colombia

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) has withdrawn its membership from the IUCN, citing the IUCN's corporate partnership with Shell as the primary reason. FoEI argues that such partnerships serve as 'greenwash' for harmful corporate activities and undermine community struggles for environmental and human rights. The document highlights Shell's record on gas flaring, human rights abuses, and arctic drilling, and notes that a majority of IUCN non-government organizations and members voted to terminate the Shell agreement via Motion 107, though they were blocked by government delegates.

• Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) decided to withdraw its membership from the IUCN following a Bi-annual General Assembly in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, held from 10-15 November 2008.
• The primary driver for withdrawal is the IUCN's partnership with Shell, which FoEI claims ignores critical issues such as gas flaring, human rights abuses, environmental degradation, tar sands exploitation, arctic drilling, and lobbying against European Union climate change policies.
• FoEI asserts that partnerships between conservation organizations and transnational corporations like Shell are used to 'greenwash' harmful activities and negatively impact community efforts to protect health and the environment.
• During the IUCN 2008 Congress in Barcelona, Motion 107 to terminate the Shell agreement was supported by over 70% of non-government organizations and 60% of all participating members, as well as 15 governments, but was blocked by the weighted vote of government delegates.
• FoEI expressed skepticism regarding other IUCN corporate engagements, specifically mentioning Rio Tinto and Holcim, the latter of which FoEI claims pushed for waste incineration in South Africa against civil society wishes.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2009). colombia. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IUCN_FoEI-letter-09-jan-09.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. colombia. 2009. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IUCN_FoEI-letter-09-jan-09.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=colombia |date=9 January 2009 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IUCN_FoEI-letter-09-jan-09.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{friendsoftheearthinternational2009colombia, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{colombia}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2009}, month = jan, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IUCN_FoEI-letter-09-jan-09.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }