About the UNEP Sasakawa Prize

For more than 20 years, the UNEP Sasakawa Prize has been recognizing outstanding individuals and organizations for their significant contribution to the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development.

Following its revitalization in 2004, the Prize was re-launched in 2005 with the new mandate of nurturing grassroots-based innovation, research, initiatives and ideas on green solutions to environmental challenges by offering $200,000 as financial support to the winner.

The Prize is especially interested in sustainable projects that can be scaled up or replicated elsewhere, thus helping to inspire others to take a greater interest in protecting our environment and to increase their scope of beneficiary, especially in the under-served rural communities.

By helping these entrepreneurs scale-up their activities, the Prize is able to boost local economies and help tackle poverty and marginalization, while promoting the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems. Through these contributions, the Prize also contributes to UNEP’s work towards building the green economy of the future.

Each candidate’s scope of activities will be associated with the environmental theme selected for the year. In 2011, the theme for which candidates will be eligible is ‘Forests for People, Forests for Green Growth’.