| Biography | Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organisations in 74 countries.
Friends of the Earth was founded in 1969 as an anti nuclear group by Robert O Anderson who contributed $200,000 in personal funds to launch FOTE with David Brower, Donald Aitken and Jerry Mander after Brower's split with the Sierra Club. FOTE main mission was to lock up and prevent further development of nuclear energy. Their first employee was Amory Lovins, who kicked off FOE in the UK. It became an international network in 1971 with a meeting of representatives from the U.S., Sweden, the UK and France. For further historical details see articles on the national FOE organizations.
FoEI is assisted by a small secretariat (based in Amsterdam, Netherlands) which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns. The executive committee of elected representatives from national groups set policy and oversee the work of the secretariat. In 2010 Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey was elected to serve as chair of Friends of the Earth International. |