Inquirer News Article - 01/22/2004
ECA Press Release - 03/07/2002

INQ7.NET ARTICLE - January 22, 2004

Filipino Group Receives New Environmental Award

THE FIRST Environmental Communication Award (ECA), an international recognition of efforts in the field of communication for environmental causes, was presented in November to the Filipino Happy Earth Organization.

The group received the award in the Institutions and Initiatives category, one of three categories of the annual award. Happy Earth was cited for its pioneering work in encouraging children to get involved in and act on environmental issues.

What drew the attention of the award body in particular was a children's book written by Happy Earth founder Penny Reyes-Velasco called "Are You The Forest King?" The book spread its message of conservation with the help of illustrations by the author herself, using pressed flowers and leaves.

The two other recipients of the prestigious award presented in Madgeburg, Germany, were Portuguese author and journalist Dr. Luisa Schmidt for Individual Achievement, and car maker Daimler-Chrysler for Corporate Achievement.

The ECA is sponsored by the European Nature Heritage Fund or Euronatur and the Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development, both based in Germany, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It was established to generate global concern for environmental sustainability.

The ECA sees the need to allow people greater access to more information about ecological conditions around the world. It believes that "only by harnessing the innovative power of individuals around the world can the creation and upliftment of sustainable living concepts become a reality."

The ECA accepts self-nomination.

For the first award, the selection committee consisted of members of the sponsoring groups (Euronatur and the Bellagio Forum); heads of government Environment Departments like Sweden's; academics like Dr. Paciencia P. Milan, president of the Leyte State University of Agriculture; officials of participating groups like Lufthansa; and representatives of the African press. Executive director of UNEP is Prof. Dr. Klaus Topfer.

Penny Reyes-Velasco

It was back in 2000 that we first wrote about Penny Reyes-Velasco, the young housewife who had written an environmental book. Since then, the book, "Are You the Forest King?" has done the school circuit as part of nature studies. The Museo Pambata even made it the core of an inter-active exhibit that took book and author all over the country.

The book was subsequently translated into Tagalog by Fr. Rene B. Javellana, S.J. Interest in Penny Velasco as author, artist and environmentalist grew because of the beautiful illustrations of pressed flowers and leaves.

Life became a busy one for the writer. Today, three years later, she is busier than ever.

In 2001, realizing that she could make further use of her book to inspire nature conservation, especially among children, she founded the Happy Earth Organization which now produces eco-educational materials. It has also linked up with other environmental groups for a broader network. Linkages have been established with, among others, an Adopt-a-Tree program, a Philippine Teak Tree Conservation project, and the Arenga Pinnata Conservation project in Indang, Cavite.

Penny has, in the interim, written another book in collaboration with An Mercado-Alcantara, formatted in the same fashion as "Are You the Forest King?" Her activities brought her to the attention of UNEP and the Environmental Communication Award.

E-mail the author at dorisnuyda@yahoo.com