Nanao City/Bangkok, 2 November 2009 – Ten innovative project proposals from civil society groups, non-governmental organizations and research institutes in Asia Pacific will receive an award of up to US$ 30,000 for their novel approaches to sustainable development. The nine proposals were selected from approximately 200 proposals received under the Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Showcase Programme this year.

“For the 2009 Programme additional emphasis was given to project proposals that aimed at addressing climate change, reduce, reuse, recycle (3Rs) and biodiversity conservation,” said Mr. Henk Verbeek, Senior Officer of UNEP.

These projects, including those selected implemented since 2006, will be shared with stakeholders through the APFED Good Practice Database to encourage replication in other countries in the region. Each of the Showcase projects will be mentored and evaluated by one of the eight institutes of the Network of Research Institutes for Sustainable Development (NetRes) established under APFED.

The ten showcase projects were selected at the APFED Showcase Panel meeting held in Nanao City, Japan, on 30 July 2009 by the follwoing APFED members appointed as APFED Panel members for this year:

Prof. Akio Morishima
Special Research Advisor, IGES

Prof. Emil Salim
Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Indonesia and Former Minister of Environment

Dr. Parvez Hassan
Senior Partner, Hassan & Hassan (Advocates). Former Chariman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Law Commission, Pakistan

Dr. Reza Maknoon
Deputy Chariman, National Committee on Sustainable Development (DoE) and Head of Environmental Engineering Group, Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Iran

“It was a challenge for the Panel members to decide on the final recipients of the award from the 28 shortlisted proposals. We had to select the best proposals among the very good ones, not only taking into account the quality but also thematic and geographical balance. We believe that the high level of responses from our stakeholders indicates their compassion and resource demands for sustainability and innovation,” said Prof. Akio Morishima, former Chair of the Board of Directors of IGES and the current Chairman of the APFED Panel members. 191 applications were received this year of which 187 were considered eligible.