Plant A Tree Today Foundation (PATT) was one of the twenty initiatives from across the developing world that received the 2009 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development, announced in New York on 12th May, at a high level award ceremony and reception. The international award recognizes innovation in local, environmentally-
Together, the winners cover a diverse range of promising business models that will tackle poverty and environmental stewardship in areas such as water and waste management, sustainable energy, recycling, and fish farming.
Dr Dan Rollinson, PATT Foundation Thailand Country Manger said “It is a terrific honour to receive this award. The project proposals are judged by a panel of world development and environmental experts. To be one of only 20 winners from over 1100 entries gives us great confidence in our work and will be a tremendous boost to the profile of our organisation’
Plant A Tree Today Foundation received the SEED Award for their innovative initiative “Carbon bank and village development”
The project in detail aims to establish a biologically diverse community forest within rural Thai villages. In return for forest establishment and ongoing management and protection of the forest; village infrastructure is developed and local people gain access to low interest loans through the establishment of a village bank. Villagers can access finance for income generation purposes and profit from the bank is reinvested into village infrastructure development and further environmental initiatives. All the carbon absorbed in the newly established community forest will be registered under an internationally accredited carbon trading scheme such as VCS. The carbon credits generated from these projects will provide additional income for future village development projects and will enable the projects to be self-sustaining.
To ensure the success of the project, Plant A Tree Today Foundation has developed this initiative in partnership with the highly accomplished development organisation Population Development Association (PDA) and the esteemed forestry research group, Forest Restoration Research Unit (FORRU), from Chiang Mai University.
The SEED Award is the flagship programme of the SEED Initiative, a partnership founded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“This is an inspiring group of entrepreneurs who demonstrate that environmental sustainability and business can be synergistic goals,” said Assistant Administrator of UNDP, Olav Kjørven. “It is this type of innovation and responsible entrepreneurship that will create jobs, provide for food security and save the environment. It is our objective at UNDP to promote these progressive business ideas as they are the seeds of future economies and are one of the key instruments that will allow us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. UNDP is proud to be a SEED Initiative partner and I congratulate the 2009 SEED Award Winners on their outstanding achievements and leadership.”
The SEED Awards are distinctive in the growing field of environment and development awards in that they identify, profile and support promising, locally-driven, start-up enterprises working in partnership in developing countries to improve livelihoods, tackle poverty, and manage natural resources sustainably. Rather than the traditional monetary prize, applicants compete for a package of individually-
In closing remarks, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-
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About Plant A Tree Today Foundation: Plant A Tree Today (PATT) Foundation works to raise awareness of global environmental issues, campaign for better environmental practices and take action against deforestation and climate change by planting trees.
Plant A Tree Today (PATT) Foundation was founded in 2005 and is a UK Registered Charity and Thailand Foundation. PATT has operational offices in Bangkok, Thailand and Indonesia with representatives in Malaysia, India & South Africa.
www.plant-a-
About SEED: the SEED Initiative identifies, profiles and supports promising, locally-driven, start-up enterprises working in partnership in developing countries to improve livelihoods, tackle poverty and marginalisation, and manage natural resources sustainably. SEED develops learning resources for the broad community of social and environmental entrepreneurs, informs policy- and decision-makers, and aims to inspire innovative, entrepreneurial approaches to sustainable development.
SEED is a global network founded in 2002 by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN to contribute towards the goals in the UN’s Millennium Declaration and the commitments made at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.
SEED’s Partners: the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature); and the governments of Germany, India, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
www.seedinit.org
