UNESCO, People Biodiversity and Ecology

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (Australia) and to Dr Ernesto C. Enkerlin-Hoeflich (Mexico)
The Bureau of the International Co-ordinating Council of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, decided at its meeting on 29 June 2005 to award the 2005 Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation jointly to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (Australia) and to Dr Ernesto C. Enkerlin-Hoeflich (Mexico). The 2005 Sultan Qaboos Prize was delivered to the winners during the World Science Forum, Budapest, 10 November 2005. More

Margarita Lampo (Centro de Ecología) and H.E. Yahya Ben Saud Al Sulaimi (Minister of Education, Oman)

Peter Schei and H.E. Yahya Ben Saud Al Sulaimi (Minister of Education, Oman)

Walter Erdelen (UNESCO), H.E. Yahya Ben Saud Al Sulaimi (Minister of Education, Oman), M. Lampo, P. Schei and Prof. Jóseph Hámori

Mr.Mahamat Ahmat ABBAS from the Chad Association of Volunteers for the Protection of the Environment giving a speech...

with Mr. S. Mankoto (UNESCO) & Mr. A. Koko (Chad Delegation)

2001 - Association Tchadienne des Volontaires pour la Protection de l'Environnement - (A.T.V.P.E.) (French version)

The Bureau of the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, as the Jury of the Prize, has decided to award the 2001 Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation to the "Chad Association of Volunteers for the Protection of the Environment". Since 1997, the Chad Association of Volunteers for the Protection of the Environment (A.T.V.P.E.) has carried out many significant and highly successful activities in the different regions of Chad, especially in reforestation and soil conservation. Within five years, i.e. 1997 - 2001, the Association has planted almost 20,000 trees across the country and has produced and distributed 70,000 seedlings to the local population. Traditional technologies are used in combating desertification and in minimizing the effects of drought.

The achievements of this NGO can be attributed to its capacity to mobilize a large number of volunteers and members of the public, particularly women's groups and young people, who are very committed to this work. The A.T.V.P.E. undertakes highly appreciated environmental education, training, and public-awareness campaigns about the importance of environment and sustainable development. For these efforts, the Association won the first prize for 'best practices' in environmental preservation awarded by UNDP and UNSO (Office to Combat Desertification and Drought) in 1998. The MAB Bureau has decided to award the 2001 Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation to the "Chad Association of Volunteers for the Protection of the Environment" in recognition of its remarkable contribution to the implementation of the concept of biosphere reserves in terms of promoting the importance of linking nature conservation and sustainable development.

This decision was also taken to encourage the efforts of the Association in its contribution to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity, especially in the Sahelian Region.

Lake Malawi National Park

Lake Malawi National Park, which was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1984, is situated at the southern end of the immense Lake Malawi. Set in a beautiful backdrop of mountains, Lake Malawi has clear and deep waters with hundreds of mostly endemic fish species. The MAB Bureau decided to allocate the 1995 Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Preservation to the Lake Malawi National Park based on its ambitious management programme largely carried-out in cooperation with local communities. Through the management programme, the Lake Malawi National Park not only contributes to the protection of the rich biodiversity in the area, it also promotes the welfare of all the people who live there.

Professor Jan Jeník, The Czeck Republic

Mr. Jan Jeník is a botanist who is currently Professor at the Institute of Botany at Charles University in Prague. His career is marked by his professional competence, dedication and personal integrity which have given him intentional renown and respect.

After starting his studies in botany and forestry in Prague, Jan Jeník was given special leave in 1964 to 1967 to lecture and undertake botanical research in Africa. It was this experience in Ghana, Togo, Tanzania and many other countries of Africa which stimulated his interest in tropical ecosystems and which he was able to communicate so successfully to his colleagues and students thereafter. In 1970 he had to leave Prague for political reasons and continued his work in the south of the country in the region of Trebon. It was here that he started his long association with the Man and Biosphere programme. In 1976, the Trebon Biosphere Reserve was officially designated and heralded a new type of protected area characterised by its emphasis on human-made landscapes and sustainable use of natural resources. Jan Jeník participated actively in MAB activities on wetland ecology, mountain systems, links between ecology and economics and the development of the international biosphere reserve network. In 1990, following the political changes in the former Czechoslovakia, Jan Jeník was invited to return to the Charles University in Prague as head of the Department of Botany and became Member of the Co-ordinating Council of the Academy of Sciences. His enthousiasm to share and communicate knowledge enlarged his purely scientific work with a multitude of activities for popularising ecology and the conservation of nature, always paying special attention to the need to provide well-written material in local languages. In sum, the cause of ecology throughout the world, and not the least UNESCO's MAB programme, owe a great deal to Jan Jeník.

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