOs, conservation groups, research institutions and professionals – is FMNR. In the seven years since World Vision was granted the Land for Life Award, the practice of FMNR, and individuals promoting it, have gone onto win other nationally and internationally significant awards,” Mr Rinaudo said.

”In our quest to establish a new social contract for nature and ensure a healthier and safer future for all, we need to promote the connection between people and their environment, on the one hand, and focus on innovative approaches that involve communities, empower women and promote new technologies on the other. In these uncertain times where a growing number of infectious diseases is coming through land use change, we are searching for positive and inspiring models that are creating healthy lives by turning degrading land into healthy land,” says Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.
 
The Land for Life Award also has a special China Award that celebrates exceptional commitment to sustainable land management in China.
 
Elion Foundation is the main sponsor of the Land for Life Programme, but leads the special China Award together with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Provincial Governmental of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Additional Quotes from Previous Winners:
Ms. Marcella D’Souza, WOTR Centre for Resilience Studies (W-CReS):  "The L4L Award helped us connect and engage with the ELD Secretariat at the GIZ based out of Bonn, who we had met at Kubuqi. This resulted in a new project on Economic Valuation of regenerating degraded lands through Watershed Development, implemented by our research unit - the WOTR Centre for Resilience Studies (W-CReS). In addition, the Award and the exposure it provided us helped transition our watershed-focussed interventions to a more holistic ecosystems-based approach targeted at building adaptive capacities and resilience of rural communities to climate and non-climate risks. This led to another partnership and project with the ambition to develop a state level "Roadmap for Ecosystems-based Adaptation" which involves multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral engagement and collaboration across scales."

Mr. Mathieu Ouédraogo, Réseau MARP: “Winning the Land for Life Award is certainly a great honor, but above all a major opportunity. This distinction led the communities we work with to be more thorough in the actions they carry out daily, focusing on tangible results. Quantitatively, we have doubled our objective in terms of achievements in the field, thanks to the worldwide recognition of our efforts.”

Mr. Awadalla Hamid, Practical Action Sudan: “The award has definitely a great impact on the project and the life of the people of Darfur, as we managed to secure an additional fund for a second phase of the same project, 10M Euros from the European Union to support more families in Wadi ElKu project area, and to cover additional 180km along the Wadi ElKu Catchment in North Darfur.”

About the UNCCD

For further information regarding the rules and criteria, visit the Land for Life Award webpage.
 
Contact person : Caroline Galipeau, Coordinator of the Land for Life Programme, [email protected]

URGENT APPEAL: Stop the demolition of the monument of Macliing Dulag, Pedro Dungoc, Lumbaya Gayudan and other heroes of the Anti-Chico Dams Struggle

We appeal for your urgent support to prevent the demolition of the monument of Macliing Dulag, Pedro Dungoc, Lumbaya Gayudan and other heroes of the historic Anti-Chico Dam Resistance!

This afternoon, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) received a notice from the Upper Kalinga District Engineering Office (UKDEO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways saying that the heroes’ monument encroached on a portion of the national road. The notice of demolition states that we are given seven (7) days from receipt of the notice to voluntarily remove the monument. If we fail to do so, UKDEO will remove the monument and charge the costs that will be incurred to the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and that they will resort to proper sanctions provided for by existing laws and rules of the government. There was no due process or dialogues held with the CPA on the matter. They want to make us pay for the cost of their sacrilegious acts. These heroes died from the hands of the government and now their legacy is bound to be killed once more. This is downright tyranny!

Last week, the PNP Provincial Advisory Council of the Kalinga Provincial Police Office requested the provincial government through the Provincial Board Committee on Oversight to enact a resolution to address the removal of the heroes’ monument.

The monument was built by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance in 2017, together with the families of the heroes and martyrs as well as people from Bugnay, the site of the monument. It was built to honor the legacy of our heroes and martyrs who successfully opposed the Marcos Dictatorship’s Chico Dams Project that would have brought massive destruction to the communities, culture and environment of the people of Kalinga and Mountain Province. It is a reminder to present and future generations of the valiant struggle by our elders to defend the ancestral land. It is a reminder of the Butbut tribe’s place in the history of the Chico valley, the Cordillera, the country, and the world.

It has been more than 3 years since the monument was built but it is only now that UKDEO and the police are raising the issue of encroachment and using this as an excuse to dismantle the monument. The DPWH should have stopped the construction from the start if indeed there was a violation. The people of Bugnay including Macliing Dulag’s family had welcomed the project and even helped build the monument on their ancestral land.

Demolition of the monument is tyranny especially at this time of COVID-19 pandemic! These heroes deserve the utmost respect of the people and the government. Their monument deserves to be in a place of honor within their ancestral domain.

Demolishing the monument is double injustice to the Anti-Chico Dams heroes. Macliing Dulag was shot dead by members of the Philippine Army led by Lieutenant Leodegardo Adalem on April 24, 1980. Until now, justice has not been served. Now his monument along with other heroes and martyrs is also bound to be destroyed.

To demolish and desecrate the monument is a brazen act of obliterating the Cordillera people’s history of struggle against oppression and injustice. It is part of the government’s acts of historical revisionism or distorting and erasing the true history of the people’s resistance and heroism which remain relevant until today.

This threat to demolish the heroes’ monument is another attack against the people, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, and against our heroes and martyrs who resisted development aggression and State repression. It is a part of the implementation of Executive Order 70 or the “Whole of Nation” approach to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) whereby communities and even local government units are being pressured and forced to comply. Historical revisionism is no doubt one of the goals of ELCAC.

Help save the monument from destruction!

The following are some of the ways you can help:

1. Send letters of concern to stop and prevent the demolition to the following, and furnish us a copy through [email protected]:

1. 1.  Eugene M. Batalao

            District Engineer

            Upper Kalinga District Engineering Office

            Department of Public Works and Highways

            Email: [email protected]

       b.  Khadaffy Tanggol

                       Regional Director

                       Department of Public Works and Highways – Cordillera

                       Email: [email protected]

                   c. General R’win Pagkalinawan

                       Director, Police Regional Office – Cordillera

                       Email: [email protected]

                   d. Andres B. Ngao-i

                       Chairman, Philippine National Police Provincial Advisory Council

                       Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga

                       Email: [email protected]

2. Issue statements of condemnation against the demolition of the heroes’ monument and post your stories and opinions.

3. Sign the online petition to stop the demolition of the monument at http://chng.it/9ydD8hK2c6

4. Support the Defend the Cordillera campaign against plunder and State terror. Sign the Global Pact at ph. Watch what's the campaign is all about here.

For more information, please read:

• Alert (October 5, 2020) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D9Pl63ty6A1wi41LwH18kqth5Hp4lQ31/view?usp=sharing
• Open Letter to the Butbut tribe (October 7, 2020) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D9Pl63ty6A1wi41LwH18kqth5Hp4lQ31/view?usp=sharing
• Demolition notice from the Upper Kalinga District Engineering Office (October 1, 2020) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D9Pl63ty6A1wi41LwH18kqth5Hp4lQ31/view?usp=sharing

For inquiries, please contact the Cordillera Peoples Alliance regional secretariat at [email protected], [email protected].

Thank you for your support and solidarity!

CORDILLERA PEOPLES ALLIANCE

ISSUE: STOP CONSTRUCTION OF DEADLY & ILLEGAL DAMS IN THE BALKANS

River Neretva, Bosnia and Herzegovina ©Dinno Kasalo

While Europe is in lockdown over the Corona virus, investors are increasingly taking advantage of the unusual situation to build illegal dams in the Balkans. South of the capital Sarajevo in Bosnia, the construction of five dams has now begun or is being pushed to begin—in three cases without any permits. Local citizens are protesting the construction of these dams which will destroy their rivers, extinguish aquatic species, and forever change the surrounding land and ecosystems. A key driver behind the widespread river ecocide in the Balkans is the EU/European Commission-backed hydropower subsidies. Local communities need the assistance of global pressure to end these subsidies and stop these deadly dams.

What is at stake now, according to scientists, is 11,000 kilometers of rivers in pristine or near pristine state. These are some of the last unspoiled natural rivers remaining in all of Europe.

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/save-blue-heart-europe-balkan-rivers-story/story-28991.html

Please help us save these last wild rivers in Europe. Between Slovenia and Greece about 3,000 new hydropower projects are planned (436 in Bosnia alone!), more than 1,000 of them inside protected areas such as national parks or nature reserves. If these are built, close to 50 fish species will become extinct or pushed close to extinction, or about 10% of all European freshwater fish species (according to the Eco-Masterplan for Balkan rivers).  The scientific research[1] provides ample evidence that Balkan rivers are the most important hotspot for threatened freshwater biodiversity in Europe.

The main reason so many dams are now being built in this relatively pristine region is that hydro-developers are using what was intended as a positive renewable energy policy, Feed-in Tarrifs (FITS), to very negative ends.

Under FIT policies, investors receive government subsidies (financed through the electricity bills of consumers) for the electricity produced from the hydropower plants connected to each dam. Under this policy, the investor receives up to 3 times the amount of the actual market price of selling the electricity! This money machine together with corruption and nepotism are the key drivers behind the dam boom. The subsidies essentially pay developers for damming and destroying precious rivers. All dam construction should be stopped until new policies can be put in place that will protect these rivers and their ecosystems.

TAKE ACTION:

Send a message to the President, Vice President, key Commissioners of the European Commission, and Director of the Energy Community (see below for their emails). Urge them to immediately:

• End subsidies to hydropower projects
• Take action with national leaders of the Western Balkan countries to initiate a moratorium on new hydropower plants in the region to ensure that the most vivid rivers of Europe will not be destroyed.

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE FOLLOWING EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES:

Mrs. von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, [email protected]

Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission, [email protected]

Olivér Várhelyi, DGNEAR Commissioner, [email protected]

Virginijus Sinkevičius, DG ENVI Commissioner, [email protected]

Janez Kopac, Director of the Energy Community, [email protected]

Additional resources and links:

The main driver of the destructive small hydropower boom in the Balkans is the availability of public financial support in the form of feed-in tariffs. In 2018, 70% of EU renewable energy financial support in the Western Balkans was invested in highly destructive small hydropower, while the huge PV potential was largely ignored. In 2018, only 3.6% of electricity in the Western Balkans was generated by hydropower plants under 10 MW, at a massive environmental cost.  What this means is that the Balkan rivers are being destroyed for very little electricity as a result of EU subsidies on hydropower.  Instead of river-destroying excess hydropower, the region should focus on energy efficiency and building of truly clean renewable energy like solar and wind.

• Recent press release from the Blue Heart of Europe coalition: https://balkanrivers.net/en/news/increasing-destruction-na5%20rijeka%20ture-times-pandemic
• https://www.balkanrivers.net/en/campaign

• Blue Heart Eco-Masterplan scientifically assessing more than 80,000 kilometers of Balkan rivers and streams
• https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/who-pays-who-profits.pdf

EarthAction.org     [email protected]

[1] https://balkanrivers.net/sites/default/files/Fish_Study_web.pdf

Country Energy Sector Reform Efforts

For Global Spotlight Report #26, Climate Scorecard asked our Country Managers to describe the major energy sector reforms/changes that their countries had undertaken since 2015.

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Special attention was paid to changes in energy sources, the decrease or increase in fossil fuel sources of energy, the increase in renewables, and the use of nuclear power.

 

Country Managers were also asked to analyze the impact that their country’s energy sector reforms/changes have had (or hope to have moving forward) on their country’s overall level of energy production and consumption, overall emissions levels and the cost of energy.

 

2020 COUNTRY CLIMATE COMMITMENTS

 

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Country Climate Commitments Update

Dear Friends,

 

Climate Scorecard’s Country Commitment Tracking Update is intended to provide information on the degree to which 22 leading greenhouse gas emitting countries* are making commitments to near-term (2030) and more long-term (2040-2050) emission reduction goals.

 

View the Update

 

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Each month we will provide a summary graphic with supportive text with up-to-date information on how each of the countries we are tracking is answering the following 5 questions:

1. Has the country pledged to update its 2015 Paris Agreement pledge by 2020?
2. Does the updated pledge commit the country to making a 30-50% reduction in emissions by 2030?
3. Has the country submitted a plan for reducing its emissions by 30-50% by 2030?
4. Has the country committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner?
5. Has the country submitted a plan for becoming carbon neutral by 2050 or sooner?

Our goal in developing this tracking system is to publish information that can be used to put pressure on leading greenhouse gas emitting countries to strengthen their commitments to reducing emissions and supporting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

 

We urge you to share our monthly updates with colleagues, and welcome your feedback on how we can improve this presentation by replying to this email.

 

Ron Israel

Director

Climate Scorecard

www.climatescorecard.org

EU and Russia Support UN Call for Global Coronavirus Ceasefire. Cameroon Rebels Announce Ceasefire

In an international appeal issued on Monday March 23, UN Secretary-General (UNSG) António Guterres urged warring parties across the world to observe a ceasefire to assist the battle against COVID-19, which he called ‘the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind.’ (Click here for his video message).

In addition, Mr Guterres tasked UN Special Envoys in conflict zones to follow up on this appeal. ‘My special envoys will be now working with the parties to the conflict to try to make sure that this global appeal is not only listened to but leads to concrete action, leads to a pause in fighting, creating the conditions for the response to COVID‑19 to be much more effective.’

The appeal appears to be having some impact - although limited so far.

On March 26, a rebel militia in Cameroon, the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (Socadef), responded by announcing that they would observe a two week long ceasefireso that people could be tested for coronavirus without fear. 

A chief mediator in the Cameroon conflict Mr Alexandre Liebeskind, said that he hoped others would follow Socadef's example, not only in Cameroon but also in other conflicts in Africa. "Sitting in Africa, I am particularly concerned because it's a fragile continent. The economic and social consequences [of coronavirus] could be devastating if it is not quickly contained." 

European Union and Russia support the ceasefire call

Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has supported the UNSG's call for a ceasefire, tweeting: 

'The call for an immediate global ceasefire by UN Secretary General @antonioguterres is more important than ever. Only together and in peace can we overcome the global #coronavirus pandemic. This is the real fight we need to face today. Unity and solidarity are our weapons.' (@JosepBorellF)

Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, released a statement on March 25, supporting the ceasefire call and highlighting key conflicts where a ceasefire is especially important.

"Of special concern are the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria, as well in the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip. We note separately the risks associated with the possible deterioration of the epidemiological situation in African countries, where there is a persisting armed confrontation. The localities with camps for refugees and internally displaced persons are particularly vulnerable."

Win Without War urges the United States to Support

Win without War, a United States based campaign, has called on the Trump Administration and US Congress to support the ceasefire call.

'The truth is, it’s going to take all of us, everywhere, doing our part. That’s what every doctor says, every scientist and public health official tells us. Yet in far too many corners of the world, some of us are still trying to kill one another on the battlefield. Right now, we need the entirety of the U.S. government fighting this pandemic, not endless wars.'
Win Without War appeal to President Trump and the U.S. Congress.

US residents can add their support at We Demand a Global Ceasefire.

Call to support global ceasefire by ending weapons production

World Beyond War (WBW) and Peace Brigades International (PBI) Canada, another two organisations promoting the UN call for a ceasefire, are urging campaigners in arms-producing countries to support by ending weapons production and arms transfers. See United Nations Calls For Peace During The Coronavirus Pandemic, But War Production Continues.

They note that the weapons industry is keeping factories open to keep making weapons, even in countries like Italy and the USA where many other businesses are having to close during the worst part of the pandemic. Indeed the arms industry has effectively convinced governments that the defence industry be included as "essential services, [which] may remain in operation.”

WBW has launched an online petition calling for the cancellation of Canada' largest arms show, CANSEC, which is scheduled to take place on May 27-28 and has not been cancelled or postponed.

Webinar on an End to War

World Beyond War is holding a webinar on April 7 on the topic Ending War with keynote speaker David Swanson. Click here for details. 

Taken from UNFOLD ZERO