HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS BASMA BINT ALI OF JORDAN, ONE OF EIGHT INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS, TO RECEIVE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT AWARD

NAIROBI, 15 May 2002 - H. R. H. Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan, founder and chairperson of a number of grassroots NGOs in the field of environment and sustainable development, is a positive role model not only for women, but for an entire generation of young people in the Middle East. She has helped raise the public's sense of responsibility towards the protection of the environment and the need to achieve sustainable development. She is also chair of the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society, the National Environment Wildlife Society and the Red Crescent Society.

Through her efforts, the organizations which she has founded and chairs have attracted a huge following and have helped enhance civil society participation in sustainable development activities. In November 2001, she worked with the Jordanian Government to hold a regional conference for NGOs on the role of Civil Society in the implementation of Agenda 21 for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Her contribution to Jordan's preparations for WSSD, and the extensive media coverage her work attracts, have helped make the environment and sustainable development household topics in her region.

Also of note are Her Royal Highness' efforts in academic research. She has worked with and supported Jordan's renowned botanist Dr. Daoud El-Esawi, in saving one of Jordan's endemic crocuses from destruction by relocating it to the Jordan University Botanical Garden and the Jordan Intercontinental Hotel Gardens. She was honoured as a Hero for the Planet by Time Magazine in 1998, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Order of Merit from the Jordanian Armed Forces (1998), the King Hussein Gold Medal for Excellence and the Medal of Administrative Competence from the Jordanian Armed Forces (1995). She was chosen by the United States Information Agency to represent Jordan at their International Visitors Programme on Marine Conservation and Women in Military Affairs (1995).

She is Honorary President of the Fertile Crescent Society of the Middle East; Honorary President of the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation, California, USA; Founder and President of the Pilot Phase Assessment Committee of Jordan for the Global Environmental Facility; member of the Society for the Preservation of Jordanian Heritage; and founder and board of directors member of Halfway House for Juvenile Delinquents, Boston, USA. She holds a certificate in Military Science from the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst,UK.

"The winners of UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour are members of a broad and growing environmental movement that is flourishing around the world. They have taken the path that most of us hesitate to take for want of time or caring," says UNEP's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer. "In honouring the Global 500 laureates, UNEP hopes that others will be inspired by their extraordinary deeds."

The award will be presented in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, at the World Environment Day ceremonies on 4 June 2002.

Note to Editors: World Environment Day, which is celebrated in some 120 countries around the world on 5 June, was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to focus global attention and action on environmental issues.

Since the inception of the award in 1987, 727 individuals and organizations, in both the adult and youth categories, have been honoured with the Global 500 award. Among prominent past winners are: French Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau; Sir David Attenborough, producer of environmental television programmes; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway; Anil Aggarwal, the prominent environmentalist from India; Ken Saro-Wiwa, the environmental and human rights activist from Nigeria who was executed for leading the resistance of the Ogoni People against the pollution of their Delta homeland; the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF); Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom whose research on wild chimpanzees and olive baboons provided insight into the lives of non-human primates; and the late Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was murdered during his fight to save the Amazon forest.

To forge global links and to implement ideas, which can contribute to a more sustainable future, a network of all Global 500 laureates has been formed. Information about this unique network can be obtained at .

H. R. H. Princess Basma bint Ali

P. O. Box 2296

Amman

Jordan

Tel: (96-279) 533 144

E-mail: basma@nets.com.jo

Note to Journalists:

UNEP looks to the world community to identify and nominate environmental advocates, so that they too can be recognized for their efforts. Nomination forms can be obtained online at www.global500.org or from UNEP's Headquarters, Global 500 Roll of Honour, Division of Communications and Public Information, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya, as well as from UNEP's regional offices.

For more information, contact:

Ms. Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox Mr. Nick Nuttall

Head, Outreach & Special Events Head, Media Unit

Division of Communications and Public Information Division of Communications and Public Information

Tel: (254-2) 623401; Fax: 623927/623692 Tel: (254-2) 623084; Fax: 623927/623692

E-mail: Elisabeth.Guilbaud-Cox@unep.org E-mail: Nick.Nuttall@unep.org

UNEP Web Site: http://www.unep.org

UNEP News Release 2002/35