Archived press release

Leading Environmentalists Launch Global Initiative

22 March 2002

Launch: Thursday, 28 March 2002 - South Africa House - London

Leading Indian environmentalist and activist, Vandana Shiva and award winning SouthAfrican 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 leadup to the Earth Summit in South Africa later this year.

From Brazil to Ethiopia, India and Malaysia to the UK, people are planning 10 globaldays of creative action, culminating in a world-wide festival of ideas and initiativesrunning parallel to the official summit which will take place from August 26 to September4 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Peoples Earth Summit will spark off a series of events initiated by grassrootspioneers of good practice from across the world who will impart their energy, ideas andexperience to their governments, to the delegates of the World Summit and tocommunities 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 groupsworld-wide to work towards presenting an alternative vision to the current globalisingforces and to ensure that the voices of the people are not sidelined by the officialsummit 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.

Notes to Editors:

The launch event for the People's Earth Summit takes place at South Africa House on28 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, SchumacherUK, ISEC, The Gaia Foundation, World Voices, Resurgence, The Ecologist andEnvision.

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, SouthAfrica and runs from August 26 - September 4 2002

The Peoples Earth Summit takes place over the same time period. Activities arecurrently 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)

Biographical information on speakers:

Mandla Mentoor, lives in Chiawelo, Soweto, and is the Gauteng co-ordinator for theEnvironmental Justice Networking Forum - a national NGO, founder of the AmandlaWaste 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 communicateon all levels. Someone once told me that my problem is that I'm blacker than everyoneelse. I'm more political and more sensitive, which is why I have always been on thefrontline"

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.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust