UNEP REWARDS TO WWF

UNEP rel= © UNEP

WWF has featured in many of UNEP's Global 500 awards, including the following:

College of African Wildlife Management - Tanzania 

Since its establishment in 1963, the college has trained over 1,000 graduates from Africa in wildlife management. These graduates now fill key conservation positions throughout the continent.

Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)

Since its inception in 1961, WWF has invested over US$330 million in more than 10,000 projects in 130 countries. Based on the best scientific evidence WWF actively supports on-the-ground conservation programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. In all its work, WWF encourages ecologically sustainable development. Through its work, the fund has been able to save endangered species such as the giant panda and the Arabian oryx, and to protect many threatened species and habitats. WWF is extremely effective in raising public awareness of conservation problems and it has collaborated with governments, organisations and individuals in more than 1,000 conservation projects.

Professor Hideo Obara - Japan

An eminent zoologist who for over 40 years has been active in conservation and public education. He is the author of more than 60 books and papers on mammals and is a leading campaigner against whaling in Japan and abroad. He has held many responsible positions as a volunteer: Chairman of TRAFFIC-Japan; board member of WWF-Japan (Chairman of Conservation Committee); Director General of the Nature Conservation Society of Japan; Representative Board Member of Japan Environmental Council and Region Vice-Chairman of SSC, IUCN.

Nicholas Zalaoras - Greece

A prominent Greek journalist who has written extensively in newspapers and magazines on a wide range of environmental issues such as acid rain, pollution and endangered species. In 1991, he wrote the book The forest: the Silent Tragedy or the end
of Life. He also works as press officer of WWF Greece.

Dogal Hayati Koruma Dernegi (DHKD) - Turkey

Founded in 1975, with 3,500 members, DHKD is Turkey’s most active conservation organisation. It contributes to the conservation of nature and natural resources in Turkey through research, projects, fieldwork and education and mainly concentrates on the conservation of threatened ecosystems (wetlands, coastal zones) using endangered species (birds, sea turtles, bulbous plants) as the icons for its programmes.

Dr. Enrique Beltran - Mexico

For 50 years, Dr. Beltran has been a celebrated figure in Mexico in bringing environmental problems to the forefront of public awareness. His projects have had a great impact on the research on the environment and marine biology. He has formed the best public library in Mexico on ecology and natural resources. Dr.Beltran was vice-president of IUCN from 1954-58 and is an honorary member of WWF.


Kathryn S. Fuller - United States of America

Ms. Fuller became President of WWF-US in 1989. With over 3,000 projects in more than 140 countries, WWF is a leader in the conservation of the living environment by practical and positive action. Following Ms. Fuller’s initiative, WWF has advanced debt-for-nature swaps as a valuable tool for easing third world debt while at the same time directing new funds into the protection of threatened ecosystems in tropical countries. Ms. Fuller is a recipient of several honorary degrees, including one from her alma mater, Brown University. She is a member of the President’s Commission on Environmental Quality, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Overseas Development Council. Before joining WWF in 1982, she served as Chief of the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section of the US Justice Department. 

H. R. H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands - WWF- Netherlands

In 1961, His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands founded the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). He was president of WWF for 15 years, and during this period developed it into an influential global organisation and the largest worldwide non-
governmental organisation in the field of nature conservation. He has successfully raised funds to finance conservation activities and projects in all countries where WWF is active. He is also President of WWF-Netherlands and in that capacity launched a television fundraising campaign in the Netherlands in 1977, which raised six million Swiss Francs for WWF funded projects. A television programme in 1987 raised over 100,000 new members for WWF-Netherlands. Thirty years after the founding of WWF, Prince Bernhard continues actively to convey with great enthusiasm the message of conservation through encouraging those active in the field of nature conservation and numerous radio and TV presentations.

Parvez Hassan - Pakistan

Dr. Hassan is a leading corporate lawyer who has been actively involved in drafting conservation legislation with governments since 1975. The 1983 Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance is legislation proposed by Dr. Hassan. Since 1987, he has prevented contamination of ground water from untreated tannery wastes in the city of Kasur. In 1989, he formed the Environmental Protection Society of Pakistan. He has been IUCN’s regional councilor for West Asia and deputy chairman of the Environmental Law Commission. Dr. Hassan also chairs WWF’s Scientific Committee and is a member of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, the highest official body on environmental matters in Pakistan.

Yolanda Kakabadse - Ecuador

Ms. Kakabadse was head of Fundacion Natura, which was established 1979. Fundacion Natura promotes public awareness on environment and conservation and has succeeded in developing legislation to prevent damage to nature’s resources. Kakabadse’s work prompted the President of Ecuador to declare the 1990s a decade of eco-development. She is IUCN’s regional counselor, a member of the editorial advisory board of the World Resources Report and a member of UNEP’s Senior Women’s Advisory Group, Kakabadse worked as the NGO Liaison Officer in UNCED from November 1990 until July 1992.

Roger Payne - United States of America

President of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Lincoln, and a senior scientist with the WWF. In 1968 Dr. Payne discovered that humpback whales sing songs, and his studies resulted in the 1970 album, “Songs of the Humpback Whale”, thus stimulating the Save the Whale movement. Dr. Payne’s current research includes a 21-year behavioural study of the whales of Argentina, demonstrating that it is possible to study free swimming whales in the wild without injuring them. Past research from his Society includes studies of the potential disturbance to whales of sounds generated by offshore industrial development. 

Thomas E. Lovejoy - United States of America

During his career at the World Wildlife Fund from 1973-1987, Dr. Lovejoy founded the television series “Nature” and was awarded an Emmy for it. In 1987, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of External Affairs of the Smithsonian Institution and serves on numerous scientific and conservation boards. Dr. Lovejoy’s “Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems” project in Brazil alerted policy makers to how forest fragmentation can accelerate the rate of extinction of species. His research resulted in the environmental impact of development projects becoming criteria for development decisions by the multilateral agencies funded by the US and other creditor nations. He also conceived the concept of debt-for-nature swaps in 1984.

Nigerian Conservation Foundation - Nigeria

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) is a charitable trust dedicated to the promotion of nature conservation and a WWF associate organisation. It launched the “Save the Yankari Game Reserve” campaign in 1984 and established the Lekki Conservation Centre and Nature Reserve as an outdoor laboratory for school children to educate them on important environmental issues in the country. Following recommendations from NCF, the Natural Resources Conservation Council was established and inaugurated by the President in 1991. They have also launched school clubs and a school magazine called Tortoise.

Vo Quy - Vietnam

Vo Quy, a world renowned conservationist, was the architect of the National Conservation Strategy that mobilised the Vietnamese people to plant at least 160,000 hectares of trees per year to make up for the loss of some 2.2 million hectares of forest and farmland during the war. He was awarded the World Wildlife Fund Gold Medal for his outstanding leadership in pioneering environmental conservation and education in IndoChina. Quy has also spearheaded the rehabilitation of the habitat of the Sarus Crane in IndoChina where it was previously thought to be extinct.

Nancy Lee Nash - Hong Kong

Nancy Nash conservationist, journalist and environmental education consultant, has continuously shown devotion and commitment towards wildlife conservation and environmental education. She initiated the first contact between World Wildlife
Fund International (WWF) and the Chinese Government
. This led to a major cooperative effort to sustain the existence of the endangered giant panda. She helped organize the transportation of seven Siberian tigers from the Bronx and Minneapolis zoos, where they were being successfully bred, to China where too much in breeding was taking place. Currently, she is involved in a major project with the potential of reaching more than 500 million people in Asia and beyond. Nancy Nash is responsible for initiating, financing and running the project entitled The Buddhist Perception of Nature ‘ A New Perspective for Conservation Education. This project develops a new perspective for conservation education by using traditional Buddhist teachings to strengthen attitudes toward the protection of the environment, and to raise public awareness. Her work has inspired similar projects aimed at probing the environmental ethics of religious and native communities throughout the world. For initiating this globally significant project, Nancy Nash received the prestigious Rolex
Award for Enterprise in 1987.

Dr. Chan Eng Heng - Malaysia

Commercial harvesting of sea turtle eggs on Redang Island, Malaysia has provided the islanders with a ready source of income for decades. The local government considers this a right of the inhabitants, and issues annual licenses for turtle egg collection, consumption and sale. This has led to a decline of turtle nesting populations in Redang, to the extent that the turtles now face extinction. Dr. Chan Eng Heng and Mr. Liew Hock Chark, a husband and wife team from the Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU) of University College, Terengganu, have raised funds from the public to help buy the eggs from the licensed egg collectors for incubation at Chagar Hutan Beach, the main nesting beach in Redang. The eggs are left to incubate in their natural nests and hatchlings are allowed to make their way to the sea to replenish the declining population. Over the last seven years, they have stopped some 250,000 turtle eggs from being sold for human consumption. Thanks to their efforts, 200,000 hatchlings have been released to the ocean from a beach on which hatchlings had never previously been produced. They have adhered to the in-situ incubation concept whereby the eggs are left in their natural nests to develop and are not dug up and relocated to hatcheries. This practice ensures a mixed sex ratio, as well as optimal hatch rates. STOP (Sea Turtle Outreach Programme) enable the public to become involved in sea turtle conservation through a volunteer programme of nest and turtle adoption schemes. They have succeeded in getting a local English daily to run monthly features on their programme in order to reach a wider audience and create greater awareness among the public on the urgent need to save turtles. They have developed a web site to reach a wider global audience and to give greater transparency to their programme. STOP serves as a model to the WWF/Fisheries/BP Amoco turtle conservation project in Ma’Daerah - a turtle nesting area in mainland Terengganu.

Sven Olof Lindblad - United States of America

Sven Olof Lindblad’s company, Lindblad Expeditions, is a world leader in responsible tourism. Through his personal commitment to conservation and the environment, he has donated the use of his company’s vessels to host symposia, which bring together decision-makers from Mexico and Central America and conservation practitioners. These dialogues have resulted in the establishment of protected areas in the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras as well as Mexico’s Gulf of California. For the past five years, he has been an engaged and constructive member of WWF’s National Council, and his company has provided important financial support to several WWF conservation efforts. He offered the use of one of his ships at cost, foregoing profit during the high season, so that WWF could hold its Board meeting in the Sea of Cortez. This meeting resulted in contributions of some US$2 million for conservation in the Sea of Cortez. In addition to educating their travellers about natural history and conservation, Lindblad is committed to initiating partnerships with NGOs, protected area managers, local communities and other stakeholders in the primary destinations where they operate. He contributed more than US$250,000 to grassroots NGOs, e.g. for a guide-training course in Baja California and a trail in St. Lucia, West Indies. The latter initiative has generated more than US$1 million to the local economy. He initiated the Galapagos Conservation Fund whose contributions have already exceeded US$500,000. In collaboration with the US Tour Operators Association, he established a Travelers’ Conservation Foundation (TCF) made up of a range of companies associated with the tourism industry - a few of them without any previous involvement in conservation. TCF made its first grant of US$500,000 to Mesa Verde. Lindblad launched a Kids at Sea Programme, where children from inner city high schools get a chance to see the world. Lindblad Expeditions carries out its activities in an environmentally responsible way and is an example many other tourism companies should follow.

END

Introduction

Klaus Toepfer 
© www.agora-energiewende.org

"In 1987, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Global 500 Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement to recognize individuals and organizations around the world that have made an impact in protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development".  
Klaus Toepfer UNEP Executive Director 1998-2006 
 

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