A light brown surface decorated with dark green patches, superimposed with a delicate veil of milky white. Modern art? The colourful inventions of a graphic designer on the computer? The satellite image of the Earth looks fascinatingly abstract. But it reveals a life threatening reality for human beings. The view from outer space of the Aral Sea in central Asia, or rather what remains of it, is regarded as a sign of climate change and the way human beings are treating nature. All that remains of the world’s once fourth largest lake are a few disjointed patches of water, dark green blobs in a sandy brown landscape. The milky veil on the satellite image denotes sandstorms, triggered by the drying up of the body of water, which in turn was caused by the diversion of rivers for irrigation schemes under the former Soviet leadership. Climate change is accelerating this process even more. Nevertheless, the neighbouring states of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are trying to save the lake together with international support.
It’s quite possible that this image, which was published in May 2009, will soon be projected onto the walls of many German classrooms. The non-governmental organization (NGO) Germanwatch will be presenting images such as this during its Climate Expedition tour of schools throughout Germany. Tornados, receding glaciers, desertification, often school students only begin to understand the enormous extent of the problem when they see the effects of environmental destruction. The Germanwatch Climate Expedition is creating an impact. That’s why it has been recognized as an official project of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It’s a celebrated success for the German organization and a sign of the significance of NGOs from Germany. Almost all international NGOs, such as Greenpeace or Doctors Without Borders, have a national office in Germany. But there are also many German organizations working on an international scale. They are involved in climate protection, promoting fair global trade, opposing genocide or organizing medical care for refugees. The organizations and initiatives almost always focus on one particular theme or subject. They are a thorn in the side of politicians in authoritarian states. But the public values their work. Thilo Bode, Germany’s “Mr. NGO” and former head of Greenpeace International calls them the “foundations of civil society”. The political stage is no longer imaginable without NGOs.
Most of the larger German NGOs have their origins in the social-critical movements of the 1960s and 70s. This also explains the emphases of their involvement: the environment, development, social justice, human rights and peace. “The NGOs articulate the concerns of the world public, take up topics that they think are being politically neglected,” says Claus Leggewie, political science professor at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen. The successes of German environmental NGOs illustrate what this means in practical terms. Germany’s BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), which was founded in 1975, targeted the death of Europe’s forests from environmental pollution long before politics recognized its significance. In 1981 BUND organized its first press visits to the affected areas. The resulting photographs of dead trees were shown in all the German media, and the public demanded action from politicians, which then finally followed. The organization’s success story continued. By 1984 over 100,000 members of the German public had joined BUND. Today the environmental organization still has some 400,000 members in Germany. However, a large membership does not necessarily imply a high level of awareness, Mr. Leggewie points out. He says the way an NGO is perceived in the media is the decisive thing. None of the organizations can get by now without effective public campaigns.
The greatest ever international success for, not just German, NGOs was the United Nations Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Some 2,400 NGO representatives took part in the conference, and 17,000 people visited the parallel NGO forum. Politicians once smiled condescendingly at these groups, but nowadays they are highly recognized discussion partners. Issues raised by the organizations and adapted by politics are no longer rare occurrences. Sometimes the borders between NGOs and politics overlap. And some NGO representatives enter politics, such as the former head of Amnesty International’s German section, Barbara Lochbihler, and Sven Giegold, one of the founders of Attac Germany. Both of these key NGO representatives stood as candidates for Alliance 90/The Greens in the 2009 European Parliament election.
