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THE WITNESS
Born in 1965 and hailing from South Africa, Kumi Naidoo has been Greenpeace’s International Executive Director since November 2009.
Follow Kumi on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NaidooKumi 
Opening remarks at the Peoples’ Arctic Conference in Kiruna, Sweden:
(Not interested in reading all the way through? You can listen to Kumi Naidoo’s speech here).
Greetings my friends, and welcome to the conference, the Peoples’ Arctic: Unified for a Better Tomorrow. My name is Kumi Naidoo and I have the pleasure and honour of welcoming you here today. Continue reading
This year’s Earth Hour on March 23 is no ordinary Earth Hour. Climate change is being felt around the world – ravaging communities, destroying lives and livelihoods. We are running out of time, but we can still fix this. Continue reading
Blog also published on the Guardian’s Sustainable Business Blog.
Boxes of bottled water are loaded onto the Greenpeace ship Esperanza after Typhoon Pablo.
I hope I am wrong. But in 2013, we can expect to witness more devastating extreme weather events, fueled and supercharged by the destructive power of a warming planet brought about by climate change.
I hope to witness – and be part of – the exponential growth in popular pressure to force governments to take steps to avert catastrophic climate change. I hope to see even more unusual allies joining the global movement demanding climate action. Continue reading
Originally posted to Outside.
The executive director of Greenpeace International tells us how he stayed motivated while getting hosed down with freezing water during environmental action, what he learned from living through apartheid, and why he believes anything is possible.
When Kumi Naidoo was 15 years old, he began making his way to the frontlines of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. A student in the city of Durban, he was kicked out of high school and thrown into jail several times for protesting against racial segregation, until he eventually went abroad to study as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in England. Returning home after Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Naidoo helped the African National Congress win democratic national elections in 1994, turning a new page in South African history.
After that, Naidoo shifted his attention to global campaigns for education, women’s rights, poverty alleviation, and environmental conservation, where he finds himself again on the frontlines of a major movement today as executive director of Greenpeace International, one of the world’s best known and most vocal environmental groups. Continue reading
Has Doha delivered? Here’s the Al Jazeera Inside Story Special with Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International; Wael Hmaidan, Climate Action Network International; and environment specialist Mohammed Jassim Almaslamani.
Dear Mr. President,
My Name is Kumi Naidoo, I am the Executive Director of Greenpeace International, I also serve as President of the Global Campaign for Climate Action (www.tcktcktck.org) and serve as Global Ambassador of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (www.whiteband.org). But, today I write to you as an African, as a person from the developing world and as a parent. Continue reading
Originally posted to Aljazeera.
All governments participating in COP18 should put “people and the planet before the polluters and their profits”.
The World Bank needs to "stop financing" coal power plants that make their clients' "problems worse" and turn their attention to investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency [EPA
I’m talking about the climate in the corridors of power at the CIA and the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and some of the biggest consultancies in business, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Alarms are finally ringing in the offices of the bureaucrats and “conservative” businessmen. Continue reading
Last week Kumi sat down for an interview with Zeinab Badawi on BBC’s flagship programme HARDtalk.
Lacanja Chansayab Community in Mexico / Yuk, 4, and Ruth,11, Lacandon children swim in their hometown Lacanja Chansayab, a community located in the limits of Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, in Lacandona Rainforest. Lacanja Chansayab is one of the six communities participating in the REDD+ (Reduction Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) Programme from the State Government. 06/22/2012 © Ginnette Riquelme / Greenpeace
I felt relieved when I heard Obama’s victory speech this morning, and I particularly resonated with him when he spoke about the future of America’s children.
“We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burnt by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” said Obama during his speech. Crowds burst into applause, while probably millions of other citizens of the world heard his vision.
My relief came with the realisation that Barack Obama shares our vision. When President Obama was elected four years ago, his challenge was to stop the US from going into financial freefall. His challenge is even greater now – he needs to play a more assertive roleinternationally on the issue of climate change and stop us all from climate freefall. Continue reading
“What is the most surprising thing about working at Greenpeace?” I asked a new colleague at work the other day. She looked to the side and took a moment before she replied. She finally turned to me and said: “The most surprising thing is Greenpeace staff: there is nothing really shocking about them. They are…normal.”
I immediately understood what my colleague was referring to. When I joined Greenpeace three years ago I expected to see more people who looked like me, with long beards, shirts with flowers on them and so on. Actually what I found here were scientists, intellectuals, some of the best communications specialists and interestingly enough, people from the business community: an eclectic community made up of people with a wide variety of skills and maybe most importantly, with an infinite passion for our planet. Continue reading