Winners
from Ethiopia, India, France, Norway, Papua
New Guinea and United States Receive Coveted
Awards at Gala Event in Paris
Paris, 22 April 2009
- Six tireless innovators of positive environmental
change and an inspirational anti-poverty
organization from Africa were today named
as the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP)
2009 Champions of the Earth.
This year's winners
are: Norwegian Environment Minister Erik
Solheim; tropical forest and climate campaigner
Kevin Conrad; photographic and public awareness
pioneer Yann Arthus-Bertrand; wind power
entrepreneur Tulsi Tanti; biomimicry specialist
Janine Benyus; recycling innovator Ron Gonen;
and the youth-empowering Ethiopian organization
Tena Kebena.
All seven laureates
gathered in Paris on Earth Day to receive
their trophies at a gala event attended
by more than 200 personalities from business,
politics and civil society.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General
and Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme, who presented the
awards to the winners, said: "Today
we celebrate and honour seven catalysts
of positive environmental change who, through
the worlds of politics, business, science,
photography, resource efficiency and civil
society have challenged the status quo and
demonstrated across communities and countries
new and transformational solutions to persistent
and emerging environmental threats."
"Passion, creativity, intellect, vision
and drive unites each of our 2009 winners
- key qualities urgently needed with less
than 230 days to go to the crucial UN climate
convention meeting in December. Qualities
also essential to turn the current and coming
crises into an opportunity to realize a
sustainable, Green Economy for the 21st
century," he said.
This year, the awards
- which are hosted in conjunction with the
annual Business for the Environment Summit
(B4E) - moved away from geographical distribution
to recognize achievements in the areas of
Policy Leadership, Science and Innovation,
Entrepreneurial Vision, Inspiration and
Action, and Next-Generation Champions.
Policy Leadership: Erik
Solheim and Kevin Conrad
Erik Solheim, Norway's
Minister of Environment and Minister of
Development, has been a key supporter of
environmental actions at national and global
levels throughout his political career,
spearheading for example the early implementation
of REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation.
He also paved the way
for Norway's membership as one of the founders
of UNEP's Climate Neutral Network, catalyzing
his country's action towards a low carbon
society.
Erik Solheim said: "This
award recognizes the need for policy leadership
and concerted action on environment and
development, with forests as a case in point.
17.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions
stem from forest activities. It is therefore
crucial that countries agree to include
reduced emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation in a new global climate
regime. This will help us keep within the
2 degrees target, thereby avoiding the most
dangerous effects of climate change."
His fellow laureate
Kevin Conrad, the Executive Director of
the Coalition of Rainforest Nations, hit
the headlines at the 2007 UN Bali climate
change talks when he urged the United States
to take leadership on climate change.
Mr Conrad has become
a tireless and vocal campaigner on better
aligning fiscal and market incentives for
improved management of tropical forests
that better capture the economically-central
services they provide to communities and
to the global community.
Millions of dollars
are now flowing into new and more creative
ways of tropical forest management. It is
likely that when governments gather in Copenhagen
in December for the UN climate meeting,
these efforts will bear even greater fruit
triggering substantial flows into forestry
conservation and nature-based carbon storage.
Kevin Conrad said: "Beginning
today, we are obligated to catalyze a new
'Environmental Age' to safeguard our future.
Valuing the ecosystem services of tropical
rainforests is a necessary first step. To
take root, however, we will require more
hard-headed economics and less soft-headed
tree-hugging!"
Inspiration and Action:
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
French photographer
Yann Arthus-Bertrand has helped people around
the world see our planet in a new light
- beautiful, fragile, threatened - through
his breathtaking aerial photographs from
the remotest parts of the globe.
In 2005, Arthus-Bertrand
formed GoodPlanet.org, an environmental
organization whose objective is to educate
about sustainable development and urge individuals
across every culture and background to think
about the future of all of our planet's
inhabitants.
In recognition of his
environmental achievements, Yann Arthus-Bertrand
has been named as a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador.
His latest project is 'Vu du Ciel', a documentary
series broadcast on French television station
France 2 that uses High Definition video
and investigative journalism to document
environmental degradation around the globe.
The show celebrates scientists, environmentalists
and members of the public who are engaged
in the fight to save our planet.
Arthus-Bertrand is now
preparing a feature-length film about our
planet which will be distributed around
the globe on 5 June, World Environment Day.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
said: "I am happy to receive this distinction
because it comes from an organization whose
work I have admired for a long time. The
future of humanity rests on our ability
to protect our environment, for our very
existence depends on the life forms that
surround us. UNEP carries this message and
is trying to mobilize the citizens of the
planet, governments and businesses. This
is also what I am trying to do with my work
as a photographer and with GoodPlanet, the
organization I created. For we are all responsible
and we must all act for the planet and its
inhabitants."
Entrepreneurial Vision:
Tulsi Tanti and Ron Gonen
Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman
and Managing Director of Suzlon Energy,
the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer
in the world and the largest in Asia.
His company was an early
mover in the multi-billion dollar renewable
energy industry, exploring wind energy in
the late 11000s as an alternative to costly
and erratic electricity supply to its textile
business. Suzlon has successfully demonstrated
that renewables are not just a business
opportunity for the developed economies,
but a major contribution to the sustainable
development of the developing world a key
element towards a low carbon, Green Economy.
Tulsi Tanti said: "I
am proud and honoured to receive this award
and dedicate it to the 14000 strong Suzlon
family, who have worked hard to convert
my dreams into reality. Wind energy is the
industry that in my opinion, will help kick-start
the global economy in this hour of crisis.
It is indeed a business for the environment,
that has brought about true social, economic,
ecological and sustainable development."
Environmental activist
Ron Gonen's brainchild, RecycleBank, has
helped increase recycling to over 90 per
cent in many communities across the United
States through a reward system.
The company, which has
now spread to 18 states, is also working
with schools and is running a pilot program
with New York City's Columbia University
where special recycling kiosks are set up
in cafeterias and dorms. To date, RecycleBank
households have diverted thousands of tonnes
of recyclables from landfills, saving over
98 million gallons of oil and more than
one million trees.
Ron Gonen said: "RecycleBank
is demonstrating that when financial incentives
are aligned, people make the correct environmental
choice. For me, this award is recognition
that if you are willing to work hard enough,
if you are willing to never give up, that
what starts as an idea may one day be recognized
as a global movement."
Science and innovation:
Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus, the winner
in the Science and Innovation category,
is a pioneer and champion of the biomimicry
movement who is at the helm of the eco-design
revolution.
Her 1997 book 'Biomimicry:
Innovation Inspired by Nature' inverts the
way we all think about design, industrial
processes and areas from pharmaceuticals
to energy developments. Ms Benyus's central
theme is that, by unraveling and learning
how plants, animals and life-forms like
bacteria have evolved over millennia, many
of the innovations and solutions to the
world's pressing problems can be found setting
the stage for new, biologically-based businesses
and jobs.
Ms Benyus's work is
a powerful argument for conservation of
biodiversity, not just for its own sake,
but as a key survival strategy for humanity
and a central natural resource.
Janine Benyus said:
"A sustainable world already exists,
in the prairies, forests, tundras, and coral
reefs of our planet. The search for solutions
to problems like climate change should start
here, emulating life-enhancing technologies
that have been field tested for 3.8 billion
years. This award is a great honor for all
those who are shaping the emerging field
of biomimicry, innovation inspired by nature."
Next-Generation Champions:
Tena Kebena
The Next-Generation
Champions category was created to celebrate
the new generation of dynamic, passionate
individuals and organizations around the
world who are making a real difference for
the environment. The winners are Tena Kebena,
an organization in Ethiopia that brings
together around 80 children and youth who
have been mostly orphaned by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
The group cleans up
and rehabilitates garbage dumpsites around
the city of Addis Ababa through reforestation,
turning mountains of trash into hills green
with trees, herbs and flowers.
The sites are also used
for urban agriculture - on what used to
be a waste pile, the young gardeners are
churning out lush rows of vegetables through
organic methods and waste water collection.
And agricultural produce and herbal medicines
grown from the urban farm are sold to provide
funding for the project and for the children's
learning activities.
Tigist Tsegaye, a member
of the Tena Kebena organization, said: "The
Champions of the Earth award is opening
the door to us for everything. With this
award, we can grow and go further. This
is a big thing for all the youth in the
world, especially in Africa, and it is a
very good opportunity for the next generation."
Notes to editors:
Champions of the Earth
is an international environment award established
in 2004 by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). The annual prize rewards
individuals from around the globe who have
made a significant and recognized contribution
globally, regionally and beyond, to the
protection and sustainable management of
the Earth's environment and natural resources.
Candidates are judged by a senior UNEP panel
with input from UNEP's regional offices.
No monetary reward is
attached to the prize -each laureate receives
a trophy specially designed for the occasion
with environmentally-friendly materials.
Past Champions of the
Earth winners include among others: Helen
Clark, the former Prime Minister of New
Zealand; Prince Albert II of Monaco; Ms.
Massoudeh Ebtekar, the former Vice President
of Iran; H.E. Mikhail Gorbachev of the Russian
Federation; H.R.H. Prince Hassan Bin Talal
of Jordan; Jacques Rogge and the International
Olympic Committee; and Al Gore, the former
Vice President of the United States.
For more information
visit the UNEP Champions of the Earth official
website http://www.unep.org/champions/
The Business for the
Environment Summit brings together hundreds
of leaders from business, civil society,
international organizations and governments
in Paris on 22-23 April to discuss ways
of powering green growth around the globe.
The conference is co-hosted by UNEP and
the UN Global Compact.
For more information visit www.b4esummit.com
For More Information Please Contact
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson
Anne-France White, Associate Information
Officer
