Notes for editors (including quotes and contact information)
Photographs for printing
From Cows to Kilowatts and Berries into Businesses—Winners of the First Seed Awards Announced
New York, 20 April 2005 - An environmentally-friendly way of growing rice and a project to cultivate a highly versatile berry found at the roof of the world are among the winners of a new sustainable development award.
They are joined by a community-based marine protected area in the Indian Ocean, an innovative water supply scheme in Latin America and a power-plant in West Africa that turns cattle waste into energy.
The five winners of the Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (Seed) Initiative awards will be honoured in a special ceremony in New York.
It will take place on 20th April 2005 during the 13th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
The winners were selected from a pool of over 260 entries from 66 countries, representing 1,200 organisations.
They were chosen for their potential to advance sustainable development in their communities and contribute to the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
They are living proof that, through partnerships between communities, non-governmental organizations, businesses and public authorities, innovative and novel solutions for delivering sustainable development and sustainable livelihoods can be born and fostered.
All winning projects have the potential to be replicated in similar areas around the globe, helping to address a multitude of issues in the developing world.
Environmentally-Friendly Rice
Further information from Seed
Farmers in Asia and East Africa are partners in an initiative to boost rural incomes through the marketing of indigenous and environmentally-friendly grown rice varieties.
Commercial rice cultivation in the developing world is becoming increasingly questionable as a result of low market prices and the financial and environmental costs of using chemicals and fertilizers
Conventional methods of rice production are also extremely water intensive.
Some farmers in Cambodia, Madagascar and Sir Lanka have turned to a production method known as the ‘System of Rice Intensification’ or SRI.
It involves an a la carte menu of actions including when to plant out Seedlings, weeding regimes and the spacing of plants, which can be adapted to local conditions and indigenous rice varieties.
Small rural producers who are taking part are achieving water savings of up to 50 per cent and increased yields of up to 100 per cent.
This is because SRI, a collaborative effort between Cornell University, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local communities, works without flooding rice paddies and results in stronger plants that need less chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Rice produced in this way commands higher prices. The trick is to empower and assist producers to exploit and benefit from these premium prices in local and international markets.
This new project, which has brought together research institutes from the United States and Cambodia and farmers organizations, is pooling experiences and skills to develop strong marketing programmes.
Export markets in Europe and North America are also being explored using, in some cases, certification schemes like Fair Trade.
The Seed Award for this winning partnership is generously sponsored by Swiss Re, Switzerland.
Berries into Businesses
Further information from Seed
Seabuckthorn is a deciduous shrub that is common in the Himalayas.
It has a highly developed root system that binds soils on fragile slopes. The presence of a natural seabuckthorn ‘forest’ can decrease monsoon-related loss of topsoil by 30 percent.
The plant also has a wide range of commercial applications which are beginning to be exploited by commercial companies in countries like India.
The berries are highly nutritious and yield juice, as well as oils for cosmetics and traditional medicines. The leaves are also used in traditional medicines, as well as for livestock fodder, and the branches can be used for firewood.
The international HimalAsia Foundation together with local Tibetan cooperatives and a family of traditional medical practitioners are developing a sustainable programme for cultivating and marketing seabuckthorn and other medicinal plants for the local and international market.
In doing so, they are not only developing sustainable livelihoods for local people, but playing an important role in conserving biodiversity in this Himalayan mountain area.
Plans for the future include expanding on three existing seabuckthorn nurseries, training locals in the extraction and preparation of juice and helping to broker fair business relationships between international companies and local communities.
Indian Ocean Wonderland
Further information from Seed
An estimated 11.5 per cent of the Earth’s land surface is now held in protected areas but only about one half per cent of the world’s seas and oceans enjoy the same rights.
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development’s Plan of Implementation called for the establishment of representative network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
An experimental, community-led, scheme in Madagascar aims to be one of these light-houses by illuminating how partnerships between local people, research institutes and NGOs can deliver marine conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
The project, focused around the 1200-strong community of Andavadoaka, is balancing the needs of local fishermen and protection of the area’s important coral reefs.
Eco-tourism is being promoted as a way of generating income for conservation work, diversifying the local economy and to reduce the pressure on fish stocks.
It is hoped that the experiences from this project will act as a blueprint for similar projects in other regions.
Water for All
Further information from Seed
Relevant websites: http://www.aguatuya.com
Access to clean water is an emotive issue in developing countries and sometimes leads to civil unrest and major social problems. The Millennium Development Goals call for a halving of the level of people without access to fresh water and sanitation and this project directly addresses this aim.
The 'Agua Para Todos' initiative in Bolivia has found a way of solving the seemingly intractable problem of who pays for secondary water networks, i.e. delivering water from the municipal supplier's main pipe to the consumer.
Under the project, a consortium of local communities, an NGO and a pipe manufacturer is building water distribution systems in coordination with the municipal water company in Cochabamba, each connecting between 100 and 500 poor households.
The costs are being met by the communities concerned through a micro credit scheme, repayable within a year.
Five pilot projects are under way, already halving the cost of water for 3,000 people in Cochabamba.
Ambitious plans currently under development in partnership with the municipal government would provide 17,000 connections serving 85,000 people over the next five years.
Cows to Kilowatts
Further information from Seed
Effluents and waste products from abattoirs are a problem for human health and the environment across the developing world.
A project being piloted in Ibadan, Nigeria, is turning these wastes into energy to generate income for poor urban communities and reduce the gases linked with climate change.
The project treats the abattoir wastes and turns them into a ‘bio-gas’ suitable for cooking and other uses. A further by-product is agricultural-grade fertilizer.
The partnership behind the project claims their bio-gas is significantly cheaper than current, commercially available, liquefied gases.
The scheme will cover its costs and become profitable in three years and has a fifteen year life expectancy.
Notes to Editors
Press conference and Award Ceremony
A press conference with Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, Director General of IUCN and the Awards winners will take place in the UN press centre at 11am.
Journalists and photographs are invited to the Award Ceremony: 8pm, Wednesday 20 th April, Metropolitan Café, 959 1st Avenue (between 52nd and 53rd streets, a few blocks from the UN building).
Quotes from the Chair of the Judges and supporting organizations:
Nitin Desai, former Secretary General to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and chairman of the international jury:
“Sustainability as a process requires responsibility (for the impact of our actions on others and on nature), partnership and innovation. I congratulate the SEED Award winners and also the other finalists who are showing us how all three can be brought together in practice. This is the real promise of the partnerships that we endorsed at the Johannesburg Summit”.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
“The time for talking is over the time for action is now. If we are to deliver sustainable development, achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and overcome poverty we need partnerships. Partnerships between people, NGOs, private businesses, local authorities, governments and the United Nations.
UNEP’s motto is environment for development. These Seed winners are living proof of what can be done if we harness the most powerful assets we have – human creativity, ingenuity and imagination. I look forward to seeing these projects mature and replicated across the globe for the sake of the environment, for the sake of sustainable livelihoods”.
Achim Steiner, Director General, IUCN – the World Conservation Union
“Through the Seed Initiative, we recognize the tremendous potential of communities, business, governments and NGOs to find solutions to challenges in sustainable development by working together. Ecosystems cannot be considered separate from the people they support. These partnerships create opportunities for merging environmental and social benefits with economic returns.
In the coming years, Seed will work closely with the winners – to support the partnerships, learn from their experiences and spread the results of that learning to help multiply these practical models. Through our collective networks, we will nuture this inaugural class of award winners and future entrepreneurs in their efforts to find innovative solutions to local challenges.”
Shoji Nishimoto, Assistant Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
“The Seed Awards show that local entrepreneurship and creativity have the potential to deliver development results that not only promote sustainability, but also generate incomes and drive economic growth. Through their dedication and innovation, the winners and nominees provide a powerful body of evidence that much progress towards the MDGs is likely to be lead from the bottom up. To help realize the potential of local entrepreneurs, the international community must take inspiration from these examples of innovation to find equally creative ways of helping to scale-up and support this valuable work.”
Jürgen Trittin, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany
“Looking back at the first steps of the Seed Initiative, we were eager to see whether our idea of creating an award for sustainable development partnerships would stand the "test of reality". But after the official launch during the World Economic and the World Social Forum at the beginning of last year and the inaugural call for submissions, the feedback was so overwhelming, and the quality of submissions so high that we all knew we were on to something important.
This experience clearly demonstrates that people working in NGOs, businesses, education, local government, foundations and elsewhere are not simply waiting to engage when governments develop programmes for implementing sustainable development. Without question: Partnerships are not a panacea that will solve all problems of sustainable development. But they hold certain promises. The Seed partnerships demonstrate that they can bring local drive, innovation and new resources to bear on pressing issues.”
Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, United States
"Partnerships, such as Seed, are vital to helping local communities improve the quality of their citizens' lives and can make an important contribution to our efforts to achieve development goals. The five winners we recognize tonight exemplify the fresh new approach to sustainable development launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Step by step, public-private partnerships such as these are having tangible results as we work globally to alleviate poverty.”
About the Seed Awards
The Seed Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development) aims to understand, inspire, support and develop the capacity of locally-driven entrepreneurial partnerships to contribute to the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
The initiative focuses on 'business as unusual' - innovative action delivering real solutions through project cooperation among small and large businesses, local and international NGOs, women's groups, labour organisations, public authorities and UN agencies, and others working in the field of sustainable development.
The biennial Seed Awards is an international competition to find the most promising new locally-driven, entrepreneurial partnerships for sustainable development.
The Initiative is a partnership between IUCN - The World Conservation Union, UNEP and UNDP, along with GPPi and Partnerships Central. It is supported by the governments of Germany, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, by the UN Global Compact, and by the company Swiss Re.
For More Information Please Contact
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media: +254 20 623084, Mobile +254 733 632755, nick.nuttall@unep.org or Darian Stibbe, Manager Seed Initiative Secretariat; +44 7789 263616; darian.stibbe@seedinit.org
For IUCN:
Corli Pretorius, Head Global Communications: +41 79 251 6435; corli.pretorius@iucn.org
For UNDP:
Michael Hooper: +1 212 457 1077; michael.hooper@undp.org
For Agua para Todos/Water for All:
Gustavo Heredia, Agua Tuya, Bolivia (http://aguatuya.com)
+591 4424 5193; mobile +591 7071 0321; gustavoh@aguatuya.com
For Berries into Business (aka Harvesting Seabuckthorn at the top of the world):
Dr Susanne von der Heide, HimalAsia Foundation, Nepal (http://www.himalasia.org)
+977 1441 9559; mobile +49 172 214 3180; himalasia@wlink.com.np
For Cows to Kilowatts:
Joseph Adelegan, Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research, Nigeria
+234 803 721 9555; mobile: +234 805 560 6619; gneeder_africa@yahoo.co.uk
For Environment-friendly rice (aka A global marketing partnership for SRI Indigenous Rice):
Olivia Vent, Cornell University (http://ciifad.cornell.edu), ohv1@cornell.edu; +1 607 255 8939
Norman Uphoff, Cornell University; ntu1@cornell.edu; +1 607 255 0831
Yang Saing Koma (Cambodia); yskoma@online.com.kh; +855 2388 0916
Jean-Robert Estime (Madagascar); JRE@chemonics.mg + 261 2234 808
Gamini Batuwitage (Sri Lanka); batuwita@sltnet.lk
For Indian Ocean Wonderland (aka Madagascar's first experimental community-run marine protected area)
Alasdair Harris, Blue Ventures, UK ( http://www.blueventures.org ): al@blueventures.org; +44 208 341 9819
Edouard Mara, Madagascar: maraedouard@hotmail.com; + 261 2094 435 52
