December 13, 2002

To its shareholders, Barrick Gold boasts a five-year US$2-billion development plan to increase its gold production by 21 per cent to 6.9 million ounces in 2006 yet plans to develop the Lake Cowal gold project in Australia have struck obstacles and delays.

December 11, 2002

Amsterdam, December 10, 2002 -- The Canadian Parliament will vote today on a motion to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The government, which has been committed to ratification since Jean Chretien's announcement at the World Summit in Johannesburg, is expected to win with a signficant majority.

December 2, 2002

Wiradjuri Elders and Warriors and supporters are heading to Lake Cowal (central NSW) in an attempt to prevent the immediate desecration of one of the most important Aboriginal sites in NSW.

November 28, 2002

Friends of the Earth (FOE) will launch the Nuclear FreeWays campaign from Adelaide today. The campaign involves a tour of the planned Federal Government transport route for radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney to outback New South Wales. The plan would mean that in the first year up to 130 trucks of waste would pass through rural communities with waste transport continuing for another 40 years.

November 25, 2002

Hindutva, the Hindu supremacist ideology that has under girded much of the communal violence in India over the last several decades, has seen tremendous growth outside India over the last two decades. This report focuses on one US based organization--the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF), which has systematically funded Hindutva operations in India. "The Foreign Exchange of Hate" establishes that the IDRF is not a secular and non-sectarian organization as it claims to be, but is, on the contrary, a major conduit of funds for Hindutva organizations in India

November 20, 2002

Today's oil spill disaster in Spanish waters shows the "crying need for tough new liability laws for environmental damage" Friends of the Earth said today.

November 15, 2002

Following the announcement yesterday of a proposed Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States, Friends of the Earth are warning that such a deal is likely to involve US bullying over Genetically Engineered (GE) crops and food.

November 13, 2002

Nationwide protests against war on Iraq under the slogans of 'No War on Iraq' 'No Australian Involvement', have been scheduled for the weekend of November 30/December 1, with actions in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra, Brisbane, and Lismore.

November 13, 2002

Friends of the Earth activists from across the country are joining the protests against the World Trade Organisation in Sydney and Melbourne.

"The WTO has the power to override a host of national environmental legislation", says trade campaigner Damian Sullivan. "In the past two years, we have seen a number of countries including Sri Lanka, Croatia and Bolivia drop legislation imposing a moratorium on Genetically Modified Organisms. They dropped the legislation because they were scared of sanctions for not complying with the WTO."

November 11, 2002

The campaign to protect Lake Cowal from the development of a cyanide leach gold mine on New South Wales' largest inland lake is quickly mounting. Court action, campaign video and Sacred Fire gathering at the Lake will all be in full swing in Mid-November.

November 7, 2002

Lake Cowal, in Central West NSW, is the "heartland of the Wiradjuri Nation". Wiradjuri Traditional Owners are carrying the Sacred Fire to Lake Cowal where Canada's Barrick Gold has plans for a cyanide leach gold mine.

October 28, 2002

Urgent Action Needed To Address Climate Change, Says Rally

Friends of the Earth International

New Delhi, India, October 28 , 2002 -- Five thousand people from communities in India as well as representatives from international organisations, including Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), marched in today's Rally for Climate Justice in New Delhi to highlight the plight of communities affected by climate change in India and across the world.

October 10, 2002

Brereton Right About Iraq

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament
Ozpeace

Peace groups today praised Laurie Brereton and Harry Quick's call for the Labor party to take a firmer stand in opposition to war with Iraq.

October 4, 2002

Lismore: Thursday, 4 October 2002: A report launched today presents a radical new vision for sustainable agriculture in Australia.

The report, by the Friends of the Earth, describes a vision of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), in which consumers purchase a share of the harvest up front, thereby sharing the risks of food production with farmers.

September 29, 2002

Thousands March In Sydney, Hundreds Of Thousands March In London, But Costello Wants War Tax

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Ozpeace
People For Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign For International Peace And Disarmament (Cicd)

In the last 24 hours, as many as 400,000 people marched against a war on Iraq in London, while several thousand marched yesterday in Sydney in a march called at very short notice. Recent polls say that as many as 75% of Australians disapprove a war in Iraq, and yet treasurer Costello says he will not rule out a war tax.

Spetember 16, 2002

Groups Call For Parliamentary Debate, Senate Inquiry

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Ozpeace

In the light of poll figures showing that three out of four Australians oppose a war with Iraq, Australian peace and anti nuclear weapons groups have called for the Australian government to urge restraint and compliance with international law on the Bush administration. The groups have stressed that it is vital for there to be a full and complete parliamentary and community debate and urged the labor party to support moves in the Senate for a senate inquiry into policy on Iraq, and urged support for a senate motion against a 'first strike' on Iraq.

September 4, 2002

Johannesburg: Tuesday 3rd September. After nine days of talks, the Earth Summit is finally winding to an end. We have analysed the final text of the Programme of Implementation and found precisely TWO new and specific targets in the whole thing:

1. To halve by 2015 the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation (para 7), and
2. Establishment of marine protected networks including representative networks by 2012 (para 31c) ­ which is really half a target, but we prefer to be generous in our praise.

September 1, 2002

Peace Groups Welcome Weapons Inspections For Iraq, United States

Australian Peace Committee
People For Nuclear Disarmament
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign
Ozpeace

Australian peace groups and antinuclear groups have welcomed calls by the European community and mr Downer to send weapons inspectors back into Iraq and have called for inspectors to be sent to the United States, to determine progress toward the elimination of the worlds largest and by far the most sophisticated stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, which the US is legally bound to eliminate under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

August 30, 2002

From Melbourne to Johannesburg

The poor performance, secrecy and unsustainable impacts of transnational corporations will be the focus of protest action by Australian environmentalists in both Melbourne and Johannesburg today. The Melbourne action, at the headquarters of mining giant Rio Tinto, coincides with the launch in Johannesburg of a new publicity campaign by global resource corporations.

August 26, 2002

National environment group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has today called for a formal explanation of why a US nuclear submarine surfaced off the Gold Coast yesterday without the knowledge or consent of the Defence Department or Australian Government. The incident was reported in today's edition of the Gold Coast Bulletin following numerous reports from concerned locals.

August 16, 2002

AMSTERDAM, Aug.16 -- Some corporations continue to abuse the rights of people, destroy the livelihoods of communities, and pollute water and forest resources for future generations, according to a new report by Friends of the Earth International published today.

August 6, 2002

Fifty-Seven Years From Hiroshima, World Is Further Away Than Ever From Nuclear Disarmament

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign
Ozpeace
Medical Association For The Prevention Of War

Fifty-seven years from the day on which the US bomber Enola Gay dropped the first nuclear weapon ever to be used, the world is as far away as ever from eliminating nuclear weapons, and may be inching closer to actually using them again.

July 17, 2002

New evidence from British scientists has been published which raises serious questions about the safety of GM food.

The research, published by the UK's Food Standards Agency, showed for the first time that genes inserted in GM crops are finding their way into human gut bacteria. Many GM crops have antibiotic-resistant marker genes inserted in them, and there are fears that if material from these marker genes passes into humans, people's ability to fight infections may be reduced.

June13, 2002

Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) has today condemned US plans to withdraw from the Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The treaty is considered a cornerstone of peace initiatives over the last few decades, withdrawal bringing increased uncertainty and instability. Australiaís increased support for US unilateral decisions brings further concerns for our region.

June 7, 2002

FoE Denounces Foul Result at Earth Summit Talks

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) today blew the whistle on the outcome of the Earth Summit talks in Bali calling it a defeat for the world's poor and a foul result for the global environment. FoEI has charged governments with failing to listen to the public and ruthlessly pursuing the interests of multinational corporations and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

June 1, 2002

Don't let big business rule the world!
Friends of the Earth International launches global campaign for Earth Summit

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) today launches a global campaign for the Earth Summit to take place in Johannesburg in August. Under the slogan "Don't let big business rule the world" FoEI is collecting demands to world leaders from all over the world. Actions take place in Bali, Germany, Spain, Australia, Norway and Britain. For every demand collected, a small figure designed by South African artists will be delivered to the Earth Summit.

May 27, 2002

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) accuses governments of wrecking the Earth Summit in Johannesburg ( 1 ). At the start of the last round of negotiations before the Summit in August, FoEI calls on governments to finally commit to a meaningful action plan. The negotiations in Bali, Indonesia are based on a new negotiation draft issued by Conference Chairman Emil Salim on May 9th . The text contains little of value. Most of the targets and timetables from earlier drafts have been removed.

May 9, 2002

First report from the Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting, Shanghai

Aid/Watch
Friends Of The Earth Australia

Australian NGOs join International coalition to condemn ADBs poor performance

AID/WATCH and Friends of the Earth urge President Tadao Chino of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to demonstrate leadership by taking immediate actions to instil systems of genuine accountability and transparency in the ADB.

May 7, 2002

Key national environment groups have called on the Australian mining industry to match rhetoric with action and commit to fundamental change at the launch of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project today in Melbourne.

April 19, 2002

Friends of the Earth International welcomed today's adoption of an action-oriented work programme on forests by the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Biodiversity Convention. The work plan was adopted after 62 hours of difficult negotiations as countries like Canada, Brazil and Malaysia tried to water down the draft work programme recommended by the Convention's scientific body.

April 19, 2002

Dear Senators Daschle, Biden, and Levin,

The undersigned organizations and parliamentarians, representing large numbers of people from around the world, write to you to express our concern over the proposed withdrawal from the Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty by the Bush administration, and our concern over the direction of US nuclear weapons policy as expressed in the recent nuclear posture review. This, combined with what seems to be a trend toward unilateral actions on a variety of fronts, can only serve to decrease the confidence of long-term US allies in US policy direction.

April 8, 2002

Groups Call On Downer To Stand Firm On Nuke Weapons At UN Meeting

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
People For Nuclear Disarmament

Peace groups, church groups, other religious groups, environment groups and antinuclear groups have called on the government to maintain a strong line against nuclear weapons at the meeting of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty preparatory conference which is taking place all this week at the United nations.

April 5, 2002

Sydney, April 2002: Key Australian environment groups have today vowed to actively oppose the construction of a second nuclear reactor in Sydney. Greenpeace, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Friends of the Earth (FoE) and People Against a Nuclear Reactor (PANR) are holding a vigil outside the Lucas Heights nuclear complex as the first of a series of national protests.

April 3, 2002

Johannesburg Earth Summit Must Agree that the World Trade Organization (WTO) WILL respect Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Friends of the Earth International
Greenpeace International Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED)
Sierra Club
Third World Network

As governments meet in New York to prepare the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace International, Northern Alliance for Sustainability (ANPED), Sierra Club and Third World Network have issued a statement calling upon the Johannesburg Summit to ensure that Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) are not subordinated to or undermined by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

March 17, 2002

Peace groups worldwide slash US nuke plans

Abolition 2000 global council
Friends of the earth australia
Australian peace committee
Trade union green caucus
Campaign for international cooperation and disarmament (cicd)

Abolition2000 global council statement on nuclear posture review

Anti nuclear weapons groups worldwide, operating under the umbrella of the Abolition 2000 organisation, a coalition of over 2000 citizen groups across the world, have strongly condemned the nuclear posture review, and in particular policies in which Russia and China, as well as Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Libya, continue to be targeted.

March 5, 2002

We Warned Of Nuke Danger For 25 Years,
Say Anti-nuclear Groups

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Trade Union Green Caucus
People For Nuclear Disarmament W.A.

In response to stories in the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME magazine, and the Drudge Report that last October, US security agencies had been on the highest state of alert over the possibility that Al Quadea could have smuggled a 10 Kt. nuclear device into New York, Antinuclear groups are saying that they had warned of the danger of terrorist groups obtaining access to nuclear weapons for the past 25 years.

March 1, 2002

In January 2002, over 50,000 activists from all over the world converged in the town of Porto Allegre, Brazil to discuss visions, strategies and tactics for the global movement for justice and sustainability. The World Social Forum (WSF), held in counter-position to the World Economic Forum, showed that the 'anti-globalisation' movement is here to stay and is moving beyond "anti". The upcoming Australian speaking tour by Michael Albert, will play an important part in the development of this movement.

February 25, 2002

A unique coalition of nine of the nation's leading environment groups will send over 100,000 members, supporters and subscribers information on where to buy the most sustainable 'green' electricity products.

February 9, 2002

Jacobo Martinez, leader of an ecological group that was formed by the citizens of the municipal region of Carolina, was the target of a murder attempt in the early hours of the 18th of January.

February 4, 2002

The Public Eye on Davos? Conference ended yesterday with a panel discussion on the topic of Security and the World Economy. Irene Khan, the General Secretary of Amnesty International, who had also attended the World Economic Forum (WEF), praised the quality of the Public Eye Conference in her talk. Irene Khan said that a discussion like the Public Eye?s final panel would have been unthinkable at the WEF.

January 30, 2002

The lurch of governments towards more of the policies that threaten the future of the Planet must be challenged at this year?s Johannesburg Earth Summit now just over 200 days away.

January 15, 2002

Friends of the Earth is demanding Federal Government intervention to regulate uranium mining in light of the South Australian Government cover up and failure to act on a series of accidents involving radioactive material in the state. The call follows further revelations of another 24 spills involving radioactive material at the Beverley uranium mine in less than 2 years. The national environment organisation has put forward steps that should be taken by State and Federal Governments to address approval and regulatory failures.