MANUAL SPORT ENVIRONMENT

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CHAPTER III:
ENVIRONM ENTAL POLICY AND ACTIONS
3.1 EDUCATION AND AWARENESS-RAISING
The International Olympic Committee, in its capacity as leader of the Olympic
Movement, has resolved to fully integrate the protection of the environment in its
philosophy and programmes. Considering its importance for the dev elopment and
survival of our society, the env ironment w as introduc ed into the Oly mpic Charter in
1994 and is today rec ognized as the third pillar of Oly mpis m, after s port and culture.
The objective is to extend the IOC environmental policy not only to the organization
of the Oly mpic Games - its first duty - but also to ens ure that the protection of the
env ironment forms an integral part of the educational v alues w hich are taught to the
youth of the w orld through s port.
The IOC has undertaken a series of actions to raise aw areness among the sports
community in general about the necess ity to inc lude ecologic al princ iples in their
daily act ivities.
• In 1972, the Olympic Movement took a sy mbolic initiative on the occ as ion of the
Games of the XX Oly mpiad in Munich. National Oly mpic Committees from all ov er
the w orld came w ith a shrub from their respectiv e countries and planted them in
the Olympic park adjacent to the sports facilities. By analogy w ith the express ion
"mens sana in corpore s ano", the formula "certatio s ana in natura sana" - in other
w ords, a healthy c ompetition in an intact environment – w as coined by a German
couple, Luz ian and Sigrun V erbogen.
• During the celebration of the Games of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona in 1992,
the IOC, follow ing the appeal launched at the "Planet Earth" s ummit in Rio de
Janeiro, called on all International Federations and National Olympic Committees
to s ign the Earth Pledge w hereby the components of the Oly mpic Movement
undertook to c ontribute, to the bes t of their ability , to making the Earth a safe and
hospitable home for pres ent and future generations.
• In 1994, after the clos ing of the XV II Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer during
w hich spec ial emphasis had been laid on environmental protection, the IOC
President signed a c ooperation agreement w ith the United Nations Env ironment
Programme to develop joint initiatives in this field.
• The Centennial Olympic Congress, Congress of Unity, held in Paris in 1994 also
highlighted the importance of this topic by devoting an entire s ession to the
relations hip exis ting betw een sport and the environment. This interest w as taken a
step further w ith the setting up of the Study Commiss ion of the Centennial
Congress, w hose rec ommendations w ere approved by the 105th IOC Sess ion in
Atlanta, United States, in July 1996: