The Executive Director for Greenpeace International, Dr. Kumi Naidoo, will on 4 July 2013 address Bank staff in Tunis on the 'new environmentalism'. The address on 'What the World and Africa Need Now from the Environmental Movement' will come as part of the Bank's Eminent Speakers' Program.

Naidoo will use the address, the twentieth in the program, to outline a novel approach to the protection of the environment, one that departs from traditional views and takes into account today's global situation.

"The impacts of climate change are picking up speed with often devastating consequences, especially in vulnerable regions such as Africa. To play its part effectively, the environmental movement needs to act very differently than it has in the past, applying 21st century practices to 21st century problems, promoting green and inclusive growth, and a holistic approach based on renewable energy, sustainable agricultural practices and the protection of our forests, oceans and biodiversity," Naidoo says.

Issues to be covered by the speaker will include climate change, green growth, agriculture and ecological farming.

Naiddo has been the Executive Director for Greenpeace International since November 2009. Greenpeace is a global organisation that campaigns for a change in attitudes and behaviours to protect and conserve the environment and promote peace.

A veteran of the environmental movement, Naidoo has served on the boards of the Global Reporting Initiative (2006 and 2011) and Earth Rights International (2008 to 2011). He currently sits on the board of Food and Trees for Africa and is a member of the international advisory board of the Climate Change Action Group.

Previous speakers in the AfDB's Eminent Speakers Series have included Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz; the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae; the Nobel Laureate and environmentalist, Wangari Maathai; the former president of Ghana, John A. Kufuor, and Nobel Laureate and microfinance innovator, Professor Muhammad Yunus.