MIDORI Prize 2014: Glory For Kamal Bawa
MIDORI Prize 2014: Glory For Kamal Bawa
The MIDORI Prize for the year 2014 was also bestowed on an Indian biodiversity expert this time. The winners of this prestigious prize were announced in Tokyo, Japan and Montreal (Canada). This is a biennial international prize which was put together by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the CBD (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity) for honoring persons credited with outstanding contributions for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at international, regional or local scale.
Dr. Kamal Bawa was felicitated with the MIDORI Prize for his outstanding contributions this year. He is the President at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment/ATREE and he is a distinguished professor at the US University of Massachusetts as well which is located in Boston. Other awardees included Dr. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah and Dr. Bibiana Vila. Oteng-Yeboah is the Chair at the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee. Vila is the Principla researcher at the National Research Council and the Director for Vicuñas, Camelids and Environment (VICAM)at Argentina
The recipients are awarded a wooden plaque as well as a commemorative gift. Apart from this, each winner also gets a cash prize of 100,000 US dollars to support the work in protecting biodiversity. The awardees will be honoured with these accolades at the ceremony held in South Korea on 15th October 2014. This was in conjunction with the high level segment of the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties or COP12 to the Convention on Biological Diversity. A series of public lectures will also be delivered by the recipients at the Winner's Forum held on 21st October this year at the U Thnat Hall of the UN University in Japan's capital city Tokyo.
Mr. Takuya Okada who is Chairman of the AEON Environmental Foundation also said “The conservation of biodiversity and the prevention of climate change are two of the greatest challenges of our time. We hope that the MIDORI Prize will contribute to meeting this global challenge, to the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and to the objectives of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020.”
The nominations were accepted in the period between March 1 and May 31, 2014 from people across the globe as well as invited MIDORI Prize nominators. Nominations were received from a total of 60 nations. The winners were selected on the basis of their attainment of the objectives and goals of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the UN Decade on Biodiversity from the period between 2011 and 2020. This is the aim for the mainstreaming, conservation and protection of biodiversity and the attainment of sustainable development.
India's scientist Kamal Bawa has won the prize for his research, specifically in the area of climate change in the Himalayas. This is of critical importance as the ancient Himalayas of our nation are a natural habitat for the most distinct species of flora and fauna.
Biodiversity is one of the most important issues in the present day world. Without protection of our natural habitats and diverse species, earth and all of mankind will lose its balance.
