Community protest

From Scotland to Sarawak shows what resistance looks like on the frontlines of the climate crisis, from supporting local food producers and taking governments to court to building green community-energy systems. Throughout we’ve seen the important role of community-organised protest.  

Photograph: Bosnia and Herzegovina © Luka Tomac/Friends of the Earth International

Fracking protest with a woman holding a sign which reads 'leave it in the ground'

Community resistance is a familiar story in Grangemouth, in Scotland’s central belt where people “live in the glow” of several of the country's most polluting industrial sites. When fracking companies wanted to drill across Scotland, protests and opposition successfully stopped them.

Yet while the Scottish government has effectively banned fracking, chemical company Ineos is still allowed to import fracked gas from sites in Pennsylvania and Texas to help make plastic in Scotland.

Photograph: Scotland © Ric Lander/Friends of the Earth Scotland

Fracking protest with a woman holding a sign which reads 'leave it in the ground'
A protest with a person at the front wearing a pink gas mask and pink hi-vis holding a sign that says 'highways England, not permitted'

Since 2017, we have seen communities in South Sefton, Liverpool protest the proposed dual carriageway that threatens Rimrose Valley.

As with Neretvica, their resistance is related to the important role this natural space plays in the community. The protest recognises not only the immediate threat to people's health and wellbeing but also the long-term climate impacts. 

England.© Save Rimrose Valley

A protest with a person at the front wearing a pink gas mask and pink hi-vis holding a sign that says 'highways England, not permitted'

Along the river Neretvica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, communities are resisting hydropower dam projects that would destroy wildlife, drinking water supplies, homes and livelihoods. In 2020, the community organised mass protests and human blockades, peacefully and successfully resisting construction vehicles. 

Photograph: Bosnia and Herzegovina © Luka Tomac/Friends of the Earth International

A very large illustration on rock of a woman swinging her mallet

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