Since ancient times, in the course of civilization, humans have employed resources from the natural environment. As a result, the environmental loads on natural resources have continued to grow, and disruption and fragmentation of the ecosystem and a decrease of biodiversity have been caused by human activities. It is now high time for us to take actions in ways to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity in order to share the blessings of the ecosystem and biodiversity and sustain our beautiful earth where diverse organisms harmoniously live together.

The year 2010 was a milestone in fields related to the mainstreaming of biodiversity. This was the International Year of Biodiversity as declared by the United Nations. Also, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) was held in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. In commemoration of this important year, the AEON Environmental Foundation, which also celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010, established “The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity.”

The MIDORI Prize is a biennial international prize to honour individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at global, regional or local levels. The aims of this Prize are to extend the developmental influence of the individual’s efforts to various projects relating to biodiversity throughout the world, and to raise awareness about biodiversity. In principle, the MIDORI Prize is awarded to three individuals. Each prize winner is awarded a wooden plaque, a commemorative gift and a monetary prize of 100,000 US dollars.