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The paper argues that the New Development Bank (NDB) lacks a clear, shared definition of sustainable development and suggests that South Africa could lead the BRICS group in establishing a holistic framework. Drawing on stakeholder interviews and international best practices, the authors recommend that the NDB prioritize social and environmental safeguards, move away from coal and extractive industries, and establish formal dialogue mechanisms with civil society to ensure transparency and pro-poor outcomes.

The document examines the systemic marginalisation of African communities affected by mining, highlighting the gap between official policy and the reality of environmental degradation, forced relocation, and health hazards. It details specific tools for empowerment, such as community protocols in Kenya and Zimbabwe, paralegal interventions in Sierra Leone, and strategic litigation regarding silicosis in South Africa. The text emphasizes the disproportionate burden on women and the necessity of moving beyond narrow legal definitions of 'indigenous peoples' to protect all customary landholders through the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

The document examines the systemic overlap between political party officials, government officials, and the business sector in Mozambique, a phenomenon termed 'interwovenness'. It argues that the ruling party, Frelimo, has captured state power, leading to a culture of patronage and cronyism where state resources are exploited for party interests. While Mozambique has established various anti-corruption laws and institutions, such as the GCCC and the Law on Public Integrity, the brief contends that these are poorly implemented due to a lack of political will and the influence of Frelimo over the legislature and judiciary. The author highlights specific vulnerabilities in the extractive industries and foreign investment contracts, which are exempt from public procurement transparency rules. The brief recommends that the government publicise extractive industry concessions, that civil society increase its monitoring of business deals, and that the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons push for the domestication of the AU Convention against Corruption.

The document argues that the 'commons'—resources managed by autonomous citizens through cooperation and reciprocity—offer a necessary third way between the state and the market. It explores various applications, from urban 'commoning' in Italy and France to seed-saving in India and the legal challenges of space mining. The text highlights how neoliberal privatisation has driven a 'third wave' of collective action and calls for EU policy to shift from a growth-centric model to one that supports stewardship and social-ecological sustainability.

The report assesses the impact of mining automation on the shared-value paradigm, which relies on local employment and procurement to provide socioeconomic benefits to host communities. Using case studies from a high-income OECD country and a lower-middle-income country, the authors model workforce reductions of 30%, 50%, and 70%. They find that while absolute GDP impacts may be small at a national level, the loss of wages, salaries, and local procurement can significantly reduce the total value a mine contributes to its host economy. The report concludes that developing countries may be more vulnerable due to over-dependence on extractives and lower technical capacity to adapt. It suggests shifting the shared-value focus toward downstream beneficiation, horizontal industry linkages, knowledge transfer, and revised fiscal regimes, such as resource rent taxes or increased government ownership.

The document examines the socio-economic and environmental dynamics in Barcarena, Pará, focusing on the role of extractive industries like Norsk Hydro. It highlights a significant power imbalance between industry/government and civil society, alongside widespread public distrust in local governance. The brief recommends strengthening the Intersectoral Dialogue Forum (IDF) by improving government transparency, requiring companies to set tangible community goals, and empowering civil society to ensure equitable sustainable development.

WWF and the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) are implementing a standardized process to create freshwater basin report cards. These tools synthesize complex data into accessible grades to empower stakeholders and improve management. The process involves six steps: stakeholder engagement, indicator selection, threshold definition, scoring, communication, and score improvement. A 2016 case study of Colombia’s Orinoco River Basin, which received a B-minus grade, demonstrates the model's application in addressing threats like land-use change and extractive industries.

The text examines the 'resource curse', where mineral wealth leads to corruption and conflict rather than prosperity. It highlights the role of 'conflict minerals' in funding insurgencies in regions like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan. The author argues that while national governance is primary, industrialized nations must implement binding transparency regulations—such as the OECD guidelines—to prevent human rights abuses and ensure resource extraction supports sustainable development.

The report details a workshop in Pajala, Sweden, where local stakeholders and researchers co-created four future narratives for the region based on global Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Participants identified climate change, national-local power relations, and international security as primary drivers of change. The resulting narratives explore a range of futures, from a sustainable 'Green Road' focused on circular economies and bio-production to a 'Rocky Road' characterized by resurgent nationalism and state withdrawal from municipal welfare. The study emphasizes the interconnection between local Arctic conditions—such as mining and reindeer herding—and global trends in migration, resource demand, and climate change.

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) calls for solidarity with refugees and demands systemic changes to prevent future displacement. The statement identifies the Syrian civil war, resource extraction, and climate change as primary drivers of the refugee crisis and urges governments to end conflicts, phase out fossil fuels, and pursue climate justice to reduce resource scarcity and volatility.

Friends of the Earth International calls for global solidarity with refugees, particularly those fleeing the Syrian conflict, and argues that preventing future displacement requires urgent action on climate justice, the end of resource exploitation, and the reform of unfair trade agreements.

The case study analyzes the conflict in Roşia Montană, where a proposed gold mining project by the Roşia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) sparked massive civic mobilization. It details how a local resistance movement evolved into an international campaign and widespread street protests in 2013, ultimately forcing the Romanian Parliament to reject a special law that would have bypassed environmental and urban planning regulations. The author argues that these protests signaled a shift in Romanian society away from 'development at any cost' toward a focus on corporate accountability, environmental protection, and social solidarity.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) advocates for a legally binding international treaty to replace voluntary corporate social responsibility approaches, arguing that TNCs currently operate under a 'shield of special rights and privileges'. The proposal emphasizes the need for mandatory rules that prioritize human rights over trade and investment agreements, the establishment of a World Court on TNCs and Human Rights to end corporate impunity, and the legal recognition of 'Ecocide' and the rights of 'Affected Peoples'. FoEI specifically calls for the criminal and civil liability of TNC executives and the protection of environmental defenders.

This collection of reports and interviews analyzes contemporary European resistance movements, focusing on struggles against extractive industries, infrastructure mega-projects, and economic austerity. It highlights specific cases in Romania, Greece, Scotland, France, and Turkey, while discussing the systemic role of the educated middle class in mobilization. The text argues that Green parties must reconnect with their radical roots and form transversal alliances with social movements to challenge the dominant neoliberal economic model and the 'sacredness of growth'.

The document marks the second anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, linking the disaster to a broader pattern of economic violence and exploitation of women by multinational corporations. It highlights the risks faced by women environmental defenders—including peasant and indigenous leaders—who oppose polluting projects such as hydroelectric dams and extractive industries. The statement calls for the dismantling of corporate power and for transnational companies to be held accountable for human rights abuses and environmental crimes.

The statement highlights the disconnect between large corporations and human rights, noting that many companies lack explicit human rights policies while their operations often lead to violence and environmental degradation. It specifically cites abuses linked to palm oil in Indonesia, coal mining in South Africa, and dam construction in Honduras, while expressing solidarity with peasant movements and environmental defenders like Berta Caceres. The author advocates for a binding UN treaty to ensure corporate accountability for human rights abuses.

The author critiques the European Union's current approach to migration, characterizing it as based on myths that criminalize migrants and ignore the systemic links between environmental degradation and displacement. The text argues that North Africa's future depends on moving away from neoliberal models and resource extraction—such as shale gas in Algeria—toward ecological sustainability and democratic stability. It calls for the recognition of 'ecological refugees' and a reduction of the Global North's ecological footprint to address the root causes of migration.

The IISD Arctic Initiative focuses on bottom-up transformations to sustainability in the Arctic, addressing climate change adaptation, extractive industries, infrastructure, and transformative knowledge. It emphasizes the region's rapid warming—twice the global average—and the resulting pressures on ecosystems and food security, alongside increasing interest from global actors in shipping and resource extraction.

The document outlines a pilot project by Natural Justice and partners to implement biocultural community protocols (BCPs) in four countries to safeguard community rights against extractive industries. It details specific regional efforts—addressing infrastructure and oil/gas/coal in Kenya, diamond mining in Zimbabwe, lithium mining in Argentina, and various mining forms in India—while identifying BCPs as tools for internal consensus and external rights assertion. The report highlights successes in community mobilization and challenges such as political will, safety threats, and the difficulty of defining 'community' in non-homogenous groups.

The report presents survey results from 1,015 Manitoba adults on boreal forest conservation. It finds that while a majority support a balance between development and conservation, there is a strong preference for protecting the bulk of the forest, with 63% believing the province should protect more than 50% of its boreal forests. Trust in conservation organizations is high, while trust in government and industry is low. Most respondents prioritize clean air, water, and wildlife conservation over resource extraction like mining and logging.