SUN^x Malta and Les Roches, together with Earth Charter International recently announced the winners of the inaugural Strong Earth Awards which were presented at the ShiftIn’ Festival at Les Roches and broadcast to a global audience.

The awards were launched at the Strong Earth Youth Summit in April for students focussed on a future advancing Climate Friendly Travel – low carbon: SDG linked: Paris 1.5. Seven awards of 500 Euro each, donated by Les Roches, were given for the best 500-word “thought paper” on:

“Why the Earth Charter is even more important now than when it was introduced by Maurice Strong and Michael Gorbachev in 2000”

The winners were selected from students around the world, predominantly from developing countries, and the calibre of entries was extremely high. The competition has been designed to draw attention to the important sustainability messages contained in the Earth Charter, as well as the vision of the late Maurice Strong and its increasing relevance in today’s Climate challenged world.

The seven winners are:

Mbugua Kibe, Clintone Ojina, Osman F. Yong, Daniela Castro, Seyed Samir Rezvani, Ngoni Shereni, Caroline Kimani.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President SUN^x Malta said:

“We are delighted to once again be partnering with our friends and colleagues at Les Roches on the ShiftIn’ Festival and to present awards to the winners of the first Strong Earth Awards together with Earth Charter International in Costa Rica. The standard of entries was extremely high, and the winners all articulated the relevance of the Principles of the Earth Charter in the context of today’s existential Climate Crisis. This is an event which we will continue annually to honour the Earth Charter and the vision of Maurice Strong for a better, fairer, more inclusive sustainable world.”   

Mirian Vilela, Exec Director, Earth Charter International said:

“I want to express my appreciation for the organizers, as well as the participants of this event and project. I trust the launch of the Strong Earth Awards will spark interest and imagination amongst youth to work collaboratively and apply the principles of the Earth Charter in their journey and efforts to put our world on a sustainable path! The Earth Charter which was first launched in 2000 can serve as an ethical compass for decision making and as an educational instrument that could guide humanity to a more sustainable and a peaceful world.”

Joceline Favre-Bulle, Director of Operations, Les Roches said:

Riding on the wave of COP 26, ShiftIn’ 2021 could not have been timelier! This 3rd edition of ShiftIn’ attracted over 700 global attendees & 27 of the world’s top experts in environmental & sustainability matters! However, without the knowledge, support, guidance, and good humour of the SUN^x Malta team, this would not have been possible; we are honoured to be part of such a precious partnership; thank you!

A heartfelt congratulations to the 26 students who took part in the inaugural Strong Earth Awards; well done, all the submissions were exceptional! Moreover, compliments go to the seven prize winners whose papers were recognizably outstanding; it was an honour to read all the papers!

At Les Roches, we are already looking forward to the 2022 edition of both the Strong Earth Awards and ShiftIn; watch this space!