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22 Mar 2002
Launch: Thursday, 28 March 2002 - South Africa House - London
Leading Indian environmentalist and activist, Vandana Shiva and award winning South
African community leader, Mandla Mentoor will join Friends of the Earth Director-
Designate, Tony Juniper to launch the Peoples Earth Summit on Thursday 28 March.
The event is a global initiative that brings together communities world-wide in the lead
up to the Earth Summit in South Africa later this year.
From Brazil to Ethiopia, India and Malaysia to the UK, people are planning 10 global
days of creative action, culminating in a world-wide festival of ideas and initiatives
running parallel to the official summit which will take place from August 26 to September
4 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Peoples Earth Summit will spark off a series of events initiated by grassroots
pioneers of good practice from across the world who will impart their energy, ideas and
experience to their governments, to the delegates of the World Summit and to
communities and individuals world-wide, inspiring them to take action.
From the regeneration of a Soweto township into a mountain of hope, headed
by the inspirational Mandla Mentoor, to the creation of a village celebrating
the cultural biodiversity of Ethiopia, this global initiative aims to
go beyond the official summit into communities throughout Africa, Asia,
Latin America and Europe where people will be initiating their own initiatives
for a sustainable future.
"The Mountain of Hope is proof that there exists an alternative vision
of development. It is a vision initiated by pioneers in Soweto operating
from a backyard and creating livelihoods by turning waste into a creative
and economic asset through art and culture and many other initiatives"
- Mandla Mentoor, community leader, Soweto.
Born out of South Africa the idea of the Peoples Earth Summit has inspired groups
world-wide to work towards presenting an alternative vision to the current globalising
forces and to ensure that the voices of the people are not sidelined by the official
summit process.
"We cannot limit ourselves to asking governments what they will do. We must take practical steps ourselves to change things. The work of the thousands of groups and individuals worldwide who are preparing for the Peoples Earth Summit is a message to the official delegates that the answers to finding sustainable alternatives must have their foundations at the community level" - Vandana Shiva, leading Indian activist.
The launch event for the People's Earth Summit takes place at South Africa House on 28 March 2002 at 6.30pm. The event is co-hosted by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, CAFOD, New Economics Foundation, ITDG, Women's Institute, ANPED, Schumacher UK, ISEC, The Gaia Foundation, World Voices, Resurgence, The Ecologist and Envision.
The Peoples Earth Summit website will also be launched on 28 March
2002: www.peoplesearthsummit.net
Details of the different national events taking place world-wide will
be available on the website, plus photographic images of both the launch
event and the activities taking place in the participating countries
as they prepare for the Peoples Earth Summit.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development takes place in Johannesburg, South
Africa and runs from August 26 - September 4 2002
The Peoples Earth Summit takes place over the same time period. Activities are
currently being organised in communities in Angola; Mozambique; Kenya; Botswana;
Ethiopia; Benin; Ghana; Zambia; Zimbabwe; Uganda; India; Pakistan; Malaysia; Brazil;
France; Holland and the UK.
For contact details of the co-ordinators in any of the participating
countries, please contact Maya Vaughan or Jo Dunkley at the Gaia Foundation,
tel. 020 7435 5000 or emails: mayaejm@gaianet.org
(Maya) or joejm@gaianet.org (Jo)
Mandla Mentoor, lives in Chiawelo, Soweto, and is the Gauteng co-ordinator for the
Environmental Justice Networking Forum - a national NGO, founder of the Amandla
Waste Creations and the inspiration behind the Mountain of Hope project.
"I'm a born activist", says Mentoor, "I know how to mobilise people and to communicate
on all levels. Someone once told me that my problem is that I'm blacker than everyone
else. I'm more political and more sensitive, which is why I have always been on the
frontline"
Mentoor is the winner of the Investing in the Environment" Individual Award in 2001 as
"an inspiring individual and a model for future generations".
Vandana Shiva, leading Indian activist, writer and physicist science
is the Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and
Natural Resource Policy. Her work centres on promoting biodiversity
and sustainable agriculture and protecting people's rights from threats
to their livelihoods and environment by globalisation and centralised
systems of monoculture in forestry, agriculture and fisheries.
Vandana is the winner of the Right Livelihood Award 1993.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
