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Million Belay, Director of MELCA-Ethiopia
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The United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFF) has
nominated the Director of MELCA-Ethiopia, Million Belay, as one of the
finalists for the first International Forest Heroes Award of 2011.
Million Belay, Director of MELCA-Ethiopia
The announcement was done during the Forest Day at the
Climate Change negotiations convened in Durban, South Africa. Winners will be
announced and awarded at the Forests 2011 closing ceremony at the United
Nations in New York in January 2012.
For the competition, ninety nominations from forty-‐one
different countries were submitted. The regional breakdown: Asia (24); Africa
(20); Latin America and the Caribbean (18); Europe (15) and North America (13).
The range of experience for each hero varies, with some
having life‐long experience with forests, including an 84-‐year old, and 15
and 16 year old, who are just starting out. The impact of some of the heroes is
far reaching, with their projects being duplicated on national and global
levels.
Three finalists from every region are in the running for one
prestigious award in each region. Mr. Million is one of the three finalists in
Africa. One of the three finalists, Mpathelene Makulele of South Africa, is
also a member of the African Biodiversity Network, in which MELCA-Ethiopia is a
member organization.
“The UNFF Forest Heroes program and Awards was launched as
part of our International year of Forests 2011 activities to identify and
honour the countless individuals around the world who are dedicating their
lives to nurturing forests in quiet and heroic ways” said Ms.jan McAlpine,
Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat and member of the
jury panel. “The programme aspires to spotlight every day people working to
make positive changes for forests.”
Mr. Million is nominated as a Forest Hero of 2011 for his
over two decades of activism in relation to conservation of existing forest and
reforestation of deforested areas in Ethiopia. MELCA (Movement for Ecological
Learning and Community Action) Mahiber is established in Ethiopia as a non
profit organization in 2004 with a vision of seeing bio-cultural diversity
conserved for healthy ecosystem and sustainable life.
According to UNFF, some of his activities in relation to
forest and forest biodiversity include:
• Coordinating the planting of more than 137,000 indigenous
tree seedlings on the hills of Entoto, near the Capital city, Addis Ababa,
• Starting
a program called cultural biodiversity in Ethiopia and in seven African
countries where children and youth plant trees, learn about the cultural
significance of biodiversity and advocate for their protection,
• For
coordinating the advocacy and conservation of forests in Ethiopia, notably the
Sheka forest.
For the competition, ninety nominations from forty-‐one
different countries were submitted. The regional breakdown: Asia (24); Africa
(20); Latin America and the Caribbean (18); Europe (15) and North America (13).
The range of experience for each hero varies, with some
having life-‐long experience with forests, including an 84-‐year old, and 15
and 16 year old, who are just starting out. The impact of some of the heroes is
far reaching, with their projects being duplicated on national and global
levels.
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