The award
was established this year to honour the life and work of the late Kenyan
environmentalist Maathai, a champion of forest issues worldwide and the first
African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr Shrestha
is recognized as one of main architects of the community forestry movement in
Nepal, which he has spent three decades promoting and which has contributed
significantly to restoring forest resources in the country.
He guided
early attempts to create a more participatory approach to community
decision-making, reaching out to women and low-caste villagers and initiating
the country’s first user-managed community forestry group.
More than
one-quarter of Nepal’s forests are now protected by community forestry user
groups.
In addition
to influencing legislation, Dr Shrestha provided leadership to the national
organization that later became the Federation of Community Forestry Users in
Nepal and continues to be a guide and mentor to many practitioners and leaders
involved in participatory resource management.
“Dr
Shrestha’s work captures the spirit of Wangari Maathai,”said FAO Assistant
Director-General, Forestry, Eduardo Rojas Briales. “His vision, courage,
commitment, intelligence and praxis is recognized though this award.”
Dr Shrestha
received the USD 20,000 award at a ceremony at FAO headquarters in Rome during
the FAO Committee on Forestry and 3rd World Forestry Week meetings.
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Kurshida Begum of Bangladesh receives a special
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Kurshida
Begum of Bangladesh receives a special Honourable Mention prize from CPF
Chairperson Eduardo Rojas-BrialesThe jury also awarded Kurshida Begum of
Bangladesh this year’s Honourable Mention prize for her work helping women in
her village form a community patrol group alongside forest department guards to
protect the forests and biodiversity of the Tenkaf Wildlife Sanctuary from
illegal logging and poaching.
Her work has
helped women gain an effective voice in their community, provided them with a
steady source of income and has helped her communicate the importance of forest
and natural resource issues to visitors to the sanctuary
