Ecobreves – GLOBAL: Tierramérica Wins International Zayed Prize

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MONTEVIDEO, May 26 2008 (IPS) - The weekly news service on the environment and development, Tierramérica, was awarded the Zayed International Prize in the category of Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society, granted by the United Arab Emirates. Upon announcing the prize on May 19, the organizers said that Tierramérica serves as a space for debate, drawing a wide range of social actors from Latin America and around the world.

Tierramérica is produced by the international news agency Inter Press Service (IPS) and sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank. It is published as a weekly insert in 20 Latin American newspapers.

The multimedia Tierramérica product includes selected news items broadcast by 400 radio stations in 10 Latin American countries, and a web site in Spanish, English and Portuguese (www.tierramerica.net).

The history of Tierramérica began in 1995, when it was published as a magazine every two months. Since 2000, the weekly print edition is published in newspapers and magazines in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The other Zayed Prize-winners were U.N. special envoy for climate change and former director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, for the Zayed Prize for Global Leadership in the Environment; Jane Lubchenco, a professor of marine biology and zoology at Oregon State University in the United States, and Professor V. Ramanathan, a climatologist from India who is based in San Diego, California, for the Zayed Prize for Scientific/Technological Achievements. Environment Development Action in the Third World (ENDA), in Senegal, shared the award in the category of Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society with Tierramérica.

The Zayed Prize was established by UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, and has a fund of one million dollars.