Green Cross International News

In Tribute to Bettina Schaefer – Celebrated Journalist & Author

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:17:27 GMT

In Tribute to Bettina Schaefer – Celebrated Journalist & Author

29 January 1962 – 6 June 2025

Bettina was the author of Mikhail Gorbachev — How He Changed Our Lives. Through her stories of extraordinary lives—historical figures who lived their convictions to bring meaningful change—her work uplifted our shared humanity and showed how true transformation arises from the courage of individuals who inspire a collective awakening.

Bettina Schaefer, award-winning journalist and a remarkable woman devoted to the cause of humanity, has left us. Her legacy is evident in her literary works filled with insight and life.

As a journalist, she was authentic and had the rare gift of capturing the essence of extraordinary individuals—bringing to light the deeper sides of their characters and lives, far beyond the surface.

Bettina Schaefer held a strong conviction in humanity’s higher calling to make a meaningful difference in the world.

She also believed in the important role of women in the media. Yvonne de Andrés, Deputy Chair of BücherFrauen, a non-profit organization that offers a professional network for women in the publishing industry, wrote:

“Bettina’s journalistic endeavors were also marked by a keen focus on individuals who frequently remained in the background. She reported on life in East Germany following reunification, posed challenging questions during district council meetings and engaged with contemporary figures such as Götz George and Regine Hildebrandt with both sensitivity and deep understanding.”

Bettina grew up in a quaint village along the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein. She gained valuable experience working in Israel and in southern France, eventually achieving technical college entrance qualifications and completing a traineeship at a daily newspaper in Denmark. She later worked as an editor in Brandenburg, at Burda Verlag, and in Berlin for Gruner & Jahr.

After completing her postgraduate studies in journalism at the Free University of Berlin, she served as editor of an international journalism magazine in Hamburg. She later married the love of her life, Felis Schaefer.

Bettina Schaefer founded the Jetztzeit-Verlag publishing house following a profound meeting with Noah Flug, diplomat and Holocaust survivor himself, an advocate for survivors’ rights, which became the basis of her book Let's Talk about Auschwitz.

Over the years, she published internationally acclaimed portraits of major historical figures such as Noah Flug, Władysław Bartoszewski, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and Mikhail Gorbachev — all of whom embodied the highest of ethical principles: human dignity, compassion, personal freedom, rational reform, and the moral responsibility to help build a more just and peaceful world. Their leadership was recognized through peace and humanitarian awards worldwide.

In 2018, Bettina published Mensch Genscher — a tribute to former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. (“Mensch” is a Yiddish term meaning “person of integrity and honor”).

The following year, Bettina travelled to Moscow to meet Mikhail Gorbachev and present the book. Their meeting was inspiring, as Gorbachev had made a significant contribution in Bettina’s work about Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a key figure in the peaceful reunification of Germany.

In her book, he speaks not only as a global leader but as a dear friend of Genscher, offering a personal narrative rather than policy details — a heartfelt tribute to their connection. He emphasized Genscher's crucial role in fostering German and European unification and his ability to seize the openings enabled by his own reforms of glasnost and perestroika.

On 30 August 2022, the world mourned the loss of Mr. Gorbachev. Just two days later, Bettina began work on Mikhail Gorbachev - How He Changed Our Lives (published 2023), which she released on the first anniversary of his passing as a meaningful tribute to the man who shaped history.

The book draws on interviews with twenty-one people from Gorbachev’s inner circle — including colleagues, companions, staff, and friends from Russia, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, and Sweden — capturing personal memories from the period 1985 to 2022, and highlighting his vision, humanity, and enduring legacy.

One year later, on 30 August 2023, at a memorial event at The Wall Museum in Berlin, Bettina unveiled her book in tribute to President Gorbachev and to commemorate the first anniversary of his passing. The biography includes individuals from the Green Cross International network, where she interviewed Alexander Likhotal, Diane Meyer Simon, and Tonia Moya, the author of this tribute, all featured in dedicated chapters.

The young girl on the book cover represents yet another remarkable Gorbachev story. Today Sonja Katharina Eichwede serves as a parliamentarian in the German Bundestag, while her father Wolfgang Eichwede, a professor of politics and contemporary history of Eastern Europe, is also featured in one of the chapters.

The official description of the book states:

“We learn how far ahead of his time Gorbachev was, and how much his humanity shaped his political thought and action. The traces left by the ‘human in the truest sense’ of the word are profound —that is, the greatest qualities that define what it truly means to be human. Gorbachev represented an opportunity and hope for a better world. The contributions in this book to commemorate Gorbachev help us recognize — even in dark times — how he changed all our lives for the better.”

On 6 June 2025, after a courageous battle with illness, Bettina Schaefer left us.

As Alexander Likhotal, former President of Green Cross International, said, “Bettina was an exceptional human being, and dedicated to her cause.”

Just one hour before her passing, Bettina was honored with the International Book Award 2025 for her biography of Gorbachev.

I will always remember Bettina as a luminous spirit — gracious, kind, and deeply intuitive. As a writer she possessed a remarkable intuition and unique ability to understand the deeper meanings and higher purposes. She valued authenticity and radiated a light for human enlightenment.

Our world has lost another true “Mensch”.

Bettina’s legacy will endure. Her work will continue inspiring us, shining a light on those who strive to uplift humankind. Her legacy reminds us that even in the most trying of times, it is our shared humanity that can redeem us and illuminate this world from darkness.

— Tonia Moya

Photos: Courtesy of Felix Schaefer

To order the book Mikhail Gorbachev — How He Changed Our Lives (available in German and English), please visit the Jetztzeit-Verlag Publishing House:

https://www.jetztzeit-verlag.de/bestellung.html

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Selected Works by Bettina Schaefer

Mikhail Gorbachev — How He Changed Our Lives (2023, English edition 2025)

Mensch Genscher (2018)

Walczyć o wolność, żyć niezależnie. Wspomnienia o Władysławie Bartoszewskim (2017)

Fighting for Freedom – Living Independently / Memories of Władysław Bartoszewski (2017, expanded edition 2022)

After the Holocaust: In Spite of Everything, I Remain an Optimist – Remembering Noah Flug (2015)

I Remain an Optimist, Despite Everything – Memories of Noah Flug (2014)

After the Earthquake: Heroes Are Those Who Stay. As a Nurse in a Crisis Area (2011)

Let’s Talk About Auschwitz. Memorial – Museum – Cemetery: Encounters with the Auschwitz World Heritage Site (2009)

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Awards:

International Book Award 2025 for Mikhail Gorbachev — How He Changed Our Lives

Gold Medal (Europe: Best Regional Non-Fiction), IPPY Awards 2017, New York, for Fighting for Freedom – Living Independently / Memories of Władysław Bartoszewski

Book Excellence Awards 2016, Toronto, for After the Holocaust: In Spite of Everything, I Remain an Optimist – Remembering Noah Flug

USA Best Book Awards 2015, Los Angeles, for After the Holocaust: In Spite of Everything, I Remain an Optimist – Remembering Noah Flug

International Book Awards 2015, Los Angeles, for After the Holocaust: In Spite of Everything, I Remain an Optimist – Remembering Noah Flug

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Condolences from the Gorbachev Foundation

25 June 2025

Dear Mr. Schaefer,

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bettina Schaefer. Please accept our sincere condolences.

Bettina’s contribution to spreading the knowledge of Mikhail Gorbachev’s role in world history was indispensable and is deeply appreciated by all of us at the Gorbachev Foundation.

We also note her intense cooperation with our colleague Karen Karagezian, who passed away in February.

We are sure that their efforts will be continued.

Sincerely,

The Gorbachev Foundation

___________________

Courtesy of Felix Schaefer

The Earth Day Women's Summit

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:47:03 GMT

Innovative Strategies that can transform our world and pioneer the future. The Women’s Summit showcased presentations from exceptional and inspirational women.

EarthX, Electric Ladies, Global Green USA & Green Cross International

The EarthX 2025, Congress of Conferences was made possible by its founder, Trammell S. Crow. During the days of April 21 to 25, 2025, diverse groups influential of persons dedicated to sustainability gathered at the Anatole Hilton in Dallas. The aim is to enhance and speed up the efforts those tackling the world's most urgent environmental issues. The Earth Day Women's Summit was held as a pilot event within the EarthX congress of conferences, in partnership with the Electric Ladies Podcast, Global Green USA, and Green Cross International.

On Earth Day 2025, these trailblazing women shared their innovative work and creative ingenuity to address the multifaceted issues we face as a global community in adapting to the climate crisis, and their work for a sustainable world. They are at the forefront of their fields, as change-makers and taking sustainability to a new level, beyond polarization.

These visionary ladies are the paradigm shift. They are working in their own ways, raising awareness and empowering people for resilience, to explore unchartered pathways to the answers and solutions, helping us to connect to our power within, which is to align with Mother Earth. They embody women from around the globe, half humanity, and a reservoir of vast potential to help bridge us towards a brighter more sustainable future. The Earth Day Women's Summit was produced by Joan Michelson, who host of the Electric Ladies Podcast, in collaboration with William Bridge, the CEO of Global Green USA.

An awakening to empowerment and perspective

The keynote speakers coming from different countries of the world included Mirian Vilela, Executive Director, Earth Charter International, in Cost Rica; Jana Gerber, President of Microgrid North America at Schneider Electric ; Jennifer Hough, Canadian author and President of The Wide Awakening, Inna Modja, French Malian UNCCD Goodwill Ambassador; Rachelle Begley, Actress and environmentalist from Los Angeles; Zara Summers, Chief Science Officer, Lanza Tech; Dr. Svitlana Krakovska, Ukrainian climate scientist and IPCC member; Chelsea Henderson, Director of Editorial Content at RepublicEn.org and author on climate policy; content creator Hayden Begley, among many others.

During the Climate Security panel, Mirian Vilela emphasized the value of the Earth Charter as a guiding ethical framework, and shared the work of Earth Charter International in nurturing a planetary consciousness and ethic of care. She reflected on world leadership and climate in terms of human security: “We should recognize that human security supersedes state security. To ensure human security, we must start with the fundamental human necessities like air, which is vital for our survival, and not just any air, but clean air. The Earth Charter can guide us.”

“The major problem is that there are many ethically and ecologically illiterate leaders making important decisions that significantly impact people's lives. The Earth Charter provides us with an ethical compass and an educational tool to help address these challenges.”

Mirian Vilela pointed out that, “We should recognize that human security supersedes state security. To ensure human security, we must start with the fundamental human necessities—like air, which is vital for our survival, and not just any air, but clean air. Following that, we need clean water and food, which rely on healthy soil. These are fundamental to our survival.”

Inna Modja was raised in Ghana and Mali, and today resides in France. She is a versatile artist, musician, and filmmaker and a worldwide advocate for gender equality and climate justice. She serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, established the climate initiative Code Green, and leads philanthropy at World of Women.

Authentic leadership is about pointing in a new direction

Ultimately, the Women’s Summit inspired us to be courageous and own up to our own sky’s-the-limit potential to move mountains. The calling is an awakening from the heart to our primal power already within us. I personally heard many participants say that the Women’s Summit was one of the greatest highlights at EarthX.

Jennifer Hough, internationally bestselling author and coach, expressed so eloquently the power of focus and authenticity:

“It’s not about being against what is not wanted. True, authentic leadership is about pointing towards the new direction. Authentic leadership is enrolling, engaging, and inspirational. It inspires us to the doing and to action, based on the heart. This journey unfolds step by step, and by following your true calling, you can harness the momentum that shapes new realities.”

Reflecting on the inspirational moment, Jennifer went on to say, “Based on the powerhouses at this Summit, I can say there’s hope for humanity. These women are the beacons for the healing of humanity and bridging the building for what’s next and I was so proud to be a part of this.”

Resilience & collaboration

“This movement is urgent and essential. As we gather here today, communities across the globe are still reeling from the impacts of climate-driven disasters—wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. At Global Green USA (the national organization of Green Cross International), we work shoulder to shoulder with these communities to rebuild. But recovery is not enough. True resilience requires proactive solutions—rooted in equity, innovation, and bipartisan collaboration,” said Mr. Bridge.

William Bridge, in collaboration with the powerhouse Joan Michelson, envisions the continuation of the Women’s Summit in 2026. The Summit is aimed not merely as an event but as a significant platform aimed at enhancing women's leadership across various sectors, including business, government, media, civil society, and the arts. These women are the change-makers who are creating bold, practical, and inclusive solutions for our shared future.

Sustainability, at its core, transcends being just an environmental issue; it serves as a significant invitation to uplift women, encouraging them to harness their natural wisdom and creativity in leadership positions across the global landscape and all sectors. This is empowering humanity to come of age as a civilization.

This equation is the full circle embodiment of our potential as planetary guardians, as an evolving human race. Ultimately, this is about a collective awakening and our spiritual connection to the Earth and cosmos. The formula for a sustainable world is bringing forth the divine feminine. It is about balance and well-being.

Empowering women to take on leadership roles and as co-creators of our common future aligns us with the most powerful Pachamama, Mother Earth. This is wide-angle, all-encompassing, and holistic. The understanding of balance, relationship, and the community of life is something the Indigenous Peoples of the world have always known since the beginning of time.

Aligned to holistic perspective is the mission of Green Cross, the declaration of the Earth Charter, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for building a sustainable future.

Light on the horizon

The EarthX has taken place in this time of profound global human suffering, with wars and economic chaos driven by geopolitical tensions, also amidst unrest in America. Our human activity has compounded a planetary climate crisis with an acceleration of natural disasters and catastrophic events.

In contrast, while in the US, I could see a people's movement on the distant horizon, reminiscent of a phoenix rising, and where the EarthX felt more like a genuine pioneering movement for that transformative shift in consciousness, to prepare for the future, for what is to come. Perhaps beyond what we know.

The EarthX connecting the world

The EarthX is essentially unique in the United States, bringing together affluent and diverse individuals from various sectors from all over the world, including the thinkers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, environmentalists, Indigenous peoples, and diplomats from around the globe. Throughout the numerous forums, I encountered environmental champions and visionaries, men and women from a wide array of disciplines, creating a dynamic center of new existential thought in the fight to safeguard our planet and its future.

The EarthX was founded by the trailblazer philanthropist Trammell S. Crow in 2010 to increase environmental awareness. It began as the Earth Day Dallas and transformed into EarthX, one of the largest environmental expos, conferences, including media channels, and film festivals in the United States. Taking place in Texas, a state traditionally dominated by the oil and gas sector, it shows the groundbreaking significance and impact of EarthX and the collaboration of groups that typically do not interact with each other. This is a profound formula for the future. The collaboration of diverse groups and the strength of diversity are paramount for the international community to begin tackling the challenges ahead.

he discussions at EarthX echoed our shared humanity, the cries of the suffering, and our longing for a more peaceful world. The forums gave solution-based insights on climate change and the critical tipping points of planetary systems, from the melting of ice sheets and thawing permafrost to disruptions of ocean currents. Many ingenious innovations and initiatives for resilience, conservation of oceans and land, clean energy, biodiversity, and environmental justice were showcased together with high tech media team.

What truly brought everything together was the Earth Day Women’s Summit and highlighting the important role of women’s leadership in the world.

Let us catch the wave to a sustainable future

Then it struck me there at EarthX, a reflection of the ebb and flow axiom of life, like a spiraling serpent. In a time when we are pulled down at rock bottom in inertia by a wave of extreme negativity, I saw my fellow humans at the EarthX working away, advocating for justice and all points of view, sharing ongoing preparations, innovations, energy-efficient technologies, smart solutions, and investments for the future, committed to building bridges for a new paradigm for environmental security and a sustainable future.

— Tonia Moya

Green Cross International

Photography by Aura Comms and Tonia Moya

25 Years of the Earth Charter: A Legacy of Ethics, Sustainability, and Peace

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 10:02:46 GMT

25 Years of the Earth Charter: A Legacy of Ethics, Sustainability, and Peace

At the start of this new millennium, a bold vision took shape - a vision for a just, sustainable, and peaceful world. The Earth Charter, launched in 2000 after years of global consultation and thorough work, became more than just a document; it became a guiding ethical framework for individuals, organizations, and governments to address the world’s most pressing challenges. Rooted in the principles of respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace, the Earth Charter has since influenced international policy, education, and grassroots action across the globe.

Over the past twenty-five years, the Earth Charter has shaped sustainable development initiatives, inspired legal and policy frameworks, and helped integrate ethics into environmental governance. From guiding municipalities in their sustainability efforts to being incorporated into educational curricula worldwide, its impact is undeniable. In an era of environmental and social uncertainty, the Earth Charter should continue to serve as a moral compass for political action.

As we celebrate 25 years of the Earth Charter, we reflect on its achievements, its influence, and the path ahead. In a world facing climate crises, biodiversity loss, and widening inequalities, its principles are more relevant than ever. Now is the time to not only honor its legacy but to reaffirm our commitment to building a sustainable future together.

The Earth Charter and Green Cross International

The Earth Charter was not written overnight, its creation traces back to 1987 when the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development called for a new charter to guide the transition toward sustainable development. This call was answered in 1994 when Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green Cross International, and Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the Earth Summit and Chairman of the Earth Council, relaunched the Earth Charter as a civil society initiative.

To ensure a globally inclusive process, an independent Earth Charter Commission was established in 1997. This Commission oversaw a worldwide consultation process, engaging thousands of individuals and organizations across the world. After numerous drafts and extensive feedback, the final version of the Earth Charter was approved in March 2000 during a meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The official launch took place on June 29, 2000, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.

For Green Cross International, the Earth Charter is more than a document - it is a shared vision, a guide for action, a part of our DNA. Our history is closely linked to its creation, shaped by Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership and a shared commitment to tackling global challenges. The Charter’s principles: ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence, and peace, are the same values that have guided Green Cross since its founding.

GCI actively integrates the Earth Charter into its initiatives, using it as an ethical framework that complements and empowers other environmental guides, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This integration ensures that GCI's efforts in areas like water security, renewable energy, and environmental education are grounded in a shared ethical vision, promoting sustainable and equitable solutions for global challenges.

We Grow Together - Building The Next Earth Charter Generation

The We Grow Together Summer Camp organised by One World Citizen and with particular initiative as well as enthusiasm of Monique Van Dam, has grown to a must-be gathering year by year for all generations across Europe and beyond, common in their passion for the Earth Charter and the UN SDGs.

Green Cross Sweden and also Green Cross International are happy and proud being able to partner and contribute to its success, also in summer 2025. Especially, also because 2025 is the year of the 25 years anniversary of the Earth Charter!

We Grow Together is all about the youth: Young people are at the core and the ones planning and filling the camp with life and energy! They choose the motto (i), select discussion topics (ii), practise working together in groups on project work (iii), pioneer their own ideas (iv), present well (v) and set the foundations for future collaborations with fellow campers as well as partners (vi). All of this is guided by the Earth Charter and the UN SDGs.

The partners - including Green Cross Sweden - are invited at the end of the camp to join the discussions, listen to what the youth has been working on and try to share their own perspectives and experiences on how to succeed and solve the global and intergenerational problems raised during the camp. Ideally, new partnerships and collaborations can grow!

Toxic Waste in the Baltic Sea

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 10:03:47 GMT

Chemical Weapons in the Baltic Sea

By: Major John-Olov Fridh

Green Cross Baltic Sea Office, Sweden

Hidden dangers in the depths of the oceans

The task of the Baltic Sea Office is to inform about environmental bombs in the seas around Sweden

Off the West coast of Sweden, the south coast of Norway and in the Baltic Sea, there are lots of old wrecks that contain large amounts of oil, combat gas and other chemicals.

Most were sunk by the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. But as recently as the 1990s, Russia is said to have dumped, among other things, radioactive waste in the Swedish part of the Baltic Sea. There are around 50,000 tonnes of dumped chemical substances in the Baltic Sea and 200,000 tonnes of regular ammunition plus 45,000 tonnes in the Skagerack.

On this site you will initially find useful links to various websites where you can delve into the issue. Will also post a few different leaflets and documents that may be interesting. A lot of work is going on to find out exactly where the dumps are, the status of the dumped containers, the toxicity, the impact on the environment, the danger of contact with substances from the dumps. The dumping areas are being investigated and planned.

The map below shows the areas where weapons would have been dumped, but in the corridors on the way forward there is also a risk of finding dumped barrels and weapons more or less rusted.

After the Second World War, large quantities of ammunition were dumped in both the Baltic Sea and the Skagerrak. Some of this ammunition contains various types of chemical weapons, of which special mustard gas has ended up in fishermen's gear on several occasions.

Five risk areas A - E are marked in the map. In areas A and B, loose ammunition was dumped, while in areas C - E whole ships were sunk and barges loaded with ammunition. The actual dumping zones have been marked in red on the map.

The ammunition was transported by boat to areas A and B and the dumping probably started along the yellow marked transport routes from the loading port of Wolgast in Germany before arriving at the actual dumping zones.

Map of dumping zones for chemical weapons and risk areas

Published with permission of the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI).

The table shows an overview of what is known about the five areas.

Green Cross Sweden works to inform the public on the presence of munitions and toxic waste in the Baltic Sea. Green Cross provides instructions on what to do in case of coming in contact with munitions, and how to contact the authorities if you have any questions about chemical warfare agents.

To learn more about the dumpsites and related risks visit the https://green-cross.se/balticsea

For more information contact the Baltic Sea Office:

Major John-Olov Fridh , BalticSeaOffice@green-cross.se

Environmental Symphony: The Movement - United Nations Day Concert

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 08:00:35 GMT

ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPHONY: THE MOVEMENT

UNITED NATIONS DAY CONCERT

Performance for the United Nations

New York City, United Nations Assembly Hall

October 24, 2023, 6.30pm EST

Conductor: Julien Benichou

Orchestra: The New York Orchestra Ensemble (members of the symphonies around New York)

A multi-media symphonic experience featuring a live orchestral performance, thought provoking narration, and mesmerizing synchronized visuals, Environmental Symphony: The Movement explores our history, our future, and our ability to make a difference.

The origin of Environmental Symphony was a passionate composition by Dr. Alan Zavod as a live performance masterpiece with five narration roles that continue in the tradition of 'Carnival of the Animals' and 'Peter and the Wolf'. An ambitious and epic work that spans billions of years, from the formation of the planet through to the devastation of our current age, and a chance of hope for the future.

This is the inspiration of the music and visual creative exploration for Environmental Symphony: The Movement.

In commemoration of “United Nations Day'' on October 24th, the Environmental Symphony: The Movement will perform at the UN General Assembly Hall with leaders from 194 countries.

Hosted by Family Offices for Sustainable Development (FOSD), the purpose of the event is to not only celebrate and reaffirm the principles of the UN Charter that have guided humanity for the past 78 years, but to mobilize world leaders around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This vision to inspire our world with The Environmental Symphony began with Dr Alan Finkel and Dr Allan Zavod:

“Environmental Symphony: The Movement, brings us together as people to experience the magnificent fusion of music, visuals and storytelling. It is a brilliant blueprint of how art can indeed be a catalyst for activation through inspiration. At its core, the symphony reminds us of the importance of a call to action for the people of all nations to BE AN INSTRUMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE through peace, unity and connection.” — Michael L. Sander - licensee

Don’t miss the Livestream via United Nation YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@unitednations and UN Web TV: webtv.un.org

The United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York. Photo by: Shutterstock

Family Offices for Sustainable Development

BACKGROUND: In response to the global pandemic, the PVBLIC Foundation - in partnership with the UN Multi- Partner Trust Fund Office (“MPTF”) and the UN Office for Partnerships (“UNOP”) - launched the Family Offices for Sustainable Development (“FOSD”).

MISSION: Mobilize family offices across the globe around the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and optimize their capacity to have an impact through philanthropy, investments, and public-private partnerships.

PARTNER: As the official impact partner, FOSD will not only utilize its network to bring the Environmental

GREEN CROSS INTERNATIONAL is an Official Partner of The Environmental Symphony.

Symphony to communities around the world, but will channel the support generated towards the most impactful institutions, campaigns, and programs that are achieving the SDGs.

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The Family Offices for Sustainable Development (FOSD) Summit at UNGA will bring together world leaders, government officials, diplomats, philanthropists, civil leaders, and select Family Offices from across the globe to highlight the power of data and public-private partnerships to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the world’s most vulnerable countries. Presented by the Environmental Symphony, the FOSD Summit at UNGA will formally announce the UN Day Concert.

Social channels

Instagram : @environmental_symphony

Twitter : @EnviroSymphony

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/environmental.symphony.mv/

YouTube: @EnvironmentalSymphony

Livestream via United Nation YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@unitednations and UN Web TV: webtv.un.org

https://www.environmentalsymphony.com/

Donation + Sponsorship: Parixit Pathak | parixit@indeworks.com | 510.468.6811

Green Cross Humanitarian Aid To Ukraine

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 12:05:03 GMT

Green Cross Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine

Help refugees access to safe and Clean drinking water

Help Ukrainian children experience a happy summer

Green Cross Ukraine stands at the forefront of humanitarian aid, providing crucial support to children and families in need. With your generous contributions, we can continue to make a significant impact on the lives of those affected by displacement and hardship.

Providing Clean Drinking Water to Internal Refugees

You help to provide safe and clean drinking water to the refugee camp located near Terebla Village. Many families critically lack access to clean drinking water. Currently, they rely on untreated river water, leading to numerous health problems.

To address the pressing need for clean water, Green Cross Ukraine aims to implement a water access project in the refugee camp with internally displaced families. This initiative will bring forth the installation of filtration systems to provide safe drinking water for these families.

Revival Summer Camps for Ukrainian Refugees

With your contributions we can help many families who have lost their fathers and the main source of income in Ukraine. These families of mostly women and children are under severe stress and need a place to heal, rest and recover.

In collaboration with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, Green Cross Ukraine plans to establish summer camps in the Zakarpattia region. These camps will offer a safe and nurturing environment for Ukrainian children and their mothers, allowing them to recover and rejuvenate amid the turmoil.

Website:

http://www.greencross.org.ua/en/

For further information contact:

Green Cross Ukraine greencross.org.ua@gmail.com

Green Cross Sweden gcs@green-cross.se

Join Us in Making a Difference!

Green Lane Diary Project 2021 Starts

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 12:37:52 GMT

Green Lane Diary Program 2021 Starts

Green Cross Japan published the 2021 version of the Green Lane Diary in May, and began (free of charge) distribution to primary schools nationwide in Japan.

The Green Lane Diary is an environmental education tool. With its various environmental themes, and colorful layout, the children record their own daily activities, which can help protect their local environment. These activities help children raise their awareness on how we can all better care for our planet Earth. The Green Lane Dairy aims to inspire children to grow up to become citizens who naturally behave in a way to protect the environment. Students can voluntarily apply for the Green Lane Diary Contest, and the deadline for submitting completed dairies (filled-out after 8 weeks) is by mid September.

As in previous years, Green Cross Japan has published 100,000 copies. Nearly 90 % of the Green Lane Diaries have already been ordered by Japanese schools for delivery.

Lake Vättern Below the Surface

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:39:36 GMT

Lake Vättern Below the Surface

One of Europe's biggest freshwater lakes.

VÄTTERN BELOW THE SURFACE (Documentary 2020)

Lake Vättern Below the Surface

This documentary brings forth new perspective of Swedish water management. This film is an example of how water management can be risking human health and water quality, not only in Sweden but in countries worldwide.

The problem is most of the countries in the western world does not have a functioning water management, nor do they have field personnel or fully employed environmental diving inspectors checking the ecosystem below the surface. Eurofins, a major company in Europe testing for different toxins and substances, can today only provide data on approximately 300 substances. From a average sewer plant there can be an outlet of some 10 000 to a 100 000 chemicals.

We cannot see chemicals, but we can see the effects when we dive. What we see are dead ecosystems at the bottom of lakes with algal blooms containing toxic cyanobacteria as a result of chemical discharge. These cyanotoxins are today linked with human diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's and Parkinson, to name a few. The problem is we don't really know how many toxins there are in our drinking water, or in the food we eat.

The film Lake Vättern Below the Surface documents this issue. The international community must begin to reevaluate how we are going to solve this problem. After you view this film some things to consider and discuss are the following topics below.

These challenges we now see can easily be solved in a first stage. What is needed is to assess the level of toxic discharge there is in national water systems. We need to begin by digitizing all outlets and create an overview map of the difference in toxins found in the water systems. Then an overall plan can be tailormade made for the infrastructure in country and for the local communities. A common sense example is that placing heavy industrial complexes upstream freshwater lakes which are utilized for drinking water is not a good idea.

Sweden has already solved the first stage and created a database showing the direction all water flow in the country, meaning the surface water and most of the groundwater. If a lorry with toxic cargo tips over we can follow the contamination downstream in the database and see how it affects the water system.

What the country of Swedish has not realized is that we have laid the foundation for a much bigger database. Within this system we have the possibility to register the toxic discharge that is currently approved by the government. We can for example register into the database the estimated 6,000 covered dumping sites currently leaking toxic wastewater, as well as our thousands of sewer plants, industrial outlets, and the dumping locations of munition materials by Armed Forces. This can be done to provide an overview to assess the impact of the chemical outlets to our water systems.

The governments have the necessary data to make this happen. This can be an effective tool to control and stop to sensitive ecosystems and keep our citizens and future generations safe.

The next two steps involve diving and field personnel to survey the water systems and assess the state of ecosystems below the surface, in each country. Most important is to begin researching the methods for sampling the thousands of chemicals in our water. If we do not stop the dissemination of toxic chemicals today it could take years into the future before we solve what will become an even greater challenge to provide clean water, which is safe to drink. We need to know what our water contains to keep people, animals and the ecosystem out of harm's way. Water security will also be a major challenge for governments worldwide with the challenge of climate change.

Green Cross Sweden, together with Green Cross international, are in talks with the water researchers behind this film to create a pilot studies in several countries that can address this issue or water management internationally on an global scale.

Together we can change the world towards a sustainable future.

- Andreas Vos

Board Member, Green Cross Sweden

Green Cross Japan’s Green Lane Diary Project 2020

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:38:47 GMT

Green Cross Japan's Green Lane Diary Project 2020

Green Cross Japan implemented an environmental education project for school children in 2020. Despite the difficulties posed by the global pandemic, the project has been a success and will continue into 2021.

Japanese student filling out her workbook for the Green Lane Diary.

There is no denying that COVID-19 brought challenges to getting this project off the ground in 2020. Thankfully, Green Cross Japan (GCJ) was able to address pandemic-related concerns while providing primary school students with environmental education through the Green Lane Diary project.

The pandemic impacted educational settings and standards, causing temporary school closures, staggered attendance policies and online classes. And yet, the number of students who engaged in the Green Lane Diary was very comparable with previous years.

In 2020, a total of 99,332 students kept diaries for a period of two months. The Green Lane Diary included learning about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and completing eco-conscious exercises. Because of the increase in time spent at home, the environmental activities had an in-home focus more so than in previous years.

During a typical school year, the students are given a Diary which has the space for them to complete three months of entries. However, with consideration for the difficulties in schooling caused by the pandemic, this May, the students were only required to complete their Diaries for two months. The submission deadline for the Green Lane Diary contest is in the middle of September, the prize winners are selected in October, and the award ceremony takes place in December. However, with consideration to infection prevention, the in-person award ceremony was canceled this past year. Instead, Green Cross Japan published a ‘digest book’ of contest-winners’ works and distributed this to all students involved.

While the uncertainty about the pandemic is still looming, the environmental Green Lane Diary project will continue into 2021. 100,000 Green Lane Diaries will be delivered to primary schools throughout Japan in May. Providing children with environmental education is vital, especially during these difficult times. Green Cross is grateful to be able to continue their work of spreading awareness and providing hope for the future.

The Japanese Government supports the fourth Sri Lanka Water Project

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 18:54:54 GMT

The Japanese Government supports the fourth Sri Lanka Water Project

The signing of a contract for a grant from the Japanese Government signified the start of the fourth joint water project between Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan.

Contract being signed by the Japanese Ambassador and Green Cross Sri Lanka President for the fourth water project.

Since 2015, Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan have teamed up to complete water supply projects in three different areas of Sri Lanka. These projects address a major concept and theme of Green Cross International: Water for Life and Peace.

The fourth joint Water Project was recently started after Green Cross Sri Lanka signed a contract for financial support from the Japanese Government on March 3, 2021. The Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects will provide funding for this water supply project at Lahugala Village, in eastern Sri Lanka. The grant given from Japanese Government to Green Cross Sri Lanka is 85,682 USD and will have a lasting and positive impact on this region of Sri Lanka. The contract signing ceremony was held at Japanese Ambassador’s Residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka between the Japanese Ambassador and the Green Cross Sri Lanka President, Mr. Jagath.

Learn more by reading the official Press Release on the contract signing ceremony from the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka here:

https://www.lk.emb-japan.go.jp/itprtop_en/00_000969_00009.html

The Lahugala Village is a remote village located in the dry zone in the Ampara district of eastern Sri Lanka. The people who live here have been suffering severely from water scarcity and hygiene concerns for years. This becomes especially concerning during the dry season, which typically spans from April to October each year.

To fetch water, women and children have to walk a distance of 10 to 15 kilometers. But the process of collecting water is not the primary concern. The water that is available is often dirty, unsafe and contaminated. Due to the daily usage of unclean water, particularly when it comes to drinking water, many people in the village have been suffering from kidney disease and other water-borne diseases.

Members of the Lahugala Village collecting water.

To alleviate these concerns, Green Cross Sri Lanka and Green Cross Japan will provide the entire village with approx. 400 households: 1,500 people, with safe water by constructing a water supply system which consists of a deep well, filtering facility, water tank tower, and pipelines. The water project is planned to start supplying clean water to the Lahugala residents by December 2021.

Green Cross International Celebrates Diane Meyer Simon as New Chairperson

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 18:37:03 GMT

As Global Green and Green Cross International Celebrate their 25th Anniversary, Global Green Founder Diane Meyer Simon, takes on role as Green Cross International Chair.

Switzerland, (July 1, 2019) — Following several months of discussion by the Green Cross International (GCI) Board of Directors, Diane Meyer Simon will assume the chair of Green Cross International from Martin Bäumle as per July 1 2019. Bäumle will remain on the GCI Board of Directors.

Diane Meyer Simon is the Founder & Co-Chair of Global Green, the American Affiliate of Green Cross International. Simon founded Global Green in 1993 following a Moscow Board Meeting of Green Cross International and in alignment with her dear friend, President Mikhail Gorbachev.

For the past quarter-century, Simon has spearheaded Global Green USA’s agenda and mission, to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future for people, places, and the planet in need. Global Green serves as a model for urban sustainability with projects in responsible resource recovery, green urban design, affordable housing, water management, environmental policy, and climate resilience. Most notable are Global Green’s efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, as well as long-time influence on the Hollywood community – with key Global Green celebrities acting as the essential mouthpiece to environmental advocacy and a more sustainable future.

Diane Meyer Simon assumes the helm at Green Cross International during a time of great transition and influence. Green Cross is grateful for Bäumle’s great efforts to benefit GCI in recent years by implementing a leaner structure and several cost saving measures. With her new position, Diane is poised to fortify Green Cross and its mission as originally intended by her dear friend, Gorbachev. In 1990, Green Cross was introduced as a source of global aid to a world in ecological trouble–resembling the emergency response model of the Red Cross. In 1993, Green Cross International was founded in hopes of expediting solutions to environmental problems that transcend national borders. Today, Simon is motivated to defend GCI’s programmatic pillars: Value Shift; Social & Medical (SOC MED); Environmental Security & Sustainability (ESS); Water for Life & Peace; and Smart Energy. Together Green Cross and Global Green’s mission and programs live in harmony, a collaborative response to challenges of environmental security, poverty, and degradation in order to ensure a sustainable and secure future.

Diane Meyer Simon’s family serve as her every inspiration and primary motivation to actualize an enlightened human race. A human race with an understanding of the inter-relationship of humans with our living Earth. Simon believes we must learn to lighten the human load on Earth’s resources. Her work with Global Green and Green Cross International is her deepest hope for both her children’s future, as well as all of Earth’s future generations.

ABOUT:

Global Green USA is dedicated to helping the people, places, and the planet in need through catalytic projects, transformative policy, and cutting-edge research. Global Green USA’s signature programs include greening affordable housing, neighborhoods, and cities as well as rebuilding communities — such as New Orleans and areas of New York and New Jersey — that have suffered from the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and environmental degradation. Global Green USA is the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, which was founded by President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. For more information, visit globalgreen.org and follow us @globalgreen .

Green Cross International works to promote legal, ethical and behavioral norms to ensure basic changes in values, actions and attitudes of government, the private sector and civil society, necessary to develop a sustainable global community. GCI’s programmatic pillars focus on the critical nexus in the quest for a just, secure and sustainable future for humanity. President Mikhail Gorbachev founded Green Cross International in 1993; its key programs include Water for Life & Peace, Environmental Security & Sustainability, Social & Medical, Smart Energy, and Value Shift.

26 September – International Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 18:52:21 GMT

26 September – International Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

Above: Sculpture depicting St. George slaying the dragon. The dragon is created from fragments of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missiles. UN Photo/Milton Grant

GCI ESS programme director Dr Paul F. Walker commemorates this day with the following:

“September 26th is an important annual reminder that the world has pledged for over half a century to abolish nuclear weapons. This was a major part of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty under Article VI, and has remained a global priority for all to build a more peaceful and sustainable world. Unfortunately some 14,500 nuclear weapons remain in nine nuclear powers today, with Russia and the US accounting for the great majority, and Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan the remainder. It’s long past time that Russia and the United States further reduce their thousands of nuclear weapons, that all countries ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and also join the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Our world will be a more secure and sustainable planet, and billions of funds will be freed for much needed socio-economic priorities.”

You can find the UN statement here.Above: Sculpture depicting St. George slaying the dragon. The dragon is created from fragments of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missiles. UN Photo/Milton Grant

GCI ESS programme director Dr Paul F. Walker commemorates this day with the following:

You can find the UN statement here .

The Shoe Project in Kenya

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 19:03:03 GMT

The Shoe Project in Kenya

The Shoe Project is a collaboration between Green Cross Japan , Green Cross Sweden and the Green Belt Movement (GBM) in Kenya, which distributed some 1,000 shoes to children and youth in the Rift Valley, last February.

The Shoe Project was made possible through the generous support Mr Shoo Iwasaki, President of Green Cross Japan. The shoes were distributed in the schools of Kamara, Mau Summit and Mosop, as well as the Rongai Youth Sports Centre for Peace. These are all within the region of the Green Cross Sweden peace initiative and the Smart Water for Green Schools projects. As inspired by the vision and leadership of Professor Wangari Maathai, peace-building committees are established through the schools, and the Peace Trees planted there are now growing into forests. This initiative to provide shoes for children in these impoverished areas in the Rift Valley promotes health and the prevention of illnesses.

Green Cross wishes to thank all those who contributed and made the Shoe Project possible. The project coordinators include: Ryuji Kuwahara from Green Cross Japan, Tonia Moya from Green Cross Sweden, Wycliffe Matika, John Waweru and Teresa Muthone from the Green Belt Movement (GBM). Other key contributors include the GBM Board, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Water, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Education of Nakuru County, and the schools faculties of Kamara, Mau Summit and Mosop, as well as the Rongai Sports Peace Club.

Green Cross and the Green Belt Movement share a holistic methodology in the work to promote peace, security and sustainability. This collaboration started in 2005 through the initiative of the late Professor Wangari Maathai, GBM’s founder, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and Tonia Moya, GCS Executive Director.

Mining Project Threatens One of Europe’s Most Important Water Reservoirs: Lake Vättern in Sweden

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 19:17:42 GMT

Mining Project Threatens One of Europe’s Most Important Water Reservoirs: Lake Vättern in Sweden

Press Release – 28 August 2018

The Swedish authorities are called upon to take action as World Water Week opens in Stockholm.

Tuesday 28 August 2018, Geneva, Switzerland –– Green Cross Sweden , with the support of Green Cross International , and along with Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr, denounces the current and proposed mining activities of Tasman Metals AB as endangering public health and the ecosystems around Lake Vättern, one of Europe’s most important sources of drinking water. The Norra Kärr mining project is too great a threat to allow its continuation, and all related activities in the area must cease, including the collection of ore samples for prospecting purposes through test drilling. According to existing Swedish and EU environmental codes it should be impossible for such a mining lease to be granted.

Should this mining project nevertheless be authorised, we demand that civil society plays an active role in the review and approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being prepared by Tasman Metals AB, prior to its submission to the Swedish mining authorities. This EIA study must also include the damages already caused by prospecting activities, and fully disclose their plans for eliminating health risks and reducing the environmental cost of their operations. Should the process go ahead, we strongly recommend that a site-specific environmental risk assessment is done, where the local concerns of the mine and the releases of chemicals are addressed.

Since 2009, Tasman Metals AB (a Swedish subsidiary of Leading Edge Materials Ltd, a Canadian mining group) has sought to acquire an exploitation concession from the Mining Inspectorate of Sweden to extract rare earth elements (REE) as close as 1.5 kilometres from Lake Vättern.

Despite losing their exploitation concession in 2016, and following a successful appeal by local stakeholders, Tasman Metals AB has restarted the application process, which includes current prospecting activities. While prospecting can cause damage to the environment, the company has already been test drilling throughout the region as a part of these operations.

Future mining will impact the integrity of Lake Vättern, as toxic and radioactive substances can seep into the groundwater, polluting the water resources. Lake Vättern provides drinking water for approx. 250,000 people, in 11 municipalities, and with an additional 8 municipalities on the way, making an estimated total of 500,000 people in the near future.

The presence of some 5,500 tonnes of ammunition at the bottom of the lake, due to military activity, constitutes another potential risk for public health and the lake’s ecosystem. This issue was highlighted at Green Cross Sweden’s Protect Lake Vättern event in March 2018 by Hans Sanderson, Senior Scientist and advisor for Dept. of Environmental Science, Aarhus University and advisor for the Danish Center for Energy and the Environment (DCE), in collaboration with Green Cross International, the local environmental group Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr, and parliamentary leaders.

According to Gunilla Högberg Björck, the environmental lawyer with GBH Environmental Law, representing the NGOs and local citizens in the aforementioned successful appeal to the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court in 2016 against Tasman Metals AB: “If they are fully enforced, the Swedish and EU environmental codes should not allow the granting of the necessary permits to start any mining project, regardless of how thorough the EIA is. If it is nevertheless granted, an exploitation concession would allow Tasman to drill, blast, and deplete the natural resources of the region for at least the next 25 years.”

The company currently has until September 28, 2018 to submit a new, more thorough and extensive EIA, which now has to cover a whole 10 square kilometres around the mine, rather than just the proposed open pit mining area.

In a time when our planet and all its ecosystems are facing the consequences of climate change – such as the droughts and wildfires that have been occurring across Sweden – it is imperative that we preserve our precious watersheds for future generations. Lake Vättern is a notably deep cold water lake, filled with crystal clear water – something that will prove to be of even greater importance in the future, as shallower lakes become warmer and allow microorganisms, bacteria and algae to grow and flourish to worsening levels and threatening the fish population. Deep water intakes allow the provision of high quality drinking water. For these reasons, the importance of protecting and preserving Lake Vättern cannot be overstated.

Marie-Laure Vercambre, Green Cross International’s Water for Life and Peace Programme Director, paints a broader picture: “The adoption by the international community of a Sustainable Development Goal for Water, and of several UN resolutions recognising the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, reflects the urgency of the matter. What measures will States take to meet these goals and honour their populations’ human rights? How compatible is this industrial development with those environmental and public health goals?”

This sentiment is mirrored by Carina Gustafsson, Chair of Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr: “We must strengthen the protection of our drinking water, as groundwater levels are at an all time low and Sweden and the world are burning. A secure supply of drinking water is an issue of survival and has to rank in highest priority. This is why we urge the Swedish authorities to prohibit the implementation of environmentally hazardous industrial projects, such as Tasman Metal’s Norra Kärr mining project, which is so close bordering Lake Vättern, in order to protect and secure all vital drinking water sources.”

The original press release can be accessed here in English and French .

Youth for a Green Future join 23rd Year of Therapy Camps for Children

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 09:39:39 GMT

Youths from the Green Cross therapeutic camps on stage in a play about the Earth Charter – the piece was shown in Uster, Winterthur, Zurich, Bern, Wimmis and Thun.

The fifth international therapeutic camp was launched this week, in parallel to annual therapeutic camps organised in several Green Cross partner countries.

This therapeutic camp, whose motto is: “Discovering the World”, is financed by the Movetia Foundation and supported by the Swiss Confederation. From 23 July to 10 August, 55 young people aged 14 to 17 from Moldova, Italy, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Belarus, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Switzerland will participate in the Green Cross Uster and Wimmis therapeutic camp.

The programme includes the development of a theatre project about environmental pollution directed by Eugeniu Matchovschi, from the national Moldovan theatre, Theatrul Satiricus. The play is based on the Earth Charter and touches upon the carelessness with which human beings treat the environment. The show will be presented at the following dates and times:

Monday, 30 July at 17:00 in the café “8610 im Stadtpark”

Tuesday, 31 July at 18:00 in the Market Square (Marktplatz) in Winterthur

Thursday, 2 August at 17:00 on the Gemüsebrücke Bridge in Zurich

Friday, 3 August at 12:00 in the Place du Grenier (Kornhausplatz) in Bern

Monday, 6 August at 19:00 in the Aula Hall of the Chrümig school in Wimmis

Wednesday, 8 August 2018 at 16:00 in the Manor Square (Manorplatz) of Thun

Young and old alike are invited to these performances. Entry is free.

The therapeutic camps involve various intercultural activities, such as sports, environmental education, and building communication skills. In the workshops, the campers discuss topics such as the 2030 Agenda, recycling, and renewable energy. They also get the opportunity to learn about the situations of other countries relating to these topics. Key themes of the Green Cross therapeutic camps include the management of daily radioactivity exposure, learning about the effects of radiation on humans and the environment, and coming up with new perspectives for the future. To this end, for example, the campers visit the Juckerhof Discovery Farm near Lake Pfäffikon to pick berries. This activity illustrates how the pectin fibres found in fruit can be used as a natural method to absorb radionuclides within the body. During the camp, the young people also benefit from a medical and psychological check-up. The levels of radioactivity within their bodies are assessed at the beginning and end of the camp.

The campers learn how to strengthen their immune systems through proper meal selection and preparation, physical activity and therapy, and by strengthening their home-skills. For many participants, the camp is a unique opportunity to meet young people of the same age from different countries and cultures. Previous camps have shown that many new friendships are born from these experiences.

This year’s therapeutic camp in Switzerland, which the Movetia Foundation has funded in order to promote cultural exchange, is the result of Green Cross Switzerland’s Social Medical (SOCMED) programme. SOCMED is dedicated to health and education. Green Cross Switzerland has welcomed children and young people to participate in these four-week therapeutic camps since 1995, and separate camps are also held in preserved and uncontaminated areas of Moldova, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Medical and psychological support, as well as a balanced diet for the duration of the camp, allows the campers to strengthen their immune systems and reduce the level of radioactivity present in their bodies by up to 80%.

To learn more about past Green Cross therapy camps, click here.

This report was originally posted on the Green Cross Switzerland website.

Latest Developments: July 2018

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:45:57 GMT

Smart Energy News

In both the US and Burkina Faso, Global Green and GCI are implementing education and demonstration projects to encourage the use of compost. Green Cross Burkina Faso is implementing projects to prevent desertification and improve crop resiliency for small farmers in Burkina Faso. Compost is placed one meter deep, which increases the water holding capacity of the soil. To date, over 1,500 people have been trained with over 750 farms/composting sites operational using this method. On an international basis this topic relates to the UN Commission on Desertification.

Green Cross is also building connections between water, livelihoods and clean energy, notably in Senegal. With support from Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Green Cross Italy has installed new photovoltaic systems and high-efficiency pumps to supply drip-irrigation systems on two cultivation areas.

Development of the first solar + battery system at a community center in New York City. This solar system is designed to provide basic needs in the case of grid outage. A similar system is also up and running at Global Green’s Climate Action Center in New Orleans.

In Russia, a biogas facility, operating independently of any external supplies of gas, electricity, heat, motor fuel or fertilizer, was developed and partially tested by Green Cross. The work included analytical studies of the applications of bioenergy from agricultural producers in the Russian regions, as well as promoting the integrated use of biomass in agricultural production by processing waste into organic fertilizer, energy, motor fuel, humus soil and feed additives. Green Cross participated in specialised conferences on the problems of using alternative energy in agriculture, housing and communal services, and also prepared messages, presentations, publications and professional journal articles on the subject of alternative energy. Further study will permit the adaptation and optimisation of the biogas facility for the specific conditions of various modern agricultural enterprises. We’re currently refining the technology and developing additional tests with target completion in 2018-2019.

Over 2,000 clean cookstoves have been deployed to date as a part of a pilot program by Green Cross Ghana. The cookstoves are paid for with an impact investing loan that is paid back by cookstove recipients using mobile phone payments. We’re actively seeking to pilot additional impact investing models and consortium building for solar energy in West Africa.

As a next step, we’re going to tie together some of these programmes with an international solar report card that includes both energy access and grid resiliency, showing how different countries measure up, along with actions that are needed for improvement. We’re seeking help from technical experts who are interested in serving as volunteers to contribute to the Solar Report Card, please contact us at corr@globalgreen.org.

Green Cross Burkina Faso elected to the board of the African Network on Water

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 09:51:01 GMT

Green Cross Burkina Faso elected to the board of the African Network on Water

Green Cross Burkina Faso (GCBF) is proud to announce their election to the board of the African Network on Water (ANEW), a regional network of civil society organisations active in sustainable water management, water supply, and sanitation based in Nairobi, Kenya.

ANEW’s mission is to mobilize and empower citizens and civil society to participate in the formulation and implementation of strategies for improved water access and safety. They aim to build a continental WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) network of NGOs to facilitate coordination and collaboration with governments, intergovernmental organisations, regional bodies and other actors. This network would provide information and specialised technical support for the implementation of sustainable WASH programmes and services across Africa.

The right to water and sanitation has been one of GCBF’s core mandates since its founding in 2006. Its initiatives include working with local populations and authorities in the Yatenga region to establish crucial water access points benefitting over 15,000 people. Despite this success, there remains much work to be done. 40% of Burkina Faso’s population still has no access to water resources and 87% do not have adequate sanitation infrastructure. GCBF and Green Cross International are excited to work with the African Network on Water to improve these statistics and to increase safe and sustainable water and sanitation access across the continent.

To learn more about GCBF’s activities in the Yatenga region, click here.

Draft treaty for a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East welcomed

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:36:48 GMT

Draft treaty for a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East welcomed

At the invitation of Green Cross Switzerland, a round table was held in Zurich from 2 to 4 July 2018 regarding a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East. Approximately 40 delegates from the Middle East, Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, USA and Switzerland discussed the course of action to promote a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East. According to Stephan Robinson, Unit Manager (Water, Legacy), Green Cross Switzerland, and Sharon Dolev, Head of the Israeli Disarmament Movement (IDM), the outcome of the closed meeting has paved the way to introduce initial steps towards a weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East.

The treaty represents civil society and was developed by the efforts of the coalition of non-government organizations, particularly Green Cross and the Israeli Disarmament Movement IDM. The purpose is to set up a treaty to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction, which all states involved are able to fulfil.

The Middle East is neither an island nor is it cut off from the rest of the world. There are two nations with nuclear weapons bordering the Middle East: Pakistan with its own programme and Turkey with nuclear weapons from the USA. The Middle Eastern states are investing in nuclear energy and maintain trade relations with external supplier countries. States armed with nuclear weapons are active in the area and their warships are crisscrossing the region. Some of these ships may be equipped with nuclear weapons. The treaty contains protocols binding these nations to the treaty, similar to the protocols regarding other zones free from nuclear weapons. This is an important step along the way to the elimination of nuclear weapons around the world.

At the General Assembly of the United Nations on 11 December 1975 zones free from nuclear weapons were considered to be the most effective means to achieve a world without nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. At the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May 2010 the Arab states requested a conference to address and discuss a weapons of mass destruction free zone (WMFZ) in the Middle East.

The first round table to discuss the weapons of mass destruction free zone was held as early as 2013 in Tel Aviv, followed by a second focusing on chemical warfare. During in-depth discussions with Israeli experts regarding security, disarmament and other related problems, two primary obstacles were identified to the establishment of the weapons of mass destruction free zone. On the one hand, there was no model available in writing based on which an agreement to the treaty could be reached. On the other hand, Israel lacked a public dialogue regarding the efforts of disarmament. Recent official statements and talks indicate that Israel would favour the discussion of a broader spectrum of regional security issues and maintains a direct dialogue with its neighbours to accomplish this. The Arab states, led by Egypt, have already expressed their preference for an internationally overseen process.

An NGO coalition was established in 2010 at the initiative of Green Cross Switzerland and Global Green USA. Its goal is the implementation and expansion of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The 86 members of the NGO coalition are committed to have every nation join the Chemical Weapons Convention to achieve universality. Some of the remaining states with chemical weapons will disarm their weapon systems only if the other states denuclearize to the same extent. Therefore, the NGO coalition is seeking a solution for the promotion of weapons of mass destruction free zones.

The text of the draft treaty can be found here.

6.4MM endangered by uranium extraction

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 19:46:00 GMT

6.4MM endangered by uranium extraction

Study on the irradiation of uranium mines: 6.4 million humans are endangered by the extraction of uranium.

In collaboration with Professor Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, USA, Green Cross published the first study detailing the health hazards uranium mines pose to the areas surrounding them.

Uranium mining involves a high risk of exposure to radiation for both the environment and the population, with the inherent risk of deteriorating the health of those affected. The results of the study show that nearly 6.4 million people are subjected to radiation due to about 230 uranium-mining sites located near or within residential areas.

For the recording of radiation exposure, all uranium mine sites were analyzed, whether they are in operation, active or planned. Around the world there are some 13 companies that exploit uranium mining, which supply their products to 444 active nuclear power plants. An additional 63 plants are currently under construction. While Europe and North America had previously been the largest producers of uranium, representing more than 30% of total world production, currently the largest producers are in countries such as Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22.5%), Australia (0.1%), Niger (0.05%), Namibia (0.05%) and Russia (0.04%). The remaining 38.26% comes from many other countries.

The study also highlights the fact that indigenous people are disproportionately affected by irradiation, especially in Australia, Africa and the USA. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by irradiation from uranium mine sites, although they only account for a small part of the population. In the past in the United States, it was common to exploit uranium in small mines, known as “hovel” mines. There are a great number of these mines located within territories inhabited by the Navajo, which remain of concern today. Presently, the French atomic group Orano (previously known as Areva) operates uranium mines in the Tuareg region of Niger, where some 160,000 people are subject to radiation risk. According to research conducted by Green Cross Switzerland, Swiss nuclear power plants obtain their uranium from Orano.

Sites located near uranium mines become exposed to radioactive materials through tailings, wastewater tanks and the reuse of contaminated materials in construction. In addition, the health of the villagers is affected by the spread of dust from slag heaps in the fields and pasture, in the water and in the inhabited areas. Agricultural and animals products also come into contact with the fine-grained tailings resulting from the processing of uranium, which leads to their contamination.

Bern, 5 June 2018

Guest speaker Chief Oren Lyons, a Native American faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee, Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, delivered an impressive speech on contamination from uranium mining sites. The video of his speech can be accessed below:

Link Video :The Importance of Peace and Being a Part of Nature

Remembering the Victims of Chemical Warfare

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 20:14:56 GMT

Remembering the Victims of Chemical Warfare

Above: OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu (center in the black overcoat and dark scarf, looking down) and representatives of State Party delegations, including Iran and Iraq, and NGOs.

Sunday 29 April is the annual Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare. This day was established in 2006 in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the international agency that implements the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which today includes 192 States Parties representing 98% of the world’s population.

Dr Paul F. Walker, director of the Green Cross International’s Environmental Security and Sustainability (ESS) programme, commented that “while we have been able to safely eliminate 96% – over 69’000 metric tons – of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles in eight countries to date, we nevertheless still witness victims of chemical attacks in Syria; in Salisbury, UK; and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We should not underestimate the widespread suffering of these thousands of victims, nor the long-term suffering of many victims in Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere from the inhumane use of now-outlawed chemical agents thirty or more years ago.”

Fortunately, the CWC inspectorate has overseen and verified the safe and irreversible destruction of declared chemical weapons stockpiles in Albania, India, Iraq, Libya, Russia, South Korea, Syria, and the United States since the CWC’s entry into force in 1997. Russia declared 40’000 metric tons at seven stockpiles and destroyed these, at least in its first-stage process, from 2002 to 2017. The US declared 28’600 metric tons at nine stockpiles and has destroyed 91%, about 26’000 tons, since 1990, and projects it will be finished in 2023.

The OPCW stated in 2006: “For over a century, chemicals have been used as weapons to kill and injure en masse. This cruel and universally condemned form of warfare has taken millions of lives. Victims that survive such attacks suffer painful lifelong disabilities and disfigurement. We remember the victims of chemical warfare to honour their memory and to ensure that the torture they endured will not be forgotten. An effective global ban on these weapons will serve as the most fitting memorial to these victims. The scourge of chemical weapons will be lifted when all States join and implement the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

Article X of the CWC covers “Assistance and Protection Against Chemical Weapons,” and the OPCW continues to build support for victims in the many countries where deadly chemical agents have been used, produced, dumped, and/or buried. In World War I, for example, estimates of injured and dead victims from chemical attacks are well over one million soldiers and civilians. In Syria today, where over 200 alleged incidents of chemical use have been reported, it is estimated that thousands have been killed and injured.

Walker commented: “We welcome the OPCW’s recent establishment of a “Victims’ Fund” for support of medical care, and for research and development of better responses to long-term respiratory, skin, and other chronic injuries from chemical weapons.” The OPCW is currently organizing a two-day “International Symposium on Medical Treatment of Chemical Warfare Victims” in late June, at which Walker and other experts will speak.

Green Cross International’s Environmental Security and Sustainability programme (formerly called the Legacy of the Cold War Program) has helped facilitate every safe and timely elimination of chemical weapons in the US, Russia, and elsewhere since 1996; has advocated technologies and methods protective of the environment and public health; has worked closely with national governments, militaries, the US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, and with the OPCW; and has established the CWC Coalition in 2009 to facilitate and advocate the involvement of civil societies, including industry and academia, in the OPCW. Today over 200 non-governmental experts and advocates register annually for the CWC Conference of States Parties, over ten times the number prior to the CWC Coalition’s establishment.

This is What Happens During a Chemical Weapons Inspection

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:22:35 GMT

This is What Happens During a Chemical Weapons Inspection

Chemical weapons inspectors have now been allowed into Syria’s Douma, the site of a suspected chemical attack. Their job is to investigate what happened at the site. But what does that actually involve? GCI Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability programme Paul F Walker, who took part in a historic chemical weapons inspection in Russia in 1994 and campaigned against arms for more than three decades, explains some of the details of an investigation.

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Due to the ongoing war in Syria, any chemical weapons inspection there, either for removal or destruction of its stockpiles, or for chemical weapons use allegations, requires heightened security. OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) inspectors are fitted with bullet-proof vests and face possible life-threatening opposition.

In fact, inspectors have now experienced both having shots fired at them and roadside bombs, which destroyed one of their vehicles.

The current inspections in Douma will be looking for any evidence of chemical weapons, including the agents themselves as well as the remains of any munitions, including barrel bombs.

But in an active war zone, this can be difficult, and may be compromised by ongoing combat and/or efforts by the warring parties to hide evidence; even poor weather, such as heavy rain, can wash away some evidence.

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of nine OPCW inspectors arrived in Damascus on 14 April, but was prevented from travelling immediately to Douma due to “pending security issues” raised by the Syrian and Russian governments, now reportedly in control of the area captured from rebel forces.

With over a week having elapsed since the suspected attack, forensic evidence of chlorine, which evaporates very quickly, may be difficult to find, but nerve agents tend to be much more persistent and could likely be obtained.

In addition to on-site munition-related evidence, inspectors also try to interview any victims, medical personnel and eyewitnesses to any alleged attack, in order to compare their accounts, and also seek to obtain blood and urine samples of both the dead and injured victims.

All forensic and medical samples are brought back to the OPCW under full chain of custody, thus preventing any tampering with evidence, and shared with at least two OPCW-accredited laboratories for comparative analysis.

When analysed with intelligence information concerning flight patterns of aircraft and helicopters in the area and other possible attack scenarios, this may allow the FFM inspectors to piece together a credible account of what actually happened on 7 April, whether chemical agents were involved, and which agents were used.

The inspectors are not mandated to seek accountability in these Syrian investigations, that is, to determine who may have undertaken such illegal attacks.

But the FFM reports, of which there have been a dozen or more to date, have been turned over to the United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), established by the UN Security Council in 2015 but unfortunately allowed to lapse last October due to a Russian veto of its extension.

Past JIM reports have found the Syrian government responsible for two sarin nerve agent and two chlorine attacks between 2014 and 2017; the UN reports have also found Islamic State responsible for two mustard agent attacks in 2015 and 2016.

The international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997 banning the use of any chemical weapons in warfare, and requiring the verified and safe destruction of all existing chemical weapons stockpiles.

It is currently the most universal arms control treaty in existence, with 192 of 196 countries as members, and the OPCW, its international implementing agency in The Hague, has about 450 full-time staff.

The OPCW maintains an international inspectorate which regularly inspects all stockpile destruction efforts, currently still ongoing in the United States, and undertakes 241 annual inspections of chemical industry.

Since 1997, OPCW inspectors have verified the safe and irreversible elimination of more than 69,000 metric tons of deadly chemical agents in eight countries, representing more than 96% of declared chemical weapons arsenals.

OPCW inspectors have to date compiled an excellent and massive record of on-site inspections – 6,785 inspections at weapons-related and industry sites in 86 countries.

However, when Syria, under pressure from Russia, the US, and other CWC-member states, acceded to the CWC in 2013, it presented a new challenge.

In this latest suspected chemical attack, reports indicate dozens of citizens killed and hundreds injured – possibly by chlorine gas and sarin nerve agent, already known to have been used by Syrian government forces in at least four previous attacks between 2014 and 2017.

If this report by victims and medical personnel is found to be accurate, it will represent just one of hundreds of such reports since 2012 in the long and costly war in Syria.

Past reports of the OPCW FFM, as well as national statements, can be found on the OPCW website. UN reports can be found on the UN website.

Green Cross Condemns Ongoing Use of Chemical Weapons in Violation of International Law

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 20:35:34 GMT

Green Cross Condemns Ongoing Use of Chemical Weapons in Violation of International Law

UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, the OPCW released its report on their investigation of the Salisbury assassination attempt, the summary of which can be found here.

Geneva, 12 April, 2018 – This April marks the one-year anniversary of the Syrian attack on the village of Khan Sheikhoun with sarin nerve agent, killing dozens of innocent civilians. It is also the one-month anniversary of the attempted assassination of former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury, UK with a “military-grade nerve agent.” Merely fourteen months ago, Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was also assassinated, with VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia.

Green Cross International (GCI), which has worked tirelessly for over two decades to help abolish chemical weapons across the globe, condemns these recent attacks with banned chemical agents and calls for full accountability for the perpetrators of these heinous acts.

The International Chemical Weapons Convention(CWC) banning the development, testing, production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of chemical agents and weapons, was opened for signature in January 1993, and entered into force in April 1997. Today it counts 192 member states, leaving only four countries – Egypt, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan – outside the convention. Declared chemical weapons stockpiles in seven of eight possessor states – Albania, India, Iraq, Libya, Russia, South Korea, and Syria – have all been verifiably destroyed over the past 21 years. The declared stockpile in the US has been 90% destroyed since 1990, with the remaining 10% – about 2,800 metric tons in two stockpiles in Colorado and Kentucky – scheduled for destruction within the next five years.

Dr Paul F. Walker, Director of Green Cross International’s Environmental Security and Sustainability (ESS) programme and leading advocate for the abolition of chemical weapons, stated: “It is both ironic and sad that the most universal and successful international arms control and disarmament agreement, the Chemical Weapons Convention, is now experiencing threats to its existence due to the use of banned chemical agents by Syria, North Korea, the Islamic State and – allegedly – Russia. The global norm banning chemical weapons must be upheld and all violators brought to justice.”

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the CWC’s implementing and inspection agency in The Hague, has determined that chemical agents have been used at least five times in Syria. The Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) of the United Nations has also determined that the Syrian government used both sarin and chlorine in these attacks, and that the Islamic State has used mustard as well. Other unofficial observers have asserted that chemical agents have been used since 2012 at least 200 times or more in the Syrian conflict.

Today, the OPCW held its 57th Meeting of the Executive Council, at the request of Russia, to discuss the March 4th assassination attempt in Salisbury, UK. Texts of today’s national statements can be found here.

Walker added: “We congratulate the strong calls from State Parties in recent OPCW meetings to uphold the global norm against chemical weapons, and we look forward to the forthcoming OPCW full report on the forensic evidence from the Salisbury attack. We welcome initiatives calling for the investigation of all attacks, for accountability for all perpetrators – both of state and non-state actors – who’ve undertaken illegal attacks such as those in Syria and the UK.” GCI is therefore encouraged by the latest French initiative, “International Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons” and hopes it will make a strong contribution to this end.

Protect Lake Vättern

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 21:44:52 GMT

Protect Lake Vättern

This article is complementary to the “Water is Life” event co-organised by Green Cross and Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr.

[Find out more]

Vättern supplies 11 Swedish municipalities with drinking water and another five municipalities are soon to connect to the lake. The municipalities of Örebro, Hallsberg, Kumla, Laxå and Lekeberg have recently decided to build an underground tunnel to Vättern to provide their inhabitants with water from Vättern. More than 500,000 households soon will have Lake Vättern water in their taps.

Now, we see threats increasing to the water quality of Lake Vättern. Since the 1920s the Swedish Defense has dumped ammunition in Lake Vättern and a considerable amount lies currently on the bottom of the lake. During the course of history, the military has dumped ammunition at some 300 locations in Sweden. During the 1940s, 50s and 60s the Armed Forces dumped ammunition at 25 places at sea, both on Sweden’s the West and East coasts. Dumping has also taken place in abandoned mines and in several Swedish lakes, including Vättern, Vänern and Mälaren. The total amount of ammunition dumped by the Armed Forces is estimated to be 6,500 tons. Ammunition consists of metals and explosives, especially 2,4,6-trinitrotoluen 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, also called Trotyl , TNT or Trinitrotoluen. (Source: Swedish Armed Forces and Sweden’s Coast Guard)

The Swedish Armed Forces have been granted permission to utilize Lake Vättern as a shooting range until 2026. According to several Swedish environmental organizations this means that the environment will be affected. The Defense has applied to increase its shooting exercises over the Vättern from 1,000 shots per year to 70,000 shots.

Another major threat to Lake Vättern’s water quality is an enormous mine planned by a foreign company in Norra Kärr, north of the town of Gränna. The purpose is to extract (REE) rare earth metals. According to the company’s own work plans the mining industry area would take up 10 square kilometers of the region. The bedrock must be crushed and approximately only 1% is used and the remainder becomes waste. In the extraction process large amounts of chemicals are used and the bedrock contains radioactive substances, which end up in large waste ponds at 120 meters above sea level. This type of mine poses major risks, for example if a mining pit of waste were to burst it would have disastrous consequences for the water and the environment.

A REE mine in the Norra Kärr area of the lake poses great risks to the protection of Lake Vättern and as drinking water, for surrounding water systems, and as well as all life in the area. In Norra Kärr many people and animals live today. Hundreds of properties exist in the planned mining area.

Green Cross International & Green Cross Sweden join to protect Vättern

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 21:58:22 GMT

Green Cross International & Green Cross Sweden join to protect Vättern

Water is Life: Protect Lake Vättern

Date: Saturday March 24 2018

Location: Grenna Hotel & Conference, Ribbagårdsgränd 11, Gränna, Sweden

Programme: 13:00 – Protect Vättern event with panel and dialogue | 15:30 – Panel discussion with the Audience | 17:00 Green Cross Sweden Annual Meeting.

The event will feature a keynotes by Hans Sanderson, Senior Scientist and advisor for the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, Aarhus University, as well as a performance by Ebbot Lundberg.

Background

Green Cross International and Green Cross Sweden, in cooperation with the Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr, are joining the local groups and individuals working to protect the lake. Green Cross will work together in the region to provide support and to protect Lake Vättern.

The lake supplies 11 Swedish municipalities with drinking water and another five municipalities are soon to connect to the lake. The municipalities of Örebro, Hallsberg, Kumla, Laxå and Lekeberg have recently decided to build an underground tunnel to Vättern to provide their inhabitants with water from Vättern. More than 500,000 households soon will have Lake Vättern water in their taps.

These emerging developments at Lake Vättern are not in line with Sweden’s good reputation worldwide as a role model and a leader in environmental protection, innovation, climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

The meeting will gather experts and the voices that speak out to stop this destructive development. A dialogue has been organised with a panel of experts, politicians and committed residents.

Programme

13:00 – Welcome

Tonia Moya – Executive Director for Green Cross Sweden – opening remarks

Ebbot Lundberg – Artist and Green Cross Chairman – performs during the event

Featured Speakers

Hans Sanderson – Keynote Speaker

Senior Scientist and advisor for the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, Aarhus University, Hans Sanderson also serves on the Academic Council. This follows his tenure as Director for Environmental Safety for the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) in Washington DC. where he implemented the OECD HPV programme, managing the global hazard and screening level risk assessment of the largest OECD category of chemicals (> 30) and the highest annual tonnage (> 1.5 Mill. tons/yr). [Full bio]

John-Olov Fridh – Vice Chairman of Green Cross Sweden

Carina Gustafsson – Chair Urbergsgruppen Grenna-Norra Kärr

Gunilla Högberg-Björck – Environmental Lawyer, GBH Environmental Law

(The speakers are included in the panel)

15:30 – Panel Dialogue with the Audience

Britt-Marie Gyllensvaan – Chair of the Urberg Group Grenna-Norra Kärr

Valter Mutt – Member of the Swedish Parliament

Annika Lillemets – Member of the Swedish Parliament

Peter Persson – Member of the Swedish Parliament

Rolf Wennerhag – Member of the Swedish Parliament

17:00 – Green Cross Sweden Annual Meeting 2018

Led by Major John-Olov Fridh – Vice Chairman of Green Cross Sweden

#Savethedrop as the Olympics boost sustainability for World Water Day

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 22:09:35 GMT

#Savethedrop as the Olympics boost sustainability for World Water Day

Today, on 22 March, Green Cross Italy renews its “Save the Drop” (Salva la Goccia) campaign for the sixth year, on World Water Day. On this occasion, the “Sustainability Olympics” is being launched to encourage more efficient ways of saving water. Students, families, citizens, municipalities are participating in this anti-waste challenge to set a new water-saving record and to spread these best practices.

Parties wishing to join these Sustainability Olympics need only take a photo or video of their water-saving action, and post it on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #salvalagoccia and/or #savethedrop. An online counter at www.immaginiperlaterra.it will keep updating the number of participants, showing real-time contributions to safeguarding water resources.

The “Save the Drop” campaign involves many forward-looking Italian municipalities, who commit to preserving clean water and to raise awareness among their citizens. Some of the initiatives include marches for water, water houses supplying free micro-filtered water, WhatsApp messages offering everyday tips for saving water.

In five years, the campaign has grown to involve more than 100’000 students, over 300 schools, several municipalities and mayors, and thousands of Facebook users –numbers that are set to rise for this sixth edition. The competition is organised with the patronage of CONI, CSI (Italian Sport Center) and the Comuni Virtuosi (Virtuous Municipalities National Association).

RiverBlue Documentary Wins Special Edition of Green Drop Award at World Water Forum 8

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:20:41 GMT

RiverBlue Documentary Wins Special Edition of Green Drop Award at World Water Forum 8

[Roger Williams (centre) holding the Green Drop Award. Next to him is Maria Paula Fidalgo (left), a Brazilian actress and activist who served as master of the ceremony, Suzanna Amado (far left), organiser of the Green Film Festival and Élio Pacilio (far right), President and Founder of Green Cross Italy, accompanied by filmmaker Harold Crooks (2nd from left) and Maggie White (2nd from right) from SIWI.]

The Green Drop Award is an annual prize presented by Green Cross Italy and the City of Venice, in partnership with La Biennale di Venezia. Since 2012, it has been awarded at the Venice Film Festival, to honour the production that best showcases sustainable values.

A symbolic “green carpet” is laid out on the shores of Venice’s Lido to welcome celebrities from movies, entertainment, culture and science, in an effort to promote environmental issues through the Seventh Art, during one of the film industry’s most important events.

In addition to the prize, this initiative also offers creators and movie-goers the opportunity to engage in discussions and workshops on the green economy and green filmmaking, hosted by Green Cross Italy.

As for the award, The Green Drop is shaped as a drop of water and is the work of a master glassmaker from Murano. Every year soil from a different part of the world is placed inside the award’s hollow centre. Past awards were filled with soil from Brazil, Egypt, Antarctica, Senegal and Italy. For the 2018 edition, the jury chose to add soil containing rock formed during the transitional period between the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic eras, about 66 million years ago. This corresponds to the time of dinosaurs’ extinction and was chosen as a warning about climate change’s possible consequences.

As an NGO actively involved in water issues, Green Cross has joined forces with the 2018 World Water Forum’s Film Festival and is pleased to host a Special Edition of the Award in Brasília.

The documentary RiverBlue will be screened at 8:30pm on March 22 at the Cine Brasília, followed by a debate with the director, Roger Williams.

SDG6 aims to ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. SDG6 specifically targets to improve water quality by 2030 by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.

Event:Green Drop Award for Best Documentary of the Green Film Festival

Special Edition of Green Cross Italy and Venice Mostra’s Green Drop Initiative

Date & Time: 20 Mar 2018, 20:30

Location: Cine Brasília

GCI’s Agenda at the Forum

Read more about Green Cross Italia’s Save the Drop Campaign (In English) in recognition of World Water Day.

Green Cross Facilitates the Participation of Indigenous Leader, Sônia Guajajara, at the 8th World Water Forum, in Brasília

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 13:20:30 GMT

Green Cross Facilitates the Participation of Indigenous Leader, Sônia Guajajara, at the 8th World Water Forum, in Brasília

In line with Green Cross’ advocacy on Indigenous and Environmental Rights, Green Cross International together with the NGO, Uma Gota no Oceano, have facilitated, Sonia Guajajara’s participation to the World Water Forum.

Guajajara is one of the strongest indigenous and environmental leaders in the world today. She serves as the executive coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and has been instrumental in unifying more than 305 ethnicities around an agenda that protects indigenous rights. She is recognized worldwide for her fearless activism and defence of indigenous and environmental rights in the face of pressure from some of the most powerful sectors of Brazilian society. She currently serves as candidate for the co-presidency of the Brazilian Republic, along with Guilherme Boulos, for the PSOL Party.

Guajajara has taken her advocacy to the national congress, where she has opposed a number of neo-developmental projects and institutional amendments aimed at withdrawing hard-won indigenous rights. Moreover, as a staunch defender of the Amazon rainforest, her work valorises all forms of life and benefits everyone on earth by defending this crucial carbon sink.

Representing APIB, Guajajara will be a panelist at the “Learning from Traditions: How Water Heritage Can Guide Our Water Future”, convened by Green Cross, the Water-Culture Institute and UNESCO, (11:00-12:30 -Room ST2 (M8)) on March 22. The will also deliver a speech: “To what end are we risking our rivers and traditional culture?” A brief video produced by Uma Gota no Oceano, will also be shown.

Several bodies of Human Rights Law apply to the sometimes critical situation of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for instance). Implementing the following SDGs would also address the multiple situations that are imposed on them:

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Goal 2: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality

Goal 6: By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss

Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

Event: Learning from Traditions: How Water Heritage Can Guide Our Water Future

Date & Time: 22 Mar 2018,11:00 to 12:30

Location: Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center, Room ST2

GCI’s Agenda at the Forum

Transboundary Waters in South America

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 15:35:56 GMT

Transboundary Waters in South America

Dr. Marisa Arienza, President of Green Cross Argentina, will highlight the added value of international legal instruments, such as the UN Watercourses Convention (UNWC) to promote cooperation, development and environmental protection in South America.

Green Cross International has been actively promoting the ratification of the UN Watercourses Convention by countries, since its adoption at the UN General Assembly in 1997. To this day, only 36 states have done so. Green Cross’ multi-stakeholder campaigns throughout its network of national organisations have however borne some success since they were followed by several accessions (France, Italy, Spain, Burkina Faso, Chad and Côte d’Ivoire).

By promoting cooperation between Riparian States and water users, acceding to and implementing the UN Watercourses Convention and the UNECE Water Convention will create an enabling environment to achieve all the targets of the SDG 6.

Target 6.5 will particularly benefit from accession to those international legal instruments:

“By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.”

Event: Successful Negotiation and Implementation of Global, Regional and Bilateral Transboundary Cooperation Agreements

Date & Time: 21 March 2018, 09:00 to 10:30

Location: Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center, Room 28

GCI’s Agenda at the Forum

Green Cross at the 8th World Water Forum in Brasília, 19-23 Mar 2018

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 15:43:09 GMT

Green Cross to Promote Sustainable Access to Water, Indigenous Rights and Religious Leaders’ Engagement on World Water Day (March 22nd)

The World Water Council is co-organising their 8th World Water Forum with a host country. This year, the forum takes place in beautiful Brasília, Brazil! Governments, experts and advocates interested in the theme of water have been brought together in this way since 1997. As in all previous editions, Green Cross International will be among the non-governmental organisations representing civil society. Follow our contributions at the following key events:

20 March

Event: Great Rivers and Climate Change – Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers (IFGR)

Time: 12:00 to 12:30

Location: Stand SUEZ (E27A)

Featured Speaker: Marie-Laure Vercambre – Water for Life and Peace Programme Director for Green Cross International, and member of the IFGR

Event: Green Drop Award for Best Documentary of the Green Film Festival

Special Edition of Green Cross Italy and Venice Mostra’s Green Drop Initiative

Time: 20:30

Location: Cine Brasília

Featured Speaker: Elio Pacilio – President of Green Cross Italy

21 March

Event: Successful Negotiation and Implementation of Global, Regional and Bilateral Transboundary Cooperation Agreements

Time: 09:00 to 10:30

Location: Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center, Room 28

Featured Speaker: Marisa Arienza – President of Green Cross Argentina

22 March

Event: Alternative Forum’s Religious Gathering

Time: 09:00 to 12:00

Location: Pavilhão Parque da Cidade

Featured Speaker: Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp – President of Green Cross Netherlands

Event: Learning from Traditions: How Water Heritage Can Guide Our Water Future

Time: 11:00 to 12:30

Location: Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center, Room ST2

Featured Speaker: Sônia Guajajara – Coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), and candidate for co-presidency of the Republic of Brazil

Event: Water and Spirituality

Time: 14:30 to 18:00

Location: Planalto Auditorium

Featured Speaker: Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp – President of Green Cross Netherlands

Event: Citizen’s Forum Comission – Film Festival

Special Screening of the Green Drop Award Winning Documentary followed by a debate with Elio Pacilio and the film’s producer

Time: 20:00

Location: Cine Brasília

Featured Speakers: Elio Pacilio – President of Green Cross Italy

Featured Speakers

Marisa Arienza

Prof Marisa Arienza Mallmann is the President of Green Cross Argentina, a founding member of the Forum Humanum, Secretary of the Argentinean Chapter of The Club of Rome, and Secretary-General for Latin America of The Club of Rome (under the Presidency of Belisario Betancur). She brings with her an expertise in sustainable development and transboundary water cooperation.

Sônia Guajajara

Sônia Guajajara is world renowed activist in defense of indigenous and environmental rights. Born in a village in the Amazon rainforest, she recognizes the importance of conserving natural resources and it’s cultural significance. She currently serves as candidate for the co-presidency of the Republic, along with Guilherme Boulos, for the PSOL Party.

Elio Pacilio

Elio Pacilio is an Italian environmentalist who founded Green Cross Italia in 1998 and is its president. As the representative of Green Cross Italia, he was elected to the Green Cross International Board in 2013 and is co-founder of the Green Drop Award at the Venice Film Festival.

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp

Rabbi Soetendorp is an award-winning human rights advocate, lecturer, writer and environmental activist. He is a founding member of Green Cross International and the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, the world’s first multi-faith initiative working to improve access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and proper hygiene.

Marie-Laure Vercambre

Marie-Laure Vercambre has been Director of Green Cross International’s Water for Life and Peace programme since 2010. Before starting with Green Cross International, Marie-Laure worked with the organization in France as Director of Communications and Advocacy. She represents GCI at the End Water Poverty network, the Butterfly Effect network, the Coalition Eau and French Water Partnership, the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation and Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers.

Green Cross Russia Co-hosts Key Conference on Ladoga Lake System

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 16:10:29 GMT

Green Cross Russia Co-hosts Key Conference on Ladoga Lake System

[Photo credits: Alexxx1979, Valaam. Lake Ladoga P7170203 2200, CC BY-SA 4.0]

The environmental challenges facing the Ladoga Lake and its tributaries were discussed last May in Moscow at a conference co-hosted by Green Cross Russia’s North West office and the Leningrad Regional Government. It was noted that pollution stemming from industrial, agricultural and utility enterprises operating in the region were responsible for a recent and dramatic decrease in the quality of water throughout the North West Russian lake system. In fact, the scale of these problems is such that the efficiency of action at a local level is severely limited. The conference was thus convened in order to bridge regional and federal governance, and to devise a national plan of action. The conference was moderated by Yuriy Shevchuk, chairman of North West Green Cross. It was widely attended, including by representatives of the Russian federal government, the Leningrad regional government, the federal parliament, scientists and civil society activists.

The main outcome of the conference was a resolution stressing the urgent need for legal environmental protection of the Ladoga Lake and its tributaries. Highlights from the bill include an acknowledgement of the social and economic significance of the lakes, a protected watershed for the region, and steps to ensure greater collaboration between regional and federal government to protect the lake system for future generations. A draft bill was elaborated by North West Green Cross and presented to the Leningrad regional government at the end of 2017. It has since been amended and hearings in the state parliament are set to begin in early 2018.

Green Cross mourns the loss of Rudolphus Lubbers

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 09:35:28 GMT

Green Cross mourns the loss of Rudolphus Lubbers

It is with great sadness that Green Cross marks the passing of Dr Rudolphus (Ruud) Franciscus Marie Lubbers, Honorary Board member of Green Cross International. He was a key figure in the founding of Green Cross, as well helping to bring the Earth Charter into being. His involvement began around the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, back when he was still Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

After three terms as Prime Minister, between 1982 and 1994, he taught Globalization Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States, from 1995 to 2000. In October 2000, following his nomination by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the U.N. General Assembly elected Lubbers as the U.N. Refugee Agency’s High Commissioner. In 2004, Lubbers received an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University Nijmegen.

Lubbers was a passionate supporter of Green Cross, its values and its goals, holding a place on the Honorary Board until his passing.

“From 2000, there was the Global Compact, and later on the Charter of Compassion. [So] we have seen time and again new initiatives; and in all this I observe a vibrant Green Cross,” said Lubbers, at Green Cross’ 20th anniversary celebration in 2013. “Amid all the challenges, I wish you a joyful celebration of life.”

North West Green Cross Russia co-organises Dolphins’ Day Celebration in Saint Petersburg

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 09:31:08 GMT

North West Green Cross Russia co-organises Dolphins’ Day Celebration in Saint Petersburg

On 18-19 November 2017, a series of events took place to commemorate Dolphins’ Day. North West Green Cross Russia’s team member, Yulia Afanaseva, coordinated and managed the project alongside the Dolphin Embassy and the Bookvoed Bookstore amongst others. Part of the sixth Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum, this marked the first time that the intelligence, culture and language of another biological species was discussed at a distinguished international forum.

Experts from France, USA, Italy, Canada and Russia presented their own studies and research demonstrating the sophistication of Cetacean culture. Marine biologists, government officials and artists alike contributed to the key outcome of the conference the Declaration on the Rights and Freedoms of Dolphins and Whales. The declaration established the grounds for further legislative developments or the recognition of Cetacean cultures and was signed by over 10,000 supporters. The declaration, available in English, French, Russian and Spanish, can be viewed here and supporters are encouraged to add their voice by signing.

As part of the celebrations, a special exhibition was held entitled “Just Like Us: Humans and Dolphins.” It attracted over 8,000 visitors in just two days, reflecting significant public interest in Cetacean communities.

Wild dolphins live in the Black Sea, in the Sochi and Adler area, six different species live in the in the Far East. Several species of whales inhabit the Japanese, Chinese and Korean peninsulas as well as the Arctic seas in Northern Russia.

North West Green Cross Russia is proud to promote the wellbeing of dolphins and whales and believes this event helped raise public awareness and is a first-step towards recognising the rights of Cetacean communities internationally.

Learn more about the Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum here.On 18-19 November 2017, a series of events took place to commemorate Dolphins’ Day. North West Green Cross Russia’s team member, Yulia Afanaseva, coordinated and managed the project alongside the Dolphin Embassy and the Bookvoed Bookstore amongst others. Part of the sixth Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum, this marked the first time that the intelligence, culture and language of another biological species was discussed at a distinguished international forum.

Learn more about the Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum here.

Green Cross Japan Celebrates 19th Green Lane Diary Contest Award with Sri Lankan Peers

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:41:13 GMT

Green Cross Japan Celebrates 19th Green Lane Diary Contest Award with Sri Lankan Peers

Green Cross Japan held the award ceremony for their 19th Green Lane Diary Contest in Tokyo on 9th December. Students gathered from all over Japan to take part, accompanied by their teachers and parents. There were over 500 participants, including four guest students from Sri Lanka whose visit was a recognition of their excellent performance in their own national diary contest.

Around 100’000 Japanese students aged 6 to 12 participate yearly in Green Cross Japan’s diary initiative to record their daily activities. Over twelve weeks, they reflect on how to best protect the environment, which raises their awareness of the importance of caring for our planet and sustainable living. At the end of the term, the most outstanding diaries are recognized.

In addition to joining the awards ceremony, the visiting Sri Lankan students shared their experiences of the Green Lane Diary project in a special class at the Nishi-Shinjyuku Elementary School in Tokyo. This session began with one-minute speeches by students from both countries. The Sri Lankan students talked about water as a precious resource and stressed the importance of conserving and optimising its use. The Japanese students discussed fair trade, stressed the importance of helping people in economically developing countries and the need to preserve their environments.

The class brought out the students’ shared enthusiasm for environmental causes and gave them an opportunity to enjoy learning about each other’s cultures and customs. The Sri Lankan students performed traditional dances and the Japanese children played drums. They all later shared a specially prepared Sri Lankan curry for lunch.

A part of Green Cross International’s Value Change programme, this initiative plays a key role in the Green Cross’ mission of developing a sustainable global community. Presently, the Green Lane Diary teaches nearly 2 million children around the world about sustainable development. As the initiative grows and develops, it increases engagement and creates a sense of ownership for the wellbeing of our planet, and to the benefit of future generations.

GCI’s Marie-Laure Vercambre Introduces Transboundary Cooperation to Students of the University of Geneva

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 09:46:46 GMT

GCI’s Marie-Laure Vercambre Introduces Transboundary Cooperation to Students of the University of Geneva

In a recent webinar hosted at the World Meteorological Organisation, Ms. Vercambre, Director of GCI’s Water for Life and Peace programme, joined a panel of experts who introduced and discussed the latest developments of the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention, and Cooperation on Transboundary Water Resources (UNWC). The webinar, part of a Distance Learning Course on International Water Law & the Law of Transboundary Aquifers at the University of Geneva, focused on the Convention’s main features and its relationship with other regional and basin agreements. It gave students the chance to interact with some of the pioneers of the worldwide adoption and ratification of the Convention.

Marie-Laure Vercambre has been leading GCI’s efforts to promote and ratify the UNWC’s convention for nearly 10 years. Her first hand experiences and input are invaluable for those who may one day influence and shape policies on similar issues.

She used this platform to emphasise the importance of cooperation at all levels as key towards the success of the UNWC. To demonstrate GCI’s insight on the competing perspectives influencing the Convention, Ms. Vercambre presented workshops promoting dialogue between jurists, policy-makers, government, local communities, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders. One such workshop, organised in the Ivory Coast for key Ghanaian and Ivorian stakeholders, saw participants discuss the effects of poor practices by local fishing, farming and small-mining activities on the Bia River, which is a resource shared by both countries. They also identified solutions to reduce these negative effects.

There are 276 transboundary freshwater lake and river basins worldwide, however only 40% of these are managed through agreements. Ms. Vercambre said that raising awareness about the economic and socio-political benefits of ratifying the UNWC, amongst the public and relevant stakeholders, could lead to accelerated action.

Following the webinar, Ms. Vercambre stated that: “Transboundary cooperation over shared waters has come a long way since Green Cross started addressing the issue in the late 1990s. We are grateful for the support we received and for all that was accomplished with our partners.” She also added that “this webinar was an excellent opportunity to exchange with the student community and we thank the Geneva Water Hub and the DiploFoundation for organising it.”

Also speaking at the event was Dr. Makane Moise Mbengue, a professor at the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Environmental Science at the University of Geneva. An expert consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the African Union, amongst others, Dr. Mbengue also promoted the UNWC’s ratification – highlighting, however, that implementation could be challenging because of previous agreements that were already in place. Watercourse States are allowed to enter into other agreements, and the UNWC’s implementation does not supersede previous agreements. In Dr. Mbengue’s view, the main challenge in implementing the UNWC is the complicated and confusing legal implications of overlapping agreements.

13th Annual Green Lane Diary Competition in Sri Lanka Reached Over 8000 Students in 2017

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:53:13 GMT

13th Annual Green Lane Diary Competition in Sri Lanka Reached Over 8000 Students in 2017

Green Cross Sri Lanka held their 13th Green Lane Diary Award Ceremony on 18 November 2017 in Colombo. The event was attended by over 600 representatives from schools in the Western Province. These included the contest winners, their parents, and teachers. They were joined by honoured guests from the Ministries of Education and Environment.

The Green Lane Diary project is a school-based educational initiative that raises children’s awareness of the importance of caring for our planet and of the difference they can make by living sustainably. The prevailing environmental challenges in Sri Lanka and other countries, as well as the effects of global warming, are explained to the students. In response, they are taught to engage in activities such as tree planting, recycling or sustainable mobility. The children participate in this initiative by keeping a daily diary of their sustainable activities over a school term, which they are coached how to do. At the end of the term, the most outstanding diaries are recognised.

Within Sri Lanka, more than 8000 Grade-5 students (10 years old) from selected schools in the Western Province participate annually in the Diary initiative. For this latest edition, four winning students earned the opportunity to travel to Japan and attend Green Cross Japan’s own Diary contest award ceremony in Tokyo, as in previous years. During the trip, they visited a local elementary school to share their experiences with Japanese students.

A part of Green Cross International’s Value Change programme, this initiative plays a key role in Green Cross’ mission of developing a sustainable global community. Presently, the Green Lane Diary teaches nearly 2 million children about sustainable development. Originally launched in Japan in 1999, the initiative was adopted in other Green Cross National Organisations such as Sri Lanka, who joined the project in 2005. As the initiative grows and develops, it increases engagement and creates a sense of ownership for the wellbeing of our planet, and to the benefit of future generations.

GCI Brings NGO Experts Together at Chemical Weapons Convention

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 10:10:31 GMT

Initiative to Promote the Universality and Full National Implementation of Abolition Treaty

By Paul Walker, Director, Environmental Security and Sustainability Programme Director

The 22nd annual Conference of States Parties (CSP-22) to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, 27 November to 1 December 2017, with a primary focus of discussion on the ongoing use of banned chemical weapons in Syria. Green Cross International, with financial support from Green Cross Switzerland, again helped facilitate conference registration by 200 non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives including academia, industry, civil society, and chemical weapons victims groups from 75 NGOs and over 40 countries.

Paul Walker’s short statement before the CWC CSP-22 plenary session

The CWC Coali tion, a global network of non-governmental experts and interested stakeholders founded by Green Cross in 2009, helped to set a new record in NGO registrations and participation in this annual meeting of 192 States Parties working to abolish all declared chemical weapons stockpiles and programs and build a world free of chemical weapons.Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the (OPCW) which implements the 1997 CWC, welcomed all participants and declared 2017 as “a landmark one for the OPCW [which] has given us the opportunity to celebrate and reflect on our achievements of the past two decades.” Uzumcu also noted in his opening conference address that “[it] is very disturbing that yet again we are confronted with the use of chemical weapons. I believe that it is vital … that the long standing international norm against chemical weapons remains strong and the perpetrators are held accountable.”

Among the many issues discussed and debated over the five days of the conference and many side events, the following stand out:

The verified destruction of chemical weapons since the 1997 CWC entry into force now stands at 67,851 metric tons of Category 1 chemical agents, 96% of the total declared tonnage of 70,494 MTs in eight major possessor countries.

The largest declared tonnage in a possessor state – 39,967 MTs in Russia – was verified as destroyed in its first-stage neutralization process as of September 27, 2017, almost 15 years after it began operating its first demilitarization facility in December, 2002.

The second largest tonnage – 28,577 MTs in the United States – has now been 93% destroyed with about 2,000 MTs remaining at two stockpiles in Pueblo, Colorado and Blue Grass, Kentucky. The US now projects completing destruction by September, 2023, about 33 years after it began operating its prototype incinerator on Johnston Atoll in 1990.

Over the past year, two other possessor states completed their chemical agent destruction – Iraq completed the “encapsulation” of two large concrete bunkers in Fallujah containing chemical agents, weapons, and equipment from the Saddam Hussein era in the early 1990s, and Libya had all precursor chemicals destroyed by out-of-country destruction in Germany and limited destruction in-country.

One of four countries – Egypt, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan – that are not yet CWC members, announced that it had begun the process of accession to the CWC. H.E. Mr. Moses M. Akol Ajawin, the Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan, announced on the last day of the conference that the Council of Ministers had decided on August 25, 2017 to “approve membership in the OPCW.” Ajawin stated that “the images of victims of chemical weapons make us all the more appreciative of the goals and objectives of [the] OPCW. As such, we, in South Sudan, would unreservedly like to associate ourselves with the noble goals and objectives of this great organization.” OPCW Director-General Uzumcu commented: “Today, we are one step closer to universal membership. I urge the other nations that have yet to join the Convention – Egypt, Israel and North Korea – to unite with the rest of the world in eliminating all chemical weapons forever.”

One of the main obstacles to completing the conference final report on Friday, December 1st, was the lack of consensus in the Latin American regional group, GRULAC, for electing four countries to represent it in the Executive Council. The CSP-22 Chairman, Ambassador Abdelouahab Bellouki of Morocco, therefore called for a secret ballot of all States Parties present to vote for four of five GRULAC members – Chile, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The first four countries won with over 90 votes each, while Venezuela lost with under 40 votes.

The most contentious issue among the 79 national plenary statements, 19 NGO plenary statements, and six additional plenary statements from Israel, three international organizations, and two chemical industry representatives was the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The European Union statement by Jacek Bylica of Estonia, for example, cited the most recent reports of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) and the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) that “a State Party to the CWC” (read: Syria) had used chemical agents in Syria. “This clear case of violation of the provisions of the CWC warrants firm and appropriate action as envisaged by UN Security Council Resolution 2118 and foreseen in the CWC. The perpetrators of such horrific acts must be held accountable.” Bylica went on to state: “The EU reiterates its condemnation in the strongest terms of all use of chemical weapons. The use of chemical weapons, including the use of any toxic chemicals as weapons by anyone, be it a State or non-State actor, anywhere and under any circumstances constitutes a violation of international law, and may amount to a war crime, and a crime against humanity.”

The CWC Coalition organized six side events over the week including a reception co-hosted by the German and Norwegian delegations, three “Open Forum” panels in the OPCW Ieper Room featuring 16 speakers, a CWCC workshop, and an organizational meeting. Presentations from these sessions will be posted soon on the CWC Coalition website, along with the agendas. The third Open Forum was co-organized by the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Germany and presented a new book on the last century of chemical warfare, “One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences.” Dr. Paul F. Walker, Green Cross Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability (ESS) Program, and CWC Coalition coordinator, was a contributor to the volume which is available free on-line here.The Green Cross and CWC Coalition efforts were generously supported this year by the German Federal Foreign Office, Canadian Global Affairs, the (OPCW) through its European Union grant, and by Green Cross Switzerland. The CWC Coalition is also grateful to the many NGO representatives, including Iraqi, Iranian, and Kurdish victims’ groups, who committed their time, travel, and energy to participate in the 22nd CWC Conference of States Parties and to help build more public awareness of, and confidence in, the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Additional information on CSP22 can be found on the OPCW website. The 19 plenary statements of CWC Coalition members can be found here.

“Energy to remain”: Green Cross Italy changes the future of rural communities in Senegal

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:17:35 GMT

“Energy to remain”: Green Cross Italy changes the future of rural communities in Senegal

Green Cross Italy operators explain to the communities the new planting techniques. Credits: Elena Seina – Tafzion Prod / Green Cross

Aisha has two children, which she has to raise by herself since her husband has emigrated and there has been no further news of him. She is now able to feed her children and sell the remaining food at the market, thanks to the new crop rotation practices introduced by Green Cross Italy. Amina can now send her children to school; solar panels installed in her field provide energy for water pumps, which means there’s no need for Dianaba and Lamine to collect water for irrigation.

Green Cross Italy created a starting point for the development of five villages in Senegal (over 22,000 people), by announcing the conclusion of the “Energia per restare” (Energy to remain) project. In a country where the strong potential for agricultural development is hindered by desertification, lack of crop diversification, the use of old and heavily polluting machinery, as well as high energy costs, around 2000 beneficiaries of the project can look to the future with greater serenity thanks to the strengthening of social resilience and increased agricultural productivity.

This project was financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperations (AICS) and carried out in partnership with Enea, Fafd and Cultivert. Water pump systems, powered by solar panels, have been installed in the villages. Green Cross Italy has also provided seeds for cultivating 37 hectares of land. New agricultural techniques based on crop rotation have also been experimented with, while market strategies have been elaborated to reinforce crop sales.

The Matam Region has one of the highest migration rates in all of Senegal. It is the men, above all, who emigrate. Green Cross Italy’s field operators planned the interventions to be carried out with the women and young people who have decided to remain. All the benefitting families in the five villages involved have had direct experience with migration. By involving the local communities of these villages; Ballel Pathé, Sinthiou Diam Dior, Koundel, Sadel, and Woudourou, Green Cross Italy aimed to reinforce resilience and create further prospects for employment and well-being.

The real protagonists of this small revolution are the women; many of them have been left alone, without their husbands, sons, and brothers, who have emigrated to other African countries or beyond the continent.

“We try to set in motion the energies of these women who wish to continue to live and work in their homeland” says Elena Seina, coordinator of Green Cross Italy’s African projects. “The women form the soul of these villages. Improving their condition, we contribute to give this country a future and to create better opportunities for their children. With “Energy to remain” we planted a seed that can open up alternatives to the roads of clandestine migration.”

General Assembly of Green Cross International, Geneva:GCI representatives are pleased with the successful reorganisation

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 09:25:57 GMT

General Assembly of Green Cross International, Geneva:GCI representatives are pleased with the successful reorganisation

The General Assembly of Green Cross International opened with a welcome speech by Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Lakota and Natural Rights Advocate, who was engaged as radio correspondent at Standing Rock. In her speech, Princess Elikonida Silvia Yourievsky emphasised the importance of finding solutions to the global water shortage. The talk of scientist Professor Federico Mayor Zaragoza of Spain was also very well received. Ultimately, it was agreed that Green Cross is needed more than ever, because the interrelated global challenges, such as safety, the fight against poverty and the destruction of the environment require efforts of advocacy at the highest level as well as local and regional projects.

Sixty-three representatives of the national Green Cross organisations from 22 countries took part in this year’s General Assembly of Green Cross International (GCI) in Geneva. The programme included the adoption of the 2015 and 2016 annual reports. In addition, the 2018 budget and the financial plan up to 2023 were adopted, along with the new regulations for the contributions paid by the national Green Cross organisations to the GCI umbrella association. The members of the Board of Directors were also elected.

Additional new members were appointed to the Board of Green Cross International and were unanimously approved and elected by the General Assembly. Martin Bäumle, who was elected interim Chairman in February 2017 by the members of the Board, was confirmed as Chairman of the Board of Green Cross International, which was met with applause from the General Assembly.

As has been the practice in the past, the steering committees discussed the five GCI programmes on the following day. Green Cross International has focused its activities on five global programmes and the related projects are carried out by the national Green Cross organisations. The programme Water for Life and Peace is headed by Marie-Laure-Vercambre from GCI’s Geneva office. Maria Vitagliano from the office of Green Cross Switzerland in Zurich is in charge of the international Social and Medical Care programme. The programme Environmental Security and Sustainability (previously Legacy) is under the leadership of Paul Walker, USA. The strategies and the management of Smart Energy and Environmental Education will be realigned to make the programmes more effective.

Green Cross Congratulates Russia on Historic Milestone: Completing the Destruction of its Enormous Chemical Weapons Stockpile

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 13:52:11 GMT

Green Cross Congratulates Russia on Historic Milestone: Completing the Destruction of its Enormous Chemical Weapons Stockpile

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on September 27, 2017 that Russia had destroyed the last of millions of chemical weapons in its 40,000-metric-ton arsenal. Green Cross, which has helped facilitate the Russian chemical weapons destruction program since the mid-1990s, congratulates Russia on this historic milestone and looks forward now to Russia’s ongoing remediation of the thousands of tons of toxic waste from the chemical neutralisation process and its decontamination of the seven remaining demilitarisation facilities.

Russia signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993 and ratified it over four years later in 1997. With the help of the United States Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program and the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, Russia started its first on-site stockpile destruction of deadly chemical agents at Gorny, Saratov Oblast, in December, 2002. Over the past fifteen years, Russia has been successful in chemically neutralising all declared chemical agents at its seven stockpiles, each holding several thousand tons of deadly nerve and blister agents. The last weapon containing VX nerve agent, the most deadly of all chemical agents, was destroyed this week at the Kizner stockpile in the Udmurt Republic.

Dr. Paul F. Walker, director of the Green Cross Environmental Security and Sustainability programme, commented: “It’s been over 23 years since I first visited Russia’s easternmost stockpile at Shchuchye in the Kurgan Oblast and was astounded to see over 5,400 metric tons of nerve agents in several million artillery shells and warheads, all battlefield-ready. The destruction of Russia’s stockpile has been a very long and challenging effort from a political, economic, and social perspective. Russia, along with the dozen or more countries – especially the US, Germany, and United Kingdom – who partnered with Russia to support this historic effort, deserves much credit for permanently eliminating a whole class of weapons of mass destruction.”

Eight countries – Albania, India, Iraq, Libya, Russia, South Korea, Syria, and the US have declared chemical weapons stockpiles to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, the multilateral organisation which implements the CWC. All but two – Iraq and the US – have now safely destroyed their declared stockpiles. The US has been destroying its 28,600 metric tons of chemical weapons at nine stockpiles since 1990 and is now left with about 9% of its stockpile. These remaining stocks will be eliminated by 2023. Iraq has an unknown quantity of old chemical weapons in two secured bunkers in Fallujah and has begun planning for their elimination.

Russia, which decided over twenty years ago to neutralise rather than burn its chemical weapons stockpiles, still has thousands of tons of toxic chemical waste to destroy in its second-stage processes, but this week’s milestone has now eliminated all weapons-grade agents and met the legally binding mandate of the CWC. Russia’s declared stockpile, which was 30% larger than the US stockpile, was destroyed at almost double the rate of the US program primarily due to the lack of dangerous explosives and propellant in the Russian weapons. The US program, which has safely destroyed about 26,000 metric tons to date since 1990, has completed demilitarisation at seven of nine declared stockpiles and started operations at its eighth site in Colorado in 2016. The last site in Kentucky will start up in 2-3 years.

Green Cross International, with its national affiliates – Green Cross Russia, Green Cross Switzerland, and Global Green USA, has been active as a facilitator of nuclear and chemical weapons destruction, as well as related military launch systems and toxic waste, since the mid-1990s and was the first to establish local Citizens’ Advisory Commissions (CACs), national dialogues, US-Russian exchange programs, and Public Outreach and Information Offices at all Russian chemical weapons stockpiles. This critical program to promote stakeholder involvement and capacity-building has been central to the Russian, American, and other weapons destruction efforts in the post-Cold War period. Green Cross continues to be active in strengthening and universalising the CWC and currently organizes the international CWC Coalition to promote public involvement and awareness in the historic elimination of chemical weapons. The next meeting of the CWC Coalition will take place November 27-December 1, 2017 in The Hague at the 22nd annual OPCW Conference of States Parties.

Water Project is Now Ongoing in Remote Water-Scarce Village in Sri Lanka

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 14:32:35 GMT

Water Project is Now Ongoing in Remote Water-Scarce Village in Sri Lanka

Ongoing construction of the water tank tower. Once completed, the height of the tower will be 15 meters from the ground, and the tank will provide 46,000 liters of water per day for 230 households.

In a remote village in the Polonnaruwa District of the North Central Province of Sri Lanka, construction work on infrastructure for supplying clean water for the villagers is now in full swing.

The people of Mahawalithanna Village – 1,000 people in 230 households – have long been suffering from a shortage of clean water and waterborne diseases. In the dry season, which lasts from January to July, water dries up completely in the region, and villagers need to walk as far as 10-15 km outside the village to fetch water. Unsafe water usually causes waterborne diseases. For example in the village, elders suffer from kidney problems and children become sick due to urinary infections, which keeps them from attending school.

At the start of the project, engineers searched for an underground water source by using an electrical resistivity-measuring device.

To improve the availability and quality of water and life for the villagers, Green Cross International (GCI), GC Sri Lanka and GC Japan started a joint water project in May 2017 by finding the underground water source and digging a deep-tube well. This project is slated for the end of this year and will connect each household to water from the well through a water-supply installation that holds a filtering system, a water tank tower and pipelines.

During the construction, villagers would volunteer and help with digging ditches for laying the pipelines while working in agriculture, which is their main livelihood. After completing the project, the villagers will maintain the water-supplying system and collect the fees for the water themselves through a newly organised village-water-committee.

The project in Mahawalithanna Village is the second joint water project in Sri Lanka between GCI, GC Sri Lanka and GC Japan following a water-supplying operation from September 2015, in Plawala Village in the Ampare District of the Eastern Province.

Digging the deep-tube well to the depth of 60 meters.

This project is part of the “Smart Water for Green Schools (SWGS)” project. The SWGS project, which Green Cross started in 2010 provides access to water and sanitation for communities in need around the world, and contributes to international efforts to secure safe drinking water and sanitation for every human being. SWGS addresses children’s needs first, as they are more vulnerable to waterborne diseases, but does target entire communities as well. SWGS’ methods include building infrastructure and empowering communities to maintain their own water supplies, reducing the risk of deadly waterborne diseases, promoting the sustainable use of water resources, and increasing school attendance, girls’ education and gender equality.

Celebrating the Earth Charter in Åre, Sweden

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 15:18:26 GMT

Celebrating the Earth Charter in Åre, Sweden

On September 22nd and 23rd in Åre, Sweden, the 4th Annual Åre Sustainability Summit will be held to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Earth Charter declaration’s adoption by the Åre Municipality. Tonia Moya, Executive Director of Green Cross Sweden, and Katrin Wissing, Chairman of the Urban Planning and Infrastructure Administration of the Åre Municipality, will open the Earth Charter Ceremony as well as the Summit as a whole.

Green Cross Ambassadors Ebbot Lundberg, Roger Pontare and Tiokasin Ghosthorse, will be celebrating the Earth Charter with musical performances (Sept. 22) and Green Cross Ambassador Laila Spik will speak on the Indigenous Sami knowledge of utilising nature as a source of medicine and nutrition (Sept. 23).

“It’s time to realize our purpose here on the planet. Do you want to be the problem or do you want to be the solution?” Earth Charter is calling for your arrival back to Mother Earth so welcome aboard!” – Ebbot Lundberg, Chairman Green Cross Sweden

The 4th Annual Åre Sustainability Summit is made possible by the Åre Municipality in cooperation with “Hushållningssällskapet”, or Sweden’s Agricultural Society. This Summit is a grassroots initiative and transboundary event in the Country of Jämtland that promotes sustainable innovations, enterprise and grassroots initiatives, as well as political action. The Summit will consist of lectures, discussion groups, meetings and networking between speakers and participants. It aims to spread knowledge, inspiration and hope as a springboard to motivate businesses and the public to move from words to action toward a more sustainable world.

The Earth Charter

Just as we have human rights for people, we have the Earth Charter for the Earth. Its purpose is to help us live in harmony with our planet. The Earth Charter declaration is an ethical framework for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It was in 1994 that Mikhail Gorbachev, the founding President of Green Cross International, and the late Maurice Strong, Chairman of the Earth Summit, began the work of bringing forth the Charter. With the support of their respective organisations and help from the government of the Netherlands, the work continued as a civil society initiative and became what was the most inclusive participatory process ever associated with the creation of an international declaration. With input from hundreds of thousands of people in over 50 countries, and after a 6-year worldwide consultation process (1994–2000), the Earth Charter was finally launched in 2000. Maurice Strong once said, “The Earth Charter is one of the most inclusive and holistic documents in existence with a guideline for all human activity.” The Earth Charter consists of 16 principles as well as sub-principles within the 4 pillars: I. Respect and Care for the Community of Life, II. Ecological Integrity, III. Social and Economic Justice, IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace.

Today in the year 2017 we are even more at a critical point in human history, where every individual, local community and world government must awaken. Today, the Earth Charter is a global movement, a vision of hope and a call to action. It is endorsed by over 6’000 organisations, including many governments and international organisations. Mikhail Gorbachev expressed “My hope is that the Earth Charter will provide a guiding light for human behaviour towards the environment in the next century.” The Earth Charter is significant today — just as Indigenous philosophy — as it is holistic and applies to all human activity, living in peace with the Earth.

How Åre signed the Earth Charter

The history of how Åre became the first municipality in Sweden to sign the Charter begins when Native American Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, started visiting the land of Sápmi at the beginning of the new millennium.

Chief Oren Lyons speaking at the Earth Charter in Action conference, in Åre, 2006. Photo: Magnus Dahlin

Working with Green Cross Sweden, delegation trips were arranged and meetings were held with all kinds of people in the region, with the purpose of having a cultural exchange and finding allies for the Earth. In the North, the Chief met representatives of Sami villages, local administrations, businesses and NGOs, all motivated by the call for sustainable development and a deeper commitment to the planet. As a result of Chief Lyons’ many travels, on December 2nd, 2002, Åre became the first municipality in Sweden to adopt the Earth Charter declaration into their environmental governance policy, along with other strategies such as Agenda 21. Benckt Aspman, the former environmental strategist for the Åre Municipality said, “The main incentive in adopting the Earth Charter was that is was a way for local governments to unify long-term development in the areas of economic, ecological and social sustainability.”

Jan Danielson, the late Chairman of Green Cross Sweden, environmental journalist and former host for Swedish television’s nature program “Mitt-I Naturen”, was also an influential voice in Sweden to promote “the People’s Earth Charter”. Other grassroots initiatives that grew in the Jämtland region to promote the declaration were from local NGO groups, as well as the United Nations Association of Sweden in Åre, where the women’s group led by Margareta Österberg was active.

Living examples of the Earth Charter

In a day and age when our world can benefit from positive news and good examples, Sweden and the valley of Åre may be a good role model for sustainable development. The region was one of the first to start recycling and begin sorting waste in rural communities. Like many Swedish municipalities, Åre is working to become fossil free, climate-smart and energy efficient. It supports internal programs that encourage the reduction of transport emissions. Additionally, the municipality has begun focusing on “green” transportation through various initiatives. Together, Jämtkraft AB and the towns of Östersund, Trondheim and Sundsvall, promote the use of electric non-fossil fuel vehicles with the “Green Highway”, a transport corridor with recharge stations for automobiles and trains from Sundsvall to Trondheim. In an attempt to reduce overall traffic levels, there is also an initiative allowing cost-free travel for children and youth on busses. A better infrastructure in developing information and communications technology for virtual meetings was created as well. “Sustainable destination development” became a term used in the region after Helena Lindahl, with the Business and Commerce of Åre Municipality, began a project to create sustainable tourist destinations. Working with the Natural Step and local tourist organisations, the project worked to assist businesses and local administrations to structurally lighten their environmental footprint and encourage innovation. Åre implemented the Sustainable Tourist Destinations program together with the other regions of Bohuslän, Kiruna, Stockholm’s Archipelago and Vimmerby in Sweden.

Åre is a touristic region that has one of Sweden’s largest and most popular ski resorts in the Nordic countries. Tourism in Åre dates back to when the founding of the ski resort 108 years ago (in the 1800s), with its mountaintop “Åreskutan”, and its vast and breathtaking mountain valleys. Guests come for the therapy spas and to breathe fresh air. Today, the municipality has invested in establishing nature paths for hiking, as well providing public information on the environment.

In Sweden

Green Cross has inspired companies like Plantagon and the Natural Academy Learning Lab, who are among the first in Sweden to adopt the Earth Charter in the Articles of Association for their companies. Göran Gennvi, CEO of the leadership consultancy company, Nature Academy, is one of the many that has been inspired by the Earth Charter. His motto is “nature is my classroom and teacher.” According to Gennvi, “It is possible to run business based on an ethical framework where environmental protection, human rights, social and economic justice and peace go hand in hand.” Plantagon is another company and non-profit organization working with innovative technical solutions and architecture, which has put the Earth Charter into their Articles of Association, along with the UN Global Compact.

Chief Oren Lyons visiting Sápmi and speaking with Lars Pittja and Olof T. Johansson. Photo: Tonia Moya

One of the goals of the Åre Municipality is to have a good relationship with the Sami people. The Åre Valley is a part of Sápmi, the land of the Sami people who have lived there for at least a thousand years. During Chief Oren Lyons’ many visits with the Sami people, many stories and the history of their peoples were exchanged, and it was evident that both the Native Americans and Sami have a lot of things in common. They share the complicated challenges of maintaining their ways of life; of land rights; a history of exploitation; and their tremendous knowledge and wisdom of the natural world.

For the rest of us, the Indigenous philosophy of living close to the Earth and in tune with nature is the lesson and challenge of our time. We must listen to the Indigenous people of our world who can help us build a sustainable future at this critical time in Earth’s history. Our survival as the human race may depend on it.

The Earth Charter is a good place to start.

When reflecting on the global security crisis and the need to take action, it is also important to understand that the very root of the crisis, from climate change and the destruction of our Mother Earth, lies within the heart of Man. We can call it consciousness. This is where the healing and change must come. We must work together over international and ideological borders, and conflicts. This heart and consciousness of humanity is something we cannot see or touch, however it is the root for all human activity. The Earth Charter is something tangible, structured and a strategic instrument with ethical guidelines that can empower humanity at the crossroads, on our inner journey of awakening, transformation and healing.

— Tonia Moya,

Executive Director

Green Cross Sweden

Join us at the Earth Charter Celebration at the Åre Sustainability Summit!

Joining Hands For A Better Tomorrow

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 15:28:38 GMT

Joining Hands For A Better Tomorrow

Throughout September 2017, Green Cross International (GCI) was delighted to present the sixth edition of “The Future We Want” Photo Exhibition, which was displayed along the Quai Wilson on Geneva’s scenic lakefront. Last year’s edition of the exhibit was presented first at the United Nations in Geneva and then traveled to COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco, in a special display for leaders and decision-makers. The 2017 Exhibition – under the theme “Joining Hands for a Better Tomorrow” – once again showcased projects run by GCI and its partners that help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world.

Sustainable development aims to meet human development needs without compromising the ability for nature to thrive and provide resources, while preserving the ecosystems upon which human society depends. The projects featured in the 2017 Exhibition emphasized community development – through education, agriculture, business and infrastructure, for instance – as well as the use of renewable resources to improve livelihoods, provide clean energy, enhance water and food security, and build sustainable and resilient societies.

GCI believes in the need to protect and preserve life on our planet, and contributes to sustainable development through its mission “to respond to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future”.

“The Future We Want” exhibition gives us a snapshot of efforts being made to advance SDGs on all continents. The aim is to bring together ideas and encourage initiatives for creating a more sustainable world, whilst keeping future generations in mind. The 2017 edition provided an inspiring welcome to the GCI General Assembly, which met in Geneva in the days following the Exhibition, and the organization warmly thanks the City of Geneva and all exhibition partners.

GCI at the World Water Week in Stockholm

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:19:43 GMT

GCI at the World Water Week in Stockholm

Water for Life and Peace

Pushing for an Enhanced Global Water Architecture

The international community adopted a Sustainable Development Goal dedicated to water in 2015 and is now assessing the relevance of a global water architecture, that would strengthen frameworks at all levels to achieve SDG6 and to better preserve, share and manage the world’s water resources. It is widely recognized that the water SDG is an orphan SDG within the UN system, with a too limited mandate for UN Water (i.e. the coordination of other UN bodies’ work) and a lack of global vision and concertation.

Marie-Laure Vercambre (left), GCI Water for Life and Peace Program Director, with Prof. Stephen McCaffrey, 2017 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate

GCI participated in the stakeholders consultations that defined SDG6 and strongly supported the idea of an enhanced global water architecture. It is in this context that this year, in Stockholm, GCI once again convened a session stressing the importance of international legal instruments (“International Water Law” assists with Transboundary water cooperation: years of patience, partnership and effort “paying off.”). The session benefitted from great attendance and gave the floor to eminent jurist Stephen McCaffrey, who drafted the UN Watercourses Convention within the International Law Commission in the 80s and 90s, and was awarded with the Stockholm Water Prize 2017 for his invaluable contribution. The session also allowed younger jurists to present their current work on new international water law developments.

Green Cross Sweden took the opportunity to interview Marie-Laure Vercambre the following questions:

Why is Water as a resource such an important issue for humanity, especially now in 2017?

Marie-Laure Vercambre: Water is a limited ressource and its amount hasn’t changed for billions of years! Its form changes all the time, as in ice, vapor or liquid form. We view it as abundant but only 3% of all water is fresh. The rest is salted water. Meanwhile, it is essential to life, to peace and for a sustainable future. Its essentiality explains why it is celebrated in all cultures and religions. Humans, however, use too much water and demand keeps growing. Pollution also reaches alarming rates in too many watersheds. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that, by 2025, 1’800 million people are expected to be living in countries or regions with “absolute” water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under “stress” conditions. There are also the purely humanitarian aspects of what is now called the global water crisis, where hundreds of millions of people still lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 millions to basic toilets. The water crisis, in all its aspects, urgently needs to be tackled. Awareness is increasing, which is a reason to hope that we could work towards a more optimal utilization of our precious water resources, while leaving enough water to nature. These are the things we discussed at the World Water Week.

Why we should support Indigenous Peoples worldwide as Water Protectors?

Marie-Laure Vercambre: Most Indigenous Peoples revere nature, Nature’s Spirits and Mother Earth so it is clear that as we support them, like we support nature conservation. As an NGO that promotes peace, development and environmental preservation, Green Cross is on their side. We place the fulfilment of human rights, including Indigenous peoples’ rights, at the heart of sustainable development. It is important to remember that many countries have recognized Indigenous Peoples rights in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. They recognize them and yet, clearly, provisions such as Article 29 are seldom respected. Within the international community, we know what needs to be done: to strengthen environmental preservation and to effectively implement fundamental human rights for Indigenous Peoples have an undeniable case when they request that their land and water resources are protected. We would of course all benefit from it.

12 Years after Katrina, US Gulf Coast in Crisis Again

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 20:24:26 GMT

12 Years after Katrina, US Gulf Coast in Crisis Again

Texas Guardsmen from the 386th Engineer Battalion partnered with first responders from Texas Task Force One and the Cypress Creek Fire Department move residents from severely flooded neighborhoods to safety days after Hurricane Harvey hit south Texas, August 28, 2017, Cypress Creek, Texas. The team of Soldiers, Firefighters and rescue swimmers, paired with local volunteers and rescued more than 1,000 people and hundreds of dogs and cats, bringing them to dry ground. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Capt. Martha Nigrelle)

Massive flooding continues to devastate the US in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, causing the loss of 47 lives – a number that is sadly expected to grow. Despite having since been weakened to a tropical depression, Harvey has nevertheless stripped major cities of electricity and drinking water, and has displaced thousands of individuals and families. This tragic event comes twelve years to the week of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and, along with the more recent “Superstorm Sandy” that hit New York and New Jersey, serves as yet another poignant and costly reminder of the vulnerabilities of coastal regions, where 40% (and growing) of the US population lives.Green Cross International and its American regional office, Global Green USA, has played a leading role in creating resilient and adaptive strategies in response to these climate change-related events, including creating green affordable housing in New Orleans, post hurricane Katrina, and our “Solar for Sandy” projects in New York providing off-grid solar power to community centers in neighborhoods hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. As a part of the Green Cross International network, and in cooperation with other NGOs and governments, Global Green USA maintains its efforts to address one of the most important issues facing our planet today: global climate change.

The entire Green Cross family sends their heartfelt condolences to the families affected by this devastating storm. Our resolve to combat climate change in support of affected communities continues unabated.

Paris Agreement: It's up to US citizens now – A message from Green Cross affiliate Global Green USA

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 20:45:41 GMT

Paris Agreement: It's up to US citizens now – A message from Green Cross affiliate Global Green USA

Earlier today, President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. Global Green believes this decision is both reckless and ill-thought out and breaks a promise for a better environment for Americans and the rest of the world. The President’s decision to withdraw from the agreement ignores the real crisis of climate change facing the entire planet. Global Green has worked tirelessly for decades to advocate for climate change policies, while at the same time providing solutions of resilience and adaptation including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. However, rather than focus on mitigating climate change and investing in green renewable energy the President has decided single-mindedly to focus on tax cuts and support for carbon-emitting and oil-producing corporations, thereby ignoring economic trends in the creation of green jobs. Ironically, even some of the biggest oil companies and their former leaders, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (former CEO of Exxon/Mobile), recommended remaining a part of the Paris Climate accord. The Paris agreement was an example of American leadership for determining the future of our planet and the ability for us to work collectively as humankind to protect our world. Pulling out of Paris damages the U.S. much more than it damages the agreement itself.

The rest of the world will continue to move forward, as well as Global Green.

Sadly, President Trump’s decision not only puts Americans at greater risk due to climate change related events, particularly those in coastal and rural areas, it also increases the likelihood of additional health risk to children and the elderly who suffer from increasing respiratory illness directly related to climate change. Furthermore, beyond the borders of the U.S. as climate change impacts weather, water sources, and geopolitical boundaries, the prospects of additional regional conflict, resulting in refugees, on a more massive scale, will continue.

While the President has made his decision, those of us at Global Green who live in the State of California are heartened by our Governor and the mayors of our major cities, who have stated their commitment to adapt the standards of the Paris Accord whether the federal government participates or not. Our hope is that other states and cities will do the same and send a message to Washington, and the world, that despite the egregious decision made by President Trump, the American people, and the cities and states we live in will continue to fight this critical battle without the support of our national government and President.

There is no time to dwell on this decision. We are asking you to move forward with us in our fight against climate change and our efforts to provide resilient and adaptive solutions. Trump has made his move against climate change so we are asking for you to help us make our move against his decision. We’re rallying new local and national programs that show Washington that we want a greener America. Please join us in this important fight for the future of our planet, the citizens of the world, and future generations who are certain to suffer in the absence of specific steps to mitigate what 190+ countries have identified as a global problem.

The U.S. now joins just Syria and Nicaragua in not supporting the Paris accord. While we may lose our stature as a country in leading the effort to stop climate change, as citizens of the U.S. and the world, we refuse to accept this position in history. Our work will continue with YOUR support. This fight is not just in our hands and those of other NGO’s, it’s in your hands as well, and we need you now more than ever to fight back and lead the way in supporting efforts to address climate change. Thank you in advance for joining us in this fight against the decision of the President of the United States, which once stood for taking the lead in advancing policies in support of the health and well-being of its citizens, but now has publically refuted efforts by the Global community to stop irreversible damage to the world….a world in which we used to lead by example, not by retreat.

Les McCabe

President and CEO, Global Green USA

Dangerous US nuclear accident at Hanford Nuclear Reservation – latest costly legacy of the Cold War

Wed, 10 May 2017 20:51:02 GMT

Dangerous US nuclear accident at Hanford Nuclear Reservation – latest costly legacy of the Cold War

Photo by United States Department of Energy

The US Department of Energy declared an emergency early Tuesday morning, May 9th, when workers noticed the partial collapse of an underground tunnel used to store old railroad cars filled with dangerous nuclear weapons waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Green Cross International, which has spent over two decades helping governments and communities to contain and remediate highly toxic wastes, including radioactive wastes from the nuclear arms race, called for immediate emergency response and careful evaluation of the potentially dangerous accident which could impact 230,000 citizens in the tri-city region (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco, Washington), as well as the much larger tri-state region (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho).

The US federal government has called for some 4,800 workers at the large, sprawling, 586- square-mile (1,518-square-kilometer) site to seek cover, remain inside, or evacuate until the seriousness of the accident can be evaluated. A mobile robot is reportedly being used now to help measure if any radiation has been released. The site includes nine old nuclear reactors and five plutonium processing facilities, all shutdown and “cocooned” since the end of the Cold War. One commercial nuclear reactor, the Columbia Generating Station, continues to operate.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the United States is sometimes called the dirtiest and most dangerous site in the US. Established in the 1940s during the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons, it has been used to produce weapons-grade plutonium for most of the 60,000 US nuclear weapons developed since World War II – including material for the first nuclear bomb test at the Trinity Site and for the “Fat Man” nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9th, 1945. Today, Hanford contains 177 storage tanks holding over 53 million US gallons (212 million litres) of high-level liquid nuclear waste and another 25 million cubic feet (710,000 cubic metres) of radioactive solid waste. Past scientific reports have shown leakage from the rusting tanks and atmospheric emissions downwind. The US Government, which currently spends about $2 billion annually for Hanford management, has estimated it will spend $107 billion for another 40+ years to help clean up the site.

Dr. Paul F. Walker, international director of the Green Cross Environmental Security and Sustainability Programme, commented that “Hanford is a national sacrifice zone for the 20th century nuclear arms race and may never be fully remediated of deadly radioactive waste; the challenge continues to be preventing radioactive emissions which have already contaminated the surrounding region and Columbia River for decades now, endangering public health and the environment. Let’s all hope that this accident can be contained.”

Green Cross at 20th Anniversary Commemoration of Chemical Weapons Convention

Mon, 01 May 2017 20:55:12 GMT

Green Cross at 20th Anniversary Commemoration of Chemical Weapons Convention

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) organized a solemn commemoration of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to recognize the first two decades since the 1997 entry into force of the global abolition treaty. Green Cross International’s director of environmental security and sustainability, Dr. Paul F. Walker, was invited by OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu to participate in the ceremonies in the Dutch Binnenhof “Hall of Knights,” on behalf of civil society and the CWC Coalition. He was one of 450 dignitaries joining the historic event, which also included representatives of the 192 States Parties to the CWC, the City of The Hague, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations, civil society, and chemical industries.

OPCW Director General Uzumcu, in welcoming all participants, noted the “noble aims of the Convention” and called on all “to rededicate ourselves to peace, security and progress, …the abiding objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the essence of all our endeavors at the OPCW.” Uzumcu paid homage to the many victims of chemical weapons attacks over the past century, including those present at the ceremony, and noted that “[t]hey remind us of the human toll when morality is recklessly abandoned and universal norms callously breached.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Mayor of The Hague Pauline Krikke, and Chairperson of the CWC Conference of States Parties Christoph Israng all spoke of the vital importance of the CWC to global peace, security, and sustainability. This is even more important today, with the recent use of chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq, the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia with VX nerve agent, and four remaining countries – Egypt, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan – which have still not joined the Convention.

Green Cross’ Paul Walker stated: “Green Cross is honored to participate in this historic commemoration of the Chemical Weapons Convention and to note that over 95 per cent of the world’s declared chemical weapons stockpiles – 72,304 metric tons of deadly chemical agents in millions of proliferation-prone weapons – has now been safely destroyed under on-going OPCW on-site verification. The CWC is an excellent model of multilateral cooperation to ban and safely abolish, under the OPCW’s watchful eye, a whole class of weapons of mass destruction. Much can be learned here for our efforts to likewise verifiably ban both nuclear and biological weapons.”

The Chemical Weapons Convention was opened for signature in 1993 and entered into force on April 29, 1997 with 84 States Parties. Declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been verifiably destroyed in Albania, India, Libya, South Korea, and Syria; the two largest stockpiles in the United States (28,600 MTs) and Russia (40,000 MTs) will be fully destroyed by 2023 and 2020 respectively, and two large sealed bunkers with chemical detritus from Saddam Hussein’s old chemical arsenal in Iraq are being evaluated. Serious questions remain still about Syria’s 2013 stockpile declaration to the OPCW and the recent use of both chlorine and sarin in Syria.

For more detail on the 20th anniversary commemoration in The Hague, including photos and Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu’s speech, see https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-marks-its-20th-anniversary-with-solemn-commemorative-ceremony/. For comprehensive information on the Chemical Weapons Convention, see https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/.The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) organized a solemn commemoration of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to recognize the first two decades since the 1997 entry into force of the global abolition treaty. Green Cross International’s director of environmental security and sustainability, Dr. Paul F. Walker, was invited by OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu to participate in the ceremonies in the Dutch Binnenhof “Hall of Knights,” on behalf of civil society and the CWC Coalition. He was one of 450 dignitaries joining the historic event, which also included representatives of the 192 States Parties to the CWC, the City of The Hague, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations, civil society, and chemical industries.

Green Cross thanked for supporting dramatic reduction in water-borne diseases in Sri Lanka village

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 21:17:12 GMT

Green Cross thanked for supporting dramatic reduction in water-borne diseases in Sri Lanka village

Over a year after a co-project between GCI, GC Sri Lanka and GC Japan to install new infrastructure in the water-scarce village of Pulawala, Sri Lanka in Sep 2015, Mahaoya’s Health Officer has sent a letter of thanks citing the sharp decline in incidences of water-borne diseases following installation of the new facilities.

Positive results are being demonstrated now, one year after the new water supply system started operating. In February of this year, the local health office of Mahaoya, which supervises Pulawala Village in Ampare District, reported to GC Sri Lanka and GC Japan that cases of water-borne diseases such as dysentery, hepatitis A and Typhoid disappeared among the locality’s 1,000 villagers and 200 households in 2016. According to the local health office, before the installation of the new clean water supply, there was an expectation that several cases of those diseases would occur each year. It can be assumed that the reduction in cases of water-borne diseases is attributable to the supply of clean water by Green Cross’ project. According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, almost 40 per cent% of the rural population in Sri Lanka does not have access to a safe source of water in Sri Lanka.

“Your contribution by implementing a new water project at Pulawala gives invaluable benefit,” reads the letter. “So we are grateful to you as health care staff for provision of safe water for the people at Pulawala, which ultimately resulted in improved health status of the whole area.”

The village people of Pulawala have shown great appreciation for the stable supply of clean water from the GC project, and the resulting improvement in local health conditions. In March this year, they sent a message of appreciation to Green Cross and its sponsors to express their gratitude. In the message, they also reported that until now they have been successfully managing and maintaining the new water supply system by themselves.

”We have formed a CBO (Community Based Organisation) named “Nildiya” for the protection and better controlling of the system,” read the letter from the Chair of the newly-formed established CBO organisation maintaining local ownership of the infrastructure. “Before getting this system we had to travel long distances for drinking water, but now we have our own drinking water system and we are proud of that.”

The project is the first “Smart Water for Green Schools (SWGS)” project to be implemented in Sri Lanka. The Smart Water for Green Schools (SWGS) project, which Green Cross started in 2010 to provide access to water and sanitation for communities in need around the world, contributes to international efforts to secure safe drinking water and sanitation for every human being. SWGS addresses children’s needs first, as they are more vulnerable to waterborne diseases, but does target entire communities. SWGS methods include building infrastructure and empowering communities to maintain their own water supplies, reducing the risk of deadly waterborne diseases, promoting the sustainable use of water resources, and increasing school attendance, girls’ education and gender equality.

Green Cross Sweden supports Göteborg March for Climate & Peace

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 20:59:31 GMT

Green Cross Sweden supports Göteborg March for Climate & Peace

On Saturday, April 29, people worldwide will advocate global action against climate change with “People’s Climate Marches” around the planet. Green Cross Sweden is one of the organizers of the “GBG March for Climate and Peace” together with Walk2Peace and Friends of Earth. The Göteborg march starts on the city’s western outskirts and will end with concerts and events in the centre of Goteborg.

In particular, Green Cross Sweden is hosting two inspiring events: at 16:00, “Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island and the Land of the Midnight Sun”, with speakers Tiokasin Ghosthorse and Laila Spik (both Green Cross Sweden ambassadors), will take place at Sea Rescue Society, Talattgatan 24 in Västra Frölunda. In the evening, at 19:00, a Green Cross musical event will be held at the Haga Church of Sweden with “A Concert for Mother Earth”. The concert features a special performance by Ebbot Lundberg, the acclaimed Swedish singer and acoustic guitarist, and also a Green Cross Sweden ambassador, together with Tiokasin Ghosthorse. Ghosthorse, who is from Cheyenne River Lakota Nation, plays the ancient Lakota flute. They are accompanied by Martin McFaul, Sofia Assarsson and Gunnar Frick. The day’s events will also include “The Peace Concert with 12 Prayers “, at 17:00 at the Masthugg Church of Sweden – a concert composed by Peter Elmberg uniting 12 prayers from different religions into a call for our planet, Mother Earth.

April 29 in Göteborg

11:00 – The Climate and Peace March begins at the Hjällbo Chruch of Sweden, with a silent procession to Göteborg

13:00 – The Climate and Peace March arrives in Göteborg for the Climate March on the Avenue, with speeches at Gustav Adolf’s Torg (square).

14:00 – The GCS event “Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island and Land of the Midnight Sun”, Sea Rescue Society, Västra, Frölunda 16:00 GCS Annual Meeting at the Sea Resuce Society, Västra Frölnda

17:00 – “The Peace Concert with 12 Prayers” at the Mastuggs Church of Sweden

19:00 – “A Concert For Mother Earth” held at Haga Church of Sweden

Participating in the Climate and Peace March, initiated by Walk2Peace, Green Cross Sweden and Friends of Earth, is: Greenpeace Göteborg, MusikForFred.se, Svenska Freds- & Skiljedomsföreningen, Internationella Kvinnoförbundet för Fred och Frihet, Haga Church of Sweden, Hjällbo Church of Sweden, Mastuggs Church of Sweden.

Green Cross Condemns Chemical Attacks in Syria, Calls for On-Site Inspections and Evidence Gathering

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 16:08:50 GMT

Green Cross Condemns Chemical Attacks in Syria, Calls for On-Site Inspections and Evidence Gathering

Recent news reports and witness accounts indicate that another chemical weapons attack has taken place this week in the Idlib Province of northern Syria. It would appear at this point that over 75 people have been killed and hundreds more injured.

Green Cross International condemns this inhumane and illegal attack, along with all prior attacks with chemical agents in Syria, and calls for an immediate halt to any such use of chemicals in warfare, as banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Dr. Paul Walker, international director of Environmental Security and Sustainability at Green Cross International, has stated: “This latest attack, one of many such attacks with chemical agents in Syria since late 2012, is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and has already been widely condemned by many States Parties of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. We need to quickly identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable as war criminals in order to finally put a stop to the ongoing use of these inhumane, indiscriminate, and illegal weapons.”

While the Syrian government has denied any attack in the Idlib Province this week against rebel forces, witnesses have described the attack as taking place from aircraft and helicopters and victims exhibit the symptoms of nerve agents. The last major attack with nerve agents in Syria took place in August, 2013, when the Syrian air force attacked the Damascus eastern suburb of Ghouta, killing over 1,400 people, primarily innocent civilians, with sarin nerve agent.

The OPCW’s Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) of on-site inspectors, along with the United Nations’ Joint Investigate Mechanism (JIM), have verified three chemical attacks with chlorine by the Syrian military in 2014 and 2015, and should be on-site in the Idlib Province this week to investigate these reports, collect forensic evidence, interview witnesses and surviving victims, and maintain control of samples for subsequent laboratory testing.

The Syrian Arab Republic, which joined the CWC in September 2013 under pressure from the United States, Russia, and other countries, declared a total chemical weapons stockpile of 1,308 tonnes. These weapons were removed from Syria, under OPCW inspectors’ auspices, by mid-2014 and permanently destroyed (on board the US ship, Cape Ray, and in four countries – the US, Germany, Finland, and the UK) by the end of 2015. If further investigation indicates that this attack was indeed by Syrian military forces, it will mark yet another violation by Syria of its obligations under the CWC and no doubt catalyze further condemnation by the world and possible other consequences.

Read the latest statements from the OPCW, here.

Paul Walker has made a number of statements on this issue to media in Australia, where he has been attending the 2017 World Congress on Public Health:

“Save the Drop”, Green Cross campaign for World Water Day 2017

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 17:18:45 GMT

“Save the Drop”, Green Cross campaign for World Water Day 2017

On 22 March, World Water Day, Green Cross will inaugurate the first “Olympics of Sustainability” through the fifth edition of “Salva la Goccia (Save the Drop)”, a water conservation awareness-campaign.

Children and students in schools, citizens and families, and athletes all over the world are invited to participate in this special anti-waste challenge. The objective: to reduce the amount of waste going down the drain and set new water savings records. This challenge, alongside canoeing medalists Josefa Idem and Antonio Rossi, is under the patronage of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).

For World Water Day 2017, the theme chosen by the United Nations is the Wastewater – water from domestic, agricultural and industrial uses that might be discharged into nature without being properly treated.

By 2050, 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. Most urban areas of developing countries, however, don’t have adequate infrastructure to treat water in an efficient and sustainable way. It will be a challenge to find new approaches to collect and use waste water, and it will also be necessary to adopt a more conscious use of water resources in our daily lives.

In the social media age, word-of-mouth can travel fast and helps to overcome this challenge. It is easier than ever before to convince many people to reduce waste, speed up their shower, or use a glass of water for tooth brushing instead of running the tap, as well as raise awareness about choosing low water footprint foods (fruits and vegetables), reusing water several times before throwing it away, and avoiding polluting habits.

Participation is very easy. Just think, and put into practice, an action to protect water resources, post it to a Facebook page or Twitter account profile (using the hashtag #salvalagoccia and #savethedrop) and share it on the “Salva la Goccia” Facebook page. An online counter at www.immaginiperlaterra.it will keep updating the number of participants, showing in real time the contribution of communities to safeguarding water resources.

In recent years the “Save the Drop” campaign has involved more than 100,000 students, over 300 schools, several municipalities and mayors, and thousands of Facebook users. These numbers are set to rise for this fifth edition that will be undertaken on 22 March.

World Water Day 2017 – Why Waste Water?

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 17:13:57 GMT

World Water Day 2017 – Why Waste Water?

World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Today, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water.

The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure everyone has access to safe water by 2030, making water a key issue in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty. Another one requires us, by 2030, to “improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe re-use globally.”

Worldwide, the vast majority of all the wastewater from our homes, cities, industry and agriculture flows back to nature without being treated or reused – polluting the environment, and losing valuable nutrients and other recoverable materials.

Instead of wasting wastewater, we need to reduce and reuse it. In our homes, we can reuse greywater on our gardens and plots. In our cities, we can treat and reuse wastewater for green spaces. In industry and agriculture, we can treat and recycle discharge for things like cooling systems and irrigation.

By exploiting this valuable resource, we will make the water cycle work better for every living thing. And we will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase water recycling and safe reuse.

Read about examples of what Green Cross is doing to help achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, and in particular about waste water:

Providing access to water and sanitation through the Smart Water for Green Schools project: The Smart Water for Green Schools (SWGS) project, which Green Cross started in 2010 to provide access to water and sanitation for communities in need around the world, contributes to international efforts to secure safe drinking water and sanitation for every human being. SWGS addresses children’s needs first, as they are more vulnerable to waterborne diseases, but does target entire communities.

SWGS methods include building infrastructure and empowering communities to maintain their own water supplies and sanitation facilities, reducing the risk of deadly waterborne diseases, promoting the sustainable use of water resources, and increasing school attendance, girls’ education and gender equality.

SWGS is now active in over 169 villages worldwide: in Ghana, Bolivia, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico, China (Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces), Ukraine, Senegal, Brazil and Sri Lanka.

Tackling obsolete pesticides and mercury, lead and uranium: Green Cross and its partner organizations have been working on eliminating obsolete pesticides (and other toxic waste including mercury, lead and uranium) in over 30 countries – particularly in the Former Soviet-Union area and West-Africa. Obsolete pesticides pose a significant environmental and health concern. Many of these chemicals are today deregistered locally, banned internationally under the Stockholm Convention because of their massive impacts on public health and environment, or unusable because of long-term storage resulting in degradation. One of the major pathways of obsolete pesticides and other toxic wastes to enter into the environment is through water.

WHO statistics show that pollution kills one in seven people, making environmental pollution the leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries. Capacity building on and elimination of obsolete pesticides and other toxic waste is therefore of utmost importance in reducing water pollution and protecting human health.

20-Year Anniversary Green Cross International

Sun, 25 Aug 2013 23:17:13 GMT

20-Year Anniversary Green Cross International

To the occasion of 20 years Green Cross International there was a meeting in Genève beginning of September. During the meeting, the seventh “Earth Dialogues” took place, where the “Geneva Declaration on Action for a Peaceful and Sustainable World” was published. This declaration can be read here. In the declaration is written: “to continue on the present business-as-usual path of consumer-driven, resource- and energy-intensive growth will very likely lead to disaster. The present unsustainable patterns of consumption and production must change. We must develop and implement more responsible strategies for growth and development”.

In my speech, I dwelled on the urgency which was at the heart of the foundation of Green Cross back then, and how there is still cause for unified efforts for a sustainable world. I especially complimented founder Mikhail Gorbachev for his tireless effort to bring about a sustainable world.

At the end of the ’60s, at the time Green Cross arose, ‘Green’ was already an important part of my life. As a civilian in the port city of Rotterdam and father to three children, it was a challenge for me how to combine economic growth with quality of living. This connection starts at the effort to contribute to “not another escalation in the Cold War because of intermediate nuclear forces”.

Even though according to historians this period is mainly about Reykjavik, Reagan, and Gorbachev; for me, it was a focal point in the twelve years I was Prime Minister of The Netherlands (1982-1994). This connected me with a new world, including former president Gorbachev, who at the end of the Cold War and the USSR became chairman of Green Cross and pleaded for the development of an Earth Charter. As Prime Minister, I supported the initiative of Maurice Strong who, as chairman of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, committed himself to draft an ‘Earth Charter’. I invited former president Gorbachev to come to The Hague, together with his wife, with the purpose to agree and join forces and start a joint social initiative for the Earth Charter, under co-chairmanship of Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev. This was the beginning of a long process in which I engaged in a dialogue, together with the co-chairmen and the other Earth Charter Commissioners, with actors from worldwide society.

Steven Rockefeller – indeed born from a famous capitalistic family but himself a professor in Ethics – played a key role in further developing the Earth Charter-document.

In 2000 we launched the Earth Charter-document in the Peace Palace in The Hague. This was also the start of the global Earth Charter Initiative (ECI) with a beautiful and sustainable center in Costa Rica on the grounds of the UN University of Peace in San José.

Meanwhile, Green Cross, led by Alexander Likhotal for several years now, was undertaking much more than just the creation of the Earth Charter.

Green Cross contributed to the modernization of society, focused on several subjects, namely water, energy, ethics, and safety. On the path of ‘Our Common Future’ (by Gro Harlem Brundtland) to the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ it is notable that civil society – including Green Cross – contributes to the modernization of companies so they can turn themselves socially responsible, from Global Compact (2000) to the Charter for Compassion (2009). We have continually seen new initiatives come into being, but always there was the dynamic Green Cross. Congratulations! Even though many wrongdoings and challenges remain, I wish you a ‘joyful celebration of life’.

Ruud Lubbers

Green Cross International News

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