PRESS CONFERENCE BY UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Five communities in the Tropics were honoured with the Equator Prize for their work to alleviate poverty through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, reporters were told at a Headquarters press conference today, the International Day for Biological Diversity.

The prize had been awarded biennially since 2002 and was established to foster an understanding of the link between biologically diverse environments and sustainable livelihood, said Charles McNeil, Environment Team Manager of the Environment and Energy Group at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the lead agency of the Equator Initiative, which sponsored the award.

The prize winners were selected from 25 finalists and included: the village of Andavadoaka on the island of Madagascar, the Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha community in Bangladesh, Alimentos Nutri-Naturales women’s community in Guatemala, the Asociación de Mujeres de Isabela in Ecuador, and the Shompole Community Trust in Kenya.  Aside from international recognition, winners would also receive $30,000.

Today, some 40 per cent of the world’s economy was dependent on biodiversity, Mr. McNeil said, adding that preservation was an issue for both developing and industrialized countries.  All societies relied on natural resources such as forests, fertile soils and other “ecosystem services”, two-thirds of which were in decline, some of them dramatically.  Indeed, some 75 per cent of the world’s fish stocks were fished beyond their sustainable limit.  Without sound management, people could lose that income stream.

Fortunately, the world was waking up to the challenge of climate change, he continued, adding that a stable climate depended on retaining carbon found abundantly in forests, bogs and coral reefs.  Solutions would require diverse perspectives and there was no more important experience than that emerging from local communities.  The 115 countries of the tropical region, located 23.5 degrees above and below the Equator, were developing tremendously interesting approaches.

Commenting on his community, award winner Ole Petenya Yusuf-Shani from the Shompole Community Trust explained that Shompole was a resource-rich but poverty-stricken community located 200 kilometres from Nairobi.  His area was one in which wild animals roamed freely, damaging crops, killing livestock and drinking water used by more than 12,000 Maasai people. 

To deal with that situation, Shampole members built a tourist lodge that today generated close to $5,000 per month for education and water projects, and for treating injured animals such as buffalos, lions and cheetahs, among other things.  Animal population numbers had climbed, as a result.  “The beauty of this project is that the Maasai people are championing their own destiny and are in the driving seat,” he said, adding that the lodge had attracted Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

John Scott, Programme Officer for Traditional Knowledge at the Montreal-based Convention on Biodiversity, an Equator Initiative partner, said indigenous peoples were crucial partners in saving life on earth, as they had an intimate knowledge of plants and animals.  Indeed, 80 per cent of humanity depended on traditional knowledge for primary health needs, making it vital to conserve biological diversity.

Taking a question on how the Shompole community would spend its award money, Mr. Ole responded that education remained an important issue for the Maasai people, and that many Maasai students could not afford to pay school fees.  However, he would consult with his community before making decisions on priority areas.

Asked about the selection process for the prize, Mr. McNeil explained that it was awarded every two years, to five or six communities, and was sponsored by the partners for the Equator Initiative:  the Governments of Canada and Germany; the Convention on Biological Diversity; Conservation International; Fordham University; the Nature Conservancy; International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN); Rare; Television Trust for the Environment; and the United Nations Foundation. 

Every two years, an announcement about the prize was made through the Internet and other communication channels, he continued, a process that yielded between 300 and 400 nominations in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.  A 20-member Technical Committee, with expertise in issues from biological diversity to income generation, reviewed those nominations using criteria for the simultaneous benefits of biodiversity protection and income generation, for example.  It also was important that initiatives represented a partnership between local people, Governments and businesses.  The Committee then developed a short list of 25 finalists to be presented to a distinguished jury of experts, including Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, Jeffrey Sachs, and former Minister of Environment from Ecuador, Yolanda Kakabadse.

Turning to a question on how indigenous people could exercise their traditional knowledge if they did not have control of their natural resources, Mr. Scott said access to those resources was sometimes done in partnership with Governments or through other arrangements with indigenous communities.  He noted that traditional lands and territories included coastal waters, reefs and seas, adding that the relationship between indigenous people and their landscape was one that often dated back thousands of years.

Asked about the impact of climate change on Mount Kilimanjaro and on biodiversity, Mr. Ole said the mountain was located in the United Republic of Tanzania, far from his community.  However, he agreed that climate change was a challenge for the Maasai in the savannahs, and noted erratic rainy seasons and temperatures in Kenya.

Regarding UNDP’s biodiversity initiatives, Mr. McNeil said that the agency maintained some 140 country offices and a $2 billion portfolio of projects, primarily through the Global Environment Facility, the Small Grants Programme and the Equator Initiative.  An analysis of UNDP projects showed that more funds had been allocated for biodiversity issues than any other environmental issue.  “Biodiversity provides the welfare system of last resort for the poor,” he said, noting that understanding of that relationship was catching on.  He added that the award ceremony for the prize winners would be held on 5 June in Berlin.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record