The winners of the 2009 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development were announced 12 May 2009 at a high-level award ceremony and reception. The international award recognizes innovation in local, socially- and environmentally-responsible and sustainable entrepreneurship. Twenty local initiatives from across the developing world received this year’s award. Together, the winners cover a diverse range of promising business models that will tackle poverty and environmental stewardship in areas such as water and waste management, sustainable energy, recycling, and fish farming.

The SEED Award is the flagship programme of the SEED Initiative, a partnership founded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The ceremony, which was attended by high-level delegates from government, civil society and the business community, was held in conjunction with the second week of this year’s United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). Taking advantage of the concentration of national delegations engaged in the CSD, the reception hoped to direct the collective attention of the conservation and development community to the contributions local entrepreneurs are making to the attainment of international sustainable development objectives.

The SEED Awards are distinctive in the growing field of environment and development awards in that they identify, profile and support promising, locally-driven, start-up enterprises working in partnerships in developing countries to improve livelihoods, tackle poverty, and manage natural resources sustainably. Rather than the traditional monetary prize, applicants compete for a package of individually-tailored capacity development– a suite of that will help the winners to grow their business ideas and establish lasting partnerships across sectors.

For more information, please see: www.seedinit.org or contact: Helen Marquard, Executive Director, SEED Initiative Secretariat.