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Communications consultant at Land Portal Foundation
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Can palm oil truly be sustainable? Malaysia offers a certification model we’ve been waiting for
A new UN report entitled, "Making Peace With Nature”, finds that nearly 90 percent of all known species are threatened by climate change. Another UN report warns the world is “nowhere close” to fighting climate change. Unsurprisingly, panicked governments are adopting short-sighted solutions, and in the process are missing important templates for slowing, and even reversing, climate change.
Oil company exploring in sensitive elephant habitat accused of ignoring community concerns
Pension and endowment funds linked to conflict-plagued oil palm in DRC
- A new report from the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank, reveals that several well-known pension funds, trusts and endowments are invested in a group of oil palm plantations in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of environmental and human rights abuses.
- Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC) was recently purchased by two African private equity investors, and several European development banks have invested millions of dollars in the company’s operations.
“Land is Now the Biggest Gun”: Climate Change, Conflict, and the Telling Case of Karamoja, Uganda
Whether and how climate change drives conflict has driven considerable debate over the past decade. Yet understandings of climate-conflict remain general, and in many respects, unsettled.
81 Indigenous leaders, environmental defenders slam BlackRock in open letter
- A letter signed by Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders from the Amazon, West Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere blasts BlackRock for failing to hold companies in its investment portfolio accountable for deforestation and land grabs.
- “While BlackRock makes pledges to ask portfolio companies to cut emissions in the future, our forests are being razed, our land is being stolen, and our people are being killed, today,” the letter said.
- Last week, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, published new guidelines related to “nat
Weighing up the risks of a 2021 ‘land rush' in Africa
A 2021 African land rush seems unlikely, but issues persist
Joseph Feyertag is a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Roger Calow is a senior research fellow at the ODI, and Ben Bowie is a director at TMP Systems.
Explainer: What does it mean to invest ‘ethically’ or with ‘impact’?
Demand for funds which cherry pick investments with strong environmental, social or governance (ESG) credentials has surged in recent years.
Many of these funds include terms such as 'ethical' or 'impact' in their names. But what do these words actually mean?
Below is a glossary of the key terms often used to describe investment styles and processes.
SUSTAINABLE/RESPONSIBLE INVESTING
Earth Day 2021 – Restore Our Earth
Every year on April 22nd over a billion people across the world come together to observe Earth Day. First established in 1970, Earth Day was created to drive action in combatting the ongoing global environmental and climate crisis. The theme of the 2021 event is Restore Our Earth. The 2021 Earth Day campaign covers various concepts for how we can restore our earth, but sometimes these can be difficult to visualise.
Beyond Ownership: Measuring Land Rights
Advancing women’s land rights is a priority for the international development agenda. Yet, there is no consensus on which rights should be monitored and reported. Three indicators of women’s property rights are widely used in the literature. Each captures a different aspect of women’s land rights, but a recent paper explores the extent to which these different rights are held by the same person, using data from six African countries.
Rare win for Nepal indigenous groups as EIB admits 'gaps' in hydropower project
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has pledged to address gaps in the implementation of a power project in Nepal, handing a rare victory to indigenous groups and local communities who had raised concerns about being uprooted from their land.
A complaint by Nepali civil society groups had pointed to inadequate analysis of environmental and social impacts of the Marsyangdi Corridor Transmission Line project, and a failure to consult with local communities and obtain their consent.