2005 Laureates

Mr. Zhou Qiang is Honorary chairman of the All-China Youth Federations (ACYF) and the leader of the China Mother River Protection Operation leading group. At the beginning of 1999, he promoted the Mother River Protection Operation in China and mobilized the Chinese youth to protect the environment. He developed the plan of the Operation and actively took part in its implementation. Thanks to his leadership and efforts to driving the Operation, RMB 250million has been raised from all sectors of society in the past five years by calling for "A donation of RMB 5.00 for planting One Tree and RMB 200.00 for One Mu Forest".

Mr. Qiang has made great efforts in formulating the development strategies and making significant decisions for the Mother River Protection Operation while being proactive participating in important activities and key construction programmes. He has for many times appealed to protect the Mother River, which is the cradle of Chinese culture. More and more youth and social communities are actively joining in the undertaking of Mother River Protection, which has dramatically promoted the progress of environmental protection work of the civil societies in China.

To date, ACYF has undertaken 882 afforestation projects covering 191,000 hectares have been completed, 300 million young people have been mobilized to participate in protection of the mother river, and exchanges and cooperation in the field of environmental protection have been furthered among young people in more than 50 countries and regions to generate extensive influence around the world. On 4 May 2002, the President of China inscribed the message of "Protecting the Mother River" to the Operation to express his full recognition of the Operation. The Operation, initially advocated by Zhou Qiang, has now become the non-governmental public welfare event for environmental protection that is most known in China.

As the only national youth association in China, the All-China Youth Federation is a very important force for protecting the environment in China and the global environment.