FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 20162016 BLUE PLANET PRIZE:
ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZE WINNERS■ Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (India)■ Prof. Markus Borner (Switzerland)This year marks the 25th awarding of the Blue Planet Prize, the international environmental award sponsoredby the Asahi Glass Foundation, chaired by Kazuhiko Ishimura. Two Blue Planet Prizes are awarded toindividuals or organizations each year that make outstanding achievements in scientific research and its
application, and in so doing help to solve global environmental problems. The Board of Directors andCouncillors decided the following recipients for this year.
1. Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (India)
UNEP Goodwill Ambassador, Founding Trustee of Green Indian States Trust (GIST), Founder & CEO of
GIST Advisory, Associate Fellow of Davenport College, Yale University

Mr. Sukhdev is a pioneer in developing economic rationale and practical metrics fortransition towards an inclusive green economy. He has drawn attention to the criticalrole of the Corporation in this transition. His work has shown how to mainstream thevalues of ecosystem services into improved public policies and business practises.
By developing sustainability metrics for the corporate, provincial and national levels,
he has driven momentum and capacity building to hasten the evolution to an
inclusive green economy.
2. Prof. Markus Borner (Switzerland)
Former Director of Frankfurt Zoological Society Africa Program, Honorary Professor of University ofGlasgow, Adjunct Professor of The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Tanzania

Prof. Borner has been at the forefront of conservation and management initiatives toprotect endangered wildlife and protected-area ecosystems in Africa over the past 40
years. He was among the first to recognize that the conservation of individual species
requires comprehensive conservation of entire ecosystems and the contributions andcommitment of the Tanzania people to the conservation of their ecosystems. A
guiding principle has been that wilderness, biodiversity and beauty are essential forthe survival and health of our planet.
Both recipients will be awarded a certificate of merit, a commemorative trophy and a supplementary award of
50 million yen.
The awards ceremony will be held on November 16, 2016 (Wednesday) at the Palace Hotel Tokyo (Chiyoda
Ward, Tokyo). The commemorative lectures by the prize recipients will be held at the United Nations
University (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo) on November 17.
*This press release may also be viewed on our web site at www.af-info.or.jp. from 15:00, June 15, 2016.
The photos of the recipients are available from the web site of the Asahi Glass Foundation.

Report on the Selection Process (25th Annual Prize, 2016)
A total of 680 nominators from Japan and 700 nominators from other countries recommended
109 candidates. The fields represented by the candidates, in order of number, were ecology (26),environmental economics and policy making (22), atmospheric and earth sciences (17),multidisciplinary field (12).
The candidates represented 33 countries; 29 persons, 27 percent of the total, were fromdeveloping countries.
After individual evaluation of the 109 candidates by each Selection Committee member, thecommittee was convened to narrow down the field. The results of their deliberation were
examined by the Presentation Committee, which forwarded its recommendations to the Board of
Directors and Councillors. The Board formally resolved to award the Prize to Mr. Pavan
Sukhdev, and to Prof. Markus Borner.
The Laureates
1992

Dr. Syukuro Manabe (USA)International Institute for Environment andDevelopment (UK)2005

Professor Sir Nicholas
Shackleton (UK)
Dr. Gordon Hisashi Sato (USA)1993

Dr. Charles D. Keeling (USA)IUCN—The World Conservation
Union (headquartered in Switzerland)

2006

Dr. Akira Miyawaki (Japan)
Dr. Emil Salim (Indonesia)

1994

Professor Dr. Eugen Seibold(Germany)
Mr. Lester R. Brown (USA)2007

Professor Joseph L. Sax (USA)Dr. Amory B. Lovins (USA)1995

Dr. Bert Bolin (Sweden)
Mr. Maurice F. Strong (Canada)

2008

Dr. Claude Lorius (France)
Professor José Goldemberg (Brazil)

1996

Dr. Wallace S. Broecker (USA)The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (India)

2009

Professor Hirofumi Uzawa (Japan)
Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford (UK)1997

Dr. James E. Lovelock (UK)Conservation International (head­quartered in the USA)2010

Dr. James Hansen (USA)
Dr. Robert Watson (UK)1998

Professor Mikhail I. Budyko (Russia)
Mr. David R. Brower (USA)2011

Dr. Jane Lubchenco (USA)
Barefoot College (India)

1999

Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich (USA)Professor Qu Geping (China)

2012

Professor William E. Rees (Canada)
and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel (Switzerland)
Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy (USA)2000

Dr. Theo Colborn (USA)Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt (Sweden)
Lord (Robert) May of Oxford(Australia)
Dr. Norman Myers (UK)

2013

2002

Dr. Harold A. Mooney (USA)Professor J. Gustave Speth(USA)

2015

2003

Dr. Gene E. Likens (USA) and
Dr. F. Herbert Bormann (USA)Dr. Vo Quy (Vietnam)
Dr. Susan Solomon (USA)Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway)

2016

Dr. Taroh Matsuno (Japan)
Professor Daniel Sperling (USA)Prof. Herman Daly (USA)Prof. Daniel H. Janzen (USA)and Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad(INBio)Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
FBA FRS (UK)
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs (USA)Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (India)
Prof. Markus Borner (Switzerland)

2001

2004

2014

For more information, please contact: Tetsuro Yasuda
THE ASAHI GLASS FOUNDATION
2nd Floor, Science Plaza, 5-3 Yonbancho Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 102-0081 Japan
Phone +81-3-5275-0620 Fax +81-3-5275-0871
e-mail: post@af-info.or.jp URL: h ttp ://www.af -info.or.jp

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Attachment

Profile of the 2016 Blue Planet Prize Recipient
Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (India )Achievements of Mr. Pavan Sukhdev
One of the most significant achievements of Mr. Sukhdev was to lead TEEB to success. He is aleading expert in environmental valuations, and the success of TEEB is primarily attributable tohis unrestrained passion for mainstreaming valuation and green accounting as a means ofmaking today’s society recognize and respond to the values of nature. His activities toward
implementing a sustainable economy are described chronologically below.
Foundation and development of GIST (The Green Indian States Trust) (From 2004)
In 2004, he established GIST, an NGO to promote sustainable development. Initially theorganization conducted state-level evaluation activities only in India, but now through its sistercompany “GIST Advisory” it contributes to the promotion of environmental accounting among
national governments and corporations all around the world. The scope of these environmental
accounting activities covers natural capital, such as forests, agricultural land, water resources,
and also social capital and human capital (health and education). Through the establishment ofenvironmental accounting, GIST aims to implement a green economy that reduces
environmental risks and the destruction of ecosystems, while promoting human wellbeing andsocial fairness.
TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) (2007 – 2010, first and second phases)
TEEB is a global project that was called for at the G8+5 environment ministers’ meeting held in
Potsdam, 2007. It is an initiative for establishing the economic and social rationale forconservation of biodiversity by evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem services in economic
terms and incorporating these values into actual decision-making by policy-makers, businesses
and citizens. Its activities consist of three phases (1) Interim Report released at CBD COP-9,
Bonn (2) Final Reports released at CBD COP-10, Nagoya and (3) Implementation Phase,ongoing (See the table below.)
In recognition of his achievements in leading GIST and developments in environmental
accounting, He was appointed as the Study Leader of TEEB, and ran the first and second phases.
Giving priority to the eradication of poverty and intergenerational equity, he set these themes as
one of the objectives of TEEB. In the third phase, the ideas established in the first and second
phases are put into practice and organizations other than TEEB, including national governments,
NGOs and corporations, are taking over implementation activities. Their combined efforts are
expected to contribute to the achievement of the Aichi Targets adopted at the Convention of
Biological Diversity - COP10, which took place in Nagoya.

3

TEEB Reports have exerted a significant influence on the governments and business leaders inboth developed and developing countries and on large ecological NGOs. The governments ofBrazil, China, India, Georgia, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway (among others)
in decided to continue or launch their own TEEB research projects after the Convention of
Biological Diversity - COP10, and they have begun to integrate the values of ecosystem services
into their policy-making frameworks. Moreover, with the aim of measuring the impacts anddependencies of businesses on Nature, and where possible publishing and controlling businessexternalities, ‘TEEB for Business Coalition’ was established in 2012 to define the frameworkand standards for business, by a number of global organizations including the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF) and Conservation International (CI), and by national agencies including the Department
for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of the UK government, the Singapore
Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Englandand Wales (ICAEW).
The breakthrough achievements of TEEB were to teach us the values of the many benefits ofecosystem services and to make us aware of the true costs of over-exploiting their finite natureand of disrupting ecosystem services, and to present a specific visions of policy improvements
and business transformations to better preserve biodiversity and ecosystems.
“Corporation 2020” and Yale University (From 2011)
In 2011, Mr. Sukhdev was appointed McCluskey Fellow at Yale University, School of Forestry
and Environment. There he created and taught the first graduate course on TEEB (TEEB@Yale).
The book he wrote while at Yale university, “Corporation 2020”, was simultaneously launched
as an international initiative by Mr. Sukhdev, to implement sustainable corporate activities,
supported by “micro-policy” driven changes such as more controlled leverage, a shift in taxation
away from profit taxation to resource taxation, higher responsibility and accountability inadvertising, and integrated financial reports <IR>. It promotes a range of important strategies
based on his idea of delivering an environmentally and socially sound “economy ofpermanence” through leadership models by corporations which can be replicated, scaled andhelped by right regulations and policies. Launched at the Rio+20 meeting in 2012, this initiative
has proposed well-researched solutions to the problem of corporate sustainability. Mr. Sukhdev
is now an Associate Fellow of Davenport College, Yale University.

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Table: Background of the establishment of TEEB and details of its activities
Item

Initiated by

Details

Founded in

G8+5 Meeting●At the meeting held in Potsdam in March 2007, G8+5 environment ministers called for an

March 2007

initiative to study the loss of the ecosystems and biodiversity, equivalent to the Stern Review
on the Economics of Climate Change.
●Sigmar Gabriel, the Minister for the Environment in Germany, agreed to undertake thisresearch with the support of Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the Environment.
●Pavan Sukhdev was appointed by the Minister for the Environment in Germany and theCommissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas as the project leader.

First phase

TEEB Initiative●Study of recognition values of biodiversity and ecosystem services and the huge cost of their(Foundation(headed by Pavan

loss due to “business-as-usual”– May

Sukhdev, consisting●TEEB Interim Report was presented at the High-Level Segment of the 9th meeting of the2008)

of over 500

Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-9) in May

members including

2008 at Bonn, Germany.

scientists, business(*) Source: Website www.teebweb.org

leaders and policy
makers) (*)
SecondSame as abovephase●Demonstration of the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services (evaluation in economic
and social terms, including measuring “GDP of the poor” for some developing countries) and(2009 -

study of how to integrate these values into policy making, administration and business2010)●Full suite of four Final TEEB Reports presented at the 10th meeting of the Conference of theParties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-10), October 2010, Nagoya,Japan.

Third phase

Organizations other●The ideas learnt in the first and second phase are being put into practice.

(2011 –

than TEEB project

TEEB Country Studies supported by European Commission (Bhutan, Ecuador, Liberia, thePresent)(national

Philippines and Tanzania) and numerous TEEB-inspired Country Studies (Japan and 20 othergovernments, NGOs

countries consider participation)and projects, etc.)●Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) and many other activities are being carried out utilizing theideas of TEEB. NCC is an international coalition for recognizing and integrating the values ofnatural capital in business decision-making, & will launch a universal “Natural Capital
Protocol” (NCP) in July 2016 in London●TEEB for Agriculture & Food (‘TEEB-Agri-Food’) project launched in 2014, with supportof Norway and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, USA. Pavan Sukhdev was
appointed Special Adviser to the project, and its Interim Report was launched at the Global
landscapes Forum, COP-21, in Paris, December 2015.

Biographical Summary
Academic background
1976

Collège du Léman (Switzerland)

1978

Dover College (UK)1981

Oxford University (UK)1983 Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (UK) Diploma in economics,
accounting and law
45Finance Background1983 - 1994

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (India and London)

1994 - 1998

Head of Global Markets division of Deutsche Bank AG (India)

1998 - 1999

Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank’s Asian Global Markets
business (Singapore)1999 - 2003

Head of Deutsche Bank’s Asia-Pacific Global Markets Finance division(Singapore)2003 - 2005

Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank’s Global Emerging Markets
division (Singapore)2005 - 2006

Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets Central Office (London)

2006

Established Deutsche Bank’s GMC (Global Markets Centre), Mumbai

From 2008-2011

Sabbatical leave & secondment from Deutsche Bank to United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). Mr. Sukhdev resigned from Deutsche
Bank and from UNEP in March 2011 to take up an offer as McCluskey
Fellow, Yale University, 2011-2012

Green economy-related activities
2004

Founding Trustee, GIST (The Green Indian State Trust)2008 - 2010

Study Leader of TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity)

2008 - 2011

Head of UNEP’s GEI (Green Economy Initiative)

From 2011 -Founder and CEO of GIST Advisory

2012

Campaign and book “Corporation 2020”

Awards2010

Personality of the Year (from “Environmental Finance”)

2011

McCluskey Fellowship (at Forestry & Environment School, Yale University)

2011

Medal from the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM,
London)2012

UNEP Goodwill Ambassador

2012

Salim Ali International Award for Nature Conservation (Bombay Natural History
Society, BNHS)

2013

Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development (Gothenburg city)

2015

KfW-Bernhard-Grzimek-Preis (The foundation KfW Stiftung, Frankfurt）

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Prof. Markus Borner (Switzerland )Achievements of Prof. Markus Borner
From 1983, Prof. Borner carried out activities as the Director of Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS)
Africa Program from his base in the Africa Regional Office in the Serengeti National Park. Prof.
Borner developed a collaborative relationship with Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA),
establishing and implementing a system of ecosystem conservation and management based on
scientific investigative research over many years into the wildlife and ecosystem of the Serengeti
National Park. Prof. Borner’s major accomplishments are detailed below.
FZS launched its ecosystem conservation program in the Serengeti National Park from 1958 under
Professor Grzimez and sent Prof. Borner over in 1977 to carry on the legac and work as Dr.
Grzimek’s right-hand man. Today, the Africa Program can attribute its ongoing reputation ofachievements due to Prof. Borner’s successes.
From the early days, he collaborated with TANAPA on numerous pioneering research studies on theecology of wildlife, in particular the changes in the numbers of elephants and rhinoceros, and thehabitats and migration paths of zebras and wildebeest. These research studies elucidated in detail forthe first time the true state of wildlife, and revealed how poaching and development by humanbeings was bringing wildlife to the brink of extinction. Prof. Borner conducted wide-ranging andvigorous research studies including aerial observations made from a panoramic view of theecosystem flying his own plane as much as 100,000 km per year. These studies later helped to avert
two major threats to the National Park, (1) The building of a major hydroelectric dam on the Marariver and, (2) The construction of a highway through the heart of the National Park.
The closure of the border between Tanzania and Kenya in 1977 resulted in a heavy blow to
Tanzania’s tourism industry including ecotourism. Conservation activities for the Serengeti National
Park were on the brink of financial crisis. Prof. Borner created a fund within FZS to address thiscrisis, resuming systematic management of the park through measures such as reinstating thepayment of salaries to park wardens and rangers, carrying out road maintenance, and renewing
vehicles. He later helped establishing a General Management Plan for the protected area, which
greatly opened the road for ecotourism. Tourism has now become Tanzania’s leading foreignexchange earner, contributing more than $2 billion dollars annually to the nation. Prof. Borner’s
achievements in implementing a new management scheme for tourism were instrumental forfurthering conservation in the area.
Additionally, Prof. Borner invited administration officials, diplomats, journalists, environmental
activists and scientists into his home to explain the magnificence of nature in the Serengeti
ecosystem while providing cordial hospitality. He also collected money from administration officials
and private individuals to maintain and implement conservation programs.
A well-known initiative implemented during this time was the breeding and conservation programfor rhinos, which were at the edge of extinction. Prof. Borner implemented the rhino conservation
program in the Ngorongoro conservation area, and the black rhino conservation program in theMoru region of the Serengeti and the Mara hunting region of Kenya. Rhinos were airlifted fromSouth Africa and released in the Ngorongoro conservation area in order to safeguard theconservation of rhinos throughout Africa as a whole.
The Serengeti is considered to be the only place where the ecosystem conservation program has
been put into practice on such a large scale. Prof. Borner, and his partners have published over 2000
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scientific publications on the Serengeti, making it the most widely researched natural area in theworld today.
Prof. Borner was instrumental in organizing conservation-related activities for the Serengeti
ecosystem. He helped establish Wildlife Management Areas adjacent to the park to provide
adequate buffer zones for wildlife and income for locals and a Serengeti Ecocsytem Forum toengage all stakeholders in the ecosystem.
As described above, Prof. Borner formulated a system geared toward the protection of the naturalenvironment and the sustainable development of the local economy, a system that included thecomprehensive protection and management of a scientifically based ecosystem, the creation of aframework of cooperation with the local people, and the development of the local economy throughecotourism. He has proved the correctness of this method by putting it into practice. The correctnessof this method has also been demonstrated in neighboring countries in addition to the Serengeti,
such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Today, Serengeti National Park is themainstay of tourism in Tanzania, and Prof. Borner’s activities have a major impact on ecosystemconservation activities worldwide as a pioneering successful model of the practice of ecosystemconservation.
Prof. Borner retired from his post as Director of the FZS Africa Program in 2012. However, hecontinues to engage in education and research for the conservation of wild animals and ecosystems
as Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow. At the same time, he remains committed to theconservation of the ecosystem in Serengeti National Park and has continued providing detailed
research to oppose plans to build a highway through the Serengeti National Park.
Biographical Summary
Academic background1972 University of Zurich (Marine Biology)
1979 PhD, University of Basel (Zoology)
Career1972
1977-1983
1983
1984
1984 - 2003
1989 - 2004
1991 - 2001
2012

Research on rhino and tigers in Sumatra (WWF)Staff member of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). Supported Professor
Grzimek. Dispatched to Africa by FZS and moved with his family to Rubondo
Island on Lake Victoria.
Director of the FZS Africa Program. Dispatched by FZS, which had for a longtime been focusing its efforts on the improvement and conservation of Serengeti
National Park, and commenced activities from its Serengeti National Park base.
Founding Member, Tanzania Wildlife Protection Fund
Board Member Mweka Wildlife College, Tanzania
Board Member and Head of Conservation Committee, Tanzania National Parks
Board Member, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, Tanzania
Retired from his post as Director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society Africa ProgramAwards1994 Bruno H. Schubert Foundation Awards (The Bruno H. Schubert Foundation, Frankfurt)
2000 Special Conservation Award Tanzania National Parks (Tanzania National Parks)
2009 IEDC Excellence in Economic Development Awards (International Economic
Development Council)
2012 The Indianapolis Prize Finalists (The Indianapolis Zoo)
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Remarks from the Award Recipients upon Notification of their Selection
Mr. Pavan Sukhdev (India)
I wish to thank Asahi Glass Foundation for the great honour of being awarded the Blue Planet
Prize. I am humbled by this recognition, and for being included in a list of pioneers from whom
I draw inspiration and guidance.
I dedicate this moment to all the people who contributed to the body of work recognized by thisprize. In particular, members of the large and growing ‘TEEB’ community, colleagues andcollaborators of GIST, my students at Yale University, and several distinguished advisers who
have given generously of their time towards this work.
The Blue Planet Prize motivates me to continue my work on making nature’s economic values
visible and better responded to by policy makers and business leaders, on redesigning thecorporation, and on improving and implementing metrics and accounting systems forsustainability. These are all critical areas for transforming today’s defunct yet dominanteconomic model into an inclusive and green economy of permanence.
Prof. Markus Borner (Switzerland)
I am deeply humbled to receive this years Blue Planet Prize. It is a great honour to have been
considered worthy of this prestigious award and to be standing in the company with theillustrious recipients who have received this prize from the Asahi Glass Foundation over the last
25 years.
Throughout my career, I have been very fortunate and privileged to have been able to dosomething that has had great meaning for me, and that has contributed towards the conservationof the iconic Serengeti National Park and other important conservation areas in Africa. Mine isonly a small contribution, and credit is due to the people of Tanzania who have declared 25% of
their land area for conservation and - as one of the poorest countries in the world - continue todo their best to preserve their natural heritage.
Wilderness, biodiversity and beauty are important for each of us and essential for the survival
and health of our blue planet.
Many thanks to the Asahi Glass Foundation for helping us find ways into the future, a future
where there will be room for elephants and rhinos and where lions can still roar in the morning
light.

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