Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is a federation of autonomous organisations in 73 countries. Our members campaign on the most urgent environmental and social issues, while working towards sustainable societies. For further information see <www.foei.org>.

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Order your Friends of the Earth International 2008 Calendar

FoE International is delighted to announce the arrival of its second annual calendar. The theme for the 2008 calendar is food and agriculture, and it is illustrated with powerful images from an international photo competition. You can view some of these images at <www.foei.org/en/get-involved/shop/calendar>.

This A4-size calendar is trilingual (English, French and Spanish) and key environment-related dates are noted. It is printed on chlorine-free 100% recycled post consumer paper.

Please contact your nearest Friends of the Earth group to order a copy (see inside back cover). All proceeds support FoE's work campaigning for sustainable food systems and other worthy projects.

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Public hearing on the World Bank

On October 15 in The Hague, the Netherlands, the World Bank Campaign Europe held a public hearing under the auspices of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal. It was held one week before the annual meeting of the World Bank.

There is growing criticism of the World Bank for increasing poverty by imposing harmful economic policy conditions; for environmental devastation; for contributing to conflict; and for failing to respect local peoples' rights.

Witnesses from all Southern continents gave testimony of the impacts of World Bank policies and practices, especially in the areas of conditionalities and fossil fuel project funding.

The conclusions of the October 15 hearing will put donor governments under pressure to set more precise objectives for how taxpayers' aid money should be spent, and to withdraw their contributions to the World Bank if real change is not happening.
 
A live video stream of the public hearing is available at <www.engagetv.com>.

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Indigenous representatives in Bolivia address the 'countries of the world'

The Meeting for the Historic Victory of the Indigenous Peoples of the World gathered hundreds of representatives in October in Bolivia, ending in Chimoré with a statement addressed to the 'countries of the world'. The meeting's objective was to discuss the Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights approved by the UN.

The indigenous representatives pointed out that "after 515 years of oppression and domination, here we are, they haven't been able to eliminate us. We have faced and resisted ethnocide, genocide, colonisation, destruction and looting policies. Capitalism, especially interventionism, wars and environmental disasters threaten our way of living as peoples".

The Real World Radio podcast is available at <www.radiomundoreal.fm>.

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FoE International addresses UN on climate justice

On September 24, the chair of FoE International, Meena Raman from Malaysia, warned world leaders that climate justice needs to be urgently addressed in the fight against global warming. Meena spoke at the UN 'informal' Climate Summit, a meeting attended by 80 heads of state.

"Industrialised nations which have contributed disproportionately to climate change must take the lead in radically reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases," she said.

"The eight most powerful industrialised countries - the G8 - account for 43% of the emissions causing climate change, yet have only 13% of the world's population. That's climate injustice, because climate change impacts most severely upon the world's poorest people."

Watch Meena's speech at <http://webcast.un>.

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World Social Forum 2008: Global Day of Action

A week of mobilisations will culminate in a Global Day of Action on January 26, 2008.

From the Zapatista uprising in 1995 and the Seattle demonstrations in 1999, a worldwide alliance of movements against neo-liberal globalisation, war, patriarchy, racism, colonialism and environmental disasters appeared. In the first phase, this movement focused on big international mobilisations, such as Genoa against the G8 or Cancun against the WTO.

In recent years the movement has grown, rooted in national struggles and local realities. Everywhere in the world, mobilisations have appeared in different fields – student movements, workers issues, poverty and violence against women, environment and climate change, indigenous people and migrants' rights, etc.

The main challenge today is to link locals and national struggles with the worldwide goals, to give more strength to our struggles, alternatives and campaigns, and to enlarge our alliances. That's the purpose of the 2008 Global Day of Action: act locally to change globally!

Organise an event in your part of the world! Check out <www.wsf2008.net>.