Winners of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2018

The winners of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2018 were announced today. The MIDORI Prize is a prestigious biennial international prize organized by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It honours individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at global, regional, or local levels.

The winners of the 2018 MIDORI Prize are: Dr. Kathy MacKinnon, Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas; Mr. Assad Serhal, Director General of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon; and Dr. Abdul Hamid Zakri, Former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Each of the prize winners is awarded a monetary prize of 100,000 US dollars to support their work. They will be honoured and will deliver public lectures at an award ceremony on 31 October 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. The three prize winners will be featured in a video and an exhibition at the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity which will be held from 17 to 29 November 2018 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

“The conservation of the world’s biodiversity and the prevention of climate change are two of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Mr. Takuya Okada, Chairman of the AEON Environmental Foundation. “We hope that the MIDORI Prize will contribute to meeting this global challenge through mainstreaming biodiversity and promoting further actions to safeguard biodiversity.”

“The three exceptional individuals who have been awarded this year’s MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of its benefits,” said Dr. Cristiana Pașca Palmer, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. “I sincerely congratulate the 2018 winners for their numerous achievements. Their work represents the kind of energy, action and inspiration we need to improve the relationship between humans and nature.”

The 2018 MIDORI Prize Winners (Alphabetical order)

Dr. Kathy MacKinnon 

Chair, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) (U.K.)

After engaging in field research as a biologist in Indonesia for ten years, Dr. Kathy MacKinnon was appointed as the Lead Biodiversity Specialist of the World Bank. She contributed to numerous projects to strengthen biodiversity conservation and natural resource management in many developing countries in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. She has been cooperating with multiple stakeholders and focusing on mainstreaming of biodiversity in the development programs and securing local sustainable livelihood. Currently she is serving as the Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and she has been contributing greatly to the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Mr. Assad Serhal

Director General
Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) (Lebanon)

During the civil war in Lebanon, Mr. Assad Serhal established the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) to protect the natural heritage of Lebanon. Finding that Western models for nature conservation and management did not resonate with local communities in the Middle East, SPNL revitalized “Hima” (“protected area” in Arabic), the community-based traditional system for area-based conservation. Mr. Serhal has contributed to the establishment of 22 Himas covering terrestrial, wetland and marine ecosystems and successfully conserving wildlife habitat, pasture land and water resources. They have also empowered the communities and brought the communities a sustainable livelihood. This approach has been adopted elsewhere in the region.

Dr. Abdul Hamid Zakri

Former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia (Malaysia)

Dr. Abdul Hamid Zakri has been contributing to the observation, analysis and evaluation of global

biodiversity and ecosystem services in a career spanning more than four decades, promoting nature conservation and restoration, and contributing to the sustainability of the environment. As a co-chair of the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and founding chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES), he played an important role in raising awareness of biodiversity among global leaders. He also contributed to the promotion of SATOYAMA initiative.

The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity

The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity is an international biennial prize co-organized by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It aims to raise public awareness about the importance of biodiversity and to contribute to the objectives of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020. The Prize honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. It aims to encourage positive action for biodiversity and inspire others by showcasing the notable work of those that it honors.

The MIDORI Prize was established by the AEON Environmental Foundation in 2010 to mark the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan, and the 20th anniversary of the AEON Environmental Foundation. The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity has been organized for the fifth time in 2018.

For more information visit: https://www.aeon.info/ef/en/prize/

AEON Environmental Foundation

The AEON Environmental Foundation was established in 1990 based on our principles of pursuing peace, respecting humanity, and contributing to local communities. Since its establishment, the Foundation has made diverse efforts supporting environmental NGOs and NPOs, undertaking tree planting in Japan and abroad, to promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, awarding domestic and international prizes, and developing human resources in the environmental field. In 2009, the foundation established “The Japan Awards for Biodiversity”, a domestic prize that, like the MIDORI Prize, is awarded biennially. The two prizes are awarded in alternate years. In 2015, the Foundation organized the fourth “Japan-China International Symposium on Environmental Issues” in Beijing, China in commemoration of its 25th anniversary. It also presented the “AEON Beijing Environmental Proposal” with the aim of resolving global environmental issues beyond generations and borders. In 2017 AEON launched a collaboration agreement with the Japanese Biosphere Reserves Network, marking the beginning of new initiatives for preservation and development of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. In order to sustain our green planet for future generations, through its various activities the AEON Environmental Foundation will make further efforts toward supporting biodiversity.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. With 196 Parties, the Convention has near universal participation among countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the business community. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing are supplementary agreements to the Convention. The Cartagena Protocol, which entered into force on 11 September 2003, seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. To date, 171 Parties have ratified the Cartagena Protocol. The Nagoya Protocol aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. It entered into force on 12 October 2014 and to date has been ratified by 111 Parties.

For more information visit: www.cbd.int