Equator Prize Award Ceremony to honour ten outstanding Indigenous Peoples and local communities from across the globe

On October 4, the Equator Prize Award Ceremony will celebrate Indigenous and local solutions to planetary crisis with line-up of Portugal.The Man, Dia Mirza, Christiana Figueres, DJ Alok and others

September 27, 2021

One of the ten Equator Prize winners of 2021- The Kichwa people of Sarayaku have won legal battles to protect their 133,000-hectare territory in the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling, logging, and road construction. Their “Kawsak Sacha” Declaration (“Living Forest”) seeks recognition for a new category of protected area, reflecting Indigenous worldviews and ancestral practices.

UNDP Equator Prize

New York, Sept 27 - This year’s Equator Prize Award Ceremony, themed ‘Responses to our Planetary Crisis’, will honor ten outstanding Indigenous Peoples and local communities from across the globe. Each winner has shown outstanding work improving food security, fighting our climate crisis, and achieving green economies.

The event highlights nature-based solutions and practices based on traditional knowledge used by Indigenous Peoples and local communities that provide practical solutions to the global environmental crisis.

The Award Ceremony will be held on October 4, during the virtual Nature for Life Hub event designed to raise ambition for nature-based solutions in global biodiversity, climate, and development policy.

The high-profile virtual ceremony will feature award presentations, videos on winning initiatives, community statements and government commitments, alongside musical and cultural performances.

Countries featured in this year’s ceremony include Brazil, Bolivia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Kyrgyzstan, Niger and Mexico.

For a full list of the winning communities visit: https://www.equatorinitiative.org/2021/07/12/meet-the-winners-of-the-equator-prize-2021-2/

What: Equator Prize 2021 Award Ceremony

When: Monday, 4 October, 11.00 AM - 1 PM EDT

Where: streamed live on the virtual Nature for Life Hub at https://www.NatureForLifeHub.org and https://www.learningfornature.org/en/the-nature-for-life-hub-2021-day-1-transforming-our-relationship-with-the-planet/

Who:

  • Portugal. The Man, Grammy-award winning band
  • Dia Mirza, Actor, Producer, UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador & United Nations Secretary General Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals, Global Ambassador, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
  • Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
  • Paloma Costa, Climate Activist and Member of the United Nations Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
  • Edgar Villanueva, Principal, Decolonizing Wealth Project & Liberated Capital
  • Djuena Tikuna and DJ Eric Marky Terena, Indigenous artists and journalists
  • Bård Vegar Solhjell, Director General, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation;

Award presentations by celebrities from the winner countries include:

  • DJ Alok (Brazil), DJ and Musical Producer
  • Christiana Figueres (Costa Rica), Co-founder of Global Optimism and former Executive Secretary, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
  • Alberto Acosta (Ecuador), President of the Constitutional Assembly of Ecuador, 2007-2008;
  • Prof. Gita Sen (India), Public Health Foundation of India
  • Rohini Nilekani (India), Chairperson, Arghyam Trust
  • Mauricio Kuri (Mexico), Governor of Querétaro, Mexico
  • and many others.

More information on the Equator Initiative can be found here.

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Interviews with Equator Prize winners are available upon request. For media requests please contact: Sangita Khadka, sangita.khadka@undp.org