Blue Planet Prize Broadcasting Program of Laureates

The 2024 laureates are Professor Robert Costanza, University College London, who was the first to systematically estimate the economic value of the ecosystem services that nature provides to humanity, and IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a leading international organization that provides, promotes and assesses scientific knowledge on biodiversity, ecosystem services and all other benefits that nature provides to humankind.

• Show allShow part

The 2023 laureates are a group of three scientists from the UK, Professor Richard Thompson, a marine biologist and microplastic expert of the University of Plymouth, Professor Penelope Lindeque, a marine ecologist of Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and Professor Tamara Galloway, an ecotoxicologist of the University of Exeter.
The Prize was also awarded to Professor Devarati Guha-Sapir, an epidemiologist and Director of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the Catholic University of Louvain, who founded the International Disaster Database. We will explore the footsteps and achievements of the 2023 Blue Planet Prize laureates and how we can contribute to solving these environmental problems.

• Show allShow part

The 2022 winners are His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the Fourth King of Bhutan, who introduced the concept og GNH (Gross National Happiness) to the world, and Professor Stephen Carpenter, the emeritus director of the Center for Limnokogy at the University of Wisconsin USA, who has been engaged in lake ecosystem research for many years. Waht insights do these tow Blue Planet Prize Laureates share with us, so taht we may pass on the beauty of our planet to the next generation? Our journey through their significant reseach achievements aims to reveal those answes.

• Show allShow part

The 2021 prizewinners are Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist and Professor Mohan Munasinghe, an environmental economist. By tracing the footsteps and achievements of these two 2021 Blue Planet Prize Laureates, we seek to find our way to solving the environmental problems we are facing today.

• Show allShow part

The 2020 prizewinners are the ecologist Professor David Tilman and Dr. Stuart Simon, a biologist specializing in conservation initiatives. Professor David Tilman verified that the productivity and stability of a whole ecosystem rises as diversity increases. He thoroughly investigated the considerable impact that conventional agriculture has had on ecosystems and the global environment. Regarding the increased production of agricultural products demanded by future population increases, he advocated 'sustainable intensive production'. This can increase crop harvests while protecting the environment by changing agricultural methods, such as reconsidering the amounts of nitrogen fertilizer used and the times of spreading. His proposals have had a major global impact.
Tilman has also focused on human dietary habits, which are a major factor in controlling agriculture, and works on the issue of the tightly-linked diet-environment-health trilemma. There are foodstuffs that are good and bad for our health and the environment. He studies this relationship and stresses the importance of choosing food that is good for both our health and the environment.
Professor Tilman continues making proposals on the way that global society should be in order to maintain ecosystem diversity.
Dr. Simon Stuart was a central figure in the development of the 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. As a member of the team that was creating new categories and criteria for the Red List, he conducted thorough hearings with experts in many fields, including botany, zoology, earth science, marine science, insects and fungi, and worked towards the creation of criteria to deal with the various factors that can lead a species to extinction. He refined the quantitative criteria by dividing categories into three levels: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU). This ensured that species could be assigned to the correct categories. As a result, the most objective and reliable source of data on the extinction risk of species was completed. More than 110,000 species have been registered to date and the number continues to increase.
Dr. Stuart also launched the Global Amphibian Assessment to study the decrease in the population of amphibians. He discovered that about one third of all amphibians are at risk of extinction and he sounded the alarm that much of the natural environment is vanishing.
With the aim of helping to create a society in which humans and nature can live together, Dr. Stuart is now playing an active role at a UK-based conservation charity and donor organization which provides wildlife conservation activities with funds and information.

• Show allShow part

The 2019 winners of the prestigious Blue Planet Prize were geographer Eric Lambin and biological geographer Jared Diamond. By analyzing earth observation satellite images over time, Prof. Eric Lambin has clarified changes in land use and their effect on the natural environment, and advocated the importance of improving sustainable land use on a global scale. Prof. Jared Diamond, in his trilogy of books -- Collapse, The World Until Yesterday, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel -- he tackled the massive historical issues of how human civilizations were created and declined and showed the close relationship between human history and environmental issues. We introduce their outstanding environmental efforts.

• Show allShow part

The 2018 winners were the Australian ecologist Brian Walker and the Swedish hydrologist Malin Falkenmark. Prof. Walker, an Honorary Research Fellow of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), has had a most significant influence on the development of the concept of resilience in social-ecological systems and has highlighted the need to increase it to maintain human society under changing circumstances.
Hydrologist, Prof. Malin Falkenmark has focused her research on the rainwater which seeps into the soil, but which nobody had previously paid much attention to. She named it 'green water'. Falkenmark developed the groundbreaking concept that it is possible to cultivate crops even on dry land if farming methods are created to use this green water effectively. She continues to advocate the importance of green water for the future of humankind as a solution to the food issues caused by population growth.

• Show allShow part

2017 winners are Professor Hans J. Schellnhuber, a theoretical physicist from Germany, and Professor Gretchen C. Daily, a biologist from the United States. Professor Hans J. Schellnhuber, Founder and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), launched a new research approach to help solve global warming. The other prizewinner, the biologist Professor Gretchen C. Daily, has urged the necessity of the coexistence of Nature conservation and economic development while putting a value on ecosystems. We will introduce the two prizewinners'respective devotion to saving the Earth for the future.

• Show allShow part

2016 winners are Mr. PavanSukhdev, an environmental economist from India and Professor Markus Borner, the zoologist from Switzerland. Mr. Sukhdevhas contributed in the development of the green accounting, which factors and valuates the profit from natural capital into the financial results of operations. He has introduced its practical method to measure the pressure imposed on the natural environment. The other prize winner, the zoologist professor Markus Borner, has dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to conserve the rich diversity in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. He protected the animals from the hands of poachers, saved black rhinoceros from the verge of extinction, and encouraged the revision of the highway road which would have blocked the great immigration of gnus. We will introduce how each winner has strived to the consistency in coexistence of economic development and conservation of nature and their devotion to keep the blue planet from the different ground.

• Show allShow part

The Blue Planet Prize is an annual award presented to individuals or organizations worldwide in recognition of outstanding achievements leading to solutions to global environmental problems. The 2015 winners are two world-leading economists, Sir Partha Dasgupta of the University of Cambridge (UK) and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute of Columbia University (USA). Sir Dasgupta has advanced the study of poverty in developing countries in the context of environmental resources. He developed a new kind of measurement to accurately assess a country's well-being and sustainability, urging governments to adopt it to make better economic policy decisions. Prof. Sachs devised his own method to overcome economic crises, and travels the world to spread sustainable development. As an advisor to the United Nations, he has been a leader in eradicating extreme poverty in developing countries. The program introduces the two 2015 Blue Planet Prize laureates and their incredible achievements in protecting our blue planet.

• Show allShow part

The Blue Planet Prize is an annual award presented to individuals or organizations worldwide in recognition of outstanding achievements leading to solutions to global environmental problems.
The 2014 winners are ecological economist Dr. Herman Daly (USA), and joint-recipients biologist Dr. Daniel Janzen (USA) and the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica (INBio). Dr. Daly pioneered "ecological economics," incorporating such factors as the environment, local communities, quality of life, and ethics into economic theory. Dr. Janzen has been working for many years on the restoration and conservation of tropical forests in Costa Rica. INBio, together with Dr.Janzen, has created a biodiversity inventory and promoted environmental education.
The program features 2014 Blue Planet Prize laureates discussing how humans can contribute to protect the future of our blue planet.

• Show allShow part

The Blue Planet Prize is given annually in recognition of scientific research leading to solutions to global environmental problems. The 2013 winners are Principal Scientist Taroh Matsuno of Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology, and Dr. Daniel Sperling of University of California, Davis.
Dr. Matsuno has devoted his research to atmosphere dynamics and contributed to international awareness of climate change. Dr. Sperling is known as a leading expert on energy and environmental aspects of transportation and has bridged academia, government and industry.
The program features Blue Planet Prize laureates discussing what the earth needs and how humans can help.

• Show allShow part

The Blue Planet Prize is given annually in recognition of scientific research leading to solutions to global environmental problems. The 2012 winners are Professor William E. Rees of the University of British Columbia, Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, President of the Global Footprint Network, and Professor Thomas E. Lovejoy of George Mason University. Rees and Wackernagel developed "Ecological Footprint analysis." Lovejoy pioneered the understanding of "human-caused habitat fragmentation" and its effects on biodiversity.
The program features Blue Planet Prize laureates discussing what the earth needs and how humans can help.

• Show allShow part