Catalysts for the Global Green Economy Honoured at Gala Evening in Singapore
Seven leading lights in the battle against global warming who are also catalyzing the transition to a greener and leaner global economy were acknowledged on the 22nd of April as the 2008 Champions of the Earth.
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, the European winner, has become an international advocate for greater action on climate change and natural resource management. His Serene Highness pledged to "carry out missions to raise the alarm and heighten awareness in the field. The world is facing an unprecedented threat. We must assume our responsibilities without delay and rise to the challenge that history has placed upon our path".
Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, the former Prime Minister of Yemen who was awarded the prize for West Asia, said it was vital to make the connection between improved management of nature and natural resources and the "upgrading of peoples quality of life".
Timothy E. Wirth of the United States, whose professional and public life has been shaped by climate change and fostering support in his home country for greater action to cut emissions, said: "With each passing month, each passing year we learn more about the urgency of the task. We still have some ways to go, but we still have time to act before chaos and catastrophe hit the globe".
Liz Thompson, the winner for Latin America and the Caribbean, whose many achievements include inspiring and pioneering a response to a major challenge for small island developing states improved solid waste management said that being named a Champion of the Earth will spur her on to get the world to take climate change issues more seriously. |
Dr Atiq Rahman, the Champion for Asia and the Pacific, said everyone in the world would, in the final analysis, "rise together and deliver a better future for this planet or all sink together. By integrating environment and development, we are trying to show that North and South and rich and poor do not have two different fates".
Dr Balgis Osman-Elasha, the winner for Africa, said: “I am trying to convey the message of climate change, to simplify the message, to make it reach the people who are going to be impacted". The Sudanese researcher has worked on a range of research projects in her native Sudan, including Darfur, demonstrating to vulnerable communities the feasibility of adapting to climate change and extreme weather events.
The UNEP Special Prize for Champions of the Earth 2008 was awarded to Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, whose country has set the trail-blazing target of being climate neutral. Ms Clark said her vision was to "sustain the biodiversity, the cultural diversity and environmental integrity that we have had in our world and which is very, very much under threat".
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