The winners of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2014 have been announced in Tokyo, Japan and Montreal, Canada.
The winners of the 2014 Prize are Kamal Bawa, president, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), India, professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, chair, Ghana National Biodiversity Committee , Ghana, Bibiana Vilá, principal researcher, National Research Council (CONICET), director, Vicuñas, Camelids and Environment (VICAM), Argentina.
The MIDORI Prize is a biennial international prize organized by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to honor personalities who have contributed for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Each recipient is awarded a monetary prize of 100,000 US dollars to support their work in safeguarding biodiversity.
They will be honored at a ceremony on 15 October 2014 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, held in jointly with the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The recipients will also deliver lectures at a Winners’ Forum, held on 21 October 2014 at the U Thant Hall of the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan.
The biodiversity preservation and climate change prevention are two challenges currently faced by the world and the MIDORI Prize will help to achieve this global challenge by attaining the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and to the objectives of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020, stated, Takuya Okada, chairman, AEON Environmental Foundation.
The Winners were selected on the basis of their contributions to the objectives of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020 and to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.