4 June 2012: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced the six winners of this year’s UN Champions of the Earth prize, which recognizes visionaries and leaders in the fields of policy, science, entrepreneurship and civil society action.

The 2012 winners are: President Tsakhia Elbegdorj (Mongolia), in the category of policy leadership, for delivering on promises to put the environment at the forefront of policies; Fábio Barbosa (Brazil) and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (United Arab Emirates (UAE)), in the category of entrepreneurial vision, for their efforts in sustainability and promoting renewable energy and clean technology respectively; Bertrand Piccard (Switzerland), in the category of inspiration and action, for raising global awareness of the possibilities of renewable energy-driven transport; Sander Van der Leeuw (the Netherlands), in the category of science and innovation, for his research applying lessons learned from history to understand why humanity is not facing up to the long-term issue of environmental change; and Samson Parashina (Kenya), in the special category of grassroots initiatives, for leading community efforts to conserve Kenya’s Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem. [UNEP Press Release] [UN Press Release] [Champions of the Earth Website]