Press Release
21 February 2001

WCD awarded Zayed International Prize for the Environment

International Jury Selects Winners for World's Largest Environmental Prize

Cape Town, 21 February, 2001 -- The Inaugural Zayed Prize Jury announced they have unanimously nominated the World Commission on Dams to share an international award for its ground-breaking work "that can serve as a model for addressing such a complex issue as dams and water resource management."

On behalf of the Jury, Crown Prince of Dubai Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum wrote: "We acknowledge that dams are not only major water management projects, but they have a considerable impact on socio-economic development and the environment. The Jury felt that the success of the WCD set a standard for addressing other complex environmental problems, such as the equitable management of shared water resources."

The award includes a special trophy, a certificate and $300,000 to be shared with co-awardee in the category, University of Cairo Prof. Mohamed El-Kassas, an outstanding scientist and conservationist whose work has had an impact far beyond Eygpt. The WCD, represented by Chair Prof. Kader Asmal, has been invited to receive the prize at the award ceremony in Dubai on 22 April, 2001.

"On behalf of the Commissioners, I am deeply honoured to accept this generous award," said Asmal. "Just as we have written that "water is for sharing," so, too, is the Zayed Prize's recognition of our work. For beyond the Commission alone, the deserving recipients of this prestigious award must be the thousands of individual collaborators and partners, working quietly in institutions, businesses or agencies, who believe that hard-won consensus is always a more productive outcome than conflict or paralysis."

The WCD has pledged to use its $150,000 award as an incentive to further the multi-sectoral consensus-building approach that it has pioneered over the past two years, and to ensure that dissemination, implementation and understanding of its collaborative work continues long after the WCD shuts down its offices at the end of March, 2001.

Named after a statesman and dedicated environmentalist, the Zayed International Prize for the Environment is the largest and most valuable environmental prize in the world. It recognises and encourages environmental achievements that have substantial impact on policies and actions of development in line with the vision and development philosophy of His Highness Sheikh Zheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. (for more information: http://www.zayedprize.org.ae/)