Sasakawa prize

Global news June 2008

 * Projects from Peru and Lao PDR share UNEP Sasakawa prize 2008, June 4

Sasakawa prize
The UNEP Sasakawa prize, worth $200,000, is awarded yearly to individuals or institutions who have made a substantial contribution to the protection and management of the environment. The winners, who will each receive $100,000, were chosen by a five-member jury from a shortlist of six projects at a meeting in Tokyo.

The Prize acts as an incentive for grassroots environmental efforts that are sustainable and replicable. It recognizes extraordinary initiatives from around the world that make use of innovation and groundbreaking research and ideas and empower people at the local level.

The 2008 theme for the award was 'Moving towards a low carbon economy', the theme of World Environment Day 2008.

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize is sponsored by the Japan-based Nippon Foundation, an independent, non-profit grant-making organization that supports both Japanese and international philantropic projects. The UNEP Sasakawa Prize was originally created 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.

The five members of the 2008 UNEP Sasakawa Prize jury are UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, 1995 Nobel Chemistry Prize Laureate Professor Mario Molina, and Ms Wakako Hironaka, Member of Japan's House of Councillors.

2008 winners

 * Sunlabob
 * Practical Action in Peru

2008 shortlist
As well as the two winning projects, the 2008 shortlist also included four other projects bringing renewable energy to remote communities in Africa and Asia.
 * The Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management has brought biogas power to six prisons in Rwanda, halving the need for firewood and improving sanitation for 30,000 prisoners.
 * The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation is installing hydro-powered water pumps for poor communities in the Philippines.
 * The Mwanza Rural Housing Programme is training villagers in northern Tanzania to make high-quality bricks from local clay, fired with agricultural residues rather than wood.
 * SKG Sangha has set up a biogas programme in southern India to replace fuelwood with biogas for cooking in rural households, and also to increase household income by making a saleable fertilizer from biogas residue and other unmanaged agricultural organic waste.