New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) Banker-turned-environmentalist Pavan Sukhdev has been awarded this year's Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, often called the "Nobel prize for environment", recognising his groundbreaking green economy work.
Delhi-born Sukhdev shares the award with US conservation biologist Gretchen Daily.
Sukhdev, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank, has put his 25 years of financial markets experience to good use to calculate the consequences of environment decline.
He was the special adviser and head of UN Environment Programmes’s Green Economy Initiative, launched to demonstrate that greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growing wealth, increasing decent employment, and reducing persistent poverty.
He was also appointed Study Leader of the landmark initiative on "The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity" (TEEB) which has become a foundation for the Green Economy movement – an achievement for which Mr. Sukhdev is being awarded the 2020 Tyler Prize.
“You don't have to be an environmentalist to care about protecting the environment. Just ask a farmer who now must rent beehives to pollinate his crops, because there are no longer enough bees in wild nature to do the job for free. But bees don't send invoices, so the value of their services is not recognized,” said Sukhdev.
Sukhdev currently serves the World Wildlife Fund as president and chairman of the board.
UNI SRJ