Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science 2002
awarded to Marisela Salvatierra (Venezuela)

Venezuelan journalist Marisela Salvatierra won UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in 2002. The prize came in recognition of her remarkable 26-year career in science communication and environmental education in Latin America.

‘Science communication opens people’s eyes’, she believes. It ‘combats the scourge of pseudo-science and democratizes the benefits of knowledge, since one of the objectives of science popularization is to enable the majority to participate democratically in the discoveries of the minority.’

Ms Salvatierra regrets that the production of scientific literature for children and the general public in her home country is modest. ‘There are currently only 45 titles for children, 40 for teenagers and 450 for the general public’, she notes9. Among Ms Salvatierra’s own titles are Atmospheric Pollution, The Process of Environmental Deterioration in Venezuela’s History, The Animal Population in Venezuela and Why do we get flooded? from the series Cuadernos Maraven.

Ms Salvatierra produces and conducts the weekly radio programme on environmental analysis, Evolution, and directs the Foundation on Environmental Communication Development (Fundecam).

She has had a long and distinguished career. A former Professor of Journalism on Environment and Development, and Environmental Education, at the Social Communication School of the Central University of Venezuela, she is also past president of the Environmental Commission of Venezuela’s Scientific Journalism Circle and was responsible for environmental issues at the National School of Journalists. She was a driving force behind the National Programme of Development and Consolidation of Environmental Journalism in Venezuela, which included the design of an environmental training programme for active journalists. For ten years, she headed the government programme of environmental analysis. She has also worked as Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Profauna, as Editor of the technical magazine, Environment, and as the Venezuelan correspondent for the Latin American edition of Environment Watch.

Ms Salvatierra’s prize consists of the sum of £2,000 and a UNESCO Albert Einstein Silver Medal. As holder of the Ruchi Ram Sahni Chair, which comprises a token honorarium of US$2,000, she has been invited to travel to India for a period of two to four weeks as the guest of the Government of India. The Ruchi Ram Sahni Chair was introduced by the Government of India in 2001 to mark the prize’s 50th anniversary.

For further information, write to: Yoslan Nur