Solidaridad colleagues carrying banners with slogans in Dutch: ‘Climate smart agriculture: it’s possible, so do it!’ and ‘Show solidarity with farmers further afield!’
The climate strike is part of the larger climate strike action week in the Netherlands and has drawn thousands of people to The Hague on 27 September. The crowd followed a route around the city centre, which is also home to the Dutch government.
With the Dutch climate strike approaching, Solidaridad and 51 organizations based in the Netherlands have signed and published a joint declaration (in Dutch) on 25 September, in which they expressed their concern about the climate crisis and the urgent need for action.
Expressing solidarity with farmers worldwide
Solidaridad joined the climate strike in The Hague because we feel that the Dutch government should undertake more steps to decrease the climate damage that the Netherlands, as a country, causes outside our own borders. We are particularly concerned about producers in developing countries who are directly affected by climate change (for instance, changing weather patterns that threaten their yields) and have neither the financial means nor the knowledge on how to adapt to this situation.
We call upon the Dutch government to:
- Work more closely with producing countries to develop climate smart production, both for export as well as for domestic production
- Call for European legislation that forces companies to only import products that have been produced in a climate smart way, against a true price that includes the costs for climate smart investments
- Work closely with international banks, investors and other financial organizations to make climate smart investment funds available
These steps are essential to ensure that producers in developing countries can earn a decent living which allows them to invest in the future. In this way, we can secure the future availability of products from developing countries, including coffee, cocoa, palm oil, gold, and soy. And only in this way, we can save the planet.
Climate strikers filling the streets of the city centre in The Hague
Global action for climate
The pressure on world leaders to take proper action against the escalating climate crisis continues to grow. This week’s Global Climate Strike has brought together many thousands of people around the world to call for concrete action to tackle the climate crisis and to express their support for the young climate activists who have given the world a good wake-up call with their Fridays for Future school strikes.
At the emergency UN Climate Action Summit earlier this week, climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the gathered world leaders with an angry, emotional speech:
Solidaridad joins the call for concrete action to tackle the climate crisis. Business as usual is not an option which the international community can – and should – tolerate any longer.