Spain
Spain is donating €1 billion over the next five years to help developing nations improve food security, and is donating another US$48 million to Nicaragua for social development programs and improving housing for the less fortunate.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD)
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development in Abu Dhabi, which has implemented over US$6 billion worth of projects, is adding 8 more nations to its financial aid program, a total of 60 nations will receive assistance in the forms of low-interest loans and grants in 2009.

Indonesia, Libya, China, OPEC Fund for International Development, the United Kingdom, Norway, Lebanon, US Muslims, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Free Gaza Movement, Cyprus
International aid arrived in Gaza to help Palestinians: the United States announced a US$85 million donation to the West Bank and Gaza; the United Kingdom donates US$10 million; Norway sends US$4.3 million; Muslims in the US raised US$3 million; China, Lebanon, and the OPEC Fund
for International Development pledged US$1 million each; Indonesia announced the assistance would be increased to US$900,000; Jordan committed to daily shipments of humanitarian aid, while Her Majesty Queen Rania donated blood as part of the national drive; Egypt opened the Rafah border to support medical relief and delivered 65 tons of aid contributed by the country and other countries;
Saudi Arabia promised daily deliveries of medical supplies; Cyprus donated 3 tons of supplies; Libya delivered humanitarian aid; and the Free Gaza Movement sent aid workers.

Germany, European Union, Sweden, South Korea
Germany offered US$15.3 million in humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip, while the European Union donated US$4.2 million, Sweden contributed US$1.3 million, and South Korea gave US$300,000.

Saudi Arabia and Algeria
Saudi Arabia donates US$8 million and Algeria delivers a second round of humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.

Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia donates US$4 million to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to provide food relief to Palestinians in Gaza.

Canada
Canada donates US$3.3 million in humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza.

Australian Agency for International Development
The Australian Agency for International Development will donate over US$3 million to the Roll Back Malaria project of the World Health Organization and the Philippines. 

Fred Hollows Fund
The Fred Hollows Fund announced plans to donate US$2.5 million to the second phase of an eye care program that will benefit approximately 16,000 blind people in Âu Lạc (Vietnam).

Iran
Iran has donated 25 million liters of fuel to Afghanistan to help with the cold winter and US$2 million for drought relief.

Japan
Japan will donate US$1.35 million in assistance to China’s quake affected region for the construction of healthcare facilities and schools, as well as medical equipment.

Alcoa Foundation
US-based Alcoa Foundation donated over US$400,000 to various organizations in Jamaica including relief aid for a storm-damaged home of children with disabilities.

Japan
Japan donates over US$250,000 to three Aulacese (Vietnamese) hospitals as part of the country’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots and Human Security Projects.

Chien-Ming Wang
Chien-Ming Wang, a Formosan (Taiwanese) pitcher for the New York Yankees, provides over US$150,000 to establish a fund for helping disadvantaged children achieve their goals in life.

Australia
Australia donates nearly US$100,000 to assist Fiji in recovering from heavy rains and flooding.

Formosa (Taiwan)
Formosa (Taiwan) donated 200 metric tons of rice to the island nation of Kiribati to help ease food shortages.

Greece
A Greek military plane delivered 13 tons of medical supplies to the Gaza Strip in Palestine as part of the nation’s humanitarian initiative, “Bridge of Hope.”

Venezuela
The Venezuelan government dispatches 12.5 tons of medicine and food relief to Palestinian Gaza, with plans to donate 80 additional tons of food.

Egypt and Argentina
Egypt has launched a 3-month program to deliver food to Gaza, Palestine, while Argentina sent a team of pediatric surgeons.

European Parliament
The European Parliament officially recognized livestock’s contribution to global warming and recommended a review of subsidies to the livestock industry to bring about a reduction in methane.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International,United Kingdom,Germany
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International and the British and German governments pledge US$630 million to supply immunizations for children through the United Nations World Health Organization over the next 5 years.

Smile Train
Smile Train, a US-based charity that offers free surgery to low-income patients with cleft lip and palate, is raising funds to treat all children in China over the next five years.

John Gormley
John Gormley, Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, acknowledged that going vegetarian may be a good solution to curb climate change.

Metro and Le Figaro newspapers
Metro, France’s free daily newspaper, reported that one’s nutritional needs can be fully met through a plant-based diet, free of meat and fish, while Le Figaro, a French newspaper, featured an article that highlighted the importance of the vegetarian diet from an environmental point of view.

The New Nation news magazine
The New Nation, a Bangladeshi news magazine reports on the 10 most important factors in successfully addressing climate change that include green technologies and revised lifestyles such as reducing meat consumption.

Ukraine
Ukraine has banned the advertising of tobacco and alcohol products in foreign media, both outdoors and on television.

World Diabetes Foundation, Denmark
World Diabetes Foundation, Denmark supplies 70% of the funding for the Mobile Diabetic Foot and Vascular Evaluation Clinic launched by the Jain Institute of Vascular Sciences of Bangalore, India to service almost 200 rural villages.

Leonardo and Louise Riggio
Leonardo Riggio, Chairman of major book retailer Barnes and Noble, and his wife Louise gifted 20 homes to 20 Hurricane Katrina survivor families through their Project Home Again. 

Gong Yulin
Gong Yulin, an small businessman in Chongqing, China, has donated his own money to support the education of 15 less fortunate students over the past 7 years.

Tzipi Livni
Tzipi Livni, the vegetarian Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel, helped pass a bill that bans the force-feeding of geese in Israel and participated in Israel’s first Animal Rights Day which is marked by Knesset(Israel parliament) as a day without meat in restaurants.

The Saudi Gazette
The Saudi Gazette, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest newspapers, publishes quotes from the Qu’ran that encourages kind animal welfare and treatment from an Islamic perspective.

Ranger Donnell and Utah State Parks team
Ranger Joe Donnell and the Utah State Parks 10-member team worked together to rescue four deer trapped in ice on a lake near Salt Lake City in Utah, USA.

Firefighters in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania, USA
Firefighters in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania, USA, tried for 3 hours and finally succeeded in rescuing and reviving Romeo, a Shih Tzu puppy, who had fallen into a well.

Italy
Italy ranks first in Europe both in the number of organic farms and organic cultivated land area.

James LeVoy Sorenson, Peter G. Peterson, Harold Alfond, David G. Booth, Donald B. Stabler, Dorothy Clarke Patterson, Helen L. Kimmel, Frank C. Doble, Jeffrey S. Skoll, Gerhard R. Andlinger, Eli Broad, Philip H. Knight, David H. Koch, Kenneth G. Langone, David Rockefeller, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ
Sixteen of the wealthiest individuals in the US who pledged over US$100 million or more in 2008 include: James LeVoy Sorenson, Chairman of Sorenson Development, US$4.5 billion; Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the Blackstone Group, and his wife Joan Ganz Cooney, US$1 billion; Harold Alfond, founder of Dexter Shoe Company, US$360 million; David G. Booth, founder of Dimensional
Fund Advisors, and his wife, Suzanne, US$300 million; Donald B. Stabler, founder of Stabler Companies, and his wife, Dorothy, US$300 million; Dorothy Clarke Patterson, US$225 million; Helen L. Kimmel, US$150 million; Frank C. Doble, founder of Doble Engineering Company, US$272 million; Jeffrey S. Skoll, former president of eBay, US$110.8 million; Gerhard R. Andlinger, founder of Andlinger & Company, US$100 million; Eli Broad, Founding chairman of KB Home Corporation and SunAmerica, and his wife, Edythe, US$100 million; Philip H. Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, and his wife, Penny, US$100 million; David H. Koch, executive vice president of Koch Industries, US$100 million; Kenneth G. Langone, co-founder of the Home Depot retail chain, and his wife, Elaine, US$100 million; David Rockefeller, retired chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, US$100 million; Stephen A. Schwarzman, co-founder of the Blackstone Group, US$100 million; and Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ, co-founders Systems Research Laboratories, US$94.8 million.

China
The Chinese government donates US$1.3 billion in a living allowance to help an estimated 74 million people enjoy the Lunar New Year. 

European Union
The European Union is assisting Nigeria with a €120 million grant to support the country’s development of the water sector.

China Charity Federation
The China Charity Federation donates US$59.8 million for reconstruction projects to rebuild quake-stricken Sichuan Province. 

United States Centers for Disease Control
The United States Centers for Disease Control launches a US$9 million vaccination program to
prevent cervical cancer in 30,000 girls in Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.

World Vision Canada
World Vision Canada has donated US$ 4.7 million in cholera medicine to Zimbabwe to aid the nation’s efforts to eliminate the disease

Australia
Australia donates a further US$3.25 million as emergency assistance to the population of Gaza to be distributed by the United Nations and numerous Australian non-profit organizations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) constructs and donates a fully-equipped US$1.8 million rehabilitation center for the disabled in southern Sudan. 

The World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Organization of Islamic Conference
The World Assembly of Muslim Youth donates US$1.3 million to assistant families in Gaza, Palestine, and the Organization of Islamic Conference sends seven trucks filled with over 170 tons of humanitarian aid.

Finland
Finland donates US$675,000 in humanitarian assistance through the Finnish Red Cross to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs donates US$460,000 to provide emergency shelter for over 1,100 homeless families affected by the floods in Colombia. 

United Nations Children’s Fund Bulgaria and Sofia Municipality
The United Nations Children’s Fund Bulgaria contributes almost US$400,000 for the upgrade of one residence and the construction of a new one for Bulgarian orphans in an agreement with Sofia Municipality.

New Zealand
New Zealand announces an additional US$275,000 donation to Fiji to assist thousands who have been displaced by flooding.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees provides US$100,000 to expand a pre-school and opens a public bathhouse for 9,500 naturalized refugees in the district of Ivanovka in Kyrgyzstan.

China
China’s Foreign Ministry donates US$100,000 in emergency relief aid to Costa Rica to assist in the restoration of areas afflicted by the recent earthquake.

Kenya’s Foreign Ministry
Kenya’s Foreign Ministry donates US$100,000 in aid to help Cuba recover from the damage of hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma.

Monaco
The Principality of Monaco donates €56,000 to UNICEF for the benefit of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Formosa (Taiwan)
Formosa (Taiwan) donates US$50,000 to BirdLife International in the United Kingdom to support forest preservation endeavors in Asia.

Slovenia
Slovenia donates €50,000 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to benefit Palestinians in Gaza. 

Estonia
Estonia donates €32,000 to the United Nations World Food Program to provide food for North Korea.

Thailand
Thailand pledges US$28,000 for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.

American adoptive parents
A group of American parents with adopted children from Guatemala sent US$30,000 in aid to indigenous families in the country as part of the “Helping Mayan Families” program.

Florence Doi and Takeshi Terada
Ms. Florence Doi and Mr. Takeshi Terada, a retired elderly couple from Haiwaii, USA, sent US$20,000 to Cambodia to help build a church and support an orphanage from the funds they raised by collecting and recycling bottles with the support from church groups and others.

Qatar’s Indonesian community
Qatar’s Indonesian community has raised over US$20,000 to be donated for humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza.

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan
Formosan (Taiwanese) Premier Liu Chao-shiuan donates US$12,000 to assist disadvantaged children as part of a campaign to raise funds for public education. 

United States
The United States donates 21,000 metric tons of food to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to help alleviate food shortages in the nation.

Venezuela
Venezuela sends 74 tons of food and medical supplies to help alleviate cholera in Zimbabwe.

India
India donates 1,700 tons of food, clothing,and personal items to 80,000 families in northern Sri Lanka.

The United Nations Children’s Fund
The United Nations Children’s Fund distributes the ready-to-eat peanut-based Plumpy-doz to nourish more than 100,000 children in Somalia.

His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan & His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
United Arab Emirates’ President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice President, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, pledge 1,200 houses for Palestinians in Gaza. 

Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry, Church of Greece, and Bangladesh
The Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry and Church of Greece sent a third shipment of humanitarian aid, while Bangladesh also pledged medical assistance for Palestinians in Gaza.

Luanda, Angola
In Luanda, Angola, 266 children reunited with their parents in 2008 through a government-sponsored family reunification program.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sri Lanka, and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society continue to assist almost 2 million people since the tsunami 4 years ago, completing 223 tsunami recovery projects throughout the country.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Âu Lạc’s (Vietnam) Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng calls for about 16,000 tons of rice to be distributed to those in need, including people affected by floods and in between growing seasons.

United States and Iraq
The US and Iraqi officials have opened a water treatment plant in the less fortunate area of Baghdad's Sadr City in Iraq to provide clean water fro 200,000 people.

Dr. Mohammad-Hassan Sheikholeslami
Dr. Mohammad-Hassan Sheikholeslami, a pathologist and professor at Shiraz University in Shiraz, Iran, holds the world record as being consistent and generous blood donor.

Jordanian Nurses Association
The Jordanian Nurses Association announces that 270 volunteer nurses are heading to Gaza to provide medical aid to Palestinians in need of immediate healthcare.

Jamaica Minnesota Organization and United Way of Jamaica 
The Jamaica Minnesota Organization in Minnesota, USA, joins with the United Way of Jamaica to raise US$12.7 million to aid people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth in Jamaica.

Bihar, India
In Bihar, India, prison officials approve the introduction of music therapy for inmates, including music instruction and the playing of instrumental, patriotic and religious music during the day.  

Mr. Ing. Richard J. Barták
Mr. Ing. Richard J. Barták, the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic advised the public at the fifth annual Vegetarian Day in Prague to reduce their meat consumption or become vegans or vegetarians to help curb global warming.

Scientific American magazine
US-based Scientific American magazine published the article, “How Meat Contributes to Global Warming,” stating that beef generates 57 times more greenhouse gases than potatoes and suggesting reduced meat consumption to protect the environment.

Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine Daily Inquirer publishes an article that advises minimizing meat consumption during the holidays, based on the recommendations of numerous experts.

Japan and the United Nations Children’s Fund
A grant from Japan to the United Nations Children’s Fund has made it possible for 250 primary schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo to have safe drinking water and sanitation facilities Bayer and Mission Australia Bayer, a German-based pharmaceutical company, partners with Mission Australia in an online Transform Homelessness campaign to help homeless Australians obtain shelter.

Ben Affleck and Sir Mick Jagger
Award-winning Hollywood actor Ben Affleck and music legend Sir Mick Jagger have created a short video entitled, “Gimme Shelter,” for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in which all proceeds will go toward humanitarian assistance for Congolese refugees.

US President Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama pledges to double US production of sustainable energy along with jobs in eco-friendly sectors over the next three years.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Alliance for a Green Revolution
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution teamed up to establish the African Soil Information Service with the goal to advise and assist in improving soil conditions to prevent food scarcity in Africa.

China
China has offered to help Pakistan cope with power shortages through a cooperative endeavor that involves manufacturing and selling equipment to generate solar energy in Pakistan.

United States
Plans for construction of 24 coal plants in the US have been cancelled, saving over 76 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Prince Albert
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco has embarked on a month-long expedition to see first-hand the effects of Global Warming at the South Pole, a similar trip to the one he took when he traveled to the North Pole in 2006.

Cindy McCain
Cindy McCain, wife of US Senator John McCain, tours a UN food warehouse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before traveling to maternity hospitals in India and Cambodia as part of her international aid work.

Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has joined PepsiCo Inc. in a decision to stop funding or conducting animal experiments.

Coolin, Idaho
About 30 local citizens of Coolin, Idaho in the US spent hours on the dangerous ice and successfully rescued and cared for a female moose after she has fallen through the ice at the local lake.

Dana Hager
Dana Hager of Kentucky, USA gave Donna Anderson a van when she read of her difficulties after her vehicle went missing.

Former US President George W. Bush
On January 6, 2009, then US President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the world’s largest marine protection zone with a total area of 505,000 square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean. 

McBride,  British Columbia,
Canada Over 40 people in and around the village of McBride in British Columbia, Canada, spent one week in below zero temperatures to dig out and rescued two horses trapped in the snow in Mount Renshaw.

San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos, Texas in the US passed a law requiring caregivers to have microchips for their animals for quick identification in the case of loss.

Actress Emma Thompson
Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson was among the first to join Greenpeace in purchasing a parcel of land near UK’s Heathrow Airport to protect the region from further development.

Anonymous Canadian donor
An anonymous Canadian donor gave US$220,000 to the Woodland Trust organization in the United Kingdom to assist in the purchasing of a woodland area near Derry in Northern Ireland, which will be planted with thousands of trees.