UAE offers $1m for any pioneering work at Earth Summit

The UAE delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development yesterday shored up their support of the summit's aims and agenda by offering $1 million to any pioneering work that emerges from the 10-day global meet under way in South Africa.

At a press conference at the Sandton Convention Centre last night, Dr Essa Abdul Latif of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment announced the offer after encouraging entrants from all over the world for the second cycle of the Zayed Prize.

Dr Abdul Latif added that entries for the 2001 to 2003 cycle will be accepted until June 2003.

"This is an open invitation for the world to join us in promoting sustainable development activities," Dr Abdul Latif said.

"The $1 million prize will be split into three areas – the first prize for a key international figure or organisation who has made a global impact, the second prize for scientific research that promotes sustainable development, and the third for non-governmental organisations and civil society."

The first cycle of the Zayed Prize was awarded to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, for his work on the Global 2000 initiative and eradication of poverty and disease; the second prize was shared by the World Commission on Dams and Prof Mohammed El Kassas, for his study of the ecology of arid lands; and third prize was awarded to Yolanda Navaro, current president of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

"From our point of view, this summit is about changing people," said Dr Mohammed Ahmed bin Fahad, chairman of the Higher Committee for the Zayed Prize. "Changing rich, educated people who control 80 per cent of the world's resources because they have the ability and capability to reverse unsustainable development."

"All mankind are shareholders in the world," Dr Fahad said, "and all of us must contribute something to it. We can work together to produce something good, to make a difference, and the Zayed Prize is a big step in that direction."

Dr Fahad also alluded to President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's own involvement in regional conservation projects involving houbara bustard, protected wildlife areas and even dam-building in Yemen.

In coming days, the UAE will draw even more global attention at the Earth Summit when it introduces the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) with the Capital's Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) and the United Nations Environment Programme.

Majed Al Mansouri, secretary-general of ERWDA, told Gulf News yesterday that the international environmental database initiative would be tested first in Abu Dhabi.

"Our pilot project in the Capital will begin in September," he said. "Within three years, we hope to have a database on all the seven emirates with their cooperation." The government of Abu Dhabi, he added, had already contributed $5 million as seed money for the project.

Mansouri said the WSSD in its entirety would offer several ideas and projects that could be implemented in the UAE. The ERWDA, he added, is soon to begin water surveys and research into new, less water-intensive methods of farming in a bid to cope with environmental stresses.

Buthaina Al Reyami, a representative of the Environment Committee of the federal Women's Union, said she had already benefited from attending the WSSD as part of the UAE delegation.

Al Reyami was particularly interested in NGO projects about water consumption, another about development in rural areas and women's rights, and a third about aid for aliens to end lead poisoning in children.

"This is a good opportunity to exchange ideas as well as interact with different projects from all over the world," the UAE national said. "We can learn from those that work, and discard those that don't."

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