Sander Chan 陈文山 (he/him) 🇺🇦💚🍉

Now that the Immunity for the controversial Global Center for Adaptation organization from Netherlands has been revoked, the CEO Patrick Verkooijen should also vacate the office of Chancellor of UoN. University of Nairobi is not a tool for favors and reward.

@Chris10Boomsma on how @GCAdaptation and its director @Prof_PatrickV bypassed @univgroningen and #Groningen through false promises. Verkooijen meanwhile escapes accountability and continues his hold over @GCAdaptation through shady dealings in Kenya and @uonbi.

How the Global Center on Adaptation Became Africa’s Latest Climate Accountability Crisis sokodirectory.com/2025/11/how-th…

Global Center on Adaptation Organization Chief Now Leading Kenyan University(UoN) Accused of Creating “Reign of Terror” at Previous Workplace.@GCAdaptation kenyanhour.com/global-center-… Meja Mwangi Babu owino Karai Cyrus Jirongo Mercedes Benz

The far right tightened its grip in the Dutch elections. But for liberals, D66 offered a glimmer of hope. Here are five lessons from their campaign that liberals everywhere could take to heart. 1. Optimism. D66 understood that a civilisation obsessed with averting every possible ill renders itself incapable of doing any measurable good. For years, the Dutch left has often sounded like a nagging parent – “can’t do”, “won’t do”, “impossible”. Jetten flipped the script. His message wasn’t: “The world is doomed, so we must stop everything from flying to eating meatballs or even having children.” Instead he told people: “This country can do so much better, so why not get going?” It echoed the Yimby philosophy popularised by US writers @ezraklein and @DKThomp. 2. Progressive patriotism. For years, nationalism was considered the preserve of the right. Expressions of pride were ceded to the far-right Freedom party (PVV) and to farmers’ protests. D66 broke with that misplaced self-flagellation. It showed that one can take pride in a country ranked among the happiest in the world without excluding minorities or vilifying outsiders. At the D66 party congress, Jetten stood beaming beneath a billowing Dutch flag. 3. Take off the gloves when you need to. Many leaders have a fear of heated exchanges poisoning the political atmosphere. “When they go low, we go high” remains a mantra for many liberals. But elections are meant to expose policy differences – all the more so in a parliament with 15 parties. Jetten avoided needless squabbles with ideologically adjacent parties and focused instead on his polar opposite. 4. An unapologetically left wing economic story. D66 campaigned for a more progressive inheritance and gift tax, the abolition of a regressive mortgage interest deduction and, above all, higher rewards for work. The party even proposed a millionaires’ tax. And it worked. Voters are not afraid of such policies – polling shows that they want them. No anti-capitalist posturing, no talk of degrowth – just straightforward, good-old social democratic ideas. Liberals misread the public if they think voters fear such policies. 5. Build a big tent. Progressives who agree among themselves on 80% of issues often fixate on the 20% where they differ. Jetten broke that habit, opting instead to triangulate on major issues, including immigration, by building a broad, if imperfect, voter coalition. According to Ipsos I&O figures, 20% of those who voted D66 in this election came from the centre-left GreenLeft/Labour alliance (GL/PvdA), 13% from the centre-right NSC, 11% from the rightwing VVD, 9% were previous non-voters and even 7% had backed the far-right PVV. Since 2012, the overall progressive bloc has steadily shrunk. Jetten managed to reach into the rightwing electorate and build a big tent.

We urgently need #ClimateAction, both in mitigation and adaptation. However, urgency can never be an excuse for neglecting integrity, accountability, and the wellbeing of people, internally and externally.

Institutions must embody the values they seek to promote. An organisation that allows harm or silences people internally cannot credibly promote just and equitable outcomes.

Today NOS published an article about the toxic work culture at the Global Center on Adaptation (@GCAdaptation), incl. my own experiences there. I joined GCA in 2020 because I believed in its original mission: helping communities adapt to climate change. nos.nl/artikel/258874…

Picture this… In December 2023, the Global Center for Adaptation (GCA), led by Dutch professor Patrick Verkooijen quietly gives the University of Nairobi about €1.2 million for a climate-related research partnership. A generous act, right? But just weeks later, in January 2024, President William Ruto appoints that very same Patrick Verkooijen as Chancellor of the University of Nairobi ,the same university that had just received money from his organization. Then the story shifts. In the Netherlands, Global Center on Adaptation’s own home country, the Government starts to lose faith. By 2025, Dutch ministries ,including Infrastructure & Water and Foreign Affairs announce they’re withdrawing funding the Global Center on Adaptation , citing budget issues, governance concerns, and questions of political entanglement… Translation: they no longer trust how it’s being run. Yet while the Netherlands is pulling away, Kenya is leaning in…In July 2025, Ruto and Verkooijen stand side by side in Nairobi, smiling for the cameras as they host a groundbreaking ceremony for GCA’s new African headquarters.,They call it a “dual headquarters” in Rotterdam(Netherlands )and Nairobi. But the truth is simple, the Dutch government wants nothing more to do with it, and the organization is already shifting its base entirely to Kenya. Then, without public debate, another move happens. On May 2, 2025, Kenya quietly publishes Legal Notice No. 82 of 2025 , officially granting GCA diplomatic-style immunity under the Privileges and Immunities Act. That means this foreign NGO now operates above Kenyan law…It can’t be sued, can’t be investigated, can’t be audited, and its offices are legally untouchable ,even by government😳😳 And as if that’s not enough, the same NGO will now house Kenya’s Ministry of Environment inside its new headquarters ,the very ministry meant to regulate environmental policy and partnerships like this one. All this… happened in under two years. If this is what “climate partnership” looks like, then maybe it’s time we start asking who’s really adapting to who. Why does such an NGO need a diplomatic style immunity? Here is my full video on the same youtu.be/RTxyH23o6f8?si… @GCAdaptation why does such you need immunity?

@NOS revealed that @GCAdaptation overstated results to raise funds. As a former researcher, I faced pressure to support hype over science. I left because real research became impossible. Climate adaptation needs scientific knowledge, not spin. nos.nl/artikel/258546…

Unchecked power has no place in adaptation governance. Granting immunity to @gcadaptation in Kenya, combined with the conflicts of interest in @Prof_PatrickV's dual role as GCA CEO and @uonbi Chancellor does a disservice to global adaptation action. sokodirectory.com/2025/10/why-gr…

@LeonSimons8 @RTLnieuws Surely sad news, but we also need accountable institutions, and GCA was definitely not, thereby doing more harm than good..

A completely ridiculous decision by the Dutch government to withdraw funding from the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) in Rotterdam. While we might need help with adaptation and relocation ourselves soon.. Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon is very disappointed: @RTLnieuws

A real international organisation shouldn’t be able to decide by itself to relocate. A real international organisation should not be allowed to make such threats. nos.nl/l/2584201 @GCAdaptation

Nederland draait geldkraan dicht van prestigieus maar omstreden klimaatcentrum /via @NOS nos.nl/l/2584201

Absolutely extraordinary exchange between Israel and China 👇 I've never seen such a heated exchange come out of top-level forum in China (this is from the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum that started yesterday), this normally never happens. The guy speaking is Yan Xuetong, the dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, the most prestigious university in China. Speaking for Israel is a military officer apparently called Elad Shoshan. Yan Xuetong truly doesn't hold back: - When the Israeli officer tries to bullshit him around how Israel supposedly protects civilians in Gaza, he replies: "You killed more than 70,000 civilians!... The fact is not decided by you... It is not decided by your government. Your government has no legitimacy or the right to decide or defend what is fact" - And when told that the war will end when Hamas release hostages he replies: "No, this kind of propaganda have too many. No one believe it! Too many! Too much! No one believe it, except a few Israelis"

Another concept for protecting nature & climate? Yes! In this article we argue that moving beyond Nature-based Solutions (#NbS) to pursue Integrated Nature Climate Action (INCA) can help us address the systemic drivers of the polycrisis. Link: lnkd.in/ewFfHYcD (OA)

Ik hoop van harte dat onze medewerkers en ik niet in de gevangenis terecht komen!! Onze organisatie @THDV1855 geeft ongedocumenteerden en mensen die dakloos zijn te eten en drinken in onze inloop in Amsterdam, in navolging van de Bijbelse oproep uit Mattheüs 25. Stop deze wet!!