OCEANOGRAPHER SYLVIA EARLE AMONG 23 INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO RECEIVE UN ENVIRONMENT AWARD AT WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MOSCOW
Press Release
UNEP/28
OCEANOGRAPHER SYLVIA EARLE AMONG 23 INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO RECEIVE UN ENVIRONMENT AWARD AT WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MOSCOW
19980526 (Reissued as received.)NAIROBI, 25 May (UNEP) -- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that 23 individuals and organizations from 19 countries have been elected to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour, for their outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment.
Each of these success stories will be officially recognized on 5 June at a special award ceremony in Moscow. The event, hosted by UNEP, the City of Moscow and the Russian Federation, is part of this year's World Environment Day celebrations.
Among the laureates who will receive their award from UNEP's Executive Director Klaus Toepfer are Aga Akbar, a zookeeper from Afghanistan who lived 18 terrible months on the front lines rather than abandon his charges; Mike Anane, a journalist from Ghana whose gutsy articles brought to the fore the alarming rate of environmental destruction in his country; Sylvia Earle, of the United States, for her life-long commitment to deep-sea exploration; Yasuo Goto, a business leader from Japan, for making the environment an integral part of his company's policies; Greening Australia, for rehabilitating the country's vegetation; Jae-Bum Kim, of the Republic of Korea, for his unwavering commitment to educating young people about the environment; Feodor Konyukhov, an environmental globetrotter from the Russian Federation, who only uses environment-friendly modes of transport to promote the sustainable use of the Earth's resources; Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of the City of Moscow, for his commitment to sustainable urban development; Yongshun Ma, a retired lumberman from China, who has devoted the last part of his life to planting trees; and Don Merton, of New Zealand, for devising methods to improve the survival of bird species facing extinction.
The list of winners also includes six Global 500 Youth Environment Award laureates. Among them are École Propre/École Verte, an environmental education programme which, in five short years, has taken root in 92 schools throughout Guinea with more than 20,000 students participating; and Akima Paul, of Grenada, for raising environmental awareness on her Caribbean island.
"These environmental defenders have demonstrated that it is at the community and local level where action to protect the environment acquires its full meaning. In honouring them, UNEP hopes that their examples will inspire
and guide many other men, women and young people to join the global coalition dedicated to protecting the environment", said Mr. Toepfer.
Some 664 individuals and organizations, in both adult and youth categories, have been honoured since UNEP launched the Global 500 award in 1987. Among prominent past winners are the late French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and new Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO); Ken Saro-Wiwa, the environmental and human rights activist from Nigeria who was executed for leading the resistance of the Ogoni people against the pollution of their delta homeland; the World Wide Fund for Nature; Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; Jane Goodall, of the United Kingdom, whose research on wild chimpanzees and olive baboons provided insight into the lives of non-human primates; and the late Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was murdered during his fight to save the Amazon forest.
The UNEP looks to the world community to identify and nominate environmental advocates, so that they too can be recognized for their efforts. Nominations can be obtained from UNEP's headquarters, Global 500 Roll of Honour, Information and Public Affairs Branch, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, as well as from UNEP's regional offices.
LIST OF UNEP 1998 GLOBAL 500 LAUREATES
Adult Category
Aga Akbar Afghanistan Mike Anane Ghana Stephen O. Andersen United States Melih Boydak Turkey Valery Demianenko Ukraine Sylvia Earle United States Yasuo Goto Japan Greening Australia Australia Jae-Bum Kim Republic of Korea Feodor Konyukhov Russian Federation Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov Russian Federation Yongshun Ma China Anne Mearns South Africa Don Merton New Zealand Zygfryd Nowak Poland Oeuvre De Bienfaisance pour Haiti Haiti Yiannakis D. Potamitis Cyprus
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Youth Category
P.B.K.L. Agyirey-Kwakye Ghana École Propre/École Verte Guinea Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA) Greece Leave It To Us Junior Board United Kingdom Akima Paul Grenada Red Scarf Environmental Protection Action Group China
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