THE CHUMBE ISLAND CORAL PARK IN TANZANIA, ONE OF 14 INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS, TO RECEIVE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT AWARD

NAIROBI, 1 June 2000 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today that the Chumbe Island Coral Park of Zanzibar, has been elected to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment. The Park, is one of 14 individuals and organizations to receive this honour in 2000.

Established in 1992, the Park is the first and only marine nature reserve in Tanzania developed by a private company. Thanks to this initiative, the Chumbe Reef Sanctuary was gazetted in 1994 as a protected area by the Government of Zanzibar. As a result, the Island is now a pristine coral island ecosystem in an otherwise overfished and over-exploited area. For the past eight years, the Park has been and continues to be a conservation area that provides important community benefits and social services to the population of Zanzibar, particularly fishermen and school children.

The Project has: secured continued protection of valuable flora and fauna; helped restock locally depleted fisheries; promoted the recovery of degraded coral reef ecosystems; contributed to biological diversity conservation and ecological restoration by a coral reef, which has at least 90% of the scleractinian coral species ever recorded in East Africa; provided a training ground for local people in conservation management; helped create environmental awareness among the fishermen in the area; provided valuable experience in the financially sustainable management of protected areas; given permanent help to local fishermen in distress; provided a direct source of income to local fishermen; contributed to capacity-building of government staff; created unique facilities for environmental education; cooperated with the Harbours Authority to keep the lighthouse functioning; and offered valuable research opportunities for Tanzanian and foreign research institutions.

"The winners of UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour are members of a broad and growing environmental movement that is flourishing around the world. They have taken the path that most of us hesitate to take for want of time or caring," says UNEP's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer. "In honouring the Global 500 laureates, UNEP hopes that others will be inspired by their extraordinary deeds."

The award will be presented in Adelaide, Australia, at the World Environment Day ceremonies on 4 June 2000. World Environment Day, which is celebrated in some 120 countries around the world on 5 June, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to focus global attention and action on environmental issues.

Some 701 individuals and organizations, in both the adult and youth categories, have been honoured since UNEP launched the Global 500 award in 1987. Among prominent past winners are: French Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau; Sir David Attenborough, producer of environmental television programmes; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway; Anil Aggarwal, the prominent environmentalist from India; Ken Saro-Wiwa, the environmental and human rights activist from Nigeria who was executed for leading the resistance of the Ogoni People against the pollution of their Delta homeland; the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom whose research on wild chimpanzees and olive baboons provided insight into the lives of non-human primates; and the late Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was murdered during his fight to save the Amazon forest.

To forge global links and to implement ideas, which can contribute to a more sustainable future, a network of all Global 500 laureates has been formed. Information about this unique network can be obtained at www.global500.org.

Chumbe Island Coral Park
P. O. Box 3203
Zanzibar
United Republic of Tanzania
Tel: (255-54) 231 040
Fax: (255-54) 231 040
chumbe@zitec.org

Note to Journalists:
UNEP looks to the world community to identify and nominate environmental advocates, so that they too can be recognized for their efforts. Nomination forms may be obtained from UNEP Headquarters, Global 500 Roll of Honour, Communications and Public Information Branch, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, as well as from UNEP's regional offices.


For more information, please contact: Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox, Coordinator, Special Events, UNEP Communications and Public Information (CPI), Nairobi, on Tel: (254-2) 62 3401; fax: 62 3927/62 3692; e-mail: elisabeth.guilbaud-cox@unep.org or Tore J. Brevik, UNEP Spokesman and Director, CPI on Tel: (254-2) 62 3292; e-mail: tore.brevik@unep.org.

UNEP News Release 00/67