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United Nations, December 17
A 29-year-old Indian entrepreneur is among the seven winners of the prestigious ‘Young Champions of the Earth’ 2020 prize given by the UN environment agency to global change-makers using innovative ideas and ambitious action to help solve some of the world s most pressing environmental challenges.
Vidyut Mohan, an engineer, is the co-founder of ‘Takachar’, a social enterprise enabling farmers to prevent open burning of their waste farm residues and earn extra income by converting them into value-added chemicals like activated carbon on-site, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I ve always been passionate about energy access and creating income opportunities for poor communities,” Mohan was quoted as saying in the statement. “(That) is at the heart of finding answers to the difficult question of balancing economic growth and climate change mitigation in developing countries,” he said.
Lefteris Arapakis named Europe’s “Young Champion of the Earth”
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Lefteris Arapakis is one of the seven “Young Champions of the Earth” awarded annually by the United Nations for innovative environmental actions.
The 26-year-old Greek, the only European to be awarded, comes from a family of fishermen. For five generations his family has been active in the rich waters of Southern Greece, fishing for cod and red mullet.
“I got more and more worried about the scarcity of fish and the increase of plastic,” Arapakis said.
“I was deeply concerned that my father, and now my brothers, could not make a living out of this job, which is what they learned to do and what they love to do.”
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NAIROBI
Nzambi Matee, Unep’s Young Champion of the Earth for Africa, holding a paving stone made from recycled plastic at her Industrial Area factory.
When Nzambi Matee told her friends she was planning to take up waste management as a career, they thought she was crazy. She was 27 years old, had a degree in Physics from Jomo Kenyatta University, and her peers thought she could do better than recycling waste.
However, if that was the direction she had taken, her friends felt she should employ people to do the ‘dirty’ work. But Matee chose to ignore those who doubted her passion. She pressed on. And being recognised by the UN Young Champions of the Earth programme was the least of her expectations, especially coming just three years after she started.
UNEP names winners of the 2020 Young Champions of the Earth challenge nationalaccordnewspaper.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalaccordnewspaper.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.