Annual Review 2020

Solidarity is a core value for Friends of the Earth. It took on new significance last year as the Covid-19 crisis showed the strength of human solidarity and compassion. The pandemic unleased waves of solidarity and community action – including in our grassroots network.

The pandemic did not affect everyone equally, and our groups came to the support of those hardest hit.

We shared stories from across our European and global network of what life under coronavirus looked like around the world.

We shared the story of South Africa’s 90,000+ waste pickers. They collect and sort waste for reuse, repair and recycling. But Covid-19 restrictions forced some to stop work. Friends of the Earth South Africa worked with partners to help get emergency food parcels and vouchers to waste pickers and their families who had lost their income. Then, together with waste pickers’ organisations and NGOs, they successfully lobbied the South African government to get waste pickers defined as ‘essential’ workers – allowing them to return to work. Friends of the Earth South Africa also helped waste pickers access personal protection equipment (PPE) so they can do their jobs safely.

In France, and elsewhere, the multinational corporation Amazon, attempted to captialise on the coronoavirus crisis and the closure of non-essential shops to increase its operations. Amazon workers were left unprotected – working without adequate physical distance, or proper protective equipment. Friends of the Earth France produced a mobiliation kit to help people take action in support of workers. They organised several email and Twitter actions demanding the closure of unsafe Amazon sites. The campaign worked! A French court ruled Amazon had to limit its activity to the delivery of essential products only during the coronavirus crisis.

During Spain’s Covid-19 confinement, open-air markets were forced to close leaving small agroecological producers nowhere to sell their produce. They were unable to make a living. So, Spain’s network of women for agroecology – including Friends of the Earth Spain – got active in support of small producers. Under the banner #SOSCampesinado (SOS small farmers), they brought together an incredible 700 organisations to demand that the government reopen the markets and encourage local food distribution. They demanded hospitals, care homes, and school canteens purchase from local producers. Dozens of local campaigns were successful in convincing municipalities to allow open-air markets and to support food sovereignty.

Read more stories of #Covidsolidarity.

It took 13 years. Finally, some justice for the people of the oil-soaked Niger Delta. Three Nigerian farmers, victims of oil pollution – supported by Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands – beat one of the world’s most powerful transnational corporations, Shell, in court in the Hague.

As the news spread across the world, people across Nigeria celebrated with victory parties.

“Finally there is hope, some justice for the Nigerian people suffering the consequences of Shell’s oil,” said Eric Dooh, one of the plaintiffs.

Dooh’s home, Goi, was a lush, fertile, thriving village. Until two major oil spills from Shell’s poorly maintained pipeline struck in 2003 and 2004, contaminating land and water. People were left destitute, but Shell denied any responsibility. So, Friends of the Earth joined with Dooh and three other farmers from nearby villages to sue Shell in its home country, the Netherlands.

It took years of gathering evidence and jumping legal hurdles. Finally, the court found that both Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary did not do all that was necessary to prevent and respond to the spill. It is the first time any survivors of Shell’s pollution have won compensation and justice in the home country of the oil giant.

This case has paved the way to justice for victims of corporate crimes. The evidence shows Shell has much more cleaning up to do in Nigeria. But from now on, any Dutch company failing to adhere to human rights and environmental regulations overseas risks being taken to court, held accountable, and forced to pay compensation. Now Friends of the Earth is campaigning for stronger laws to make this avenue easier to access.

There are more mainstream voices than ever calling-out our exploitative neoliberal, economic system and demanding transformational change. The Covid-19 pandemic made it clearer than ever that ‘economics-as-usual’ is broken and does not work for huge sections of our societies. We cannot continue to pursue growth no matter what, and that includes what some politicians promise as ‘green growth’.

Core to the current Friends of the Earth Europe strategy is the recognition that we need to abandon the never-ending pursuit of consumption and economic growth, which is at the heart of the multiple crises facing humanity and nature.

What kind of positive economic and social system do we envision instead? In 2020, we made big progress towards answering this question. We created a common vision with our network for an environmentally and socially just economy. We held six interactive webinars with member groups and dived deep into discussions, brainstorming and new economic thinking. It culminated in a comprehensive internal paper, ‘Principles for an environmentally and socially just economy’. The seven chapters reflect our bottom-up vision for all areas of the economy – from the purpose and guiding values of the economy we want, to democracy and public services, to the financial system and the future of work, business, and trade.

This thinking is now shaping our analysis and demands, not least towards EU policy-makers. We rejected so-called ‘green’ or ‘regenerative growth’-based failed economic solutions in the EU Green Deal. We pushed for the Green Deal to bring about a shift to an economy that cares for everyone within the Earth’s limits.

We also built relationships and cooperation with the degrowth movement. We co-organised a panel debate and workshop on the theme of ‘How do we deal with the European Green Deal?’ at the Degrowth Conference Vienna.

This work continues with a shorter public version of the vision paper coming first in 2021.