- Hammerskjoeld Simwinga, a Zambian has his name included among winners of the prestigious Nobel Prize the Environment. Mr Simwinga’s initiated economic project for the community of North Luangwa valley succeeds in containing elephant poaching in the area.
This earns him the Nobel Prize award whose recipient bags home US $125,000 as reward.
Mr Simwinga designed fishing and bee-keeping projects for the poverty-stricken community of North Luangwa valley where poaching of elephants has been on the rise until his intervention.
He campaigns against poaching and succeeds in convincing the people that elephants bring money for them in the form of tourism.
The Zambian prize laureate also supplies milling machines to people on condition that they will be withdrawn if they poach elephants.
He says he is delighted that his people have started reaping the benefit of protecting natural resources and animals that become their source of income.
Apart from loaning out money to Luangwa people, Mr Simwinga also makes healthcare and education services accessible to 35,000 people.
The environmentalist decides to own the North Luangwa Wildlife Conservation and Community Development Programme when its American owners – Delia and Mark Owens – forcefully left it in 1966.
Four other winners of the prize were Willie Corduff (Ireland), Tsetsge Munkhabyar (Mongolia), Julio Cusurichi Palacios (Peru), Sophia Rabliauskas (Canada) and Orri Vigfusson (Iceland).
A ceremony to honour the winners is scheduled to take place on 25 April at the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C.
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