HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (seventh R), stands for {a photograph} with the Zayed Sustainability Prize winners throughout COP28 UAE, Al Wasl Plaza, Expo Metropolis. Seen with HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Trade and Superior Know-how, Director Normal of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President (L). Photograph by: ( Abdulla Al Bedwawi / UAE Presidential Court docket)
Press Workplace: Zayed Sustainability Prize
His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, lately awarded the winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE’s pioneering international award in sustainability and humanitarianism, throughout a ceremony held at COP28 UAE in Expo Metropolis Dubai.
The Ceremony was attended by quite a few heads of delegations collaborating in COP28, ministers, senior authorities officers, and Prize winners and finalists.
His Highness congratulated the winners, praising their efforts in selling sustainability and inspiring them to proceed their necessary contributions on this discipline. His Highness emphasised that the UAE is steadfast in constructing upon its established legacy in sustainability, a basis laid by the nation’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. On this regard, His Highness highlighted the numerous position of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in advancing sustainable growth, serving humanity, and empowering innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth to actively contribute in direction of making a optimistic distinction for our planet.
The Prize honours the legacy of UAE’s founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, by rewarding small and medium enterprises, non-profit organisations, and excessive colleges which are addressing well being, meals, power, water and climate-related challenges. For over 15 years, by its 106 earlier winners, the Prize has remodeled the lives of 384 million individuals worldwide.
The Prize’s eleven winners for the present cycle have been elected in September by a distinguished panel of Jury members, who rigorously evaluated every submission for its contribution and dedication to delivering impactful, revolutionary, and provoking options throughout the six classes of Well being, Meals, Power, Water, Local weather Motion and World Excessive Colleges.
To strengthen its dedication to selling sustainable and humanitarian growth, the Zayed Sustainability Prize can be growing its endowment, from US $3.6M to US $5.9M, efficient instantly.
H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Trade and Superior Know-how, Director Normal of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and COP28 President, mentioned: “In the present day, the UAE reaffirms its dedication to fight local weather change and empower susceptible communities as we award US $1 million to every of our distinguished winners in Well being, Meals, Water, Power and Local weather Motion, and US $150,000 to every World Excessive Colleges winner. This substantial funding will assist scale their revolutionary options and ship transformational progress all over the world, particularly throughout the World South.”
“Because the Zayed Sustainability Prize’s fifteenth anniversary attracts to a detailed, we mirror on the UAE’s mission to drive inclusive sustainable growth and local weather motion. The Prize not solely honours Sheikh Zayed’s legacy of social good however extends the attain of his imaginative and prescient on a worldwide scale.”
With a bigger fund, the Prize can broaden its assist for revolutionary options that not solely positively influence the surroundings but in addition enhance the well-being and financial growth of the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities.
Within the new Local weather Motion class, Kelp Blue, a Namibian SME, gained the Prize for its formidable efforts to domesticate large-scale kelp forests in deep waters, contributing to the restoration of ocean biodiversity whereas capturing 100,000 tonnes of CO 2 from the environment yearly. Moreover, their operations have generated job alternatives in coastal communities.
Within the Well being class, Indonesia’s doctorSHARE was awarded the Prize for its pioneering work in bringing healthcare entry to hard-to-reach areas, notably with barge-mounted floating hospitals. Their influence is substantial, having handled over 160,000 sufferers.
Within the Meals class, Gaza City & Peri-urban Agricultural Platform (GUPAP) from Palestine, gained for its contributions to supporting a extra resilient agricultural sector in Gaza. The NPO facilitates entry to regionally produced meals, offering job safety to 200 girls agriprenuers and benefitting greater than 7,000 individuals.
Within the Power class, Ignite Energy, an SME from Rwanda, was awarded the Prize for its transformative efforts to offer reasonably priced electrical energy to last-mile communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Their payas-you-go photo voltaic options supplied electrical energy to 2.5 million individuals and prevented 600,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. Past entry to scrub power, Ignite Energy has launched photo voltaic powered irrigation options and generated 3,500 native jobs.
Within the Water class, Eau et Vie, an NPO from France, gained for its contributions to making sure entry to scrub water in impoverished areas by putting in faucets in city properties. They’ve elevated water entry for 52,000 individuals in 27 communities throughout 10 cities. Moreover, they raised consciousness of hygienic practices for 66,000 people and decreased the price of water by 75%.
The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, mentioned: “This 12 months’s winners have demonstrated a exceptional wave of ingenuity of their options to handle pressing international challenges. We’ve got confidence that these winners will catalyse substantial and scalable change in communities worldwide, propelling us in direction of very important local weather motion targets and forging a path to a sustainable future for all.”
The Zayed Sustainability Prize additionally engages younger individuals by its World Excessive Colleges class and encourages youth to take an lively position in supporting their communities and changing into future sustainability leaders. The Prize’s 47 World Excessive Colleges winners have impacted the lives of over 55,186 college students and 453,887 individuals of their wider communities.
The recipients of the World Excessive Colleges awards are Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad (Peru), representing The Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy (Nigeria), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; Worldwide Faculty (Morocco), representing the Center East & North Africa; Northfleet Know-how School (United Kingdom), representing Europe & Central Asia; KORT Training Complicated (Pakistan), representing South Asia; and at last, Beijing Excessive Faculty No. 35 (China), representing East Asia & Pacific.
