Tromso/Nairobi, 4 June
2007—The short-list for the prestigious
UNEP Sasakawa Prize was announced today
on the occasion of World Environment Day
(WED) in Norway.
• They include an individual who has pioneered
and catalysed urban forestry in South Africa
as a way to food security and local action
on climate change.
• A group that is boosting rural incomes
by spreading environmental education and
renewable energies via the use of flat-bottomed
boats and solar power on Bangladeshi's river
system.
• A woman who has brought climate-friendly
rice production, rainwater harvesting and
biogas power to tens of thousands of villagers
in rural India.
The short-list will be discussed on 30
July by a distinguished panel of judges
including Wangari Maathai, the 2005 Nobel
Peace laureate; Angela Cropper, Senator
for Trinidad and Tobago, Wakako Hironaka,
the former Minister of the Environment of
Japan, Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director
and Yvo de Boer, Executive Director of the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), said: "These extraordinary
candidates have worked selflessly to transform
challenges facing the rural and urban poor
into opportunities for sustainable forms
of development. In doing so they have also
addressed the urgent need to reduce carbon
emissions and adapt to climate change not
via global international agreements but
by practical action at the grass roots".
"One has focused on the link between
forestry and improved standards of living
in South African cities like Port Elizabeth
and Kimberley while another has brought
clean energy and environmental education
to more than 400,000 in the remote Chalanbeel
region of Bangladesh by harnessing river-based
transport," he said.
"The third candidate has matched the
development needs of the people of Kerala,
in particular women, and simple but life-transforming
technologies such as rainwater harvesting
and biogas. I am sure the judges will have
tough time finding an overall winner,"
added Mr Steiner who was in Tromso for WED.
Jeunesse Park
Jeunesse Park, Chief Executive Officer of
Food and Trees for Africa, began working
with local authorities and communities initially
in Gauteng to develop parks, nurseries,
street trees and other greening projects
in the early 11000s.
The forestry projects, which began 12 years
ago, not only improve the local environment
but assist in food security for local people
and removing carbon from the atmosphere.
"There's a huge rush of interest in
sustainable development and related issues.
Suddenly people are fascinated by what we
do—from all levels of government to the
private sector, international NGOs and the
general public. Everyone is expressing the
desire to plant a tree," said Ms Park.
More programmes have been added to reflect
the public interest—Trees for Homes, Eduplant
and the
Urban Greening Foundation.
Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha (SSS)
Over nearly two decades, this Bangladeshi-based
NGO has travelled from remote farm to remote
farm bringing an estimated 87,000 villagers
annually new sustainable management techniques
to tackle soil erosion, ground and water
contamination, over-fishing and habitat
destruction.
Close to 90 flat-bottomed boats allow volunteers
and experts to access some of the most remote
communities in the country with the water
transport utilizing solar power and mobile
phones for Internet access in order to bring
education, especially to women in a country
where literacy rates are only just over
40 per cent.
SSS, whose chief executive is Abul Hasanat
Mohammed Rezwan, also uses the Internet
to check on farm prices so the communities
can get the best prices at market. Overall,
incomes in SSS visited villages have increased
to such an extent that residents can now
pay children's education expenses and gain
access to good health care.
Omana T.K
When she as 26 years-old, Ms Omana sold
of all her assets to found the Rural Agency
for Social and Technological Advancement
in 1989 in the Wayanad District of Kerala.
It marked a revolution in the role of women
in the community and also triggered a successful
rain-water harvesting movement in the region
which has led to about 60,000 rain pits
being established and 50 community-based
water use and conservation-monitoring committees.
The rainwater ensures potable water in
the summer and has taken pressure off ground
water supplies.
Ms Omana has also contributed to community-based
initiatives that contribute to curbing climate
change including the use smokeless Chullah
that has reduced firewood consumption by
50 per cent and the installation of close
to 2,000 composting tanks producing 7,000
tons of organic manure annually.
Other projects include the development
of rice production that practically eliminates
methane emissions and the promotion of biogas
systems as an alternative source of energy.
Notes to Editors
The award ceremony for the USD 200,000 UNEP
Sasakawa Prize will take place at the Museum
of Natural History on 1 November in New
York. For more information please visit
http://www.unep.org/sasakawa/
The UNEP Sasakawa Prize acts as an incentive
for environmental efforts that are sustainable
and replicable in the long-term. It recognizes
innovation, groundbreaking research and
ideas, and extraordinary grassroots initiatives
from around the world. The UNEP Sasakawa
Prize is sponsored by the Japan-based Nippon
Foundation, an independent, non-profit grant-making
organization that supports both domestic
and international philanthropic projects.
The UNEP Sasakawa Prize was originally established
in 1982 by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa. The
Prize was re-launched in its current format
in 2005, and is currently chaired by Mr.
Sasakawa's son, Yohei Sasakawa.
The three candidates were short-listed
by Daniel Schrag, Director of Harvard University's
Center for the Environment; Richard Ottinger,
Pace University Law School and Zamba Batjargal,
former minister of the Environment for Mongolia
and Eric Falt, Director, Division of Communications
and Public Information, United Nations Environment
Programme.
For More Information Please Contact Nick
Nuttall,
+ More
Ivory Sales Get the Go-ahead
The Hague, 2 June 2007 - The Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has approved
exports of elephant ivory from Botswana
(20 tons of ivory), Namibia (10 tons) and
South Africa (30 tons).
The exports were agreed in principle in
2002 but were made conditional on the establishment
of up-to-date and comprehensive baseline
data on elephant poaching and population
levels.
Today's meeting of the CITES Standing Committee
(which oversees the implementation of CITES
decisions between the major conferences)
determined that this condition has been
satisfied and that the exports may proceed.
"The CITES Secretariat will closely
supervise these new exports and monitor
future trends in elephant poaching and population
levels throughout Africa. By basing future
decisions on reliable field data, CITES
can develop an approach to elephant ivory
that benefits States relying on elephants
for tourism as well as those seeking income
from elephant products in order to finance
wildlife conservation," said the Secretary-General
of the Convention, Mr. Willem Wijnstekers.
CITES banned the international commercial
ivory trade in 1989. Then, in 1997, recognizing
that some southern African elephant populations
were healthy and well managed; it permitted
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to make a
one-time sale of ivory to Japan totalling
50 tons. This sale took place in 1999 and
amounted to some USD 5 million.
In 2004, requests by several southern African
States for annual ivory quotas were not
accepted by the Conference of the Parties
(CoP) to the Convention. Legal sales of
ivory derive from existing stocks gathered
from elephants that have died as a result
of natural causes or problem-animal control.
Today the elephant populations of southern
Africa are listed in Appendix II of the
Convention (which allows trade through a
permit system), while all other elephant
populations are listed in Appendix I (which
prohibits all imports for commercial purposes).
The long-running global debate over elephants
has focused on the benefits that income
from ivory sales may bring to conservation
and to local communities living side-by-side
with large and sometimes dangerous animals,
weighed against concerns that such sales
may increase poaching. The baseline data
will make it possible to determine objectively
what impact future ivory sales may have
on elephant populations and poaching.
In a related but separate decision, the
Standing Committee has also decided that
Japan has established sufficiently strong
domestic trade control systems to be granted
the status of trading partner allowed to
import the approved ivory.
Note to journalists: For more information,
see www.cites.org, and in particular the
Standing Committee meeting documents at
http://www.cites.org/eng/com/SC/55/E55-10-2.pdf
and http://www.cites.org/eng/com/SC/55/E55-10-1.pdf
and the 2002 agreement on ivory at www.cites.org/eng/cop/12/Adopted_Amendments.pdf
(pages 5 to 8), or contact Juan Carlos Vasquez
at + 31 6 10615136 or Vasquez@cites2007.com
or Fatma Gordon at + 31 6 22 293 372.
