Seed Finalists Attend 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok , November 2004 |
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| Seed Award Finalists at the Community Mubaan, Bangkok |
The Finalists of the first biennial Seed Awards were invited to attend IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Bangkok , November 17 th – 25 th 2004 . Thanks to sponsorship from IUCN, USAID, Asian Development Bank, the Government of Japan, the Water and Nature Initiative, Lufthansa, as well as Seed’s main partners, the German Ministry of the Environment, the Norwegian Government and the US State Department, representatives from each finalist project were able to participate in this event.
The Congress proved to be a great success for the Seed Award finalists. Their outstanding achievements and innovative projects were celebrated formally at a reception hosted by the World Bank and IUCN. Achim Steiner, Director General of IUCN, announced the Seed finalists, and they received congratulations from Ian Johnson, Vice-President of the World Bank, Charles McNeil, UNDP and Cornis van der Lugt, UNEP.
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Finalist Edouard Mara from ‘Madagascar ’s First Community-Run MPA’ project in Morocco delivers a presentation to the press
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The finalists presented their projects to the international media at a Press Conference held during the Congress. Journalists were given the opportunity to meet and photograph the finalists at the Community Mubaan, a dialogue space purpose-built for the Congress. The finalists enjoyed a considerable level of interest from the press, including Reuters, the National Geographic Magazine, and from conservation journals such as Environment News (Nepal) and Channel Africa (South Africa).
A number of the Seed Awards finalists were involved in ‘Knowledge Marketplace’ events held during the World Conservation Forum. Kim Than Yi , from the Centre for the Study and Development of Agriculture, Cambodia (CEDAC) and a finalist from the ‘System of Rice Intensification’ partnership led a roundtable discussion on ‘Creating Markets to Support Resource Limited Farmers and Conserve Rice Diversity’.
Thuppil Venkatesh, from the National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning , India , one of the finalists from the ‘Lead Battery Certification’ partnership chaired a discussion on the subject of ‘Environmental Audit and Certification Programmes for Lead Battery Manufacture in India ’.
Gustavo Heredia, from Agua Tuya, one of the partners in the Agua Para Todos partnership, was invited to speak at a Conservation Platform event run by the Swiss Government on the subject of ‘Improving Private Sector Participation in Sustainable Water Service Management’. Mr. Heredia gave a speech on the question of effective co-operation between NGO’s and the private sector in the provision of water, giving the perspective of a realised project.
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| The Seed Initiative booth at IUCN World Conservation Congress, Bangkok |
Individual meetings were arranged by the Seed Initiative for each of the finalists with representatives from organizations such as USAID, Eco-Agriculture Partners, and IUCN, providing them with a unique opportunity to seek advice on their projects and gain insights into existing support structures.
The Seed Initiative booth, situated in the main atrium area of theCongress Centre, attracted a great deal of interest. It proved to be an excellent space for finalists to make contacts, discuss their work and explain to Congress delegates the many ways in which the Seed Initiative is assisting in the development of their partnership.
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