Greenpeace plans bigger presence in Africa
By Yinka Adeyemi, 25 January 2006

Greenpeace, the international NGO, is undertaking a scoping study which, it hopes, will help increase its presence and work in Africa, John Van Mossel, the project manager of the study group said today in Addis Ababa.

Mr Van Mossel, who had earlier visited South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, met with the Sustainable Development Division officials of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). He said although Greenpeace was a global organization, with offices in 38 countries, it does not have an office in Africa.

Mr Van Mossel said his data-collection mission in Africa would help estimate the potential to achieve important change, define where Greenpeace could add value, analyse how "traditional Greenpeace methods" could work in Africa and explore alternative ways of working and networking.

Contrary to popular opinions about the public image of Greenpeace, he said the organization was “really committed to non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and force solutions.”

Greenpeace, he said, would like to establish a strong governance structure through which it would engage “unassailable” African leaders, and put more emphasis on education and information in its campaign.

Mr Van Mossel said Greenpeace would pay more attention to issues that were important to Africa, such as water, forests, land and sustainable agriculture.

Earlier, in a welcoming address, SDD’s Officer in Charge, Ousman Laye, summarized the key programmes of SDD and presented Mr Van Mossel with some key divisional publications, including “An Assessment of Environmental Impact Assessment in Selected African Countries”, “The State of Environment in Africa” and “Land Tenure Systems and their Impacts on Food Security and Sustainable Development in Africa”