Environmentalists, naturalist and conservationists around the glob were particularly happy on the news that the Right Livelihood Honorary Award for the year 2004 recognized the outstanding services of Raúl Montenegro in different fields of environment. .
The Right Livelihood Award, commonly known as Alternative Nobel Prize, was established in 1980 to pay tribute to and help people in different fields of human activity and uphold the principles of right livelihood.
Through his life long work, Raúl Montenegro from Argentina has shown how much one committed scientist and activist can do to raise environmental awareness and prevent ecological degradation. Citation reads, “The Award honours Raúl Montenegro for his outstanding and wide-ranging work with local communities and indigenous peoples to protect the environment and conserve natural resources in Latin America and elsewhere.”
Montenegro has been involved in diverse range of environmental activities that include: Anti-nuclear campaigns, establishment of national parks, disposal of toxic waste, unearthing dangerous pollution impacts by chemicals and high tension power lines, efforts to save forests, wildlife and biodiversity, campaigns against dams and for the provision of clean water and for ecologically sensitive water management besides writing extensively about environmental issues to educate people. “In addition to all this Montenegro has had a full academic life, publishing in journals and keeping abreast of (and sometimes contributing to) advances in ecological science, which he then tries to implement.”
Note: For the Right Livelihood Award from Pakistan, I have had the honor to nominate Dr. Senta Siller, a respected volunteer. German national Dr. Siller, who holds a Masters degree in archaeology, philosophy, education and a doctorate in the history of art, is an active member of the German NGO and is working in Pakistan since 1992. Dr. Senta Siller says, “Pakistan is my home now and what I am doing is a way to give back some of what I have been bestowed upon in life.”
Dr. Senta Siller’s work in a small village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, located around 80 kilometres from Lahore has been remarkable. Having visited the village in the early ’90s and presented with a doll made by one of the local women, Dr Siller liked the serene and natural life in the village and also realised the untapped potential of the inhabitants. In 1992 she came back and established an NGO Anjuman-e-Falah-Aama and started a community-based Women Art Centre in the village. The aim of the Centre is to involve local women in productive, creative and healthy activities, empowering women and changing the face of the village in the process.
Murals are painted on the parameter mud walls in the village where people interested in nature, sustainable development and rural heritage come to visit. The village folks still consider cooing crows as symbol of the arrival of the guests. Recycling of plastic and clean water projects are working in the village.
Architectural competitions are held annually when the best mud house is selected. The Chief Harappan Explorer Dr. Mark Kenoyer had the place on the jury in competition held last year. Dr. Senta Siller along with another full time German volunteers Dr. Norbert Pintsch, and village people are working together to change the life and outlook in this peaceful hamlet. Whenever I visited the village, I saw something new, something different. Dr. Senta Siller has not made for the Award this year but what is more important is that people all over the world have known what she is working on and how. May be some one else also adopts similar work in another obscure village.
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