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NL Marius Troost, EP candidate: "Europe is so powerful, if you get something done there you change the lives of millions of people for the better"
Ahead of the European elections on 6 June, we speak to Marius Troost (31), who is in position 14 for GroenLinks-PvdA as a candidate for the European Parliament. Cheerfully, Marius arrives at his café around the corner in Amsterdam West, where the interview takes place. It immediately becomes clear that Marius is especially driven [...]
With the honest story, Lara Sibbing cycles through the EU and the Netherlands
The European Parliament elections are coming up. Also on 6 June, Green-Left-PvdA will appear on the ballot paper with a shared list in which 'green' and 'red' come together. In the run-up to these elections, we therefore speak to several GL-PvdA candidates. In this interview Lara Sibbing - number 16 on the list - about [...]
The Africa Day Youth Think Tank in action!
At the FMS, youth engagement is a high priority. For this reason, last summer we launched the Africa Day Youth Think Tank, a project in cooperation with Erasmus+. Thirty young people, from diverse educational and personal backgrounds, united around a shared interest: the African continent. Together, they have spent the past [...]
African climate summit: much-discussed carbon credits are not a panacea
Photo: Attendees at the African Climate Summit in Nairobi - Flickr / Paul Kagame This month, African Union members met to form a common position on climate policy ahead of COP28. Carbon credits were a focus point. Governments see a lot of potential in this system, but there are many legitimate criticisms. [...]
Why climate justice is also a social struggle
Photo: Jay Wennington via Unsplash In several countries where the FMS operates, the excesses of climate change and pollution by multinationals are becoming visible - with major consequences for populations. They experience the direct consequences of environmental pollution, such as poor air quality, cleared forests, and water scarcity. This has triggered various forms of protest - often met with violent [...]
International Women's Day: International issues need female leadership
Belarusian activist Tasha Arlova gives a lecture in The Hague, 2022. Photo: FMS Today is International Women's Day. On this day, we reflect on the emancipation of women in our society, and stand in solidarity with women and other marginalised groups fighting for equal rights worldwide. International Women's Day is observed every year on 8 [...]
Analysis COP27: A lost climate year despite historic breakthrough
"History was made today at #COP27" proudly reads the twitter account of the climate summit held in Sharm-El-Sheikh over the past three weeks. On the closing day of COP27, countries agreed to establish a fund for loss and damage (damage and loss caused by climate change), something that developing countries have been [...]
Climate summit COP27 in Egypt: dubious endorsement of al-Sisi's democratic facade
Al-Sisi in 2015 at COP21 in Paris (source: Flickr) Next Sunday, politicians, policymakers, activists and journalists from around the world will travel to the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh for COP27. This year, for the first time since 2016, the international climate summit will take place in a (North) African city. The location is hopeful that climate priorities for the [...]
WECF & WEP talk Feminist Forest Preservation
"They should be left standing," urges John Baaki about the trees of the African tropical forest. A simple statement that captures the core of the complex puzzle that is forest preservation. Why is it so important to preserve the African forests and what role do Dutch policies have to play in protecting them? Preceding the Africa Day workshop by Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), WECF Netherlands Director Christy Aikhorin sits down with longstanding partner John Baaki from Women Environmental Programme (WEP), to ask John all about WEP's work on gender, climate change and forest preservation - and how they are all interconnected.
Drought in Horn of Africa remains under the radar
Parts of the Horn of Africa are facing extreme drought. The worsening crisis by the day is not getting much-needed attention because of the war in Ukraine. Dire food shortages are exacerbated by rising grain prices. The drylands lack attention, financial support and a long-term vision with regard to climate adaptation.
