Red noses support Wangari's Green Belt (among other things)

This morning's Radio 4 programme The Reunion told the story of Comic Relief: how it was launched in 1985; how the idea first emerged as a response to the crippling famine in Ethiopia in 1984; how the idea of Red Nose developed; and the "chaos, panic and tears" surrounding the first TV extravaganza. (Tonight's extravaganza starts at 7pm.)

In the intervening years, other issues have risen in prominence, including climate change. In 2006, Comic Relief commissioned research to understand better the impact of climate change on the world's poorest. The research made clear that the world's poorest were facing a climate change "triple whammy":

"they didn't cause it, they are most affected by it, and are least able to afford even simple measures that could protect them from the damaging impacts that are already unavoidable."

One of the eight pilot programmes that have followed from this, we are delighted to see, has been the support of Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

Professor Maathai was the keynote speaker at the Ashden Awards in 2008.