WGS 2024: 5 projects win $1 million Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development

Dubai: The Dubai International Best Practices Award for Sustainable Development on Tuesday awarded five recipients a total prize money of $1 million at the World Governments Summit 2024 in Dubai.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Second Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Media Council, honoured the winners with the Award.

The award is given in partnership with UN-Habitat and Dubai Municipality, recognising excellence and supporting urban best practices to improve the living environment.

Five categories were awarded in Best Practices in Urban Regeneration and Public Spaces; The Most Beautiful, Innovative and Iconic Building; Best Practices in Sustaining Urban Food Systems; Best Practices in Addressing Climate Change and Reducing Pollution; and Best Practices in Urban Infrastructure Planning and Management.

The BAM project – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, from Italy, secured the ‘Best Practices in Urban Regeneration and Public Spaces’.

The winner of this year’s new category - The Most Beautiful, Innovative and Iconic Building - went to Scion Innovation Hub project from New Zealand.

The EatCloud Zero Food Waste project from Colombia, won the Best Practices Award in Sustaining Urban Food Systems.

The ‘Gree Energy project (The Hamparan Project) - Avoiding methane emissions from a cassava starch factory and generating clean energy’ from Indonesia, won the Best Practices Award in Addressing Climate Change and Reducing Pollution.

The ‘Local Area Development Plan (LADP)’ project from the Arab Republic of Egypt won Best Practices Award in Urban Infrastructure Planning and Management.

The Awards were established in 1995—under the directive of the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum during the United Nations International Conference in Dubai—as an outcome of the Dubai Declaration. This Declaration created the international concept of sharing Best Practices for the accelerated development of the human settlements sector.

The award is open to all sectors: national and regional governments, local authorities and their associations, non-governmental organizations, multilateral agencies, community based organisations, research and academic institutions, public and private foundations, media entities and individuals.