Two Chinese Cities, a Jordanian Princess and Five Green Groups to be Honoured on World Environment Day

Nairobi, 15 May 2002 - The awards will be presented to the winners on 4 June as part of the international World Environment Day (WED) celebrations.

Chifeng City of Inner Mongolia has managed to drastically reduce the encroaching dunes through a vigorous, 30-year, strategy of "desert warfare" using trees and grasslands to overturn the tide of sand.

Forest cover has reached 43.5 per cent and 8,000 hectares of grasslands have been planted. Soil erosion losses have more than halved from over 5,000 tons per square kilometres a year and "movable sand dunes" have been reduced from 38,000 hectares (ha) to just 6,000 ha.

Meanwhile, food production has risen eight-fold since the 1970s and Gross Domestic Product has climbed ten-fold over the same period.

The remarkable success of the City, based in Aohanqi County on the southern edge of Keerqin in Northern China, offers a beacon of hope to other places around the globe where desertification threatens people with poverty and water shortages.

Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, said: " Fighting the spread of deserts and erosion is one of the most formidable challenges facing the world today. The fact that a community has not only halted the spread of a desert, but appears to be overwhelming these forces of environmental degradation is an achievement for which the people of Aohanqi, Chifeng City, should be rightly proud ".

Joining Aohanqi, Chifeng City, as members of the prestigious ranks of UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour, are one individual winner, another Chinese City and five environmental groups from Angola, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and the United States.

Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan is this year's only individual winner whose is acknowledged for her outstanding awareness raising of environmental issues in the Middle East.

Shenzhen, also in the People's Republic of China and the host of this year's WED from 4 to 5 June, has also won a Global 500 award for its impressive achievement of marrying rapid and astonishing economic growth with environmental protection.

The actions taken by Shenzhen to secure environmental standards across industry and business are legion. Since being established in 1980, as China's first economic special zone, the municipal council has passed 38 local environmental laws; established 135 parks and increased green coverage in the centre by 45 per cent.

The city has vetoed 3,619 projects that have failed to meet environmental requirements; its air quality meets environmental standards on 98.4 per cent of days and drinking water meets national standards.

Investment in the environment has been increased to 3.8 billion Yuans. Eight wastewater treatment plants and China's first sanitary waste landfill site have been established.

Mr. Toepfer said: " All this and more has been achieved against the backdrop of economic growth that has seen the City's annual Gross Domestic Product increase by over 30 per cent in 21 years. I look forward to learning at first-hand how this city has put itself on course towards the goal of sustainable development in this year of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) taking place in Johannesburg between 26 August 26 and 4 September "

The five environmental groups who are winners include the Juventude Ecological Angola (JEA) based in Luanda. Founded in 1991 by a group of young Angolan activists, the JEA has become a leading force in promoting environmental education and awareness through regular columns in newspapers such as the Journal of Angola, Actual, Humbi-Humbi and its own newspaper Little Green.

JEA also involves some 2,000 young people in 40 schools in Luanda and 500 youth in 10 schools in Huila Province in its Environmental Olympics. It has promoted a network of Angolan Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to further the environmental cause there.

Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP) headquartered in Quito, Ecuador, has dedicated itself to restoring and conserving the land and wildlife often by working with local farmers.

It has reforested 3,000 hectares (ha) of tropical and high Andean woodland with native species; developed a forest inventory of 12,463 ha of native woodland with the help of indigenous tenant farmers and Afro-Ecuadorian populations; constructed slow-forming terraces, improved soils using plant material and introduced water catchment conservation in various parts of the country.

The Tabigat Ecological Union, founded in 1991, is one of the first environmental NGOs in Kazakhstan. Its goal is to create ecological standards for industry, introduce advanced, non-polluting technology in the industrial sector and promote sustainable development in the region.

In an effort to fight against desertification, Tabigat has encouraged the people of Kazakhstan to celebrate the traditional holiday of Nauryz with every Kazakhstani planting a tree. In 1998, Tabigat and the National Park "Ile-Alatau" opened a honeymoon park near the mountain of Medeo where newlyweds plant trees. In 1999, based on initiatives by Tabigat, more than 4,500 people planted 10,000 trees on 20 ha surrounding the Vesnovka River.

In 1997, at the initiative of Tabigat, which is based in Almaty, the Ministry of Ecology provided funds for a feasibility study for the creation of Cherinsky, a national park between the Cherin, Chilik and Ily Rivers and the Togougir Mountains. The park will have restrictions and penalties for negligent tourists, poachers and other undesirable visitors. The plan calls for the development of ecotourism.

The Eco-Walk Children of Baguio City of the Philippines, which has won a Global 500 in the youth category, was set up in 1992. It has established a series of children-oriented hikes to Busol - Baguio's main and endangered watershed. The children have turned this precious water source into a laboratory and playground for experimental learning.

They have succeeded in increasing the area's forest cover and its water production. Their visits deter tree poaching, bird hunting, fires and encroachment on natural habitats. Their example has spurred adults in the community to volunteer their time to protect the environment and has helped raise environmental awareness.

Their success has also resulted in eco-walks being integrated into the curriculum of the elementary school system's grade five and six and in greater media focus on environmental issues. The teaching modules have been integrated into all the subjects to prepare children for their actual hikes and exploration of the forest, and to give them an opportunity to discuss what they have learned during their walks. Several indigenous communities in the Cordillera Highlands, the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon, have adopted the programme to help revive their own traditional forest management systems. Eco-Walk has been replicated in other local government units, which are drawn to the programme by its simplicity.

Eco-Walk has been used by the Asian Institute of Management as a model environmental and governance case study, and for the last three years in the Swedish Government's international watershed management course.

The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), based in Arlington, Vermont, is a creative and effective organization devoted to protecting native cultures and ecosystems in the American tropics. It was founded in 1995 by a group of conservationists to address a pressing need for a new kind of environmental organization that would work in true partnership with indigenous peoples to preserve their ancient wisdom and cultures, as well as the lands that sustain them.

These conservationists, from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Suriname and the United States with centuries of field experience among them, have developed new and effective conservation strategies and programmes by combining western science and technology with tribal wisdom.

A cornerstone of the ACT approach is the Shaman's Apprentice Programme, whereby young members of indigenous tribes train with traditional shamans and other elders to become both the healers and environmental guardians of the next generation.

ACT is working with these indigenous people and the Colombian Government to create a new category of protected area: Indigenous Reserves and Sacred Sites. The first 10,000-hectare site has already been established. In the northwest of the Amazon, ACT has partnered with the Tirio Indians to map their traditional homeland, an area of more than 20 million acres, and is helping them petition the Government for title to these lands.

Princess Basma bint Ali is the founder and chairperson of a number of grassroots NGOs in the field of environment and sustainable development. She serves as a positive role model not only for women, but for an entire generation of young people in the Middle East. She has helped raise the public's sense of responsibility towards the protection of the environment and the need to achieve sustainable development. She is also chair of the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society, the National Environment Wildlife Society and the Red Crescent Society.

Her contribution to Jordan's preparations for the WSSD, and the extensive media coverage her work attracts, have helped make the environment and sustainable development household topics in her region.

She has worked with and supported Jordan's renowned botanist Dr. Daoud El-Esawi, in saving one of Jordan's endemic crocuses from destruction by relocating it to the Jordan University Botanical Garden and the Jordan Intercontinental Hotel Gardens.

Note to Editors: World Environment Day, which is celebrated in some 120 countries around the world on 5 June, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to focus global attention and action on environmental issues.

To forge global links and to implement ideas, which can contribute to a more sustainable future, a network of all Global 500 laureates has been formed. Information about this unique network can be obtained at http://www.global500.org

2002 GLOBAL 500 LAUREATES

ADULT CATEGORY

H.R.H. Princess Basma bint Ali Jordan

Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) USA

Aohanqi, Chifeng City of Inner Mongolia China

Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio Ecuador

City of Shenzhen China

Tabigat Ecological Union Kazakhstan

YOUTH CATEGORY

Eco-Walk Children of Baguio City Philippines

Juventude Ecologica Angolana Angola

UNEP looks to the world community to identify and nominate environmental advocates, so that they too can be recognized for their efforts. Nomination forms can be obtained online at www.global500.org or from UNEP's Headquarters, Global 500 Roll of Honour, Communications and Public Information Branch, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, as well as from UNEP's regional offices.

For more please information, contact: Ms. Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox Head, UNEP Outreach & Special Events, Division of Communications and Public Information, on Tel: 254 2 623041, Fax: 623927/623692, E-mail: elisabeth.guilbaud-cox@unep.org or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media, on Tel: 254 2 623084, Mobile: 254 733 632755, E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org

UNEP Web Site: http://www.unep.org

UNEP News Release 2002/27