PRESS RELEASE
DR. MICHEL BATISSE, FRENCH SCIENTIST WINS PREMIER UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT
PRIZE
Award ceremony to be held in New York on 17 November
2000
UNEP - 01 November 2000 - The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) announced today that this year’s UNEP Sasakawa
Environment Prize has been awarded to noted French scientist, Dr. Michel
Batisse, for his outstanding contributions to the conservation of the
earth’s natural resources, the protection of the terrestrial and marine
environment and the promotion of sustainable development.
The Prize, worth US$200,000 and considered one of the most prestigious
environmental awards in the world, will be presented at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York on 17 November 2000.
"Dr. Batisse has been the architect and promoter of some of the
most innovative and significant environmental research and training
programmes conducted at the global and regional level," said Lord
Clinton-Davis, Chairman of the Selection Committee.
"He has always used his talent and knowledge to bring together
large numbers of scientists to work on common environmental objectives of
major importance to humankind," he added.
One of Dr. Batisse’s greatest contributions was the organization of
the Man and Biosphere (MAB) Conference in Paris in 1968 - a pioneering
event, which paved the way for the 1972 Stockholm Conference and which
advocated what would become known as sustainable development.
The MAB Conference resulted in the establishment of biosphere reserves
where the conservation of biological diversity is combined with research,
monitoring and education. These areas are recognized today as the best way
of implementing sustainable development and preserving biological
diversity in cooperation with local communities. The world network of
biosphere reserves now comprises some 368 sites in 91 countries.
"Dr. Batisse played a key role in developing the concept of 'integrated
surveys'. His awareness of failures in the delivery of foreign aid, led
him to advocate interdisciplinary approaches based on solid scientific
evidence for the formulation and implementation of sound socio-economic
development projects", said UNEP's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer.
"His experience was widely used in the preparation of the UNEP
Conference on Desertification in 1977, and his involvement in establishing
a number of national centres, including the Jodhpur Desert Research
Institute in India, the Negev Desert Institute in Israel and the Egyptian
Desert Institute, has greatly contributed to global research on arid
lands," explained Toepfer.
Dr. Batisse is also the driving force behind the Mediterranean Blue
Plan where all bordering countries and the European Union cooperate
towards sustainable development in this crucial region.
"It is a supreme honour to find myself in the company of the
pioneers of the environmental movement who have received this Prize before
me, and whom I have had the privilege of meeting during the course of my
career," said Dr. Battisse.
"It is particularly meaningful to receive this accolade from an
organization in whose birth I, in a small way, contributed," stated
Dr. Batisse.
Note to editors:
* A complete biography and photograph of Dr. Batisse are
available.
* The UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize, sponsored by The Nippon
Foundation and founded by the late Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa, has been awarded
annually since 1984 to individuals who have made outstanding global
contributions to the management and protection of the environment.
* Past winners include: Nobel Laureate, Professor Mario J. 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; Lester Brown, Director of the
Worldwatch Institute, whose writings were instrumental in alerting the
world about the threats to the biosphere; Dr. M. S. Swaminathan of India,
father of the economic ecology movement; and Ian Kiernan of Australia,
founder of the Clean Up the World Campaign.
* The 2000 Prize winner was selected on 4 July 2000 by an independent
and distinguished 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.
For more information and to obtain 2001 nomination forms, please
contact: Tore J. Brevik, Spokesman/Director UNEP Communications and Public
Information on tel: (254-2) 62 3292, fax: (254-2) 62 3927, e-mail: tore.brevik@unep.org
or Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox, Secretary, UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize, P.
O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, tel: (254-2) 62 3401, fax: (254-2) 62 3692,
e-mail: elisabeth.guilbaud-cox@unep.org
website: http://www.unep.org/sasakawa2
In New York, contact UNEP’s Information Officer, Jim Sniffen, on tel:
1 (212) 963-8094, e-mail: sniffenj@un.org
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