April 2008

GEF SGP Recent Awards

Cuba:  GEF SGP Grantee Receives the CNN Heroes Award

In December 2007, Ms. Irania Martinez Garcia, manager of the SGP project on the reduction of dioxin and furan emissions in Guantanamo, received the CNN Heroes Award.  The brief on her award explained that: “Irania Martinez Garcia lost her daughter to leukemia and was convinced the disease was caused by environmental toxins from the burning of plastic and hospital waste in a dump nearby. Few thought she’d be able to turn the toxic dump site into an eco-friendly haven, but now Garcia is considered a local hero in Guantanamo. She has helped hundreds of local residents learn how to grow food efficiently while using organic and sustainable materials from the dump and from their own trash.”

Belize: GEF SGP National Coordinator is James A. Waight Conservation Awardee

On 18 February 2008, the National Coordinator of SGP Belize, Mr. Phillip Balderamos, received the James A. Waight Conservation Award. Mr. Balderamos was awarded for his commitment to bird conservation which spans some 25 years, his unwavering advocacy and educational efforts for sustainable natural resources management and for his contribution to community involvement in conservation efforts.

Tanzania:  GEF SGP Project Wins Wisions Award

In March 2008, a community-based organization in Tanzania implementing the “Water for Energy and Energy for Water” project supported by the Luxembourg- and Norway- funded UNDP Community Water Initiative, won the Wisions Award. The award is for promoting good practices on using either water as a driving agent for renewable energy (e.g. small hydro schemes, wave and tidal power plants) or the provision of clean and safe drinking water by renewable energy (e.g. solar driven desalination, water or wastewater treatment/reuse systems, groundwater pumping or irrigation systems).

Earlier in 2007, another GEF SGP CBO-implemented water project, won the Commission on Sustainable Development Award as one of the best practices in sustainable development in Africa.

Iran:  GEF SGP project is Wetland Champion Awardee

On World Wetlands Day (February 2, 2008, the GEF SGP project, “Rehabilitation of the Sirangoli and Hassanlou Ramsar Site Wetlands through Community Participation” received the national Wetland's Champion Award as one of the most successful experiences relating to optimized preservation of wetland ecosystems and promotion of wetland preservation culture across the country.