Good News
|
Archived Articles
Species on the Brink
Resources at Risk
Good News
Get Outdoors |
Equator Initiative Shares Sustainable Solutions NEW YORK, New York, February 4, 2002 (ENS) - Standing on the equator, at zero degrees latitude in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, one is 9,350 feet above sea level. Looking west across the Pacific Ocean, one is in a straight line with the swampy wetlands at sea level on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Equatorial environments range from arid deserts to moist rainforests. Rich in biological diversity, the equatorial belt is inhabited by a large percentage of the world's poor people. Many of them live on US$1 or less a day, lack access to safe drinking water and remain undernourished.
Yet the biological riches of the tropics offer opportunities to create lasting improvements in people's lives - from marketing local forest products, to developing new medicines and food crops, to ecotourism and other endeavors that might generate income. The Equator Initiative, a new partnership introduced in New York January 30, is structured to make those possiblities into realities that will relieve poverty and conserve natural resources simultaneously. To develop the Equator Initiative, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has teamed up with the Government of Canada, the International Development Research Centre, the United Nations Foundation, BrasilConnects and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, the international environmental agency for local governments. A launch event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on January 30 featured a introduction of the initiative by Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of UNDP. "The Equator Initiative addresses a critical gap by highlighting successes, promoting innovative partnerships, and stimulating community-to-community exchange across the equatorial belt," he said. The equatorial belt extends from 23.5&#deg; latitude above the equator to 23.5&#deg; below the equator. "Fortunately," Brown said, "creative and effective approaches to halt poverty and protect biodiversity are being pioneered by courageous people throughout the tropics. Yet awareness of these solutions and understanding why they work remains limited." The Equator Initiative has been designed to support the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Summit on Sustainable Development taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa in August and September. At the Summit, heads of government will assess the progress made in the 10 years since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and chart a course for the future.
As its contribution to a more sustainable future, the Equator Initiative will promote a worldwide movement to reduce poverty and conserve biodiversity. It will operate through the recognition of local achievements, the fostering of South-South capacity building, and by contributing to the generation and sharing of knowledge around the Equatorial belt. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, The Equator Initiative Awards will be presented to five communities that have shown extraordinary achievement toward reducing poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the Equatorial belt. Nominations for the award that includes $30,000, a certificate of recognition, a trophy, and participation at the World Summit, will be accepted until May 15. Nomination forms and more information can be found at http://www.EquatorInitiative.org. The awards will honor indigenous and other local communities, community-based organizations, local non-governmental organizations, local entrepreneurs, or UNESCO's World Heritage sites and other biological reserves. To be selected they will demonstrate that they have reduced poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and/or through the equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the use of genetic resources. "This exciting new initiative illustrates how we can promote sustainable development by supporting local enterprises that have environmental, social and economic benefits," said David Anderson, Canada's minister of the environment and president of the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council. An Equator Initiative partner, the International Development Research Centre is a public corporation created by the Canadian government to help communities in the developing world find solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems through research. "Canada's involvement in this initiative demonstrates our belief that the empowerment of communities to manage biological resources and generate sustainable livelihoods contributes to poverty reduction and global conservation," Anderson said. Timothy Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, said the initiative offers an opportunity to "rededicate ourselves this year, on the 10 year anniversary of Rio, to confront and tackle the major challenges of the 21st Century: poverty, security, justice and inequity all over the world." Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
Quito, Ecuador on the equator (Photo
courtesy 
Lumber cut from rainforest in Sumatra,
Indonesia in the equatorial belt (Photo courtesy 