About this website
urgewald – Advocacy for the Environment and Human Rights
urgewald is a German non-profit organization, whose mission is to address the underlying causes of global environmental destruction and poverty. We monitor the activities of German banks and companies abroad and educate the German public about the negative impacts of our consumption patterns on people and nature in far-away places.
urgewald works closely with affected communities and NGOs in the global South. Over the years, we have become an important contact point for anti-nuclear campaigners in Eastern Europe, indigenous people in Brazil, whose cultures are threatened by large plantation companies or farmers in India, who are being driven off their lands for big dams. We make sure that their voices are heard - in meetings with decision-makers, at shareholder meetings, in the media or through public actions.
urgewald names and calls on those in charge to put into practice the promises of sustainability that are made in annual reports and public statements. We call on international companies and banks to step back from destructive projects and to adopt binding environmental and social standards. And we engage in dialog with business representatives to help them develop responsible due diligence practices.
Over the years, pulp and paper has become one of the focal points of urgewald's work. We have tracked the source of pulp and paper products to Germany and analyzed the problems in the pulp production countries. And we have built close contacts to local movements, which are challenging the massive impacts of the pulp industry in their countries. Time and again, we have experienced that both development and commercial banks are seldom aware of the environmental and social impacts of the pulp industry in these countries, when they make investment decisions. After years of working with consumers, our forest program has therefore begun to actively reach out to financial institutions and to encourage them to recognize indigenous and local peoples' rights as well as environmental concerns, when making decisions, that will affect the future of communities and ecosystems.
In its campaigns, urgewald cooperates closely with many national and international NGOs. We are also members of BankTrack, Taiga Rescue Network and the World Rainforest Movement.
Credits
Photos in the top frame:
Photos by Timber Watch, Chris Lang / WRM, Eli Greig / Wilderness Society, Urgewald, Geng Yunsheng / Greenpeace.
Other pictures:
The source is noted at the bottom of each photo column.
Text author: Chris Lang
Coordination: Lydia Bartz, Urgewald
Web design: Philipp Küchler
