Our Founder

"Give humanity a chance.

Give Earth a future."

Mikhail S. Gorbachev (1931-2022)

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

Founding President, Green Cross International

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, Nobel Peace Prize laureate who helped end the Cold War, was among the first world leaders to identify the global environmental crisis as the defining challenge of our time. He fundamentally linked peace with planetary health, asserting that true security is impossible without environmental stability.

In a 1987 address, Gorbachev warned: "If current technological processes remain unchanged, the environment will shift, and we, as the human species, will either have to adapt or face extinction." Three years later, in January 1990, he proposed an "International Green Cross"—applying the emergency-response model of the Red Cross to transboundary ecological crises.

Following an appeal from civil society at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, he founded Green Cross International in 1993, championing the same principles that had guided his political transformation: openness (Glasnost) in confronting environmental truths and restructuring (Perestroika) of economic systems to serve both people and planet.

Gorbachev's environmental vision extended beyond policy to practical action. He championed the Earth Charter alongside Maurice Strong, creating a "peoples document" that would speak to hearts and minds whilst providing concrete guidance for sustainable development.

His conviction that environmental challenges demanded the same urgency as nuclear disarmament led him to advocate for binding international agreements on climate change, water security, and biodiversity protection—establishing the diplomatic architecture that would later inform the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

His legacy demonstrates that safeguarding our shared environment is the foundation of lasting peace and human dignity.

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