The African Blackwood Conservation Project

You are here > Home > Documentary > Blackwood Conservation

The African Blackwood Conservation Project (ABCP) is pleased to announce that our colleague Mr. Sebastian Chuwa, Tanzanian botanist and conservationist, has been chosen as a Rolex Awards for Enterprise Associate Laureate for 2002. On November 6 he will receive the award in a ceremony at the Royal Institution in London. 
Following is the Rolex Committee announcement of the awards: 
************************ 
"Marking the 10th series of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Rolex announces the winners of this global initiative. Five Laureates and five Associate Laureates, with projects ranging from whale protection in the Canaries to preserving the world’s largest rainforest corridor, have been drawn from five continents.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise recognise groundbreaking projects in the areas of technology, science, the environment, exploration and cultural heritage. This year, the Laureates were selected from almost 1,400 applicants from 113 countries by an international panel of prominent scientists and explorers, including the UK’s Baroness Susan Greenfield. Each Laureate received $100,000 and a specially inscribed, gold Rolex chronometer yesterday evening at a gala ceremony in Tokyo. The Associate Laureates will each receive $35,000 and a steel-and-gold Rolex chronometer at events in their home countries. 
In the UK, a ceremony on 6th November at the Royal Institution of Great Britain will celebrate Geoffrey Summers’ discovery and mapping of Iron Age villages on the Anatolian Plateau, and Sebastian Chuwa’s preservation of African blackwood, Tanzania’s national tree. 
Speaking at the event at the Royal Institution on 6 November will be Baroness Susan Greenfield, a member of the selection committee for this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Discussing the awards programme, Baroness Greenfield said: “As a judge for this year’s awards, I was inspired by the calibre of the projects and encouraged to see the spirit of enterprise so alive. The recognition and financial support that Rolex gives is often critical to seeing new ideas become reality. In so doing, I believe it to be one of the most constructive corporate philanthropic programmes I’m aware of.” 
Baroness Greenfield continued: “I am delighted that the Royal Institution is acting as host to this event because the aim of the Awards is so complementary to ours.” 
Selection Process
Each of the award-winning projects was studied and discussed by the independent, voluntary jury, the 2002 Selection Committee, ten experts whose own spirit of enterprise is exemplary. “The jury members were particularly sensitive to environmental issues this year,” reported Mr Patrick Heiniger, Chief Executive of Rolex. “They were impressed by the importance the winning candidates placed on local people living and working in harmony with nature in order to ensure sustainable development.” 
Joining Mr Heiniger and Baroness Susan Greenfield on the 2002 Selection Committee were Dr Juan Luis Arsuaga, Spanish palaeoanthropologist and biologist; Laurence de la Ferrière, French alpinist and explorer; Dr Laila El-Hamamsy, cultural anthropologist from Egypt; Liu Thai Ker, Singaporean architect-planner and environmentalist; Fumihiko Maki, Japanese architect; Professor Chie Nakane, Japanese social anthropologist; Dr Oscar Rodriguez, explorer and sports physician from Mexico; Dr Anatoly M. Sagalevitch, Russian oceanologist and pioneer explorer of deep oceans, and Dr Neil de Grasse Tyson, an American astrophysicist." 
*************
James Harris and Bette Stockbauer, the US Co-ordinators of the African Blackwood Conservation Project(ABCP), stated that, "We are delighted to see the recognition given to our colleague, Mr. Sebastian Chuwa, by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Sebastian has been recognized for his work with the ABCP in behalf of the Mpingo, or African Blackwood tree in the area around
Moshi at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Sebastian has designed and carried out community educational projects where he teaches the value of environmental conservation, and the tree nurseries which he has founded and supported have provided many thousands of mpingo seedlings for replanting around the area. Sebastian is an inspiration to Tanzanians to value and respect their priceless natural heritage which encompasses some of the most unique plant and animal life and landscapes in the world. We hope everyone in Tanzania will be encouraged by this award to conserve, protect and replant this very special tree–the Mpingo, the National Tree of Tanzania. Sebastian plans to use his prize money to support his conservation work for Mpingo and extend its reach beyond Moshi into the surrounding countryside."

With this award, we feel that we can make a significant contribution to the cause of saving the Tree of Music.
Click here to read about Sebastian's Award on the Rolex Awards website.
Click here to read about the ABCP and link to the Rolex Awards press release and related materials about the award.. 
Click here to read more about the program Sebastian will be implementing with the Rolex funding. 
Sincerely,
James Harris/Bette Stockbauer
US Coordinators
African Blackwood Conservation Project
http://www.blackwoodconservation.org
synergy@smithsys.net

Culture