FERN
Encyclopedia
FERN is a Dutch foundation created in 1995. It is an international non-governmental organization
to keep track of the EU’s involvement in forests and to co-ordinate NGO activities at the European level. Through its work, FERN aims to increase the political and economic opportunities for people to create a more balanced society in which human rights are fully respected and environmental and social values are fully integrated.
Although FERN is known for its work on forests, since 2000 FERN has widened its scope beyond forests to also include work on general aid, trade and climate issues, as many of the decisions made in these areas have a direct or indirect impact on forests and forest peoples’ rights. FERN campaigns fall within the following five areas: climate change, development aid, forest peoples’ rights, forests and biodiversity, and trade and investment. In all these areas, FERN works very closely with a large number of environmental groups and social movements across the world.
FERN works as a non-hierarchical structure. Currently, the organisation has three offices (Brussels, Belgium; Moreton-in-Marsh, UK; and Leiden, The Netherlands) and eleven staff positions.
FERN’s official mission statement describes the organisation and its aims thus:
FERN works to achieve greater environmental and social justice, focusing on forests and forest peoples’ rights in the policies and practices of the European Union.
meeting in Penang in 1989. At this meeting Southern participants decided they needed closer co-operation with a network of like-minded European organisations to further their objectives. An already existing ad-hoc European coalition of NGOs responded and adopted the name European Rainforest Movement. This movement changed its name into Forest Movement Europe
in 1994 after linking up with the newly formed Taiga Rescue Network
(1992) and widening its focus to all forests, including Russia.
As most NGOs of the Forest Movement Europe were working at national level, and increasingly trade and aid decisions that impacted on forests were made at EU level, it was felt by most in the movement that more attention should be given to influencing the EU institutions. Hence, in March 1995 Saskia Ozinga
(formerly working for Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands) and Sian Pettman (formerly working for the European Commission
) created the organisation FERN with a mandate to monitor EU activities in relation to forests, inform and educate the Forest Movement Europe about these activities and facilitate joint advocacy work towards the different EU institutions.
Starting with two part-time people in 1995, FERN has grown to an organisation with seven full time and one part-time staff and its area of work has widened beyond forests, addressing issues as trade and investment (notably export credit agencies and democratisation of investment governance), climate change (notably the planting of trees as carbon sinks and carbon trading), and development aid (notably the participation of Southern partners in shaping EC aid policies and projects). Underlying issues such as lack of transparency, insufficient participation of civil society groups in decision-making at EU level and corruption are routinely addressed as part of all our campaigns.
FERN’s way of working still reflects its origin, as in its activities the organisation aims to create ad-hoc or permanent North-South, North-North or South-South NGO coalitions to jointly develop campaigns or activities, mostly –but not always- targeted at the EU institutions. Facilitation of the wider movement and supporting FERN’s partners in the South remain FERN core activities.
FERN advocacy
activities aim to link different movements and organisations and create effective networks to campaign on issues the organisation believes to be important. Among its advocacy activities FERN links issues, stimulates informed discussion and develops joint strategies in areas that are of critical environmental and social concern, in most cases, but not exclusively, focused on EU institutions. Some of FERN’s most outstanding co-ordination and facilitation
work is the organisation of NGO meetings on various issues, such as the annual Forest Movement Europe
meeting.
FERN publishes a monthly bulletin entitled EU Forest Watch
, specialised briefing notes and reports on selected topics (e.g. illegal logging, export credit agencies, forest certification, EC aid).
FERN’s work on European forests and biodiversity works to ensure that existing EU forest-related and rural development policies are implemented to aid the restoration and protection of biologically diverse, well-managed forests in the EU as well as to ensure that international government policies will positively contribute to halting the forest crisis, by reversing the trend of increasing forest and biodiversity loss and addressing the underlying causes that lead to forest loss.
In addition to the work on European forests, other FERN’s campaigns tackle the underlying causes of forest loss outside the EU. The EC development aid campaign aims to improve the quality of EC aid so that it contributes both to the protection and sustainable use of forests and to ensuring respect for forest peoples’ rights. The illegal logging campaign works to ensure that effective measures are developed and implemented so as to allow EU Member States to control the import of illegal timber and to support processes for forest law reform in wood producing countries which will lead to legal and sustainable forest management. FERN’s climate change campaign aims to ensure that climate policies and international climate agreements address the root causes of climate change and deforestation and refuse carbon trading
as an unsuitable approach to avert climate chaos and respect the rights of forest peoples affected by carbon trading and carbon ‘offset’ projects (see FERN's SinksWatch
initiative). Moreover, FERN’s work on forest certification issues is well known and advocates to improve existing forest certification schemes so that they contribute to improved forest management and to ensure that all certification schemes accepted at EU level contribute to this aim.
Other FERN campaign is the Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) and trade and investment campaign, which aims to secure mandatory procedural environmental and human rights standards for European ECAs, set at a significant level, and drawing upon international ‘best practice’ standards and relevant EU legislation.
Although are successes are foremost at policy level, they impact on local people’s lives as most policy decisions trickle down. Some of FERN’s successes have already reduced threats to local livelihoods as well as contributed to significant positive improvements. For example, FERN’s work on highlighting the flaws in carbon sinks and direct correspondence with the CDM board, has led the CDM board to reject all plantation projects put to it, many of which such as V&M in Brazil, would have had serious negative impacts on people. Also, the EU Action Plan to combat illegal logging would not have been drafted without FERN. This Action Plan –if implemented properly- will create a leverage point to get customary rights accepted as ‘legal’ in countries as Indonesia, Malaysian, Ghana and Cameroon: the lack of recognition of these rights is arguably the most significant obstacles to poverty alleviation, justice and even democracy.
Moreover, the campaign on reforming ECAs has led to halting ECA funding and subsequently cancelling some projects, which would have had serious negative consequences for local people, such as in the case of the Ilisu Dam
in Turkey
which would have led to the replacement of around 80,000 people, with women suffering most. This was a clear success despite current attempts to revive the project.
FERN donors during 2006 were : C.S. Mott Foundation, US; Department for International Development
, UK; DG Environment of the European Commission
; Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Development Co-operation, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Environment, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Netherlands; Grassroots Foundation, Germany; ICCO Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation, the Netherlands; Natural Resources International Limited, UK; Netherlands Committee for IUCN, the Netherlands; Oxfam
-Novib, the Netherlands; Sigrid Rausing Trust, UK; Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Sweden; and Wallace Global Fund, US.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
to keep track of the EU’s involvement in forests and to co-ordinate NGO activities at the European level. Through its work, FERN aims to increase the political and economic opportunities for people to create a more balanced society in which human rights are fully respected and environmental and social values are fully integrated.
Although FERN is known for its work on forests, since 2000 FERN has widened its scope beyond forests to also include work on general aid, trade and climate issues, as many of the decisions made in these areas have a direct or indirect impact on forests and forest peoples’ rights. FERN campaigns fall within the following five areas: climate change, development aid, forest peoples’ rights, forests and biodiversity, and trade and investment. In all these areas, FERN works very closely with a large number of environmental groups and social movements across the world.
FERN works as a non-hierarchical structure. Currently, the organisation has three offices (Brussels, Belgium; Moreton-in-Marsh, UK; and Leiden, The Netherlands) and eleven staff positions.
FERN’s official mission statement describes the organisation and its aims thus:
FERN works to achieve greater environmental and social justice, focusing on forests and forest peoples’ rights in the policies and practices of the European Union.
History
FERN’s origin lies in the World Rainforest MovementWorld Rainforest Movement
The World Rainforest Movement is an international NGO and Indigenous Peoples' Groups network involved in efforts to defend the world's tropical forests against the forces that destroy them....
meeting in Penang in 1989. At this meeting Southern participants decided they needed closer co-operation with a network of like-minded European organisations to further their objectives. An already existing ad-hoc European coalition of NGOs responded and adopted the name European Rainforest Movement. This movement changed its name into Forest Movement Europe
Forest Movement Europe
The Forest Movement Europe is a grouping of more than 45 NGOs from 12 European countries working on forest issues. The movement has been in existence, although under different names, for more than 15 years. Its purpose is to share information, to develop joint strategies and a wider European...
in 1994 after linking up with the newly formed Taiga Rescue Network
Taiga Rescue Network
Taiga Rescue Network is an international network of more than 200 non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples and individuals working to defend the world's boreal forests, also known as Taiga. TRN was established in 1992 to give a voice to support, link and publicize local struggles...
(1992) and widening its focus to all forests, including Russia.
As most NGOs of the Forest Movement Europe were working at national level, and increasingly trade and aid decisions that impacted on forests were made at EU level, it was felt by most in the movement that more attention should be given to influencing the EU institutions. Hence, in March 1995 Saskia Ozinga
Saskia Ozinga
Saskia Luutsche Ozinga is an environmental and social activist. She is the facilitator of the Forest Movement Europe and the co-founder of the NGO FERN, of which she is currently the campaigns coordinator....
(formerly working for Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands) and Sian Pettman (formerly working for the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
) created the organisation FERN with a mandate to monitor EU activities in relation to forests, inform and educate the Forest Movement Europe about these activities and facilitate joint advocacy work towards the different EU institutions.
Starting with two part-time people in 1995, FERN has grown to an organisation with seven full time and one part-time staff and its area of work has widened beyond forests, addressing issues as trade and investment (notably export credit agencies and democratisation of investment governance), climate change (notably the planting of trees as carbon sinks and carbon trading), and development aid (notably the participation of Southern partners in shaping EC aid policies and projects). Underlying issues such as lack of transparency, insufficient participation of civil society groups in decision-making at EU level and corruption are routinely addressed as part of all our campaigns.
FERN’s way of working still reflects its origin, as in its activities the organisation aims to create ad-hoc or permanent North-South, North-North or South-South NGO coalitions to jointly develop campaigns or activities, mostly –but not always- targeted at the EU institutions. Facilitation of the wider movement and supporting FERN’s partners in the South remain FERN core activities.
Fields of activity
The organisation currently actively addresses many areas that have a direct or indirect impact on forests and forest peoples’ rights issues. To achieve its aims, FERN follows many conventional environmental organisation methods, such as lobbying politicians and attendance at meetings. In addition to these activities, FERN supports both Northern and Southern NGOs in putting their case to the EU institutions and, where needed, helps NGOs with fundraising and strengthening its advocacy skills.FERN advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
activities aim to link different movements and organisations and create effective networks to campaign on issues the organisation believes to be important. Among its advocacy activities FERN links issues, stimulates informed discussion and develops joint strategies in areas that are of critical environmental and social concern, in most cases, but not exclusively, focused on EU institutions. Some of FERN’s most outstanding co-ordination and facilitation
Facilitation
The term facilitation is broadly used to describe any activity which makes tasks for others easy. For example:* Facilitation is used in business and organizational settings to ensure the designing and running of successful meetings....
work is the organisation of NGO meetings on various issues, such as the annual Forest Movement Europe
Forest Movement Europe
The Forest Movement Europe is a grouping of more than 45 NGOs from 12 European countries working on forest issues. The movement has been in existence, although under different names, for more than 15 years. Its purpose is to share information, to develop joint strategies and a wider European...
meeting.
FERN publishes a monthly bulletin entitled EU Forest Watch
EU Forest Watch
EU Forest Watch is a forest issues newsletter focusing on the European Union. The newsletter is published monthly since 1996 by FERN, and often includes related briefing notes...
, specialised briefing notes and reports on selected topics (e.g. illegal logging, export credit agencies, forest certification, EC aid).
Campaigns
FERN currently has six different campaigns. These are: illegal logging; forest certification; climate change; export credit agencies; European forests and biodiversity; and development aid. In all these campaigns, FERN works closely with environmental as well as social NGOs in Europe and the South.FERN’s work on European forests and biodiversity works to ensure that existing EU forest-related and rural development policies are implemented to aid the restoration and protection of biologically diverse, well-managed forests in the EU as well as to ensure that international government policies will positively contribute to halting the forest crisis, by reversing the trend of increasing forest and biodiversity loss and addressing the underlying causes that lead to forest loss.
In addition to the work on European forests, other FERN’s campaigns tackle the underlying causes of forest loss outside the EU. The EC development aid campaign aims to improve the quality of EC aid so that it contributes both to the protection and sustainable use of forests and to ensuring respect for forest peoples’ rights. The illegal logging campaign works to ensure that effective measures are developed and implemented so as to allow EU Member States to control the import of illegal timber and to support processes for forest law reform in wood producing countries which will lead to legal and sustainable forest management. FERN’s climate change campaign aims to ensure that climate policies and international climate agreements address the root causes of climate change and deforestation and refuse carbon trading
Carbon trading
Carbon trading may refer to:*Carbon emission trading*Personal carbon trading*Emissions trading...
as an unsuitable approach to avert climate chaos and respect the rights of forest peoples affected by carbon trading and carbon ‘offset’ projects (see FERN's SinksWatch
SinksWatch
SinksWatch is an initiative of the World Rainforest Movement, hosted by the WRM's Northern Support Office and implemented by FERN. The aim of SinksWatch is to track and scrutinize carbon sequestration projects related to the Kyoto Protocol, and to highlight their threats to forests and other...
initiative). Moreover, FERN’s work on forest certification issues is well known and advocates to improve existing forest certification schemes so that they contribute to improved forest management and to ensure that all certification schemes accepted at EU level contribute to this aim.
Other FERN campaign is the Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) and trade and investment campaign, which aims to secure mandatory procedural environmental and human rights standards for European ECAs, set at a significant level, and drawing upon international ‘best practice’ standards and relevant EU legislation.
Achievements
Some of the most visible FERN achievements include the rejection of the scientifically flawed concept of planting trees to reverse climate change (‘carbon sinks’) by the European Parliament; highlighting the undue and unjust influence by large companies on environmental and social laws in host countries when executing large projects, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline; improved integration of environmental concerns and demands for recognition of indigenous peoples rights’ into EC aid programmes and policies and the creation of networks of Southern NGOs to improve the quality of EC aid; the presentation by the Commission of an EU Action Plan to combat illegal logging followed by legislation to halt illegal timber imports; and successfully co-ordinating the European network for reforming export credit agencies leading to the adoption of environmental guidelines for export credit agencies.Although are successes are foremost at policy level, they impact on local people’s lives as most policy decisions trickle down. Some of FERN’s successes have already reduced threats to local livelihoods as well as contributed to significant positive improvements. For example, FERN’s work on highlighting the flaws in carbon sinks and direct correspondence with the CDM board, has led the CDM board to reject all plantation projects put to it, many of which such as V&M in Brazil, would have had serious negative impacts on people. Also, the EU Action Plan to combat illegal logging would not have been drafted without FERN. This Action Plan –if implemented properly- will create a leverage point to get customary rights accepted as ‘legal’ in countries as Indonesia, Malaysian, Ghana and Cameroon: the lack of recognition of these rights is arguably the most significant obstacles to poverty alleviation, justice and even democracy.
Moreover, the campaign on reforming ECAs has led to halting ECA funding and subsequently cancelling some projects, which would have had serious negative consequences for local people, such as in the case of the Ilisu Dam
Ilisu Dam
The Ilisu Dam is an embankment dam under construction on the Tigris River near the village of Ilisu and along the border of Mardin and Sirnak Provinces in Turkey. It is one of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project and its purpose is hydroelectric power production, flood control and...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
which would have led to the replacement of around 80,000 people, with women suffering most. This was a clear success despite current attempts to revive the project.
Funding
FERN receives its money from private foundations and governments. In order to ensure its independence and impartiality, FERN has committed not to directly participate in the selection, award, or administration of a contract when a real or apparent conflict of interest may be involved.FERN donors during 2006 were : C.S. Mott Foundation, US; Department for International Development
Department for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...
, UK; DG Environment of the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
; Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Development Co-operation, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Environment, the Netherlands; Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Netherlands; Grassroots Foundation, Germany; ICCO Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation, the Netherlands; Natural Resources International Limited, UK; Netherlands Committee for IUCN, the Netherlands; Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
-Novib, the Netherlands; Sigrid Rausing Trust, UK; Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Sweden; and Wallace Global Fund, US.
External links
- FERN
- FERN's SinksWatch initiative
- ECA Watch reform campaign
- UK Government's Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement http://www.proforest.net/cpet/welcome