Since September this year, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment has been joined by the US Government the Norwegian Government, the UK ’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the Dutch Environment Ministry as government supporters of the Seed Initiative.

In December, the global reinsurance company Swiss Re, based in Switzerland, became Seed's first business supporter and will be sponsoring one of the five Seed Awards in 2005.

"Partnerships, such as Seed, are vital to helping local communities improve the quality of their citizens' lives and can make an important contribution to the world community's efforts to achieve development goals," stated Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.

Highlighting the value of partnership approaches, Mr. Knut Aerild Hareide, Norwegian Minister of Environment, said: "Working together is a simple idea. But the dividends from working in partnership grow exponentially. We believe that the Seed Initiative will not only benefit partners, but will also make a contribution towards sustainable development locally, nationally and internationally."

Commending the work of Seed so far, Robert Lowson, Director of Environmental Strategy for Defra, said “we very much welcome this initiative which makes an important contribution towards the achievement of sustainable development internationally. The different channels of activity of the ‘Awards’, the ‘Partnership support channel’ and the ‘Research and Learning’ channel offer potential to inspire significant levels of activity on the ground.”

IUCN Director General Achim Steiner welcomed Seed’s new partners, saying that "it comes as recognition of the value of the initiative's unique approach and an encouragement to all entrepreneurs for sustainable development worldwide."

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