By District Preserve Planet Earth Committee Chair P Eliza Ning, Rotary Club of Hong Kong Harbour

The Rotary Foundation Trustees and Rotary International Board of Directors have both unanimously approved adding a new area of focus: supporting the environment on 26 June 2020.

More than $18 million in Foundation global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.

“It is time for us to use our collective resources to invest in a smart and efficient way to protecting our environment,” says Huang. “We are qualified to take this initiative because we are a global group of problem solvers with diversified talents.”

In 1990-91, RI President Paulo V.C. Costa made the environment one of his primary causes, creating the Preserve Planet Earth subcommittee, which looked at ways clubs and members could conduct environmental initiatives.

Grant applications for projects will be accepted beginning on 1 July 2021. Gifts and commitments from Rotarians and others will be sought to provide global grant support for the new area of focus.

How Rotary makes this happen?

Rotary members are tackling environmental issues the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy and planning for the future.

https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/protecting-environment

HOW ROTARY WILL HELP PROTECT OUR PLANET

The Rotary Foundation will enable our members and their community allies to take action in these ways:

Protecting and restoring land, coastal, marine, and freshwater resources

Enhancing the capacity of communities to support natural resource management and conservation

Supporting sustainable agriculture, fishing, and aquaculture practices

Addressing the cause of climate change by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases

Strengthening ecosystems and communities affected by climate change

Supporting education initiatives that promote behavior that protects the environment

Advocating for sustainable consumption to build an economy that uses resources more efficiently

Addressing environmental justice issues and public health concerns

Though Supporting the Environment is a new area of focus, we do have a few projects done by clubs of D3450. To showcase their excellent work, the following pages summarize the District Grant projects. Looking forward to some GLOBAL GRANT projects down the road!

*Most of the contents extracted from My Rotary.