Projects from South Africa and Bangladesh Share UNEP Environment Award

News and Special Reports

Fight against Climate Change: Projects from South Africa and Bangladesh Share UNEP Environment Award

Oct 5, 2007, 6:38pm

Ms. Jeunesse Park of South Africa and Bangladeshi NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha
Ms. Jeunesse Park of South Africa and the Bangladeshi non-government organization (NGO) Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha are the co-winners of the UNEP Sasakawa Prize 2007, a $200,000 prize awarded yearly to individuals or institutions who have made a substantial contribution to the protection and management of the environment.

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.

...

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha was founded in 1998 to help poor and marginalized people from the remote Chalanbeel region and to combat the effects of climate change in Bangladesh, particularly devastating floods and rising water levels.

...