When the United Kingdom Treasury approached Sir Partha Dasgupta in 2019 to carry out a review of the economics of biodiversity, the first time a finance ministry is believed to have commissioned such a study, the eminent Cambridge University economist did not think twice about saying “yes”.
Over the next 18 months or so, Dasgupta and his team combined scientific, economic and historical evidence with rigorous mathematical modelling to produce The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review.
Published in February 2021, the landmark report shows that economic growth has come at a devastating cost to nature. It makes clear that humanity is destroying its most precious asset — the natural world — by living beyond the planet’s means and highlights recent estimates that 1.6 Earths would be required to maintain current living standards.
“Economic forecasts consist of investment in factories, employment rates, [gross domestic product] growth. They never mention what's happening to the ecosystems,” said Dasgupta, who is this year’s United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation. “It really is urgent that we think about it now,” he said.
The report was the culmination of four decades of work in which Dasgupta has sought to push the boundaries of traditional economics and lay bare the connection between the health of the planet and the stability of economies.
The Economics of Biodiversity is the foundation of a growing field of what is known as natural capital accounting, in which researchers attempt to assess the value of nature. Those numbers can help governments better understand the long-term economic costs of logging, mining and other potentially destructive industries, ultimately bolstering the case for protecting the natural world.
“Sir Partha Dasgupta’s ground-breaking contributions to economics over the decades have awakened the world to the value of nature and the need to protect ecosystems which enrich our economies, our well-being and our lives,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.
Economics as part of a ‘tapestry’
Dasgupta was born in 1942 in what is now the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. (At the time, the city was part of India.) His father, the noted economist Amiya Kumar Dasgupta, had a huge influence on him and his path towards academia. After completing a bachelor’s degree in physics in Delhi, Dasgupta moved to the United Kingdom where he studied mathematics and later gained a doctorate in economics.
Through his many major contributions to economics for which he was knighted in 2002, Dasgupta has helped to shape the global debate on sustainable development and use of natural resources.
“Nature is a wondrous factory, producing a bewildering variety of goods and services at different speeds and of varying spatial coverage. Think of, for example, all the beautiful processes that shape wetlands – the birds and insects that pollinate, the water voles that dig round for food, the way tiny organisms decompose material and filter water,” said Dasgupta.
“It is a bewildering tapestry of things that are happening, many of which are unobservable. And yet they are creating the atmosphere in which humans and all living organisms can survive. The way we measure economic success or failure, the whole grammar of economics, needs to be built with this tapestry in mind.”
Affection for nature
Dasgupta traces his interest in the idea of living sustainably in a world of limited natural resources to his now classic 1969 paper On the Concept of Optimum Population. In the 1970s, Swedish economist Karl-Göran Mäler encouraged him to develop his ideas on the links between rural poverty and the state of the environment and natural resources in the world’s poorest countries, a subject that was notably absent from mainstream development economics at the time.
This led to further explorations of the relationships between population, natural resources, poverty and the environment, for which Dasgupta has become acclaimed.
“I’ve had a ball working in this field,” he said. “One reason it’s been fun is that I had no competition. Nobody else was working on it.”
Grasslands, forests and freshwater lakes are some of Dasgupta’s favourite ecosystems. He believes children should be taught nature studies from an early age and that the subject should be as compulsory as reading, writing and arithmetic. “That’s one way to generate some affection for nature. If you have affection for nature, then she is less likely to be trashed,” he said.
Inclusive wealth
Dasgupta is passionate about the need to replace gross domestic product as a measure of the economic health of countries because it tells just part of the story. He argues instead for “inclusive wealth”, which not only captures financial and produced capital but also the skills in the workforce (human capital), the cohesion in society (social capital) and the value of the environment (natural capital).
This idea is embedded in the United Nations-supported System of Environmental Economic Accounting which allows countries to track environmental assets, their use in the economy, and return flows of waste and emissions.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has developed the Inclusive Wealth Index. Now calculated for about 163 countries, the index indicates that inclusive wealth expanded by an average of 1.8 per cent from 1992-2019, far below the rate of GDP, largely because of declines in natural capital.
Nature as a capital asset
Echoing the urgency of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation, Dasgupta’s Economics of Biodiversity warns that critical ecosystems, from coral reefs to rainforests, are nearing dangerous tipping points, with catastrophic consequences for economies and people’s well-being.
The 600-page report calls for a fundamental rethink of humanity’s relationship with nature and how it is valued, arguing that the failure to include “ecosystem services” on national balance sheets has only served to intensify exploitation of the natural world.
“[It is] about introducing nature as a capital asset into economic thinking and showing how economic possibilities are entirely dependent on this finite entity,” said Dasgupta.
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth
The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
The massive explosion that ripped through Beirut’s port in August 2020 left behind a tangled mess of concrete, metal and broken glass. The force of the blast, in which a stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded, was felt more than 20km away.
With the Lebanese capital facing a massive cleanup effort, arcenciel was one of many non-profit groups to step in, gathering 12,000tn of mostly shattered glass from destroyed neighbourhoods. That glass would be crushed, melted and remoulded for future use.
“Following the Beirut blast, we had several projects to help rehabilitate neighbourhoods and collect shattered glass,” said Marc-Henri Karam, who leads arcenciel’s environment programmes.
The effort was emblematic of the role that arcenciel, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, has played in helping Lebanon manage its waste over the past two decades.
In a country that has struggled with waste management, the volunteer-led organization, which was founded in 1985, has launched programmes to recycle everything from medical waste to clothes. With years of expertise as a leading entity on treating hospital waste, it also helped Lebanon to develop its first waste management law.
“We identified lots of problems affecting the environment and especially the community and the health of society,” said Robin Richa, arcenciel’s General Manager. “We have tried to be strategic in identifying activities where we can make a sustainable impact.”
Managing waste
Arcenciel was created to support people wounded in Lebanon’s civil war. Its ethos of serving society has carried through to its present-day activities, which focus on helping marginalized people contribute to their communities, while encouraging environmental sustainability and the conservation of natural resources.
Through its Sustainable Agriculture and Environment programme, arcenciel provides solid waste management services, expertise and advocacy in Lebanon, a country which needed all the support it can to dispose of garbage safely and systematically. In 2003, the organization began treating medical waste which, if left untreated in open dumpsites and landfills, can cause infection, transmit diseases, contaminate water and pollute ecosystems.
Today, arcenciel treats 87 per cent of Lebanon’s hospital waste, using steam sterilization machines to convert it into domestic waste. Its role was even more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic, which generated tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste globally – from syringes, needles and test kits to masks, gloves and personal protective equipment. In 2020 alone, arcenciel treated 996tn of medical waste.
“We are reducing the risk of infections and infectious waste in landfills. The impact is cleaner soil, cleaner groundwater and better health for everyone,” said Karam.
“Reducing waste and promoting recycling is critical to dismantling the throwaway culture that is polluting our planet and driving the climate emergency,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “Arcenciel’s leadership in waste management is inspiring. The organization is helping to build a healthy environment for future generations.”
Crisis response
Environmentally sound waste management is critical for protecting ecosystems, and ultimately public health, which are core objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Responding to crises has been a hallmark of arcenciel’s work. In 2015, when the closure of the Naameh landfill caused rubbish to pile up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, arcenciel more than doubled the amount of material it recycled, collecting 852tn of waste. It also published a manual on effective waste management, trained municipalities in running their own waste management centres and raised public awareness on the issue.
The organization’s reuse-and-recycle philosophy also extends to old furniture and clothes. Anything that can be salvaged is saved from the landfill, repurposed and re-sold.
Legal precedent
Using its expertise in healthcare waste management, arcenciel, with the support of Beirut-based Université Saint Joseph and the Ministry of Health, published a manual setting out different types of healthcare waste, their proper treatment and disposal. This has become a vital tool in the application of Lebanon’s 2002/13389 decree on healthcare waste.
“The law makes it mandatory for hospitals to treat their waste and this is one of our biggest achievements,” said Karam.
In addition, arcenciel contributed to the drafting of the first solid waste management law that includes sorting from source and recycling, which passed in 2018. Together with the Ministry of Environment and Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform, arcenciel also crafted a national strategy based on years of work in the waste management sector.
Building for the future
In the Domaine de Taanayel, a 2.3 sq km plot of land in the Bekaa region, arcenciel has built a farm which runs almost exclusively on solar power, part of an effort to promote sustainable agriculture. To reduce soil erosion and water consumption, arcenciel uses fertigation, a process by which liquid fertilizer is delivered to plants in a more targeted way through the irrigation system. The Domaine is also the region’s only producer of biopesticides, which produce less toxic residue than conventional chemical pesticides. An ecolodge at the site helps to promote responsible tourism which respects the local environment and its ecosystems.
Arcenciel has helped improve waste management in two of Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camps and in three Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa region. In Bekaa, the organization showed residents how to collect, sort and recycle waste, improving living conditions and providing an income for refugees.
Although Lebanon’s successive crises have presented many challenges, arcenciel’s team say they are determined to continue their work to protect the environment for generations to come.
“Building something for the future is what motivates us,” Richa said.
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth
The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
Dr. Purnima Devi Barman, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision, was only a child when she developed an affinity for the stork, a bird that was to become her life’s passion.
At the age of five, Barman was sent to live with her grandmother on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam. Separated from her parents and siblings, the girl became inconsolable. To distract her, Barman’s grandmother, a farmer, started taking her to nearby paddy fields and wetlands to teach her about the birds there.
“I saw storks and many other species. She taught me bird songs. She asked me to sing for the egrets and the storks. I fell in love with the birds,” said Barman, a wildlife biologist who has devoted much of her career to saving the endangered greater adjutant stork, the second-rarest stork species in the world.
A species in decline
Fewer than 1,200 mature greater adjutant storks exist today, less than 1 per cent of what they numbered a century ago. The dramatic decline in their population has been partly driven by the destruction of their natural habitat.
Wetlands, where the storks thrive, have been drained, polluted and degraded, replaced by buildings, roads and mobile phone towers as the urbanization of rural areas gathers pace. Wetlands nurture a great diversity of animal and plant life but around the world they are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities and global heating.
Human-wildlife conflict
After gaining a Master’s degree in zoology, Barman started a PhD on the greater adjutant stork. But, seeing that many of the birds she had grown up with were no more, she decided to delay her thesis to focus on keeping the species alive. She began her campaign to protect the stork in 2007, focusing on the villages in Assam’s Kamrup District where the birds were most concentrated – and least welcomed.
Here, the storks are reviled for scavenging on carcasses, bringing bones and dead animals to their nesting trees, many of which grow in people’s gardens, and depositing foul-smelling droppings. The animals stand about 5ft (1.5m) tall with wingspans of up to 8ft (2.4m) and villagers often prefer to cut down trees in their backyards than allow the storks to nest in them. “The bird was totally misunderstood. They were treated as a bad omen, bad luck or a disease carrier,” said Barman, who was herself mocked for attempting to save nesting colonies.
Conflict between people and wildlife is one of the main threats to wildlife species, according to a 2021 report from the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This conflict can have irreversible impacts on ecosystems which support all life on Earth. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration provides an opportunity to mobilize the global community to re-balance the relationship between people and nature.
‘Hargila Army’
To protect the stork, Barman knew she had to change perceptions of the bird, known locally as “hargila” in Assamese (meaning “bone swallower”) and mobilized a group of village women to help her.
Today the “Hargila Army” consists of over 10,000 women. They protect nesting sites, rehabilitate injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arrange “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks. The greater adjutant stork regularly features in folk songs, poems, festivals and plays.
Barman has also helped to provide the women with weaving looms and yarn so they can create and sell textiles decorated with motifs of the hargila. This entrepreneurship not only spreads awareness of the bird, it also contributes to the women’s financial independence, boosting their livelihoods and instilling pride and a sense of ownership in their work to save the stork.
Since Barman started her conservation programme, the number of nests in the villages of Dadara, Pachariya, and Singimari in Kamrup District have risen from 28 to more than 250, making this the largest breeding colony of greater adjutant storks in the world. In 2017, Barman began building tall bamboo nesting platforms for the endangered birds to hatch their eggs. Her efforts were rewarded a couple of years later when the first greater adjutant stork chicks were hatched on these experimental platforms.
Restoring ecosystems
For Barman, safeguarding the adjutant stork means protecting and restoring their habitats. The Hargila Army has helped communities to plant 45,000 saplings near stork nesting trees and wetland areas in the hope they will support future stork populations. There are plans to plant a further 60,000 saplings next year. The women also carry out cleaning drives on the banks of rivers and in wetlands to remove plastic from the water and reduce pollution.
“Purnima Devi Barman’s pioneering conservation work has empowered thousands of women, creating entrepreneurs and improving livelihoods while bringing the greater adjutant stork back from the brink of extinction,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Dr. Barman’s work has shown that conflict between humans and wildlife can be resolved to the benefit of all. By highlighting the damaging impact that the loss of wetlands has had on the species who feed and breed on them, she reminds us of the importance of protecting and restoring ecosystems.”
Barman said one of her biggest rewards has been the sense of pride that has been instilled in the Hargila Army and she hopes their success will inspire the next generation of conservationists to pursue their dreams. “Being a woman working in conservation in a male-dominated society is challenging but the Hargila Army has shown how women can make a difference,” she said.
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth
The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
By recognising the successes that are being achieved on the environmental frontlines, the Champions of the Earth award seeks to inspire hope and action for a more sustainable future. The 2022 cycle shines a spotlight on efforts to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation across the world.
"Their commitment, their work, confirm that solutions to heal nature are within our reach."
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth
The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
Constantino Aucca Chutas’ interest in conservation began more than three decades ago with the fieldwork he did as a biology student in Cusco, Peru.
At the time, the breath-taking slopes of the Peruvian Andes that surrounded the city were under pressure from fires, illegal logging and expanding farms.
“Conservation became a necessity,” Aucca said recently during an interview with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). His calling to defend nature grew stronger at the urging of his grandparents, indigenous Quechua farmers. “They told me, look, your name is Aucca, it means warrior. Please try to do something for us farmers.”
Aucca has spent the past 30 years honouring that request and is leading local communities in a push to protect forests across South America, which are critical for fighting climate change and home to unique plant and animal species.
The Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), which Aucca founded in 2000, has planted more than 3 million trees in Peru and protected or restored 30,000ha of land.
For his efforts, Aucca has been named a Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, the United Nations’ highest environmental awards.
Latin America and the Caribbean contain some of the world’s most biodiverse forest ecosystems, yet more than 40 per cent of the region’s forests have been cleared or degraded to make way for mining, agricultural and infrastructure projects.
Aucca’s community-led conservation has helped indigenous communities, a traditionally marginalized group, to secure legal rights to their land and establish protected areas for their native forests.
“Constantino Aucca Chutas’ pioneering work reminds us that indigenous communities are at the forefront of conservation,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “As some of the best custodians of the natural world, their contributions to ecosystem restoration are invaluable and cannot come at a more urgent time for the planet.”
Restoring highland and ‘cloud forests’
The Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos has mobilized thousands of people in Cusco to protect and restore ancient Polylepis forests, which once dominated the high Andes. Growing at up to 5,000m above sea level, higher than any forests in the world, these “cloud” trees play a vital role in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
They harbour endangered wildlife, store carbon, fix soils and help to capture water from the Andes’ melting glaciers which is then slowly released to farming communities downstream. From their high vantage point, Polylepis forests absorb mist and retain huge amounts of water from clouds, which is gradually discharged through moss cover to keep mountain streams flowing.
Vast areas of the Andes were once covered in Polylepis trees but only 500,000ha are left standing today as decades of deforestation for firewood, livestock grazing, logging, mining and roads take their toll. The loss of these mountain forests impacts water scarcity, affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.
To ensure the survival of future generations of indigenous farmers, Aucca’s association organizes tree-planting festivals in Cusco every year. The day begins with ancestral rituals derived from the region’s rich Incan heritage. Musicians blow conch shells and beat drums in honour of nature as villagers make their way up steep mountain trails to plant trees, some carrying bundles of seedlings on their backs – others, babies.
“When we plant a tree, we give something back to Mother Earth. We are convinced that the more trees we plant, the more people will be happy. It’s a celebration, a day of happiness,” Aucca said.
Giving back to local communities
In return for their efforts to restore threatened habitats and conserve birds and other wildlife, local communities receive help from Acción Andina to secure titles to their lands, which provides legal protection against exploitation by timber, mining and oil companies.
Aucca and his team have also created protected areas, brought doctors and dentists to remote mountain villages and provided solar panels and clean-burning clay stoves to communities to improve their quality of life.
Aucca’s vision for ecosystem regeneration goes beyond his native Peru. In 2018, the Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos and U.S. non-profit Global Forest Generation established Acción Andina to scale-up the community-led reforestation model in other Andean countries.
As President and co-founder of Acción Andina, Aucca now oversees plans to protect and restore 1 million hectares of critically important forests in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as Peru, over the next 25 years with support from Global Forest Generation. His work exemplifies the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’s call for global action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.
The common good
Studies show that restoring 20 million ha of degraded ecosystems in the Latin American and Caribbean region could yield US$23 billion in benefits over 50 years. Thriving ecosystems are also essential for keeping global warming below 2°C and helping societies and economies to adapt to climate change.
At the heart of Aucca’s work is his profound connection to his Inca heritage and the Incan principles of “Ayni and Minka,” a deep commitment to work together for the common good, which runs through plans to scale up reforestation in other Andean countries too.
“Once in South America we were the greatest empire, united by one culture, Inca culture,” Aucca said. “It was the first time we all came together. The next time we came together to create a movement was to free ourselves from the Spanish yoke, to seek our independence. Now we’re coming together for the third time. Why? To protect a little tree.”
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups, and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration The UN General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
Nairobi, 22 November 2022 – The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced its 2022 Champions of the Earth, honouring a conservationist, an enterprise, an economist, a women’s rights activist, and a wildlife biologist for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.
Since its inception in 2005, the annual Champions of the Earth award has been awarded to trailblazers at the forefront of efforts to protect our natural world. It is the UN’s highest environmental honour. To date, the award has recognized 111 laureates: 26 world leaders, 69 individuals and 16 organizations. This year a record 2,200 nominations from around the world were received.
“Healthy, functional ecosystems are critical to preventing the climate emergency and loss of biodiversity from causing irreversible damage to our planet. This year’s Champions of the Earth give us hope that our relationship with nature can be repaired,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “This year’s Champions demonstrate how reviving ecosystems and supporting nature’s remarkable capacity for regeneration is everyone’s job: governments, the private sector, scientists, communities, NGOs and individuals.”
UNEP’s 2022 Champions of the Earth are:
- Arcenciel (Lebanon), honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, is a leading environmental enterprise whose work to create a cleaner, healthier environment has laid the foundation for the country’s national waste management strategy. Today, arcenciel recycles more than 80 per cent of Lebanon’s potentially infectious hospital waste every year.
- Constantino (Tino) Aucca Chutas (Peru), also honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, has pioneered a community reforestation model driven by local and Indigenous communities, which has led to three million trees being planted in the country. He is also leading ambitious reforestation efforts in other Andean countries.
- Sir Partha Dasgupta (United Kingdom), honoured in the Science and Innovation category, is an eminent economist whose landmark review on the economics of biodiversity calls for a fundamental rethink of humanity’s relationship with the natural world to prevent critical ecosystems from reaching dangerous tipping points.
- Dr Purnima Devi Barman (India), honoured in the Entrepreneurial Vision category, is a wildlife biologist who leads the “Hargila Army”, an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction. The women create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while building their own financial independence.
- Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet (Cameroon), honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, is a tireless advocate for the rights of women in Africa to secure land tenure, which is essential if they are to play a role in restoring ecosystems, fighting poverty and mitigating climate change. She is also leading efforts to influence policy on gender equality in forest management across 20 African countries.
Following the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), this year’s awards shine a spotlight on efforts to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation globally.
Ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean face massive threats. Every year, the planet loses forest cover equivalent to the size of Portugal. Oceans are being overfished and polluted, with 11 million tonnes of plastic alone ending up in marine environments annually. One million species are at risk of extinction as their habitats disappear or become polluted.
Ecosystem restoration is essential for keeping global warming below 2°C and helping societies and economies to adapt to climate change. It is also crucial to fighting hunger: restoration through agroforestry alone has the potential to increase food security for 1.3 billion people. Restoring just 15 per cent of converted lands could reduce the risk of species extinction by 60 per cent. Ecosystem restoration will only succeed if everyone joins the #GenerationRestoration movement.
About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About the UNEP Champions of the Earth
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals and organisations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector.
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
For more information, please contact:
Keishamaza Rukikaire, Head of News & Media, UN Environment Programme
Arcenciel (Lebanon), honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, is a leading environmental enterprise whose work to create a cleaner, healthier environment has laid the foundation for the country’s national waste management strategy. Today, arcenciel recycles more than 80 per cent of Lebanon’s potentially infectious hospital waste every year.
Constantino (Tino) Aucca Chutas (Peru), also honoured in the Inspiration and Action category, has pioneered a community reforestation model driven by local and Indigenous communities, which has led to three million trees being planted in the country. He is also leading ambitious reforestation efforts in other Andean countries.
Sir Partha Dasgupta (United Kingdom), honoured in the Science and Innovation category, is an eminent economist whose landmark review on the economics of biodiversity calls for a fundamental rethink of humanity’s relationship with the natural world to prevent critical ecosystems from reaching dangerous tipping points.
Dr Purnima Devi Barman (India), honoured in the Entrepreneurial Vision category, is a wildlife biologist who leads the “Hargila Army”, an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction. The women create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while building their own financial independence.
