Green Cross International’s roots can be traced back to President Mikhail Gorbachev’s time in office as Head of State of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A period during which he repeatedly spoke about the interrelated threats humanity and our Earth face from nuclear arms, chemical weapons, unsustainable development, and the man-induced decimation of the planet’s ecology.
The first Green Cross National Organizations (GCNOs) formally joined GCI in The Hague, The Netherlands, in the Spring of 1994. These included Japan, The Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, and the United States.
Today, the Green Cross network operates in more than 30 countries.
Green Cross International enjoys consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. GCI is an admitted observer organization with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It also cooperates directly with the UNEP/OCHA Environmental Emergencies Section, UN-HABITAT and other international organizations.
Green Cross is partnering with FuturED to develop projects and courses that contribute to climate change and sustainable development, because without education, no disruptive change is possible.
The main challenges they face are not resolved only with good science, but rather a change is necessary through knowledge and awareness, appealing to the analytical capacity of the individual and the social understanding of change. The alliance and cooperation brings them closer to common goals in pursuit of a sustainable future.
Green Cross United Kingdom is a facilitator of solutions to Climate Change and Global Change since they are project-oriented. They conceive programmes based on the Climate Positive Principle, whose motto is to go further in actions, where it is not enough to be 100% negative, and in its instead be positive, generating restorative actions necessary to reverse the current situation of environmental and social degradation embodied in its Sustainable Infrastructure, Climatic Mining, and Regenerative Agriculture programmes.
The hierarchy of actions proposed by Green Cross United Kingdom is based on the Circular Economy, generating a virtuous circle in fulfilment of the organization’s mission, where innovation and sustainability are aligned to achieve high human development within the limits of the global biocapacity.
