“The Right Livelihood Foundation” (RLF) offentliggjorde tirsdag i Stockholm, hvem der skal have årets 5 “alternative Nobelpriser”, og det er bl.a. en regnskovsforkæmper i DR Congo og en kvindeforkæmper i Etiopien, oplyser RLF på sit website www.rightlivelihood.org
RLF skriver videre:
2009 Right Livelihood Awards: Wake-up calls to secure our common future
The Right Livelihood Award Jury gave the following motivation for its choice of laureates:
“Despite the scientific warnings about the imminent threat and disastrous impacts of climate change and despite our knowledge about solutions, the global response to this crisis is still painfully slow and largely inadequate. At the same time, the threat from nuclear weapons has by no means diminished, and the treatable diseases of poverty shame our common humanity.”
“The 2009 Right Livelihood Award Recipients demonstrate concretely what has to be done in order to tackle climate change, rid the world of nuclear weapons, and provide crucial medical treatment to the poor and
The 2009 Right Livelihood Awards go to four recipients:
David Suzuki (Honorary Award, Canada) “for his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of climate change and building public support for policies to address it”.
Three recipients receive cash awards of 50.000 euro (ca. 370.000 DKR) each:
René Ngongo (DR Congo) is honoured “for his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the Congolese rainforests and building political support for their conservation and sustainable use” (se mere neden for).
Alyn Ware (New Zealand) is recognised “for his effective and creative advocacy and initiatives over two decades to further peace education and to rid the world of nuclear weapons”.
Catherine Hamlin (Ethiopia) is awarded “for her fifty years dedicated to treating obstetric fistula patients, thereby restoring the health, hope and dignity of thousands of Africa’s poorest women”.
EN MANDS KAMP FOR REGNSKOVEN
Baggrund om René Ngongo (DR Congo – tidll. Zaire) og hans kamp for regnskoven
The Congo rainforest, in global importance second only to that of the Amazon, is under grave threat from the aftermath of war, population pressure and corporate exploitation.
Since 1994, including through the civil war from 1996-2002, René Ngongo has engaged, at great personal risk, in popular campaigning, political advocacy and practical initiatives to confront the destroyers of the rainforest and help create the political conditions that could halt its destruction and bring about its conservation and sustainable use.
Life and career
René Ngongo was born in Goma in October 1961, and took a Bachelor in biology from the University of Kisangani in 1987. It soon became clear to him that the Congo rainforest, the second largest tropical forest in the world, is under very grave threat – both because of the poverty of local people who cut the forest to satisfy their need for food and fuelwood and because of commercial logging and mining.
In 1994 Ngongo founded, and became the national coordinator of, OCEAN (Organisation concertée des ecologistes et amis de la nature). OCEAN started as an environmental NGO in Kisangani, but has managed to reach out to the entire country through the work of volunteers.
OCEAN’s main activities are agroforestry, urban tree-planting, reforestation nurseries for the most threatened species, distribution of improved cooking stoves, monitoring of the exploitation of natural resources, education, especially through radio and TV broadcasts, and the advocacy and lobbying on local, national and international level.
Ngongo has also worked both for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Since 2008, Ngongo has been working for Greenpeace to build up the new Greenpeace DRC office. He handed over the leadership of OCEAN to a younger colleague and became a member of its Administrative Council instead.
Promoting sustainable land use
The first focus of Ngongos work was to promote sustainable land use models that would allow the local population to satisfy their need for food and fuelwood, and to receive a better income, without destroying the forest. From 1992 to 2000, Ngongo had a weekly radio programme on nature protection and the impact of deforestation called ‘L’Homme et son Environnement – MAZINGIRA’.
At the same time, Ngongo developed pedagogical tools and provided trainings for farmers to learn about alternatives to the destructive “slash and burn” agriculture (svedjebrug). He created in Kisangani demonstration fields for sustainable agricultural techniques like agroforestry (growing food in the forest without destroying it) and taught locals how to save on fuelwood through improved cooking stoves.
Ngongo also co-ordinated the creation of a seedling plantation with 20.000 seedlings of the most exploited tree species in the Eastern province.
This plantation provided trees for several events such as ‘green city’ (Ville Verte) during which tree planting took place in abandoned parks, along avenues and in schools. Children were actively involved in these events to ensure widespread dissemination of the environmental messages.
Exposing destructive mining and logging
Throughout the wartime years of 1996-2002 Ngongo was actively monitoring the exploitation of natural resources by the different warring parties. Many international organisations and research institutes recognised OCEAN as a key source of information.
For instance, Ngongos research on illegal mining operations (diamonds and other minerals) contributed to the UN Security Council expert panel report on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DR Congo. Ngongo is convinced that the struggle for the control over natural resources was the main driving force of the conflicts in the DR Congo that left millions of people dead.
Since the civil war ended, the destruction of the Congo rainforest has accelerated even more, because the DR Congo is now safe terrain for the big forestry multinationals to operate.
OCEAN became the key organisation exposing irresponsible logging practices as well as weak governance and a lack of transparency in the forest and mining sectors. Not surprisingly, Ngongo has experienced a considerable amount of threats, manipulation and intimidation.
Today, the rainforests of the DR Congo are at a crossroads. In January 2009, the government finished a legal review of 156 forest concessions (on 20 million hectares) and concluded that 91 of them had been illegal.
However, in September 2009, several companies whose contracts had been declared illegal by the joint ministerial commission in January continued their activities in total impunity (straffrihed).
Thus, it is one of Ngongo’s priorities to campaign for the implementation of the government’s decision and for respecting the moratorium on new logging activities in the forests of the DR Congo.
He is arguing that the further destruction of the Congo rainforest would put local communities, who depend on the forest for their livelihoods, at great risk. It would also further accelerate global warming and make the DR Congo more vulnerable to its effects.
Capacity building
Much of Ngongos work is dedicated to strengthening the knowledge and capabilities of NGOs, politicians and local authorities in the DR Congo to effectively protect the forest. He has coordinated training sessions for national and provincial politicians on the forest code.
OCEAN is working with local communities affected by road construction projects to make sure that their voices are heard. In addition, Ngongo’s ongoing support of grassroots initiatives provided a strong basis for the development of the ‘Reseau des Resources Naturelles’, a Congolese umbrella organisation for civil society groups working on mining and forestry issues.
Ngongo has also organised many consultations with politicians, donors and industry representatives to promote sustainable forestry practices.
Quotation
“The forests of the DR Congo and the Congo Basin, the planet’s second ‘lung’, are a precious heritage that should be preserved. Those forests should not be considered merely as raw material to be exported and should neither only be seen as a carbon reservoir.
Before anything else, it is a living environment, a grocery store, a pharmacy, a spiritual landmark for millions of forest communities and aboriginal peoples, those who are our forest’s main guardians. Destroying the forest means destroying lifestyles that are worth as much as others…
Those extraordinary forests, with a unique biodiversity, also represent a major asset for the DR Congo and the entire planet when it comes to the fight against climate change. Valorising them as standing forests brings about a quarter of the answer on how to defuse the threat of climate change.
But unfortunately, with 13 million hectares disappearing each year, what future are we handing over to future generations? And in the meantime, so many meetings, speeches, good intentions…
It is time to act and mobilise the necessary resources in order to guarantee an ecologically responsible and socially balanced future for our forests…”
René Ngongo
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OM Right Livelihood-priset (fra stiftelsens svenske hjemmeside)
Right Livelihood-priset grundades 1980. Sedan 1985 delas priset ut vid en årlig ceremoni i Sveriges riksdag.
Målsättningen är att “hedra och stödja dem som erbjuder praktiska och exemplariska lösningar på de viktigaste utmaningarna (udfordringer) världen står inför”.
Priset
Jakob von Uexkull, svensk-tysk författare, filatelist och tidigare medlem av Europa-parlamentet, grundade Right Livelihood-priset 1980. Han donerade grundkapitalet och flera enskilda donatorer har bidragit sedan dess. Prisutdelningen sker i december månad, någon dag just innan den 10 december. Right Livelihood-priset har ofta kallats det “Alternativa Nobelpriset”.
Varje år i december anländer vanligen fyra pristagare till Stockholm för att ta emot Right Livelihood-priset. I 2009, den totala prissumman är 150.000 euro (1.540.000 svenska kronor), men inte alla pristagare får penningpris. Ofta går hederspriset till en person eller organisation, vars arbete juryn vill uppmärksamma, men där ekonomiskt stöd inte utgör det främsta behovet. Prispengarna stödjer pågående projekt och är aldrig till för personligt bruk.
Förutom att ge finansiellt stöd, hjälper priset pristagarna att göra sina röster hörda. Lika viktigt som prispengarna är stiftelsens arbete med att sprida information om pristagarna och den uppmärksamhet samt det goda rykte som Right Livelihood-priset tillför.
Pristagarna
Right Livelihood-priset hedrar organisationer och personer som arbetar för en bättre framtid för oss alla. Sedan 1980 har 137 sådana personer och organisationer från 58 olika länder erhållit priset.
Right Livelihood-priset begränsar sig inte till några kategorier. Pristagarna arbetar för social rättvisa och mänskliga rättigheter, för fred och militär nedrustning, för minoriteters rättigheter, rätten till mat och vatten, jordbruk, barn, miljöskydd och för mänsklig utveckling, från kulturell och andlig förnyelse till vetenskap och teknologi till gagn för alla.
Att föreslå kandidater
Vem som helst kan föreslå en person eller organisation till Right Livelihood-priset. På så sätt får stiftelsen en idé om vilka problem som internationellt uppfattas som mest angelägna och vilka människor som arbetar för att lösa dem.
70-100 förslag från fem kontinenter skickas varje år in till stiftelsen och hålls strikt konfidentiella. Efter noggranna undersökningar utförda av stiftelsens anställda, väljer sedan den internationella juryn ut pristagarna.
Vi välkomnar alla att lämna ett förslag för Right Livelihood-pris! Reglerna för hur man kan föreslå kandidater finns här. Förslag ska helst skrivas på engelska. De skickas till vårt kontor per post före 1 mars.
Stiftelsen
Stiftelsen Right Livelihood Award är, enligt svensk lag, en allmännyttig stiftelse. Den är politiskt och religiöst obunden och en unik plattform för hållbara lösningar och social förändring.
Stiftelsen har ett brett stöd från alla riksdagspartier genom Sällskapet för Right Livelihood-priset i riksdagen, SÄRLA, och dess medlemmar är värdar för prisceremonin. Detta breda stöd bidrar starkt till prisets betydelse – ett stöd som Stiftelsen är oerhört tacksam för.
Right Livelihood Stiftelsens arbete leds av en styrelse bestående av fem personer. Ordföranden är grundaren Jakob von Uexkull. Styrelsen biträds av ett råd och pristagarna utses av en internationell jury.
Stiftelsen har sitt huvudkontor med två anställda i Stockholm.
Right Livelihood College
Right Livelihood College är ett nytt utbildningsinitiativ som drogs igång i januari 2009 och som fått sitt säte vid Malaysias ledande universitet, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Det huvudsakliga målet med Right Livelihood College är att sprida kännedom om och bygga vidare på de unika erfarenheter, kunskaper och sätt att arbeta som de enastående personligheter och organisationer som fått Right Livelihood-priset kan förmedla.
Donationer och Testamenten
Right Livelihood-priset finansieras av privata donatorer. Den första var Jakob von Uexkull, som 1980 gav startkapitalet på en miljon dollar. Sedan dess har många privata stödjare följt hans exempel: våra Partners, som har hjälpt till och hjälper till att bygga upp stiftelsekapitalet genom sina mycket generösa bidrag; Friends, som med större bidrag möjliggör stiftelsens löpande arbete; och ett stort antal andra generösa donatorer.
Yderligere oplysninger hos:
Right Livelihood Award Stiftelsen
PO Box 15072
104 65 Stockholm
Telefon: 0046 (0)8-702 03 40 eller 702 03 39
Fax: 08-702 03 38
