Najib Saab Wins Zayed International Prize For Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change
UAE Minister of Environment and Water Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahd declared that Najib Saab was awarded for environmental action leading to positive change in society “because his influential and highly successful Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia magazine triggered unprecedented environmental awareness at all levels, built a new relationship between the policy-makers and people of the Arab world with the issues of environment and sustainability, and placed the environment high on national and regional agendas.”
The International Jury said: “The magazine and Saab’s vision also acted as a spring board for a wider pan-Arab initiative which catalyzed in 2006 the establishment of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED). The organization soon developed into a leading think-tank, pivotal in shaping environmental policies, mainly through its independent annual reports on the state of the Arab environment.”
It added: “The magazine itself has evolved as key curriculum material for schools, and helped establish hundreds of school-based environment clubs. Meanwhile, twelve leading daily newspapers now publish a syndicated monthly environment column by Najib Saab, and a weekly or monthly environment page in association with AFED. Saab has produced and presented a series of powerful documentaries on environmental challenges in the Arab countries, which are broadcast frequently on national and regional television networks.”
The press release concluded: “An established architect who grew up in a publishing family, Najib Saab opted to leave a lucrative practice, devoting himself to advance the cause of environment in the Arab region. A Lebanese national who describes himself as globalist, he has done more than most to bring environment into the day to day discourse within governments, the private sector and among the public and grassroots in the Arab world.”
Zayed International Prize for Environment was established in 2001 by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to acknowledge the environmental commitment of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It is worth $1 million, and is the most valuable environmental award in the world. Previous winners include Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, and Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and UN special climate envoy.
The International Jury for the Fifth Cycle of Zayed International Prize for Environment was chaired by Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, a former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and a former German Environment Minister. Other Jury members were Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water in the UAE, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, Dr. Mustafa Kamal Tolba, World renowned scientist and former Executive Director of UNEP, and Dr. Oktay Tabasaran, the pioneer of environmental science and the 5th World Water Forum Secretary General.
