Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environmental Development (Seed)

Under Secretary of State Dobriansky Lauds Winners of Seed Award

Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky lauded the winners of the Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environmental Development (Seed) Initiative Award at a ceremony Wednesday, April 20 held in conjunction with the 13th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in New York City. Under Secretary Dobriansky praised the winners for their efforts to improve the quality of peoplefs lives in the developing world by delivering needed services such as clean water and teaching environmentally friendly farming techniques.

The winners included: Environmentally-Friendly Rice, Berries into Business, Indian Ocean Wonderland, Water for All and Cows to Kilowatts. They were selected from a pool of more than 260 entries from 66 countries for their potential to advance sustainable development in their communities and contribute to the internationally agreed goals contained in the Millennium Declaration.

The Seed Initiative, announced at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, is a voluntary, public-private partnership that encourages local partnerships to devise new development solutions to community challenges. Its three objectives are:

to recognize innovative approaches to development challenges through a biennial award program; to showcase the selected partnerships at seedinit.org and to provide a lessons-learned and best practice resource for other partnerships.

Seed partners include international organizations, civil society groups, six governments (including the United States), other partnerships and the private sector.

For more information on the Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environmental Development Initiative, please visit seedinit.org. For a copy of Under Secretary Dobriansky's remarks, please visit state.gov/g/rls/rm/.

2005/443 Released on April 26, 2005 Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC April 26, 2005