Campaigners combating global desertification win key environment prize

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that Rodrigo Vivas Rosas of Colombia and the Tenadi Cooperative Group of Mauritania will be the recipients of the 2006 UNEP Sasakawa Prize. The cowinners, who will receive their awards next month, are being honored for their achievements in combating desertification and land degradation — a major local and global problem that threatens the lives and livelihoods of two billion people inhabiting the planet’s dry and arid areas. The award underlines that many of the solutions to overcoming the global threat of desertification reside in the hands of local grassroots communities and indigenous peoples, including women and small-scale farmers. The new UNEP Sasakawa Prize, worth US$200,000 is awarded annually. The prize, considered one of the most prestigious environmental awards in the world, recognises innovative research and ideas and extraordinary grassroots initiatives from around the world.