South America is paying the price for Europe's hungry factory farms – with vast monocultures of pesticide-soaked, GM soy where forests used to be. But a new EU proposal aims to boost the amount of soy grown in Europe to ease the pressure on countries in the Global South. At the same time, it must be careful to avoid repeating the problem in Europe, argues Stanka Becheva.
A legal complaint submitted today to the European Commission by campaign groups [1] alleges that the construction of a controversial EU-funded motorway is already breaking EU nature laws, and warns that completing the final section through Kresna Gorge nature reserve in Bulgaria would be catastrophic for protected animals and plants in the region.
This episode looks at feminism and how it relates to our work for environmental justice.
In the coming days and weeks, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will decide whether to close Europe's fields to genetically modified (GM) crops for good, or if more GM crops can be grown.
National governments have over the past decade failed to reach a consensus of whether to allow new GM crops to be grown or not. Most countries reject the crops, but under EU procedures they have insufficient numbers to ban them outright.
Because of this stalemate the final decision now lies with President Juncker.
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More than seven months after EU Member States were scheduled to start the process of slashing the use of plastic bags through the Plastic Bags Directive, Friends of the Earth Europe and 17 other environmental NGOs join Surfrider and Zero Waste Europe to mark the 8th International Plastic Bag Free Day. In this important year where plastic pollution of ocean is considered a priority global concern, the compliance and ambition levels of EU Member States to reduce plastic bags fall short of expectations.
Reacting to the official notification by Bayer to the European Commission of their planned acquisition of Monsanto, Adrian Bebb, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said:
"This merger would be a marriage made in hell. Bayer and Monsanto already wield enormous power over our food and farming system, and their joining forces would be bad news for citizens, farmers and the environment.
Center for Environment/Friends of the Earth Bosnia and Herzegovina presented ‘awards’ to environment ministers, Srebrenka Golić and Edita Đapo, after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that Bosnia and Herzegovina has the worst air pollution in Europe.
Jaromír Bláha, a prominent member of Hnutí DUHA/Friends of the Earth Czech Republic, has been awarded the prestigious Josef Vavroušek Prize. He was honored for his long-term contribution to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Friends of the Earth Europe has criticised EU governments for adopting weak energy efficiency targets today. The decision demonstrates a lack of commitment to the Paris climate change Agreement, according to the group.
EU Ministers have agreed to the European Commission's proposed target of 30% energy efficiency by 2030, when climate action requires at least 40%.