in Oslo and Tromsø. Highlights of the celebrations in Tromsø include an Ecumenical
Service led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the Arctic Cathedral with representatives
of various faiths; the award ceremony for the International Children's Painting
Competition; and a televised debate on the topic of melting ice and climate change.
On 5 June the celebrations will move to Oslo with the award ceremony for the
Sophie Prize, which will be given on this occasion to Former Prime Minister of
Sweden Goran Persson. In the afternoon an art exhibit on climate change organized
by UNEP and the Natural World Museum will take place at the Nobel Peace Centre.
http://www.wed.npolar.no/world-environment-day-2007/
clean energy from their PV solar electric home systems, UNEP's Indian Solar Loan
Programme, represented by project manager Jyoti Prasad Painuly, won an
around the world "which make careful and economical use of resources and
employ alternative energy sources". The four-year Indian Solar Loan Programme,
launched in 2003 with support from the UN Foundation and the Shell Foundation,
is a partnership between UNEP, the UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and
Sustainable Development, and two of India's largest banking groups to establish a
consumer credit market for financing solar home systems (SHS) in Southern India,
where the conventional electricity grid is absent or unreliable. From a small, cash-
only business in 2003, the solar home sector market now sees more than 50% of
sales financed by banks, with 20 banks with networks of more than 2,000 branches
now offering solar home financing. UNEP has used the success of the Indian
Solar Loan Programme to expand into other areas, including solar water heating
loan programmes in Morocco and Tunisia and others in development for Algeria,
Indonesia, Mexico and Chile. http://www.uneptie.org/energy/act/fin/india/
grassroots environmentalists, annually awarding US $25,000 to recipients
from each of the world's six inhabited continental regions.
The 2007 Goldman Environmental Prize winners, announced on 22 April, are:
operations along Mongolia's scarce waterways.
the rights of indigenous peoples.
the North Atlantic to stop destructive commercial salmon fishing.
http://www.goldmanprize.org/
effort to increase understanding of how the Earth's remote polar regions affect global
climate systems. Organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), IPY 2007-8 will involve more than 200
projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range
of physical, biological and social research topics. As part of IPY, UNEP is supporting
the ambitious Arctic Drift project in which the polar schooner Tara will drift for two
years trapped in the Arctic ice, providing an unprecedented platform for scientific
observations and research on how the Arctic environment is changing, and relaying
its findings to scientists, policy makers and the general public. Tara's progress can be
followed on the expeditions pages of the UNEP website www.unep.org.
from more than 00 countries, the
UNEP's major partner is promoting
global awareness and action on the
environment. Each year the campaign,
which peaks in September during Clean
Up the World weekend, is linked to
the theme of World Environment Day,
providing its members with factsheets
on the issues and website links to UNEP.
Clean Up the World members particpate
in World Environment Day activities on
all continenets and, this year, are being
encouraged to contribute to the
Billion Tree Campaign
www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign.