General information about Friends of the Earth Netherlands
The Netherlands are densely populated and it is a built up country. This largely defines the scope of Milieudefensie's campaigns. Examples are the campaign for the legal protection of green and less populated countryside, because quietness, space and fresh air have become scarce. The sky over the Netherlands is among the most polluted in the world. Therefore Milieudefensie campaigns against the construction of yet more roads while we plead in favour of cleaner cars and better public transport. Moreover Milieudefensie wants to restrain the busy and extremely polluting air traffic.
Dutch intensive agriculture is notorious for its pollution and animal unfriendly production methods. On top of that it makes heavy demands on the environment in other parts of the world, for example on the Amazon area which is partly cut down in order to produce cattle feed for the Netherlands. That is why Milieudefensie wants to switch to animal friendly agriculture that is ecologically sound. In order to reach that goal a popular initiative is presented to the Dutch Parliament (2007). The parliament will be obliged to discuss it; a fact unparalleled in Dutch history.
The Netherlands should actually take the lead in the battle against climate change as it is a rich country of which about 50 percent is situated at or below sea level. We make efforts to induce large banks to make more climate friendly investments, for example.
But the remit of our organization does not stop at our borders. FoE Netherlands has a long history in campaigning for the conservation of tropical and virgin forests. We have been successful in actions against Dutch companies that do not protect the environment in other countries – for example when Shell caused serious oil pollution in Nigeria some years ago. One of our campaigns is concerned with the adverse effects of the liberalization of the world market and is aiming at international legislation for multinationals.
Measures that have no public support hardly stand a chance. Therefore our members have a say in the changes that we bring about, and we always make sure that we are supported by as many people as possible. A well-tried method.
