We’re delighted to welcome Jagoda Muni? to Friends of the Earth Europe as our new director. Jagoda has spent many years working with Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia and played a prominent role in the wider federation – including four years as chairperson of Friends of the Earth International. Here she shares her thoughts as she takes up her new role.
Towards sustainable and just Europe!
Friends of the Earth Europe has been advocating for many years for an environmentally sustainable and just Europe. In the broader debate about the future of the European Union we want to see environmental protection and justice being the fundamental pillars of a sustainable Europe. The world is facing multiple environmental crises, with biodiversity loss and resources overconsumption beyond comprehension, and the impacts of climate change visible on a daily basis. At the same time, inequality and militarization are increasing, we are witnessing the loss of rights and freedoms, the economic system is failing 99% of people and democracy is in jeopardy.
It is the challenge of our generation(s) to bring the economy within planetary boundaries and at the service of society as a whole. To envision such system change and mobilise for transformation is the task of our times.
I believe Friends of the Earth Europe should be a leading organisation in this big debate and challenge, by promoting grassroots, national and international solutions that contribute to a sustainable and just Europe. Our justice perspective is bringing unique solutions combining areas previously thought to be in conflict, for example environmental protection and workers’ rights.
The paths we do or do not take will be of crucial importance in the next decade, as there is a need for urgent action to shift towards a post-carbon and post- resource extraction society, in such a way that the burden of this transition is not carried by the poor and less privileged.
In the months to come, Friends of the Earth Europe will engage in strategic debate on the focus, actions and tools that will lead us towards this goal.
My predecessor Magda Stoczkiewicz, the director of FoEE for 10 years, has set the bar high and announced that it is time to take the network to another level. That is the challenge that we need to take.
