Ian Riseley, Past President of Rotary
International, announcing the role of the Rotary
Foundation's Environmental Issues Task Force, at International
Assembly in January, San Diego, California, USA.
ESRAG supports the creation of a new and unique
Area of Focus for the Environment. The less desirable alternative
would be to combine the Environment with one of the existing
six Areas of Focus, which ESRAG does not support. ESRAG's
GreenPosition Paper about adding the Environment
as an AOF is the first in a series of position papers
about important environmental topics. You can read
this initial Green Paper, issued January 22, 2020,
here:
ESRAG'S
POSITION ABOUT THE ADDITION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS AN AREA
OF FOCUS (PDF)
This paper was the basis of Karen Kendrick-Hands' presentation to
The Rotary Foundation's Environmental Issues Task Force,
February 3, 2020, when as ESRAG's Representative,
she traveled to the Rotary International Headquarters,
in Evanston, Illinois to present at the opening morning
session.and
Closing
Remarks. (PDF)
The balance of the three day meeting was closed, and discussions
were confidential.
According to TRF staff, The Environmental Issues Task
Force is finalizing a confidential recommendation
to the Foundation Trustees. Changing what is included
in the existing areas of focus does not require Board
approval but adding an area of focus does. No matter which
way the Trustees go, there will be a final decision by
the end of April, which will be well-publicized.
You may want to share your views and experiences with
all of the Trustees that having a new, unique Area
of Focus on the environment is important to the future
of Rotary and the world. Here are some points you
may want the Trustees to consider:
What does Rotary lose when the Environment isn’t
coequal with the other AOFs?
• An array of timely, high impact, and worthwhile
projects
• Attracting the next generation of Rotarians
• Being attractive to the next generation of potential
funders within and outside of Rotary.
• Perceived status in rest of Humanitarian NGO world
Rotary risks losing its relevance in the face of environmental
crises if it is ‘missing in action.'
Without a focus on the Environment, Rotary clubs risk
missing the opportunity to proactively work 'upstream'
to prevent and mitigate disasters rather than reactively
responding to problems 'downstream' after they occur.
Bill and Melinda Gates just added Climate action to the
work in which they invest; The Rotary Foundation should
be in sync with one of its major funding partners.
The Foundation Trustees and RI's Board of Directors are
scheduled to meet jointly on April 24, 2020, so you will
want to comment by April 15, 2020. Below is a list
of the the current Trustees of The Rotary Foundation,
with members of the Environmental Issues Task force and
the 2 non-Trustee members of the Task Force listed in
BOLD.
Chair Gary Huang, RC Taipei, Taiwan
Chair-Elect Ravi Ravindran, RC Colombo, Sri Lanka
Vice Chair Kenneth M. Shuppert, Jr ,
RC Decatur, AL, USA
Trustee Jorge Aufranc, RC Guatemala Sur, Guatemala
Trustee Brenda M. Cressey,
RC Paso Robles, CA USA
Trustee Hipolito S. Ferrerira, RC Contagem-Cidade
Industrial, MG, Brazil
Trustee John F. Germ, RC Chattanooga, TN USA
Trustee Per Hoyen, RC Aarup, Denmark
Trustee Jennifer E. Jones, RC Windsor-Roseland,
ON Canada
Trustee Seija Kita, RC Urawa East, Saitama, Japan
Trustee Julia D. Phelps, RC Amesbury, NH, USA
Trustee Ian H.S. Riseley, RC
Sandringham, Victoria, Australia (Task Force Chair)
Trustee Gulam A. Vahanvaty, RC Bombay Mah, India
Trustee Michael F. Webb, RC Mendip, England
Trustee Sang Koo Yun, RC Sae Hanyang, Republic of Korea
Rotaractor Elyse Lin, RC Taipei
Tin Harbour, Taiwan
RI BOD liaison Jan Lucas Ket, RC
Purmerend, Netherlands
Abby McNear, The Rotary Foundation Staff, Mgr Rotary Grants.
