AEON Environmental Foundation has announced the winners of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2012 at the press conference held in Tokyo, Japan on September 20, 2012.  The year 2012 is the second time the MIDORI Prize is being awarded by the AEON Environmental Foundation in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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 year 2010 was declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity.  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 20^th anniversary in 2010, established “The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity.”

In its second year, the winners of the 2012 Prize were chosen as they have continuously promoted the Aichi Biodiversity Targets approved at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) and The United Nations Decade on Biodiversity started in 2011, and contributed mainstreaming of biodiversity.

The 2012 prize will be awarded at an Award Ceremony to be held in Hyderabad, India, on October 17 (Wed.) 2012, in conjunction with the high-level segment of the eleventh meeting of The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP11).  Following the Award Ceremony, the Winners’ Forum will be held in Tokyo, Japan on October 22 (Mon.) , 2012, at the U Thant Hall of the United Nations University.

【The Prize Winners】

Dr. Juan Carlos Castilla (Chile)

Professor, Marine Ecology, Department of Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

As “the pioneer of South American marine ecology,” Dr. Castilla has worked with governments, coastal and more marginalized artisanal fisher communities, and proved that the small scale Marine Protected Area is effective for sustainably developing the community as well as growing a green economy.

Dr. Rodrigo Gamez-Lobo (Costa Rica)

President of Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio)　　

Dr. Gamez showed biodiversity as a unique and concrete model through conducting the inventory of Costa Rica´s biodiversity at INBio.  He provided a successful model of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Dr. Vo Quy (Viet Nam)

Honorary President at the Center for Natural Resources Management and Environmental Studies (CRES), Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Dr. Quy’s achievements are influential at national and regional levels and a model to other developing nations of the conservation and rehabilitation of nature, offering hope that lands devastated by urbanization or warfare can be regenerated.