Winners by region

Carbon accounting for schools is a social project that aims to encourage students to take responsibility for their own carbon footprint. It promotes an educational and dynamic environment by raising students’ awareness of ways to reduce their carbon footprint and offset the emissions they generate and release into the environment. If actions that can reduce emissions are learned and practised in schools, students can then share this knowledge with their families and, in the future, with their own children. This knowledge-sharing will prepare current and future generations for the challenges presented by climate change.

Although the Tambopata National Reserve is a protected natural area in Peru, it was invaded by gold miners who entered the area illegally, destroying thousands of hectares of rainforest and contaminating the food chain with mercury, leaving behind arid land with no signs of life. The miners have been evicted from these areas with the help of constant monitoring activities, but the pioneer tree species that were present prior to the mining activities still need to be restored. The forest will then regenerate and fauna will return to the area, so that rural and native communities living in the region can work in eco-tourism. This forest is a beautiful landscape that must be recognized and protected.

SERES (Social equity, resilience & ecosystem sustainability) cultivates and generates momentum for youth leadership to build fair and sustainable communities in Central America. Young people provide us with an opportunity to capitalize on their creative ideas and energy, which can make significant contributions to addressing the complex social, environmental and economic challenges that the region faces. SERES combines leadership development and practical engagement, building a movement to create dynamic community leaders and sustainability entrepreneurs who are finding creative ways to tackle climate change and build community resilience.

This focus is designed to work in general terms (people-led movements that campaign for change) and on a more profound level (developing highly skilled and transformative leaders) and aims to create change at an individual and a community level with huge implications.
Young people find their voice and start to develop the necessary skills for good governance, benefiting the health and well-being of the community in the long term.

I want to democratize knowledge on water, sanitation and agriculture (WSA) through an online educational platform that shares high quality content and provides online mentorships. The courses will teach practical knowledge in how to build WSA solutions, so anyone, anywhere, can built them with local materials and local workforce. The target market will be rural communities that are increasingly getting connected to the internet that lack of proper infrastructure on water, sanitation and agriculture on developing countries (by 2020 will be 4 billion additional internet users) and will be based in a freemium model.

The Moringa oleifera tree is one of the most nutrient-dense plants on the planet. It thrives in hot, dry climates with sandy soil. I first started working with the moringa tree six years ago as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa. After conducting a community-needs assessment, I realized that there was an opportunity to support women in West Africa to plant more moringa trees on degraded land. My goal was to help them earn a sustainable income from selling the powdered leaves, in addition to eating them locally. Upon returning to the US, I founded Kuli Kuli, a mission-driven business that works with moringa farmers in Ghana, Haiti and Nicaragua and sells moringa products in over 3,000 stores across America. Access to UNEP’s resources and network would allow us to continue to scale up our moringa tree plantings and partnerships with farmers around the world.

Kulisha works with food and beverage producers to convert organic waste into sustainable insect protein for use in animal feeds. Food and beverage companies such as breweries and juicers produce huge volumes of by products that are primarily being trucked to landfills as organic waste. We work with them to integrate black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) into their operations and metabolize the waste, rather than using inefficient and expensive disposal methods. We implement automated, retrofitted shipping containers that treat the organic waste and feed it to the larvae, which are then harvested and sold as protein for use in animal feeds. This provides a sustainable, high-quality alternative to fishmeal, thereby addressing a second problem: the demand for fishmeal in animal feeds that is driving the destruction of the world’s oceans. Ultimately, the intent of Kulisha is to reduce pressure on ocean ecosystems.

Novel Supply Co. is a conscious local apparel company. Kaya created a fully closed-loop clothing line with no waste and automated manufacturing. She integrated a research and development hub to test leading-edge technology that decomposes fabrics and tests natural dyes. She also implemented an Extended Producer Responsibility policy by having a Take Back Program for the clothing she produces. Kaya works in partnership with local universities.

Rainmaker Enterprise is an award-winning, scalable and climate adaptive social venture committed to combating deforestation, food insecurity, water scarcity, chronic poverty, women and youth unemployment among other cross-sectional issues in rural South Sudan through provision of clean water using clean solar-energy. The initiative will install solar-powered water pumps and drip-irrigation systems across villages in South Sudan to achieve these objectives. The rest site installation will be in Tonj, South Sudan in December 2017.

To introduce the fermentation food waste recycling process to municipalities and communities, aiming to reduce the amount of organic waste dumped in landfills. Demonstration of concept will be made available for interested parties to visit and see the whole treatment process. They can experience first-hand how easy food waste management is, and how it can be applied in their local communities. Fermentation composting is a two-step process. Organic waste is initially fermented in a closed bin for two weeks and then laid in the ground for it to breakdown. The fermentation process in bins is the added value of the process. There is no need to pick up the organic waste daily from mass producers as it can be done once a week. When food waste is fermented, the system rapidly acidifies. Methane won’t be produced as it can only be produced at a neutral PH. If there is no methane production, then there is no odour.

My idea of producing biodiesel stems from the pressing need to protect the environment from used cooking oil that is improperly disposed of and the excessive use of fossil diesel fuel, which is very harmful to the environment. There is also a need to provide employment opportunities for youths. The aim is to transform the project into an environmental investment that serves both the community and the environment. I have set up a modest, local factory with US$5,000 of funding from the United Nations Development Programme plus $1,000 of my own money. The factory was set up in compliance with international specifications and I successfully produced a 1,000-litre test batch. I hired five employees and sold the test batch, which won consumer approval. Unfortunately, the project could not be sustained due to a lack of funding. I have also set up a small biodiesel lab that yielded excellent results.

Palestine, and the Arab World in general, faces problems with pollution resulting from improper disposal of industrial wastewater. As an environmental engineer, Nareman has worked for two consecutive years researching industrial wastewater. She designed a device that works on the principle of physical adsorption to eliminate pollutants from industrial wastewater rendering the water reusable in the same industry. Tanneries are currently using this method to remove carcinogenic chrome from water with a 99% efficiency rate. The SwitchMed Programme provided support to construct the initial model, but Nareman has higher aspirations to make this device available to all tanneries in Palestine and to expand its use to include the galvanization and dairy industries as well as the production of vehicle lubricants. These industries all use large quantities of water and dump zinc, organic substances, cleaning agents, oils and lubricants into the environment. This solution is part of a national sustainability plan to find ways of supporting industry, protecting the environment, and mitigating water shortages.

BioTreasure aims to improve the livelihoods of at least 1500 rural households in Yemen through the deployment of small-scale biogas plants. The devices are constructed locally. The devices are designed to enable the rapid decomposition of organic waste, maximizing the amount of biogas produced. The project will help to solve three major problems in Yemen: (i) household organic waste, which emits significant amounts of methane gas and is a major contributor to climate change; and (ii) indoor air pollution which causes many people to die each year – in Yemen, over 3 million people still cook over open fires. Additionally, the project will (iii) help to reduce the incidence of certain diseases known to be spread or exacerbated by the dumping of organic waste, such as cholera which has affected nearly half a million Yemenis in 2017 alone.