2006
United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa
Prize Laureates Honoured in New York
New York/Nairobi, 01 November
2006 – The laureates of the 2006 United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) Sasakawa Prize are
being honoured today for their efforts to combat
desertification by United Nations Under-Secretary-General
and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner in a
gala ceremony at the American Museum of Natural
History, Rose Centre for Earth and Space, in New
York, USA.
Two grassroot initiatives –
the Tenadi Cooperative Group of Mauritania, and
Rodrigo Vivas Rosas, leader of the Inter-institutional
Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture (CIPASLA)
in Colombia – are this year's recipients. They
are recognized for their achievements in combating
desertification and land degradation—a major local
and global problem that threatens the lives and
livelihoods of two billion people inhabiting the
planet’s dry and arid areas.
Mr Steiner said: " The
UNEP Sasakawa Prize recognizes extraordinary grassroots
initiatives from around the world. Its purpose
is to nurture innovation, research, initiatives
and ideas by offering prestige, and, not least,
financial support. This year's winners are playing
their part in reversing land degradation and improving
the lives and livelihoods of dryland dwellers.
We believe they stand as an example of what can
be done with few resources but a lot of determination."
The award underlines that many
of the solutions to overcoming the global threat
of desertification reside in the hands of local
grassroots communities and indigenous peoples,
including women and small-scale farmers.
Mr Vivas Rosas, one of the laureates,
said: "I accept this prize in recognition
of the hundreds of families that now believe and
value the importance of caring for water, and
the use of preservation alternatives in rain water
harvesting. Their leadership has contributed to
the development of a new culture on water, resulting,
in the immediate future, into a public policy
in Colombia, and hopefully not only there, but
throughout the region and maybe world-wide."
" Fighting poverty and
desertification is a task for all, and it is clear
that the ruling economic model in Latin America
is unsustainable, both from an ecological and
conservation of water standpoint. Our entire planet
is suffering from extreme water resource waste
and degradation. Reflecting on the beauty, richness
and potential of our countries, with their landscapes,
peoples and struggles, and where waters spring
along the way as a symbol of hope, rejoices us
as well as worries us – mainly due to the deterioration
of the protective forest zones, diminishing everything
due to the unjustified actions of men."
Speaking on behalf of the Tenadi
Cooperative, Mr Sidi El Moctar Ould Waled said:
"Despite our limited resources and the persistent
nature of environmental problems, we take heart
from being awarded this prize, which demonstrates
that we were right to choose not to give up. This
choice, which involves the participation of all
those concerned at all stages of the decision-making
process, from the identification to the realization
of projects, requires continuous training, awareness
raising, the assumption of responsibility and
constant dialogue with the members of the cooperative."
He added: " The people
of Tenadi have also asked me to extend to all
those present an invitation to visit them in Tenadi.
When the Sasakawa prize winners were announced,
one of the members of the cooperative said, 'The
prize is an honour to us and has made it possible
for the world to hear the voice of at least one
of those without a voice.”
The new UNEP Sasakawa Prize,
worth US$200,000 is awarded annually. The Prize,
considered one of the most prestigious environmental
awards in the world, recognizes innovative research
and ideas and extraordinary grassroots initiatives
from around the world.
Each laureate’s scope of activities
is associated with an environmental theme selected
for the year. In 2006, the theme was ‘Deserts
and Desertification’.
The Winners
The Tenadi Cooperative
The years of persistent drought
since 1973 in the Sahel, and in Mauritania in
particular, have killed 90 per cent of livestock
and annihilated the hopes of the nomadic people
who have been living there for centuries.
In response to this natural
disaster and its serious consequences, which include,
desertification, encroachment by sand, loss of
flocks and a rural exodus, many nomads have decided
to come together in creating new activities and
to initiate a struggle to survive against very
hostile natural elements.
As part of this struggle, the
Tenadi Cooperative, led by Mr. Sidi El Moctar
Ould Waled, has developed a range of innovative
techniques to combat desertification. They include
solving the problem of drinking water by sinking
boreholes with immersed pumps, improving and reforesting
an area of 80 hectares around the boreholes to
stop the movement of dunes, backed up by a Prosopis
nursery for planting windbreaks, and creating
a date palm oasis where a diverse range of crops
can be grown under the palms.
Due to the activities of the
Cooperative, a large number of families have chosen
to settle around the Tenadi oasis. People are
being trained in new income generating agricultural
techniques, including introducing new crops in
a desert environment through the regeneration
of flora which were rapidly becoming extinct.
Mr. Sidi El Moctar Ould Waled,
President of the Cooperative, said: “This Prize
honors the Tenadi Cooperative and its members
and the people of Mauritania. It also confirms
that the efforts undertaken by the Cooperative
to address the challenges of desertification have
borne fruit. Our initiatives serve as an example
to many other communities who are fighting desertification
in Mauritania and throughout West Africa.”
Rodrigo Hernan Vivas Rosas
Mr. Vivas Rosas, leader of the
Inter-institutional Consortium for Sustainable
Agriculture (CIPASLA)-- an alliance between 16
organizations and nearly 6,500 people living in
a 7,000-hectare area that encompasses 23 rural
districts -- has implemented solutions that are
technically viable and environmentally sustainable
regarding the use of water, especially rainwater.
The partners in this effort include government
and non-governmental organizations, a foundation
established by ex-guerillas and an association
of indigenous people.
Mr. Vivas Rosas also leads the
way for REDLAYC – a food security and sustainable
development regional entity, and is regional counselor
for ECOFONDO, a consortium of regional environmental
organizations.
His activities span the Andean
region and his achievements have resulted in a
dent in the poverty that helps to perpetuate local
guerilla activity, the production of illicit crops
and the flow of migrants to Colombian cities.
Mr Vivas Rosas integrated models
and approaches are considered by many to be a
kind of laboratory for sustainably managing hillside
environments threatened by desertification and
plagued with a lack of resources.
Through these applications and
methodologies, several of his initiatives are
and are aiming to develop an institutional model
for organizing community efforts to combat desertification,
poverty and resource degradation.
The co-winner is also working
towards creating computerized models that would
enable research and development organizations
and community groups to make sound resource management
decisions.
Mr. Vivas Rosas said: “It is
a great honour for me to receive this award. I
am very pleased to obtain this recognition, which
is very significant and motivating for my personal
work and for our organization”.
"I always thought we could
replicate successful sustainable development initiatives
in Colombia. Thanks to the support of international
organizations, this has become possible. It is
now feasible to promote a culture of harvesting
and using rainwater in Colombia. This should become
public policy and a priority for all local and
regional governments," he added.
Note to Editors
- A complete biography and photographs
of Mr. Vivas Rosas and the Tenadi Cooperative
are available.
- The UNEP Sasakawa Prize, sponsored
by The Nippon Foundation and founded by the late
Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa, is awarded annually to individuals
who have made outstanding contributions in a specific
environmental field.
- The Prize winners were selected
on 22 June 2006 by an independent and distinguished
Jury of international leaders and environmentalists,
including 2004 Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor
Wangari Maathai; Ms Wakako Hironaka, Member of
the House of Councillors, The National Diet of
Japan and former Minister of the Environment;
Ms. Angela Cropper, a Senator in Trinidad and
Tobago, Board member of IUCN (International Conservation
Union) and President of the Cropper Foundation,
and UNEP’s Executive Director, Mr. Achim Steiner.
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, Office of the
Executive Director
