The Foundation for Environmental Education was established in 1981 as the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEEE). However, at its 20th anniversary general assembly, held in Copenhagen in 2001, the organisation decided, because of growing interest from outside
Europe, to become more global and dropped "Europe" from its name to become the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). The
Blue Flag Programme was launched in 1985 in France. In 1987, the idea of the award scheme was presented to FEE. This year was also the European Year for the Environment initiated by the European Union, so Blue Flag was launched on the European level (10 countries) in a partnership between FEE and the European Commission. In 1987, there were only five national FEE member organisations (
Italy,
Spain,
France,
Germany and
Denmark). After the launch of Blue Flag in other six European countries, FEE started to require organisations as members of FEE to run Blue Flag. In the late 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s, big constitutional changes were made for FEE. In 1994, the
Eco-Schools and the
Young Reporters for the Environment Programmes were implemented as second and third programmes of FEE. The
Learning about Forests (LEAF) programme started in 2000 and the
Green Key Programme in 2003. They were already nationally existing programmes before that but were implemented these to years as FEE programmes with the use of external steering committees. In the mid-1990s a co-operation with
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), was established and a manual for coastal zone management with the example of the Blue Flag was produced. With a further support from UNEP, workshops were held in
Caribbean,
Africa and
Asia. An interest grew rapidly in the Caribbean area and a very solid interest was shown from
South Africa. In 2003, FEE signed a “
Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) with UNEP which "formalises long-standing relationship between UNEP and FEE and provides a framework for long term co-operation on areas of common interest relating to education, training and public awareness for sustainable development globally". This MoU provides a solid basis for furthering the work already undertaken in collaboration between FEE and UNEP, in particular with regard to the introduction of FEE programmes and associated activities, particularly in developing countries and those with economies in transition. Another MoU was signed in 2007 with the UN World Tourism Organization, where especially the tourism related programmes of FEE was recognised. == FEE's Global Forest Fund ==