Chinese Minister, Brazilian Environmentalist Share Sasakawa Prize

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 27, 2003 (ENS) - One of the world's most prestigious environmental awards will be shared this year by a Chinese government minister and the founder of a grassroots Brazilian national network to combat wild animal trafficking, the United Nations announced today.

Xie Zhenhua, minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA), will share the $200,000 Sasakawa Prize equally with Dener Jose Giovanini of Brazil who started the National Network for Combating Wild Animal Trafficking, or RENCTAS.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said today, "It is a real honor to award the 2003 Sasakawa Environment Prize to Mr. Xie and Mr. Dener Giovanini. Both individuals have demonstrated, one at the governmental and the other at the grassroots level, how the complex and apparently insoluble problems facing the world can be tackled."

"Both have shown vision, patience, pragmatism and an understanding of the need to engage and encourage numerous actors and partners if sustainable development is to be realized," Toepfer said.

The UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize, sponsored by The Nippon Foundation and founded by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, has been awarded each year since 1984 to individuals who have made outstanding global contributions to the management and protection of the environment.

This year's winners will receive the prize from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan on November 19 in New York City.

Xie said today, "This award represents the full recognition and affirmation by the United Nations and the international community of China's endeavors and achievements in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development."

Xie Zhenhua is minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China. (Photo courtesy )

Official government figures show that, year after year, overall pollution levels have fallen as a result of measures taken by SEPA in cooperation with other government departments and local authorities.

Now serving as executive vice chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, Minister Xie started more than 20 years ago in the Radiation Division of what was then the National Environmental Protection Agency. In 1998, he become minister of the newly formed SEPA.

In 1994, Xie introduced water pollution treatment projects in the Huai River Basin which have provided some 200 million people with clean drinking water, UNEP said.

In 1996, together with local government and economic departments, Xie helped phase out polluting and outdated processes, products and equipment in more than 100,000 small and medium sized companies. Chinese manufacturers now have experience to show that low pollution, low resource intensive industries and products are possible.

Xie has promoted the establishment of protected areas and reserves. China now has over 1,700 nature reserves covering an estimated 13 percent of the country.

The Chinese minister is credited with diverting a new natural gas project, originally planned to run through a reserve established to protect some of the world's last wild Bactrian camels. Thanks to his efforts, UNEP said, the project was re-routed at a cost of US$25 million.

He has taken what UNEP calls "an active, personal role" in promoting model cities that combine economic growth with environmental protection. There are now 32 such cities in China including Dalain, Shenzhen and Xiamen.

During Xie's tenure at NEPA and SEPA, China has enacted seven key national laws dealing with issues such as air pollution and solid waste, more than 30 environmental regulations and over 400 environmental standards.

Under Xie's leadership, China has joined the Montreal Protocol covering protection of the ozone layer, and has implemented use of low cost substitutes for ozone depleting chemicals. The World Bank estimates that China's phaseout of ozone depleters amounts to half of the developing world's reduction of these substances.

Xie has helped China sign agreements with more than 30 countries, and last year, in Beijing, he assisted in bringing together environment ministers from Asia and Europe for the first time.

Giovanini's story is entirely different, but his achievements, too, have had the effect of stemming environmental degradation.

Dener Jose Giovanini of Brazil founded the National Network for Combating Wild Animal Trafficking. (Photo courtesy UNEP)

Called the National Network for Combating Wild Animal Trafficking (RENCTAS), the network has attracted a membership of 600 nongovernmental organizations and 39,000 individuals.

It addresses the cause and effect of the illegal trade in wildlife by gathering public support and offering alternative livelihoods for would be poachers.

Police and customs officials are linked with a national network of over 230 voluntary veterinarians to ensure that any wild animal that is seized at an airport, or roadblock, or during a raid, gets excellent care.

An increasing number of seizures result from tip-offs to RENCTAS from members of the Brazilian public. RENCTAS then passes the information on to police and customs officers.

A website established to help informants give information is now getting some 150 tips a day. One hundred people have been arrested since the network was established.

RENCTAS believes that training and public awareness are key to fighting the illicit trade. Over a two year period, it has trained more than 1,600 government agents including police personnel and customs staff.

The network has also helped rehabilitate offenders and those on low incomes who have become involved in the illegal wildlife trade. In collaboration with Brazil's National Zoo, former wildlife poachers have been taught how to develop wildlife habitats and to care for wild animals.

This has helped boost the number of animal care centers. The number of people trained through these programs rose from 35 in 1999 to nearly 900 in 2001.

Giovanini said today, "The UNEP Sasakawa Award is highlighting a much overshadowed problem in Brazil. Most certainly, the award will not only give the issue greater visibility, but also make us stronger in our efforts to overcome it."

"We would like the world to know we are waging a battle of uneven forces and that we are fighting against the economic power of organized crime that destroys our fauna," the prize winner said. "We hope everyone will gain awareness of and become committed to this cause. Biodiversity is the most valuable heritage we can possibly convey to future generations, and it is ours to preserve."

The 2003 Sasakawa Prize winners were selected on July 1 by an independent panel of international leaders and environmentalists chaired by Lord Clinton-Davis, Chairman of Europe 21, Joint President of the Society of Labour Lawyers, a Life Peer of the House of Lords and former Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom.

Past Sasakawa Prize winners include: Nobel laureate, Professor Mario Molina, for discovering a new reaction sequence involving chlorine peroxide, which accounts for most of the ozone destruction in the Antarctic; Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper from Brazil who died leading the fight against cattle ranchers' destruction of the rainforest; and Lester Brown, former director of the Worldwatch Institute, whose writings were instrumental in alerting the world about the threats to the biosphere.