In September 2012, Earth Charter Italy held a 20-year anniversary event of the original Rio Earth Summit in Valmasino, a village in the Lombardy alpine region of Italy. More than 1,000 people attended the event. The Earth Charter Italy affiliate from Federazione Nazionale Pro Natura, Mr. Corrado Maria Daclon, introduced the Earth Charter and recounted its history. During the event, Mr. Daclon presented an award of service to Mr. Giancarlo Morandi for his support and national and international actions to promote the Earth Charter.
Mr. Morandi, an Earth Charter supporter since 2002, is well known for his strong social commitment combined with a series of concrete international actions aimed to foster sustainable development and environmental protection. In 2002 as President of COBAT – National Consortium for Collection and Recycling established by the Ministry of Environment – Mr. Morandi planned a mission to Himalaya in order to collect all spent lead-acid batteries abandoned at the Mount Everest’s base camp; in 2005 near Lake Titicaca in Peru he promoted and supported a training program for a hundred students on technologies for the production of solar panels. In 2007 and 2008 he financed the installation of photovoltaic panels in Choglamsar, India at the Tibetan Children’s Village, which houses about 1,500 orphans and children of Tibetan refugees in exile between the ages of 3 and 17. In 2010, again in Choglamsar he supported part of a reconstruction project of a refugee camp destroyed by a devastating flood. In Italy, he has been promoting several ongoing social and environmental initiatives. His dedication and his determination to the realization of the principles of sustainability was inspired by the United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro 20 years ago and he has been a committed supporter of the Earth Charter campaign in Italy for more than ten years.