People in communities around the world won national victories, gained critical ground in David and Goliath struggles, and successfully protected local environments and rights this year. Here is some of what they achieved—and what you helped make possible in 2015.
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NIGERIA – Shell Pays $84 Million For Oil Spills
Nnimmo Bassey and Vandana Shiva in the Niger Delta.
Shell announced it would compensate the Niger Delta community of Bodo for spills in 2008 that devastated people’s land, water, and health. This was just two of the countless spills in the Delta, which equal one Exxon Valdez spill every year. Multiple Greengrants to the Ogoni Solidarity Forum in Bodo have helped the community address spills and seek compensation. With the U.N. recommending $1 billion to clean up the Niger Delta, there’s still a long way to go, but Shell’s payout was an important step. Read about this win against Shell and our Board Chair Nnimmo Bassey’s blog commemorating the 20th anniversary of Ogoni hero Ken Saro-Wiwa’s killing.
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INDONESIA – Jakarta Ends Water Privatization
Our grantee AMRTA Institute for Water Literacy won a major victory against water privatization in March. For over a decade, local Indonesians have fought against World Bank-supported water-privatization policies. This year saw two victories: First, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia ruled that the water privatization law was unconstitutional. Then, a court in Jakarta canceled one of the biggest water privatization schemes in the world. Read more >>
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COLOMBIA – Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Communities Win End to Toxic Aerial Fumigation
Indigenous and Afro-Colombian people achieved a big victory for their rights and health in April. For 21 years as part of a joint War on Drugs program with the United States, Colombia dusted glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, over farmlands and communities. They intended to eradicate coca plants, but the herbicide also killed crops and exposed millions of people to the highly toxic chemical. A $5,000 Greengrant helped Aso Manos Negra research just how harmful glyphosate is. Last spring, the World Health Organization declared that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” and the Colombian government stopped aerial fumigation for good. Read more >>
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INDIA – Handweavers Bring Healthy Ayurvedic Practices Into the Mainstream
A small grant helped the Handloom Weavers Development Society educate traditional handloom weavers to use healing Ayurvedic dyes in their fabrics. Chemical dyes are a huge problem in India because the industrial textile industry indiscriminately dumps leftovers into rivers and landscapes, polluting drinking water sources and ecosystems. The group used the grant to train 1,500 weavers; identify medicinal plants, and produce a documentary about toxic pollution. Its work received international recognition in Time, the BBC, and the Guardian.
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SOUTH SUDAN – Local Women and Forests Win With Cookstoves
In Yei County, as in other impoverished regions of the world, women in huts and shacks breathe polluted air from wood-burning stoves they use for cooking. And reliance on wood for burning contributes to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Founded by women and youth, the Forum for Community Change and Development, used a Greengrant to train more than 100 influential women community leaders to use energy-efficient stoves. They report this has cut fuel use in half, reduced deforestation in nearby forests, improved air quality within the community, and reduced the incidence of violence against women, who no longer have to walk for hours and at night in search of fuel.
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BRAZIL, CAMBODIA, CHINA, HONDURAS – Grantees Receive the Equator Prize and Goldman Environmental Prize
Six current and former Global Greengrants grantees are among the 20 winners of this year’s United Nations Development Programme Equator Prize, which recognizes outstanding grassroots work. We were also thrilled to congratulation our longtime ggrantee, Berta Caceres, on winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work fighting and stopping the Agua Zarca Dam in Honduras. Congratulations to all of this year’s incredible change-makers! Read about Berta’s Goldman Prize win and read about the Equator Prize winners >>
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GUATEMALA – Maya Achi Receive Reparations for Chixoy Dam and Massacres
In October, after three decades of work and struggle—and multiple Greengrants—Maya Achi villagers finally received partial reparations for a 1982 massacre that slaughtered more than 400 people for opposing construction of the Chixoy Dam. This first check was just one of $20 million that will go to 33 communities where people were flooded out, killed, and robbed of their rights. Read more >>
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ECUADOR – Achuar Communities Develop Solar-Powered Transportation
The Achuar people live in a pristine, roadless area of the Amazon. Passionately committed to protecting their homes and the Earth, the Achuar have resisted logging, oil extraction, and mining for decades. In order to continue their efforts and develop without harming their forest home, they need affordable transportation. With the help of a $5,000 Greengrant, the Achuar are developing a solar-powered river transportation system, the first ever in the Amazon basin.
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TANZANIA – Maasai People Innovate in the Face of Climate Chaos
Traditionally, the Maasai people of East Africa grazed their cattle and moved over vast areas as needed. As their grazing lands have been divided and sold, or taken for parks, the Maasai have been forced to restrict their movements. Now their lands are overgrazed, climate changed-induced drought is resulting in water scarcity, and the cattle are dying. With our support, a community organization dug 65-foot wells and installed a solar-powered drip irrigation system to increase crop yields. Now the people can supplement their pastoral lifestyle by growing cash crops sustainably.
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CHINA – Citizens Defend Rivers and Drinking Water Against Industrial Pollution
Green Qilu works in the Shandong Province to increase awareness of and engagement in the water pollution crisis, targeting both the public and the offending industries. With Global Greengrants’ help, citizens have developed a Pollution Information Transparency Index, which scores the industries in Shandong’s cities on their pollution monitoring. The group deploys volunteers to dumping spots to test the pollutant levels, log the results in a public online database, and post permanent signs displaying legal contaminant levels. Green Qilu’s approach is a diplomatic one that’s built strong relationships with stakeholders. Grassroots efforts such as community river walks, school trips, and family outreach are ongoing and critical to Green Qilu’s mission, and have already rendered Shandong the leading province for pollution monitoring. Global Greengrants was also ranked the top foreign foundation supporting nongovernmental work in China by that country’s Jinju Award, which is given by nonprofits to foundations. It is the second time we have received the honor.
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With support from the Oak Foundation and others, we partnered with 350.org to amplify the voices of youth leaders around the world who are addressing climate change and its impacts in their communities. Together, we have made more than $475,000 in grants to young people to mobilize climate action, raise awareness, and call for bold action at the U.N. climate talks in Paris. These impressive youth voices take center stage in our video campaign #YouthOnClimate. Each 3-minute video features young leaders in Ecuador, the Philippines, and Kenya. In December, we traveled with 14 of our #YouthOnClimate grantees to Paris to make their demands heard at the highest levels. Watch and share the 3-minute videos >>
We achieved important gains this year in our goal to integrate gender responsiveness into our program: 45 percent of our grants went to women’s leadership and empowerment project (up 15 percent over last year). We also released our first-ever publication, Climate Justice and Women’s Rights: A Guide to Supporting Grassroots Action, on International Women’s Day 2015. The guide makes clear the critical link between environmental degradation and women’s rights and health. To date, funders, academics, nonprofits, media, and allies in more than 65 countries have downloaded the guide. Our leader, Terry Odendahl, was also given the WorldDenver Award for her leadership on environmental and women’s rights. Download Climate Justice and Women’s Rights >>
In the United States, for the fifth consecutive year in a row, Global Greengrants was awarded Charity Navigator’s highest score for accountability and transparency. We are proud to be counted among only 5 percent of rated nonprofits that receive four stars five years in a row.
Thank you for your support and solidarity in 2015! Together we are helping create lasting, positive change from the ground up.