PRESS RELEASE
Nominations open for 8th MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2024••••

The MIDORI Prize recognizes outstanding individual contributions to the conservationand sustainable use of biodiversity.
The Prize boosts efforts on Communication, Education and Public Awareness under theConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and in support of the Kunming-Montreal
Global Biodiversity Framework (the Biodiversity Plan).
The Prize represents the long-term engagement of AEON Environmental Foundation
towards biodiversity objectives.
The Award ceremony will take place during the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of theParties to the CBD, to be held on 21 October–1 November 2024 in Cali, Colombia.

Montreal, 15 April 2024—The call for nominations for The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2024
is open until 15 June 2024. Nominations are invited from members of the public through AEON
Environmental Foundation website at https://www.aeon.info/ef/en/prize/midori/about.html
Co-organized by AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), the Prize is awarded to individuals who make outstanding
contributions to global biodiversity-related objectives, including the conservation and sustainable
use of biodiversity, and other environmental issues such as climate change.
The 2024 edition will acknowledge contributions to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal
Global Biodiversity Framework, also known as the Biodiversity Plan, and it’s four overarchinggoals to protect and restore nature, to prosper with nature, to share benefits fairly, and to invest andcollaborate for nature. Agreed in a landmark decision of CBD COP 15 in December 2022, theBiodiversity Plan is the world’s masterplan to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.
Established by AEON Environmental Foundation during the 2010 International Year ofBiodiversity, the Prize has been awarded to biodiversity champions in several fields, including
policymaking, science and civil society, reflecting the need for a whole-of-society endeavor—aseminal principle that underpinned the design of the Biodiversity Plan and its 23 targets (to beachieved by 2023). Up to now, 19 individuals from 17 countries have received the prize.
The founder of the prize, Takuya Okada, Honorary Chairman of AEON Environmental Foundationand Honorary Chairman and Advisor, AEON Co., Ltd., said: “The conservation of biodiversity andthe prevention of climate change are considered two of the most important environmental issues ofthe present day. The Foundation hopes that this prize will contribute to these global environmental

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issues and to the global goals set forth in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Frameworkin December 2022.”
David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said:“Following the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in December
2022, the world community has been responding to the call to take urgent action for biodiversity.
The eighth edition of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity will honor individuals who are supporting
the mission of this Biodiversity Plan: to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030. I invite
you to also lead by example and be part of the Plan.”
The Prize will be awarded during the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16)
to the CBD to be held from 21 October to 1 November 2024 in Cali, Colombia, under the theme“Peace with nature”. To strengthen collaboration with the prizewinners, various initiatives todisseminate their activities are planned thereafter through to 2025, such as holding forums in theprizewinners’ countries of origin.
Notes to editors(1) The Biodiversity Plan
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to catalyze, enable and galvanize urgent andtransformative action by Governments, and subnational and local authorities, with the involvement of all ofsociety, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, to achieve the outcomes it sets out in its Vision, Mission, Goals
and Targets, and thereby contribute to the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and to
those of its Protocols.
(2) The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity
The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity aims to raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity tohuman wellbeing and global issues, such as climate change, and to contribute to the objectives of theConvention on Biological Diversity and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It aims to
support action for biodiversity and to inspire others by honouring individuals who have made major
contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and by bringing attention to theirachievements. The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity was established by AEON Environmental Foundationin commemoration of its 20th anniversary in 2010, which coincided with the United Nations InternationalYear of Biodiversity and the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10), held in Nagoya, Japan. Nineteen Prize winners have been selected so far and their work is relevant
around the world. For more information visit: https://www.aeon.info/ef/en/prize/(3) AEON Environmental Foundation
Established in 1990, AEON Environmental Foundation continues to implement activities that respond toenvironmental issues in a changing world. In 2009, prior to the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties
to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10) held in Nagoya in 2010, the Foundation established adomestic award, the Japan Awards for Biodiversity, together with the Ministry of the Environment. In 2010,
in commemoration of its 20th anniversary, the Foundation established the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity
as an international award co-organized with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity(SCBD). From 2009 and 2010, respectively, the Japan Awards and MIDORI Prize were held every twoyears. On the occasion of the Foundation’s 30th anniversary, in order to further address the issue ofbiodiversity, these domestic and international awards were unified under the name of the MIDORI Prize for
Biodiversity, and the Foundation is stepping up its support for environmental activities relating tobiodiversity. Currently, the Foundation is promoting activities with stakeholders in four areas: Developmentof Forest, Funding, Environmental Education, and Partnership. A representative activity of AEON
Environmental Foundation is tree-planting activities which have been carried out with volunteers all overthe world, with a total number of trees planted exceeding 12.68 million. Going forward, the Foundation willcontinue to promote various environmental activities to pass on our beautiful planet, full of life, to future
generations. Please visit: https://www.aeon.info/ef/en/(4) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December
1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity,
the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived fromthe use of genetic resources. With 196 Parties, the Convention has near universal participation among
countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including
threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives andprocesses, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant
stakeholders including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women, and the business
community. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing
are supplementary agreements to the Convention. The Cartagena Protocol, which entered into force on 11
September 2003, seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified
organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. To date, 173 Parties have ratified the Cartagena Protocol.
The Nagoya Protocol aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fairand equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer ofrelevant technologies. It entered into force on 12 October 2014 and to date has been ratified by 141 Parties.
For more information visit: www.cbd.int. For additional information, please contact: David Ainsworth on+1 514 287 7025 or at david.ainsworth@cbd.int-----