Through our local, national and international networks, we work with the community to communicate, raise awareness, put forward alternatives and take action.

FoE operates from an environmental justice perspective. This means working towards a situation where all people live in a healthy environment and where the benefits and costs of economic activity are shared equally, including between nations and generations.

FoEA supports Indigenous sovereignty and works at both the local level with specific Indigenous communities as well as participating in debates and campaigns at the national and international level.

FoE understands that in an era of globalisation and international environmental problems an international and co-operative response is required. FoEA seeks to develop strong relations with environmental and social justice movements in all parts of the world.

Global context and connections

Friends of the Earth Australia is the national member of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), which is the world’s largest federation of national environmental organisations.

The network is now active in 71 countries, with more than 1,500,000 individual members and around 5,000 local branches.

FoEI aims to:

• Protect the earth from further deterioration and repair the damage inflicted upon the environment by human activities and negligence;

• Preserve the earth's ecological, cultural and ethnic diversity;

• Increase public participation and democratic decision-making. Greater democracy is both an end in itself and is vital to the protection of the environment and the sound management of natural resources;

• Achieve social, economic and political justice and equal access to resources and opportunities for men and women on the local, national, regional and international levels;

• Promote environmentally sustainable development on the local, national, regional and global levels.

FoEI has a democratic structure with autonomous national groups which comply with the guidelines established by the federation.

FoEI member groups are united by a common conviction that these aims require both strong grassroots activism and effective national and international campaigning and coordination. They see Friends of the Earth International as a unique and diverse forum to pursue international initiatives, taking advantage of the varied backgrounds and perspectives of its members.

More information about the work of FoE groups around the world and copies of the FoEI annual report can be found at: http://www.foei.org

FoE Australia Objectives

1. The conservation, restoration, and rational use of the ecosphere;
2. To stimulate a movement of social change towards an ecologically stable and self-managed society;
3. To preserve the natural environment in Australia;
4. To promote public awareness of environmental issues in Australia through public awareness activities and the production of leaflets, booklets, films and other educational materials;
5. To assist other people and organisations interested in these objectives to carry out their tasks through the maintenance of resource centres, newsletters, magazines and communication with like-minded national and international bodies;

Local and global

FoEI is the world's largest federation of environmental groups, with around 5,000 local groups - including the 12 currently working in Australia.

FoE Australia is the national member of FoE International, which is currently active in more than 70 countries. There are more than 1,000,000 individual members in the FoEI network.

The democratic structure of FoEI means that the interests and concerns of all parts of the world are included in the political voice and campaigns of the federation. FoEI has an executive committee that helps to develop membership and campaigns, and a Chairperson (currently Meena Raman, of Foe Malaysia). Member groups meet every two years to develop policy and campaigns. A secretariat, currently based in Amsterdam, provides co-ordination and support to member groups.

In 2007, FoEI programs and campaigns include sustainable agriculture, GMOs & food security, forests, corporates, International Financial Institutions, trade/ environment/ sustainability, climate change, mining, water and desertification. FoEI also works on Antarctica, marine issues and ecological debt. Core themes running through our work are:

• Protecting human & environmental rights
• Protecting the planet's disappearing biodiversity
• The repayment of ecological debt owed by rich countries to those they have exploited for their own economic benefit.