Notable wins in the climate, environmental and social justice space to inspire us in our fight for a better, greener, and fairer world for all.

Papua. Major land rights win for Indigenous Peoples

Chair of Indigenous People Fellowship Council Fredik Sagisolo (right) holds a decree letter as they celebrate during a ceremony in Teminabuan, South Sorong, Southwest Papua. Indigenous Tehit-Knasaimos people have title over their traditional land recognized by Indonesian law. The decree is issued by the South Sorong Regency of Southwest Papua Province on 6 June 2024.

On 6 June, 4000 Indigenous Papuans finally received legal recognition of customary rights over 97,411 hectares of tropical rainforests in South Sorong Regency. The newly recognised Indigenous lands of the Knasaimos Peoples spans an area almost the size of Hong Kong. 

As with many Indigenous communities across Tanah Papua (the western half of New Guinea, also known internationally as West Papua), the Knasaimos Peoples have been fighting for decades to protect their customary lands from exploitation by external interests such as logging and plantation companies. Today’s ruling finally provides legal recognition of their rights to the land, forests, water, and other natural resources that are their ancestral heritage.

Germany & the Netherlands. New gas platform paused over environmental concerns

The highest Dutch court suspended the construction  of a new gas drilling platform close to the Borkum island off the coast of Germany and the Netherlands. The court’s announcement came while 21 Greenpeace activists blocked the platform from being installed.  The construction of the platform remains on hold until the court has concluded on how to proceed in response to appeals against the drilling project brought by local citizens and environmental organisations. This further delays the Borkum gas drilling project and is a crucial milestone in ending new fossil fuel projects.

South Africa. Shell loses appeal in case halting plans for oil and gas exploration

Wild-coast community members and partner organisations from South Africa protested against Shell at the supreme court of appeal. The court has begun hearing an appeal lodged by Shell against a high court judgment which overturned a government license allowing Shell to explore for oil and gas along South Africa’s wild coast. The communities turned up in numbers to remind Shell that the exploitative extraction of oil would be resisted, and demanded the company’s exit from South Africa. Greenpeace Africa continues to stand with the communities and demands that the SA government stops permitting new oil and gas exploration and to embrace renewable energy. GPAf also encourages Shell to leave SA as it had planned, and cease destroying the planet for profit

Big win against Shell in South Africa! After protests by the community and fishers, Shell loses its appeal against the landmark decision in 2022 which ruled against their plans to conduct oil and gas exploration off the Wild Coast of South Africa. The court says Shell failed to properly inform and consult affected communities, taking into account community rights and environmental harm. Unfortunately, the fight is not yet over as the court has left the door open for Shell’s application to renew its exploration right. Together with allies and the community, Greenpeace Africa is resolute in continuing to fight to stop Big Oil from exploiting the planet for its own profit.

Global. Renewables generated a record 30% of global electricity in 2023

At one of the biggest wind farms in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, 33 wind turbines are producing electricity equivalent to power demands of 35,000 households’ demands per year. Fukushima prefecture has declared to become 100% renewable by 2040. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Feed in Tariff scheme was installed in 2012. Since then renewable energy, mainly photovoltaic, has grown massively however, wind capacity hasn’t grown so much and remains 3GW in 2015.

For the first time, renewables provide 30% of global electricity. More good news is that solar and wind generation growth in 2023 surpassed fossil fuels. This is a striking win to usher in clean and green renewable energy and end the age of fossil fuels.

Oceans. World’s highest oceans court ruling to protect our oceans.

In a historic Advisory Opinion, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the world’s highest oceans court, found that greenhouse gas emissions are a form of marine pollution and countries are obligated to reduce emissions for the sake of our oceans. The ruling is a huge victory in the protection and preservation of the marine environment. 

Brazil. Prosecutor urges banks to halt funding to Amazon ranches linked to illegal activities

The destruction of the rainforest is a huge threat to the existence of the Karipuna indigenous people, since the forest is a life giving force for the community. The Karipuna Indigenous Land, located in the municipalities of Nova Mamoré and Porto Velho, in Rondônia state, has been rapidly destroyed by the ostensive invasion of loggers and grileiros (land grabbers). Although it was recognized as an Indigenous Land by Brazilian government in 1988, over 11,000 hectares of the Amazon forest have already been destroyed; 80% in the last three years alone. Even the sale of lots has been carried out by the invaders. The Karipuna are a indigenous people of recent contact with surrounding society, and were almost extinct in the 1970s. Currently, the Karipuna population totals 58 people.

The Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) has recommended that eight banks immediately terminate contracts granted via the rural credit system to properties located within public forests, Indigenous lands and conservation units in the Amazon. The move follows Greenpeace Brazil’s report, Bankrolling Extinction: Banks and Investors as Partners in Deforestation, which found that rural credit – a key element of Brazil’s agricultural policy – has been financing thousands of rural properties that are driving illegal deforestation, land grabbing of Indigenous territories, and other irregular activities. 

The Prosecutor’s Office has now made it clear that banks must take responsibility for their actions and stop financing properties that do not comply with regulations. This is a stunning achievement in the campaign to defund the destruction of nature in Brazil’s Amazon.

Senegal. Greater transparency in management of fishing

Women activists with their empty traditional calabash bowls highlight their grassroots campaigns against industrial overfishing and coastal industrialisation and demand government action. They hold a banner reading "My gourd is empty because of trawlers".

Greenpeace Africa has been demanding for greater transparency in the management of fishing in Senegal, including the publication of the list of vessels authorised to fish in the country’s waters. The authorities have responded by making the list public, demonstrating the new administration’s commitment to transparency. Dialogues have ensued on illegal fishing vessels, leading to the President asking for an audit in order to identify irregularities. 

Oceans. The EU ratifies the Global Ocean Treaty

After the Galapagos Leg for research activities, the Arctic Sunrise arrived for the first time in the Colombian Pacific as a part of the Global Plastic Campaign. The call is to protect our ocean from plastic pollution, having a strong plastic treaty and reduce at least 75% of the plastic production. The ship tour headed to Malpelo Island Flora and Fauna Sanctuary (declared Natural Heritage by UNESCO). There, we will document ecosystem importance of Malpelo Island as part of the migration corridor in the Pacific. Along with Fundación Malpelo and the Colombian influencer and freediver Sofía Gómez, we are going to document and denounce the threats that threaten our sea, especially plastic pollution. We will support the approval of the Global Plastics Treaty and highlight the conservation value of the Colombian Pacific and its seamounts and the need to increase marine protected areas in this country.

Late April, the EU Parliament voted to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty, which will help governments to protect 30% of the global ocean by 2030, a target that has been agreed by all countries in 2022. It is the first regional organisation to do so, and now we need the 27 EU member states to step up and do their part in ratifying the treaty. At present seven countries – Palau, Chile, Belize, Seychelles, Mauritius, Monaco and the Federated States of Micronesia- have set the ball rolling and we hope the momentum snowballs to get 60 ratifications in time for the Treaty to enter into force by the next UN Ocean Conference in June 2025.