Network of Grass Roots Environment Prize Winners Celebrates Two Decades of Achievements

20th Anniversary of Global 500 Laureates Acknowledged on
World Environment Day 2007

Nairobi, 5 June 2007--An international network of award-winning environmentalists celebrates its 20th anniversary today with many of the individuals concerned still actively campaigning and contributing towards the goal of a sustainable world.

The Global 500 Roll of Honour, launched in 1987, numbers such luminaries as Professor Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and noted primatologist Jane Goodall among its number.

Its 20th anniversary-- along with the 15th anniversary of the Global Environment Forum--falls on World Environment Day which is annually celebrated around the globe on 5 June including in the 2007 host country of Norway.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said:" WED is about empowerment and so is the enduring legacy of the Global 500 award. The extraordinary individuals, who over the years have been named laureates, continue to shape the environmental landscape within their communities and across Continents. I congratulate them on their achievements of the past and their successes in the future".

"In a globalized world of increasing environmental challenges and opportunities, the Global 500 winners serve as beacons catalyzing action and devising creative solutions to the sustainability issues of our age," he added.

The Global 500 Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement was originally intended as a five-year programme but was extended for over seventeen years, ending in 2003.

A total 734 adult and youth awardees became winners. Many continue to devote impressive portions of their lives to such global concerns as climate change, deforestation, ocean pollution, dumping of toxic waste, and the conservation of biodiversity.

For example Professor Maathai is patron of UNEP’s Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign launched at last year's climate convention conference in Nairobi; Khadijah Abdul Raman was integral to the success of our 2005 UNEP Youth Conference in Malaysia, while Jane Goodall is a much-valued partner in UNEP’s Great Apes Survival Project.

Another Global 500 Award winner, Ian Kiernan, continues to collaborate closely with UNEP through Clean Up the World , helping to influence attitudes and behaviors around the globe.

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Laureates established the Global 500 Environmental Forum, making it possible for Laureates to support and communicate with one another.

It provides a vehicle for bringing Laureates together to share experiences and solicit support. The Forum also serves to raise awareness about the pressing environmental issues that countries and regions face. The Global 500 Forum has kept alive the important resource the Global 500 Laureates represent.

For More Information Please Contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, on Tel: +254 20 7623084 or E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org