The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a global

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

of people and

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

(

ecovillage An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural envi ...

s) dedicated to living "

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

plus" lives by restoring the land and adding more to the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

than is taken. Network members share ideas and information, transfer technologies and develop cultural and educational exchanges.

History

Hildur and

Ross Jackson Ross Jackson is a Danish-Canadian economist, author and philanthropist born in Ottawa, Canada in 1938. In 1971, Ross Jackson co-founded SimCorp A/S: one of the world's first financial engineering companies. Later, Jackson began focusing more on i ...

from Denmark established the Gaia Trust, a charitable foundation, in 1991. Gaia funded a study by Robert Gilman and Diane Gilman of

sustainable communities The term "sustainable communities" has various definitions, but in essence refers to communities planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. Sustainable communities tend to focus on environmental and economic sustainability, urban in ...

around the world. The report, ''Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities'', was released in 1991. The report found that although there were many interesting ecovillage projects, the full-scale ideal ecovillage did not yet exist. Collectively, however, the various projects described a vision of a different culture and lifestyle that could be further developed. In 1991 the Gaia Trust convened a meeting in

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of representatives of eco-communities to discuss strategies for further developing the ecovillage concept. That led to the formation of the Global Ecovillage Network. In 1994 the Ecovillage Information Service was launched. In 1995, the first international conference of ecovillage members, entitled Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities for the 21st Century was held at Findhorn, Scotland. The movement grew rapidly following this conference. By 2001, GEN had obtained consultative status at the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

(ECOSOC). In October 2005, at the conference to celebrate the tenth anniversary of GEN, a group of young adults joined to found NextGEN (the Next Generation of the Global Ecovillage Network). GEN does not have a verification procedure to select ecovillages or member subscriptions on its website. A Community Sustainability Assessment Tool has been developed that provides a means to assess how successful a particular ecovillage is at improving its sustainability.

Members

The network includes a variety of types of sustainable settlements and ecovillages: *Eco towns, such as

Auroville Auroville (; City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Viluppuram district, mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with some parts in the Union Territory of Pondicherry in India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (known as "the ...

in South India and the

Federation of Damanhur The Federation of Damanhur, often called simply Damanhur, is a commune, ecovillage, and spiritual community situated in the Piedmont region of northern Italy about north of the city of Turin. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the C ...

in Italy; *rural ecovillages, such as Gaia Asociación in Argentina and Huehuecoyotl, in Mexico; *

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

sites, including

Crystal Waters, Queensland Crystal Waters (also known as Crystal Waters Permaculture Village and Crystal Waters Ecovillage) is an 85 Lot Body Corporate housing development situated in Conondale in the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia.Cochabamba Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 63 ...

, Bolivia and

Barus Barus is a town and ''kecamatan'' (district) in Central Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Historically, Barus was well known as a port town or kingdom on the western coast of Sumatra where it was a regional trade center ...

, Brazil; *urban rejuvenation projects, such as

Los Angeles EcoVillage LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

and Christiania in Copenhagen, and *educational centers, such as

Findhorn Foundation The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain.''The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Org ...

in Scotland, the

Centre for Alternative Technology The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) ( cy, Canolfan y Dechnoleg Amgen) is an eco-centre in Powys, mid-Wales, dedicated to demonstrating and teaching sustainable development. CAT, despite its name, no longer concentrates its efforts exclu ...

in Wales, and the

Ecovillage Training Center The Ecovillage Training Center is a "total immersion school" for sustainability. It is located at The Farm, an intentional community/ecovillage in Summertown, Tennessee, USA. The curricula of the center are "holistic and comprehensivist" and fo ...

in Tennessee.

Aim

The Global Ecovillage Network's aim is "to support and encourage the evolution of sustainable settlements across the world." The network does this through: *Internal and external communications services; facilitating the flow and exchange of information about ecovillages and demonstration sites; *Networking and project coordination in fields related to sustainable settlements, and *Global cooperation/partnerships (UN Best Practices, EU Phare,

EYFA European Youth For Action (EYFA) is an environmental youth network in Europe. It is based in Amsterdam and has partner organizations in 18 European countries. History EYFA started in 1985 as the European Youth Forest Action; a campaign organised ...

, ECOSOC).

Regions

GEN is composed of five global regions: Africa (GEN Africa), Europe (GEN Europe), Latin America (CASA), North America (GENNA) and Oceania & Asia (GENOA).

Notes

References

The History of GEN, 1990-1995The History of GEN 2000-2001

External links

*
German Info: Global Ecovillage Network
{{Authority control International sustainability organizations Ecovillages