Savanna Wood Greening Partner, Jeunesse Park receiving the UNEP Award in New York | |
The Governor of Claifornia, Arnold Schwarzenegger, sent this
personalised certificate to Savanna Wood Greening Partner, FTFA founder
Jeunesse Park when she won the UNEP Sasakawa award recently.
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Jeunesse Park with Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai. |
Savanna Wood's Greening Partner Jeunesse Park of Food & Trees
for Africa recently won the UNEP Sasakawa Prize 2007, a prize awarded
yearly to individuals or institutions who have made a substantial
contribution to the protection and management of the environment.
Commenting on this announcement, Ms. Park, who has been working on
climate change since 1990, said that “it has been rewarding to recently
see the growing interest in this crucial global crisis and to know that
we have played a small part in facilitating action in South Africa”.
The four-member jury chose the co-winners, at a meeting at UNEP
headquarters in Nairobi, and the award ceremony will be held on 27
October 2007 at the Museum of Natural History, Rose Center for Earth
and Space, in New York, USA.
The UNEP Sasakawa Prize acts as an incentive for environmental efforts
that are sustainable and replicable in the long-term. It recognizes
innovation, groundbreaking research and ideas, and extraordinary
grassroots initiatives from around the world. The candidates’ scope of
activities is associated with the environmental theme of the year,
which in 2007 is climate change.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: “Leadership is urgently needed if the international community is
to rise to the challenge of climate change—leadership from the United
Nations; governments, scientists; business and cities, but also
leadership from individuals and civil society organizations working on
the ground”.
“These two outstanding winners of the Sasakawa Prize 2007 embody
leadership in its finest form - namely creative and determined action
that demonstrates real and tangible difference to the people and
communities they serve. In doing so our award winners are proving that
combating climate change is not only do-able but links to the wider
environmental, social and economic aims enshrined in targets such as
the Millennium Development Goals,” he added.
Winners:
Ms. Jeunesse Park is the founder and CEO of Food and Trees for Africa
(FTFA), South Africa’s only national greening and food gardening NGO
which promotes greening, sustainable natural resource use and
management and food security, through three key programs: Trees for
Homes, EduPlant, and the Urban Greening Forum.
Ms. Park initiated the design of the
first carbon calculator in South Africa, using the global Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Protocol and launched the Carbon Standard in 2006 to make
it easy and affordable for government, institutions and communities to
offset carbon emissions. The calculator evaluates carbon emitted by a
range of activities such as energy consumption, land and air travel,
and paper usage. It then calculates how many trees one would need to
plant to absorb the carbon generated through the process of
photosynthesis. The calculator and associated action are instrumental
in creating political and social awareness on means of addressing the
effects of climate change on communities and the environment.
She has played a significant role in the introduction of the concept of
urban forestry. Taking note that over 66% of South Africa’s population
lives in degraded urban areas, she initiated the Urban Greening Forum.
With support from various international and local environmental
entities, she began working with national and local authorities and
communities in the barren townships of South Africa to develop parks,
nurseries, street trees and other greening projects. Her work has
provided a model for several municipalities such as Soweto,
Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Port Elizabeth and Kimberley.
As for Trees for Homes, with the slogan “a house is not a home without
a tree”, it aims to improve the quality of life of the under-privileged
by providing plant material, environmental awareness, some short term
employment and education for those living in low-cost housing
developments, whilst offsetting carbon emissions.
“FTFA aims for sustainability and replication and, in the past few
years, it has been encouraging to see the government and the private
sector in South Africa approach us for assistance in addressing
greening and climate change. We feel that over the past 18 years we
have sown the seeds of awareness and they are now germinating and
growing to ensure sustainable development for our emerging democracy”,
said Ms. Park.
Instead of waiting around for the limelight to spur her into action,
she has been working for 18 years with her NGO on accomplishments that
could fill several books, and she intends on continuing.
“The prize money would be used to develop climate change awareness and
education materials and assist in networking and presentations on
climate change to government, business and the disadvantaged and
underserved communities of South Africa,” assured Ms Park.
“Since we are currently lobbying big business in this country, the
award would assist us with highlighting the importance of climate
change, and options for addressing this, amongst the larger carbon
emitters of South Africa,” she added.
Thanks to the education and support programs offered by FTFA, hundreds
of people in South Africa are hard at work planting, reaping, creating
and selling their homegrown or recycled wares.
NOTE:
The
four member of UNEP Sasakawa Prize jury are: Pr. Wangari Maathai, 2004
Nobel Peace Laureate; Ms. Angela Cropper, Senator for Trinidad and
Tobago; Ms. Wakako Hironaka, former Minister of the Environment of
Japan; and Mr. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director.
The UNEP Sasakawa Prize is sponsored by the Japan-based Nippon
Foundation, an independent, non-profit grant-making organization that
supports both domestic and international philanthropic projects. The
UNEP Sasakawa Prize was originally established in 1982 by the late
Ryoichi Sasakawa. The Prize was re-launched in its current format in
2005, and is currently chaired by Mr. Sasakawa's son, Yohei Sasakawa.
Ms. Park, SHIDHULAI and Ms. Omana T.K, a woman who has brought
climate-friendly rice production, rainwater harvesting and bio gas
power to thousands of villagers in rural India, were short-listed in
June 2007 by Daniel Schrag, Director of Harvard University's Center for
the Environment; Richard Ottinger, Pace University Law School, Zamba
Batjargal, former minister of the Environment for Mongolia and Eric
Falt, Director, Division of Communications and Public Information,
United Nations Environment Programme.
Savanna Wood's Greening Partner, Jeunesse Park, founder of Food and Trees for Africa, was named one of six winners of the 52nd annual Chevron Conservation Awards for her efforts in combating climate change.
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