Biodiversity protection is vital to life on Earth. Healthy oceans and forests provide us with the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and much more. Indigenous Peoples, local and coastal communities have been protecting these ecosystems for generations. Their cultures, knowledge and livelihoods are centred around a deep connection to nature.

Yet, the world’s oceans have been plundered by industrial fishing, filled with plastic pollution and affected by climate change. Deforestation for commodities like soy, palm oil, meat and dairy are pushing forests to the brink, and a new rush for minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper for the energy transition, AI, new technology and the military means these crucial ecosystems are at greater risk.

From Chile to Indonesia, from the DRC to Sweden, mining has been poisoning lands, displacing communities and leaving a trail of destruction behind. The rush for so-called “critical minerals” even threatens the world’s pristine and understudied deep sea ecosystems. 

How to protect forests and oceans

To ensure a livable planet for future generations, we must protect vast areas including forests and the ocean from mining. Greenpeace International, together with Mighty Earth,Rainforest Foundation Norway and Fern, released an indicative global Restricted Areas Map and Framework for governments, investors and companies using raw materials extracted from Earth. Advancing and applying the Restricted Areas framework is a crucial step to ensure mining does not destroy essential biodiversity, natural ecosystems, carbon storage and freshwater systems.

As crucial leaders and stewards of nature protection, Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights must be respected. The Restricted Areas Framework requires Free Prior and Informed Consent before any mining activities happen in their territories. The map then combines multiple environmental and conservation datasets to identify landscapes and natural ecosystems that should be off-limits or ‘no-go zones’ to mining. The map also identifies hotspots where mining of raw materials overlaps with Restricted Areas, andserves as a starting point for further discussions and more detailed mapping of locations where mining poses unacceptable environmental or social risks.

What areas are critical for protection

A key global data set used for the Global Restricted Areas map is the recently updated Intact Forest Landscapes (IFL) map. Identified through satellite imagery, IFLs are the last remaining large undisturbed forest landscapes on Earth – a mosaic of forests and associated natural ecosystems of at least 50,000 hectares, showing minimal signs of human activity or habitat fragmentation. They are massive stores of carbon and biodiversity, as well being the traditional territories for many Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The data, recently updated by World Resources Institute, Global Land Analysis and Discovery lab at the University of Maryland, and Greenpeace International Global Mapping Hub, is available on WRI’s Global Forest Watch platform.

At CBD COP15, governments agreed to the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect biodiversity, including the target of protecting at least 30% of lands and seas by 2030, and rights-based approaches. The Restricted Areas framework and map provide a useful tool to identify additional areas for protection or Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), as well as Indigenous and Traditional Territories (ITTs). It reinforces the need for rights-based approaches to any protection or conservation, and the need for Direct Access Financing (DAF) for Indigenous Peoples and local communities for biodiversity conservation, restoration and management. 

A transition away from fossil fuels without destroying the planet is both necessary and possible

Transitioning away from fossil fuels is vital for our future on the planet. But the current “critical minerals” rush, driven by geopolitical competition and different sectors, threatens to undermine the possibility of a just and green energy transition. Mining often causes devastating environmental damage and social harm, repeating extractivist and colonial patterns and disregarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. There are numerous reports of workers’ rights violations, land grabs from Indigenous Peoples, and threats to communities connected to the mining industry. Around the world, environmental legal frameworks are being revised or weakened under the justification of national “interest” or for “security” reasons. 

With responsible political leadership, it is possible to meet global climate targets while limiting mining. According to the report Beyond Extraction, commissioned by Greenpeace International and authored by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, there are several solutions for achieving an energy transition that doesn’t put further pressure on Earth’s vital ecosystems. A key recommendation of the report is that decision-makers must prioritise mineral use for essential energy transition purposes, with public transport, improved recycling programmes, and advanced battery technologies shown as crucial solutions to limit mineral demand.

From deep in the Amazon to the pristine paradise and UNESCO Geopark of Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, Indigenous Peoples, local and coastal communities are resisting mining on their territories around the world. Protecting human rights and ecological integrity must be non-negotiable foundations of a fast and just energy transition. World leaders, investors, and companies must implement a Restricted Areas framework and recognise Indigenous Peoples’ territories and rights, and protect the world’s most sensitive places. We must stand with the guardians of the forest to protect the ecosystems that maintain all life on Earth. 

Grant Rosoman is a Global Forest Solutions Advisor at Greenpeace International and Leon Auty is a Research and Communications Assistant at Greenpeace International.

Learn more at restrictedareasfrommining.org

Brussels, Belgium – Six Greenpeace Belgium activists unrolled a massive banner in Brussels’s historic Grand Place square, ahead of a celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary in the EU capital. The 600-square-metre banner read “War. Greed. Energy Crisis. What’s there to celebrate?” condemning using the occasion to promote Trump’s political and corporate agenda.

John Noel, Campaigner, Greenpeace International said: “Read the room: this lavish celebration is utterly misplaced. Trump is waging war, threatening allies and adversaries alike, and driving economic disruption across the globe – what’s to celebrate? While EU leaders seem to have made excuses to dodge this party, it’s also time that they stood up to Trump’s bullying too and make sure the EU protects people and planet instead of billionaires’ profits.”

The celebration in Brussels takes place against a backdrop of intensifying global instability driven by the White House. Greenpeace Belgium warns that Trump’s erratic foreign policy and ‘energy dominance’ agenda are fueling conflict, worsening the global energy crisis, and weakening international cooperation. By pairing aggressive trade maneuvers with the dismantling of democratic institutions and environmental protections, Trump’s administration is leaving a trail of economic and ecological disruption worldwide.[1]

Joeri Thijs, Campaigner, Greenpeace Belgium added from the protest: “It is shameful that Belgian authorities are rolling out the red carpet for this administration in the heart of Europe, while US policies are wreaking havoc worldwide.While Belgium and the EU are finally weaning themselves off fossil gas from Putin’s Russia, we are rapidly increasing our dangerous dependence on fracked gas imported from the US. At the same time, Trump is actively pushing to weaken EU environmental safeguards. Continuing to coddle this administration severely jeopardises both the EU’s climate ambitions and its independence from bullies.”

US officials are hosting a celebration in the nearby Parc du Cinquantenaire in the EU quarter later the same day, with thousands of political, diplomatic and corporate representatives on the guest list. The Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte are reportedly attending, though high-profile invitees from the EU institutions such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas declined to say they would attend.[2]

ENDS

Photos and video available free to use in the Greenpeace Media Library.

Notes:

[1] US demands EU dismantle green regulations in threat to trade deal (Financial Times)

[2] Who dares snub Trump’s party | Euractiv (Euractiv)

Contacts:

Greenpeace Belgium press desk : +32 (0)496 26 31 91,  bpress@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

From a massive heat wave in Europe to calls for action on the climate crisis in Mexico. Here are some of our favourite images from Greenpeace work around the world this week.

Mexico – During the World Cup, Greenpeace Mexico activists staged a peaceful protest at Terminal 2 of Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to remind people that the climate crisis is already changing the conditions in which we live, work, and play. With the messages “The game has extra time, but the planet doesn’t” and “If the climate changes, the game changes,” the organization drew attention to the increasingly evident impacts of climate change and the need to act urgently to prevent its effects from continuing to worsen.

Protecting marine and terrestrial ecosystems such as the Maya Forest, as well as a sustainable and just energy transition—one that no longer relies on oil and says no to fracking—are the kinds of decisive changes we need in the current government’s climate policy to truly help combat and curb the impacts of climate change. With the giant balloon—placed in the central rotunda of the airport terminal—as a backdrop, and under the gaze of dozens of domestic and international travelers, Greenpeace Mexico activists positioned themselves beneath the balloon, mimicking flames that represent the extreme heat threatening both the game and the planet.

UK – Signs of London underground stations are rebranded as Baking Street, London’s Burning and Hottenham Court Road during the heatwave in June  raising awareness about the climate crisis. Greenpeace activists also attached stickers saying ‘Heatwave – Brought to you by Shell’ to remind passengers that the record heat is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the companies that promote them.

Poland – On the eve of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, Greenpeace appeals to the Polish government and European leaders to learn from the war in Ukraine. A crisis-resistant system based on renewable, distributed energy sources must become the foundation of energy security.

The future of energy in Ukraine and Europe will be one of the most important topics of the Gdańsk conference, which is why Greenpeace has decided to present recommendations on how to build lasting energy security at this symbolic place for peace in Europe, where the World War II started, at the Westerplatte monument.

France – Nine Greenpeace France activists are on trial before the Paris Court of Appeal.

On March 5, 2021, they entered the tarmac at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport and partially repainted an airplane green. Their aim was to denounce greenwashing and the government’s lack of ambition regarding the regulation of the aviation sector to address climate challenges.

A rally, followed by speeches, took place in front of the Paris Court of Appeal before the trial.

Italy – Greenpeace staff monitors the surface temperature at the historical center of Rome, using a thermal camera due to heat wave that hit the country as the summer started.

Greenpeace has been a pioneer of photo activism for more than 50 years, and remains committed to bearing witness and exposing environmental injustice through the images we capture.

To see more Greenpeace photos and videos, visit our Media Library.

ZAGREB, Croatia, 12 June 2026 – After months of intense public protests, local communities and environmental groups in Croatia are celebrating a major victory after European poultry giant MHP withdrew from a chicken megaproject in northeast Croatia. The proposed megaproject would have quadrupled the country’s chicken production. The withdrawal officially cancels 12 of the 24 planned sub-projects that had been divided between two companies, bypassing stricter environmental regulations.

The planned facility would have been among the largest poultry projects in Europe, designed to slaughter 100 million chickens annually. In a move that avoids stricter environmental impact assessments, the project was divided into 24 separate sub-projects of which MHP was responsible for half. MHP is one of Europe’s largest poultry producers and slaughters over 500 million chickens each year. Local authorities recently confirmed the cancellation of MHP’s sub-projects to Friends of the Earth (FoE) Croatia, Animal Friends Croatia, and local citizen groups who have led the campaign. Greenpeace International campaigners have supported the grassroots movement over the last three months, including speaking at rallies in the towns of Sisak and Donja Dubrava.

Jasna Šumanovac , Campaigner at Zelena Akcija (Friends of the Earth Croatia), said: “We welcome MHP’s decision and at the same time call on them to, in accordance with their promises that they will not build farms and slaughterhouses in areas where there is strong resistance from the local community, abandon the construction of farms in the towns of Apatija and Veliki Pažut. The Ministry must now formally suspend all initiated procedures, and we will continue the fight until the last project is stopped.”

Luka Oman, President at Prijatelji Životinja (Animal Friends Croatia), said: “Croatian citizens have clearly said no to mega poultry farms and slaughterhouses. The Government should stop ignoring citizens and expert warnings and finally reject all remaining mega-farm projects in Croatia. Where mega farms arrive, there is no life left – neither for animals nor for people.”

The retreat by MHP follows sustained grassroots mobilisation, including large-scale public demonstrations in the capital city of Zagreb and Sisak, the regional hub of the affected area. Locals were concerned that the industrial poultry operation would pollute local soil, air and waterways, amongst other detrimental environmental impacts.[1] In a recent interview, the Chief Executive Officer of MHP, dubbed the ‘Chicken King’, tacitly conceded that the company pulled out of the region due to the intense local resistance.[2]

Despite the victory, the remaining 12 sub-projects are still being pursued by another investor,  Premium Chicken Company (PCC). The developer has threatened local non-governmental organisations with lawsuits, echoing tactics used by other major corporations to silence community dissent.

Dániel Nyitray, Campaigner at Greenpeace International added: “This clucking mad mega-project posed a significant threat to public health and the environment, but communities in Croatia have come together to show that when we stand together, we can stop corporations and their billionaire bosses in their tracks. 

“Wherever in the world agribusiness giants like MHP threaten to destroy nature and pollute our air and water in the name of profit, communities like these are organising to defend their land and livelihoods. While work still needs to be done to ensure the remainder of this development is canned, this is a huge victory for people power that sends a message to corporations everywhere: not here, not anywhere.”

Croatia’s local campaigns have vowed to continue fighting until PCC’s portion of the project is also fully terminated. Activists are standing in solidarity with other communities across Croatia who are currently facing the threat of massive industrial meat production developments in their neighbourhoods. Greenpeace is calling on governments to set binding rules that halt new factory farms and hold Big Ag accountable for polluting local environments and exacerbating the global climate crisis.

ENDS

Notes:

[1] H-Alter, ‘Institucije upozoravale na ozbiljne nedostatke i rizike planiranih megafarmi’ (2025)

[2] Jutarnji List, Ukrajinac koji je htio graditi megafarmu pilića kraj Siska: ‘Odustajemo. Imamo dobar razlog, ali i planove za Hrvatsku‘ (2026)

Contacts:

Joe Evans, Global Comms Lead at Greenpeace UK, +44 7890 595387, joe.evans@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

“We are dying silently. Without knowing it, our mothers are feeding their babies with breast milk contaminated by mercury.”

Standing before representatives of the Dutch government, Alessandra Korap Munduruku described a reality that rarely reaches ministerial offices in Europe. While the price of gold rises and the world debates trade, investment and global supply chains, Indigenous communities in the Amazon live every day with the impacts of expanding soy production, cattle ranching and illegal gold mining: contaminated rivers, destroyed forests, violence and a public health crisis that threatens entire generations.

Alessandra’s testimony was one of dozens shared by Indigenous leaders from the Brazilian Amazon during The True Cost of Gold tour, organized by Greenpeace Brazil. Over ten days, Alessandra Korap Munduruku, from the Munduruku people; Megaron Txucarramãe and Beptuk Metuktire, from the Kayapó people; traveled across France, the Netherlands and Belgium, bringing firsthand accounts of the threats facing their territories and ways of life directly to governments, parliamentarians and international institutions. During the first leg of the tour in France, the delegation also included Juma Xipaia, from the Xipaya people, who helped amplify the voices and demands of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples in key political and public forums.

The delegation’s message was clear: while international markets continue to consume and profit from gold, soy and other commodities linked to forest destruction, Indigenous Peoples continue to bear the real costs of this exploitation. Decisions that affect the Amazon cannot continue to be made without listening to those who have protected these territories for millenia.

“Many companies enter the forest saying they are searching for wealth. But what kind of wealth is that?” asked Chief Megaron Txucarramãe during the tour. “For Indigenous Peoples, wealth means food, health and peace.”

The tour took place just days after the release of Greenpeace Brazil’s investigation, Gold Laundering in the Amazon: Anatomy of a Fraud, which revealed how regulatory loopholes allow gold extracted illegally from Indigenous Territories and protected areas to be laundered and sold as if it were legally sourced, eventually entering global supply chains and international markets.

But the message brought to Europe went far beyond the cost of gold.

Bringing Amazon Voices into Decision-Making Spaces

Throughout the tour, Indigenous leaders met with civil society organisations, journalists, supporters, policymakers and Indigenous representatives from other territories. Among the highlights were a series of high-level meetings with government officials and international institutions.

One of the most significant moments took place in the Netherlands during a meeting with Minister of Nature and Agriculture Jaimi van Essen.

During the discussion, Indigenous leaders highlighted the impacts of expanding infrastructure linked to agribusiness in the Amazon, particularly the Arco Norte project, a vast network of railways, ports and waterways designed to facilitate commodity exports such as soy. The delegation also drew attention to the role that Europe, and the Netherlands with its giant port of Rotterdam in particular, plays in global supply chains and the need to reduce the pressure that current production, consumption and trade patterns place on Indigenous territories.

The conversation also addressed the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the importance of recognising and protecting Indigenous territories as a fundamental strategy for achieving the global biodiversity target to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. The meeting was marked by constructive dialogue and an acknowledgment by the Dutch government of the crucial role Indigenous rights play in nature protection.

The minister and his staff confirmed their commitment to protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the CBD process and said they will bring these concerns to the next negotiations in autumn, while also acknowledging the relevance of the Netherlands and the EU in the context of agribusiness.

In France, another key moment was a meeting with representatives from the office of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, the Sea and Fisheries. The discussion with diplomatic adviser Gabriel Normand and his team provided an opportunity to present directly to French policymakers the impacts of illegal mining and other destructive activities affecting Indigenous territories in the Amazon.

The French agenda also included a meeting with Barbara Pompili, France’s Ambassador for the Environment, and her team. In addition, the delegation met with members of the France-Brazil Friendship Group in the French National Assembly, expanding dialogue around international responsibility, supply chain accountability and the urgent need to strengthen protections for Indigenous Peoples and their territories.

A Global Struggle for a Shared Future

Throughout the tour, Indigenous leaders emphasised that decisions made in parliaments, ministries, financial institutions and consumer markets around the world have direct consequences for forests and the people who depend on them.

At the same time, they demonstrated that solutions to many of today’s environmental crises already exist. They can be found in Indigenous territories, in forest-based economies that keep ecosystems standing, and in communities that have cared for land, water and biodiversity for generations.

The message from the Indigenous leaders is clear: protecting Indigenous rights is not only a matter of justice. It is one of the most effective ways to protect tropical forests, tackle the climate crisis and secure a livable future for all.

Meet the Indigenous Leaders

Juma Xipaia

Juma is one of the most prominent Indigenous leaders in the Amazon and a powerful advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental protection and gender equality. She became the first woman Chief in the Middle Xingu at the age of 24, leading the Xipaya Tukamã village. In 2020, she founded Instituto Juma, dedicated to environmental conservation, Indigenous self-determination and women’s empowerment. Due to her opposition to illegal mining and criminal activities in the Amazon, she survived multiple assassination attempts and spent a period in exile in Switzerland. Her story is featured in the acclaimed documentary Yanuni (2025), executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Megaron Txucarramãe

Megaron is a renowned Indigenous leader, environmentalist and key figure in Brazil’s Indigenous rights movement. A member of the Kayapó (Mẽbêngôkre) people and the nephew and designated successor of Chief Raoni Metuktire, he has spent decades defending Indigenous territories, forests and constitutional rights. 

Beptuk Metuktire

Beptuk is an emerging Indigenous leader from the Kayapó (Mẽbêngôkre) people and a coordinator at Instituto Raoni. As the grandson of Chief Raoni Metuktire, he represents a new generation of Indigenous leadership, combining traditional knowledge with contemporary advocacy. 

Alessandra Korap Munduruku

Alessandra is an internationally recognized Indigenous activist whose advocacy has helped bring global attention to the impacts of illegal mining, logging and infrastructure projects in the Amazon. Her campaigning contributed to Anglo American’s withdrawal from mining projects overlapping the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Territory in 2021. In recognition of her leadership, she received the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize. Today, she is a prominent voice in international debates on climate justice, biodiversity and the future of the Amazon.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities are the best guardians of the Amazon and other forests around the world, and must be recognised as such. Greenpeace is calling on world leaders to stop the industrial destruction and recognise Indigenous Peoples’ territories and rights.

Defend the defenders

Demand the recognition of Indigenous rights and their territories.

Join now

Jaqueline Sordi is the Communications and Engagement Lead for the Tropical Forests campaign at Greenpeace International.

A big fan of peace, an A-list red carpet, and a robust defence of science. Here are some of our favourite images from Greenpeace work around the world this week.

Aotearoa / New Zealand – To celebrate World Wind Day and mark the 100th day of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, which has seen oil prices spike and cost of living rise worldwide as a result, Greenpeace Aotearoa activists visited Te Uku wind farm near Raglan and transformed wind turbines into peace signs with the message “THIS MACHINE STOPS WARS”.

Germany – At the 2026 Bonn Climate Conference, a group of countries and civil society representatives hosted by Friends of Science spoke to the press to defend science as the heart of decision-making in the UNFCCC process, and discuss how science paves the way for a future that is secure, safe, and healthy for everyone.

Speakers included:
Manjeet Dhakal (Least Developed Countries Group)
Felix Wertli (Switzerland)
Sivendra Michael (Fiji)
Sindra Sharma, PHD, Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN)
Gabriel Kapka (Sierra Leone)

Spain – Greenpeace Spain has used a thermal camera at high schools around the country to record temperatures far above recommended levels in public schools in Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Ourense, and Seville. This illustrates the heat endured by students and school staff during Spain’s hottest days.

Greenpeace joins forces with other organisations in the sector to demand urgent measures to cool classrooms and schoolyards. In the face of increasingly intense and frequent heat waves, public spaces must serve as climate-controlled refuges to prevent the worst effects of climate change on the health of children, who are especially vulnerable to high temperatures.

Malaysia – Over 1,500 Orang Asli and Orang Asal (Indigenous Peoples) from six different states in Peninsular Malaysia marched along the streets of Putrajaya’s Persiaran Perdana to protest in front of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development calling for the recognition of their customary land rights.

Kenya – To mark the start of the Our Oceans conference, Greenpeace Africa volunteers and community members gathered at Pirates Beach/ Jomo Kenyatta Beach in Mombasa, Kenya, around a sand installation carrying the message ‘The Ocean Connects Us All’ to highlight the interconnected challenges facing coastal communities across Africa and the need for ocean protection

Netherlands – Greenpeace Netherlands activists hold a banner at an Allseas ship in the Rotterdam harbour. Greenpeace warns Allseas that deep sea mining under American legislation is a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and call on the Dutch government to take action.

USA – Actor and activist Jane Fonda on the red carpet at the the theatrical release of the Greenpeace documentary GASLIT, directed by Katie Camosy. The feature-length film follows actor and activist Jane Fonda as she traveled across the oil fields of Texas and Louisiana, visiting communities and hearing stories from those directly impacted by the petrochemical industry. Theatrical events were held in New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, TX, Washington, DC, New Orleans, LA, and Oakland, CA.

The Netherlands – An Indigenous delegation from the Brazilian Amazon visits The Hague during their European tour. Here the Indigenous leaders present the Amazon petition to Minister Jaimi van Essen (Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature). The core message of the petition is: protect the Amazon rainforest and stand with the Indigenous peoples.

Spain – Tens of thousands of people took part in a massive demonstration against the Altri/Greenfiber mega-cellulose plant project in Palas de Rei (A Ulloa, Galicia) and the reopening of the Touro-O Pino mine under the slogan “In defense of the Ulla River and the Arousa estuary. Let’s stop Altri and the Touro-O Pino mine.” Both projects would have a massive environmental impact on the Ulla River basin, which flows into the Arousa estuary—the most productive yet also the most environmentally degraded in Galicia.

Hawaii – Kanaka Maoli artist Kaiʻili Kaulukukui, Native Hawaiian leaders, and cultural practitioners dedicate a 6,500-square-foot mural in Kapālama Kai on Oʻahu inspired by the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian genealogical creation chant. The artwork reflects Native Hawaiian relationships with the ocean and comes as Indigenous leaders across the Pacific call for greater representation in decisions about ocean protection and deep sea mining.

From left:
– Angéla Árvai ~ Project Manager. Artwork of Kai
– Kanaka Maoli mural artist Kaiʻili Kaulukukui
– Solomon “Uncle Sol” Kaho`ohalahala, Kanaka Maoli cultural practitioner and Indigenous Knowledge Keeper
– Edwin “Ekolu” Lindsey III, Director & Co-Founder, Maui Nui Makai Network.
– Brittany Lehua Kamai, Kanaka Maoli Ph.D. Astrophysicist, apprentice navigator, and ocean advocate (Mana Moana Institute)

Greenpeace has been a pioneer of photo activism for more than 50 years, and remains committed to bearing witness and exposing environmental injustice through the images we capture.

To see more Greenpeace photos and videos, visit our Media Library.

Bonn, Germany – The Bonn Climate Change Conference has ended with important work still to be done to progress efforts to phase-out fossil fuels, protect forests and deliver progress on climate and adaptation finance.

Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director, Greenpeace International said: “Stalled talks around climate finance for developing countries and a repeated deadlock on mitigation played out in Bonn again. It’s this repeated playbook that took some of the shine off the emergence of a coalition of countries supporting a transition away from fossil fuels at a time where the climate and energy crisis is set to be supercharged by the El Niño.

“Still, Bonn laid some foundations for COP31: climate finance work is on the COP31 agenda, creating a political pathway for negotiations. The negotiating text on just transition will also form a basis for further negotiations, but no conclusions were reached on mitigation, showing that while this process is still moving, it is far away from political breakthroughs.

“To bridge the 1.5°C ambition gap, governments must now sustain and strengthen international cooperation in and outside the UNFCCC. Instead of systematically trying to renegotiate 1.5°C and eliminate science from key negotiating tracks, what’s required is a fair, fast and funded just transition and an end to forest destruction by 2030.”

Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific, Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “An unrelenting war on climate science took place in Bonn as fossil fuel producing nations attempted to erode the 1.5°C mandate, cutting into the negotiation tracks meant to guarantee the dignified survival of the most vulnerable to climate change. But we refuse to let these rooms become detached from the Pacific’s reality, where a breached 1.5°C will drown our history and displace our heritage, as saltwater bleeds into the Vanua (land) that has sustained us for generations.”

“This crisis requires more than diplomacy; it requires Pacific courage. The COP31 Presidency must take the helm, grounded in our deeply held values of guardianship and collective survival. True leadership demands the domestic, regional and global bravery to chart a course away from fossil fuels and with moral clarity, stop every new coal, oil, and gas project in its tracks.”

Emel Türker Alpay, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace Türkiye said: “The COP31 presidency put electrification on the global agenda, showing it understands the scale of the challenge. But an electrification vision without a fossil fuel phase-out is incomplete and global leadership must be matched by action at home. COP31 can be historic if the electrification ambition is matched by clear commitments to make it real. For Türkiye that means a commitment to no new coal power plants, a coal exit date and a just transition away from fossil fuels that leaves no worker or community behind. Türkiye has the opportunity and the responsibility to make it happen.”

An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Policy Expert, Greenpeace International said: “We lose one football field of forests every 2 seconds and we heard many parties recognise the need to act fast and support Brazil’s forest roadmap initiative. It’s now time to shift from endorsement to ownership to effectively halt forest destruction by 2030. At COP31, a group of 2030 forest target champions must make sure the roadmap doesn’t get lost as yet another document that doesn’t connect ambition with action and an international system that works for forests and people.”

ENDS

Photo and Video from the conference available to download via the Greenpeace Media Library

Contacts:
Beyza Kural, Senior Communication Expert, Greenpeace Türkiye, +90 5336 417 123, beyza.kural@greenpeace.org

Kate O’Callaghan, Communications Manager, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, +61 4062 31892 kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

This story was originally posted by Greenpeace Africa for World Environment Day.

For millions of rural women living alongside logging concessions, industrial agriculture and mining sites across Africa, urgency is a daily reality. The extra two hours walked to reach a water source that dried up last dry season. The harvest that failed again because the rains came three weeks late, or came all at once and drowned the fields. The forest that fed and healed a family for generations, gone within a single industrial concession cycle, and with it, the seeds, medicine, income, and knowledge of how to use them. The weight of absorbing every climate shock first, hardest, and alone is left to communities while they remain legally invisible on the land they have managed for centuries.

Women’s vulnerability is not an accident but by design 

Rural women are dealing with the consequences of decisions made by others, elsewhere. Vulnerability is manufactured through competition for natural resources in a system that extracts wealth from their forests and lands while leaving rural women with none of the benefits but all of the consequences.

When rain cycles delay, rivers run dry and harvests collapse, women and girls in rural areas who are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood absorb the shock first and hardest. When logging concessions, oil and gas or mining operations move in without their consent, the forest and land they depend on disappear, taking their food, their medicine, their shelter and centuries of knowledge with them.

Women, youth and Indigenous People are the key to climate action

Let us be clear: climate change is not neutral. It’s also driven by industrial emitters of fossil fuels, agribusiness and commercial deforestation. Often, these are the same actors encroaching on community territories. Those who cause the damage must stop causing it, and they must repair what they have broken. As Central African countries seek to meet global demand for fossil fuels, timber, palm oil and other raw materials through industrial logging, large-scale agriculture and oil blocks concessions, the threats to the forests, and most vulnerable people (women, youth and Indigenous People) will only increase.

Rural women practise agroecology developed over generations,  protecting soils, selecting and preserving seeds with a rigour no industrial catalogue can match. They manage forests collectively, transmit ecological knowledge across generations, and adapt their farming systems to shifting conditions with remarkable creativity. They are the primary custodians of agrobiodiversity of the seed diversity, the medicinal plant knowledge, and the food systems that rural communities depend on. This is not folklore. It is a functioning climate adaptation infrastructure, built over centuries, that operates without subsidy, recognition, and more so without legal protection.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognises that agricultural practices incorporating indigenous and local knowledge can address the combined challenges of climate change, food security, and biodiversity conservation simultaneously. Despite being its most effective stewards, in Africa communities hold formal legal rights over less than 2% of forest land. When a concession moves in without consent, that system does not pause, it is destroyed. The women who maintain forest lands leave with nothing: no compensation, nor recognition, and a climate bill they did not create.

One of the most effective climate adaptation strategies available is securing women’s access to land and recognising their rights over seeds and forest resources. Every hectare that remains outside legal community control is a hectare exposed to concession, to enclosure, to the erasure of everything communities have built, maintained and protected.

The IPCC agrees that insecure land tenure reduces adaptive capacity, while land policies that recognise customary tenure directly strengthen community resilience to climate change.

Climate finance, forecasting and adaptation tools must be delivered to the last mile

Climate finance exists, but if climate funds are flowing through banks and institutions that communities cannot access without formal land titles, then it is just a slogan. Weather forecasting tools, digital agriculture applications, green funds, real resources have been mobilised. But do they reach the women of Niabibeté, Nkoelon, or Zoulabot, Cameroon? In most cases, no.

Alerts arrive on phones they do not own, in languages they do not read, in zones without reliable internet.

Designing adaptation tools without designing their delivery to the last mile is not adaptation. It is a theatre. And rural women cannot afford theatre.

Driving change from climate awareness to climate action means four concrete things:

• Polluters should stop polluting and start paying for loss and damage. Our governments should cease granting land, forestry and mining concessions in areas of high conservation value and where communities, women and Indigenous Peoples are claiming and exercising their ancestral land rights.
• Decision makers must support the initiatives led by Indigenous People and local communities to ensure sustainable development, at least at the local level, by ensuring that the funding and technologies developed and made available are directly accessible to them. Today, these funds flow almost exclusively through states and large institutions. The communities who need them most are the furthest from them.
• National laws must protect the land and forest rights of local communities and Indigenous Peoples, especially in areas targeted by large-scale investment. In Cameroon, ongoing land reform processes offer a real window. Civil society and the nation’s elected representatives must push hard to ensure these instruments protect communities.
• Policy makers must build solutions with rural women, youth, people with disabilities and Indigenous People, not for them. This will support women’s roles as guardians of food security and biodiversity, and deliver adaptation policies designed with their knowledge at the centre, not as a footnote.

It will take more than a generation to grow back the forests retreating today. The knowledge disappearing with them needs nurturing and renewing too. Climate action cannot wait for those who have already been waiting too long.

Action must include countering threats from predatory corporations, like the world’s largest meat company JBS, that are driving deforestation and climate destruction and setting their sights on massive expansion in Africa.

Demand the world’s largest meat empire JBS to reveal the true cost of their expansion.

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Stella Tchoukep is Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, based in Cameroon.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Plans by Swiss-Dutch offshore giant Allseas to operate machinery for deep sea mining firm The Metals Company under unilateral U.S. authorisation directly violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), according to a groundbreaking legal opinion released today.[1] Commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, the analysis establishes that UNCLOS provisions bind Allseas directly, making its actions an immediate breach of international law. The opinion also concludes that the Dutch government is legally bound to intervene against a corporate violation that is no longer a future threat, but an active reality.

A landmark legal opinion by Professor André Nollkaemper of the University of Amsterdam, commissioned by Greenpeace Netherlands, notes that the binding May 2026 Contract for Development Work and Commercial Production between Allseas and The Metals Company (TMC) includes activities prohibited under international law.[2] According to Nollkaemper the threat is “no longer a hypothetical prospect but a present and advancing fact.” Consequently, the obligation on the Dutch government to intervene “is already engaged,” as the agreement binds Allseas to an operation relying entirely on a “unilateral United States route”.

Sascha Landshoff, Campaigner, Greenpeace Netherlands said: “Allseas appears entirely prepared to join forces with the Trump administration to carve up our oceans for private profit. This means illegal corporate mining operating entirely outside of international oversight. The Netherlands is bound by strict international obligations and must act accordingly. The deep sea does not belong to Trump and Allseas. It belongs to us all.”

Under UNCLOS, the international seabed is protected from unilateral exploitation, granting sole regulatory jurisdiction to the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Professor Nollkaemper’s legal evaluation outlines explicit obligations to be followed by the Dutch state. For several years, Allseas—traditionally an offshore oil and gas operator — has been quietly positioning itself as the primary technological enabler of deep sea mining. In addition to being the largest strategic shareholder and investor in TMC, the offshore giant owns and operates the world’s only functional deep sea mining vessel, retrofitted specifically to extract mineral-rich polymetallic nodules from the abyssal ocean floor.

In response to the legal assessment, Greenpeace Netherlands, alongside five major environmental organisations, has dispatched an urgent letter to the Dutch government demanding immediate regulatory intervention to prevent corporate complicity in unregulated deep sea extraction. The coalition is also demanding that the Netherlands send an unmistakable signal that our global commons cannot be plundered by officially joining the growing alliance of more than 40 nations calling for an international moratorium or precautionary pause on deep sea mining at the ISA.

A recent European Parliament’s resolution, explicitly commands EU member states to respond with appropriate measures to any attempts to bypass the ISA and take direct action against non-compliant domestic companies.[3]

The deep sea remains one of Earth’s final untouched wildernesses. Marine scientists warn that up to 90% of the species living in these extreme depths have yet to be discovered. The push for extraction comes amid stunning scientific breakthroughs, including the recent discovery that the very polymetallic nodules targeted by TMC and Allseas actually generate “dark oxygen” on the seafloor, and could be crucial to supporting unique deep sea life networks.

ENDS 

Notes:

[1] Legal opinion on the application of Article 137 UNCLOS in the Dutch legal order and the obligations of the Netherlands under Articles 137 and 139(1) UNCLOS in respect of participation of juridical persons in deep-seabed mining outside an ISA mandate

Legal analysis listed explicit obligations to be followed by the Dutch state: 

The Netherlands has a strict international obligation to take “reasonably appropriate measures” to ensure that Dutch companies, or entities under Dutch corporate control, do not participate in deep sea mining outside of established international frameworks.

The Dutch government is legally barred from recognizing, validating, or allowing the trade of any seabed minerals extracted via unilateral, non-ISA mining operations.

The State is under an obligation to implement national laws prohibiting  domestic companies operating without an ISA mandate. Crucially, Nollkaemper notes that until new legislation is ratified, the State is legally obligated to hold Allseas accountable for its conduct through existing legal means, potentially including civil courts.

[2] TMC and Allseas Sign Commercial Agreement for the First Offshore Nodule Recovery Operation

[3] Report on the role of ocean diplomacy for the competitiveness of EU fisheries and aquaculture

Contacts:

Sol Gosetti, Media Coordinator for the Stop Deep Sea Mining campaign, Greenpeace International, +34 633 029 407, sol.gosetti@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org