colombia

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) formally notified the IUCN of its decision to withdraw its membership due to the IUCN's corporate partnership with Shell and other corporations, arguing that such partnerships serve as 'greenwashing' and undermine environmental and human rights struggles.

• Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) decided to withdraw its membership from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) following a decision made at the FoEI Bi-annual General Assembly in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, between 10-15 November 2008.
• The primary driver for FoEI's withdrawal is the IUCN's corporate partnership with Shell. FoEI expresses concern over the IUCN's lack of clear articulation or 'unnatural silence' regarding Shell's activities, specifically mentioning gas flaring, arctic drilling, exploitation of tar sands, environmental degradation, abuse of human rights, and corporate lobbying against European Union climate change policies.
• FoEI argues that partnerships between conservation organizations like the IUCN and transnational corporations like Shell are used to 'greenwash' harmful activities and distort reality, which in turn undermines the work of the 77 organizations within the FoEI federation.
• At the IUCN 2008 Congress in Barcelona, Motion 107 called for the termination of the IUCN-Shell agreement. Although more than 70% of non-government organizations and 60% of all participating members voted for termination, and 15 governments supported it, the motion was blocked by government delegates who hold a weighted vote.
• FoEI expressed skepticism regarding IUCN's engagement with other corporations, specifically citing Rio Tinto, described as one of the world's dirtiest corporations, and Holcim, which FoEI claims pushed for harmful 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} }