Tony Juniper, the director of Friends of the Earth is stepping down this year. He writes at length in the Guardian about the issues he’s faced over the past 30 years and those still in front of us. This final analysis stands out:

In order to solve global problems, we need a different kind of
globalisation, based on different global networks, global agreements,
and global level playing fields. This, in turn, suggests that western
environmental bodies should put far more of their resources into
building up their partner organisations in other countries, especially
those in the developing world. In fast-growing emerging economies in
particular, it is necessary to urgently create a new politics that sees
development and environment as complementary and overlapping - rather
than competing - agendas.

A different emphasis will need to be
built into organisations’ campaign strategies. Campaigners should seek
common cause with human rights activists and labour unions, as well as
economic actors. Conservation groups need to broaden their horizons to
embrace questions of consumption and the economy. Development groups
must deepen their ecological analysis, not least because efforts to end
poverty are being massively undermined by environmental change.

What Tony doesn’t mention is the role of networked media in global conservation and environmentalism. New media giants like Google and Facebook have the oppertunity to take a huge leadership role in this space and drive change faster than any government could. And what’s more, they don’t even have to do the hard work themselves, they can facillitate the rest of us.