45th Anniversary of Earth Day

On the occasion of celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day on 18th April 2015 Scott Teare, WOSM Secretary General, announced a stunning gift to the world in front of an audience of 350'000:

"Today, along with other world leaders – including our top Scout at the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - World Scouting is making a powerful commitment to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

Never before in the history of humankind has there been such compelling evidence of the need to take action to care for our planet. By learning to live with nature, Scouts are on the frontline taking action to protect it. This should be of no surprise: Scouts have always been, and always will be, about taking action.

In just over two years of implementing our new flagship programme “Messengers of Peace,” Scouts have already logged over 600 million hours in service projects undertaken in their local neighbourhoods, communities, schools and parks. Visit our scout.org website to read what incredible projects Scouts are completing.

That is why I stand before you today to declare, with confidence, that Scouts worldwide will log an additional one billion hours of community service, over the next five years.

Through their actions, we can help fulfil the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals and Scouting’s cause – To create a better world."