friends of the earth international at 40

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is a global federation of 76 autonomous environmental groups with over 2 million members. Founded in 1971, the organization has evolved from a small group of activists into a decentralized network that prioritizes environmental and social justice. FoEI's current strategy, 'mobilise, resist, transform', focuses on challenging the neoliberal economic model, which it identifies as the driver of climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion. The federation advocates for key concepts such as 'environmental space', 'ecological debt', and 'food sovereignty' to create sustainable societies. Its work spans several core areas, including climate and energy justice, forest protection, food sovereignty, and resisting extractive industries like mining, oil, and gas.

• FoEI has grown into a global federation consisting of 76 national member groups with more than 2 million members and supporters, the majority of which are located in the Global South.
• The organization identifies the neoliberal economic model as the primary driver of current global crises, including the collapse of ecosystems, climate change, and the pollution of land and water by extractive industries.
• FoEI promotes several key political and transformational concepts to guide its strategy: 'environmental space' (equal rights to resource consumption within planetary limits), 'ecological debt' (the debt owed by industrialised nations to the Global South), and 'food sovereignty' (the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems).
• In the area of climate and energy, FoEI advocates for 'climate justice', which requires those responsible for the crisis to mitigate it and provide reparations for the Global North's 'climate debt'. The organization explicitly rejects 'false solutions' such as carbon trading, offsetting, 'clean' coal, gas, nuclear power, and large hydropower.
• FoEI's forest and biodiversity work focuses on stopping deforestation driven by demand for timber, meat, and agrofuels, while promoting community forest governance and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• The organization campaigns against the industrial food system and GMOs, supporting small-scale peasant and family farmers to regain control over seeds and territories.
• FoEI works to resist extractive industries, specifically oil, gas, and mining, by supporting local communities in rejecting projects that cause environmental disasters and human rights violations.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2011). friends of the earth international at 40. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/10-foei-at-40-lr.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. friends of the earth international at 40. 2011. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/10-foei-at-40-lr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=friends of the earth international at 40 |date=June 2011 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/10-foei-at-40-lr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2011friends, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{friends of the earth international at 40}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2011}, month = jun, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/10-foei-at-40-lr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }