Toro United Nations award contender<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Margaret Agusta, Contributor<\/p>\n
The Toro community of Central Sulawesi is among 26 finalists
\nfor the United Nations Equatorial Prize for environmental
\nprotection to be presented at the ongoing Conference on Parties
\n7th Convention on Biodiversity, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The six winners will be announced at the international meeting
\nof representatives of states, traditional equatorial communities,
\nnon-governmental organizations and business people, which is on
\nnow until February 21.<\/p>\n
The Equatorial Prize is awarded every two years to traditional
\ncommunities living along the equator that successfully protect
\ntheir local environments while improving the welfare of their
\npeople.<\/p>\n
According to Soeryo Wibowo, a senior researcher at the Bogor
\nInstitute of Agriculture, the Toro villagers of Kublai district
\nin Donggala regency near the Lore Lindu National Park had been
\nnominated by the Central Sulawesi office of CARE International in
\nAugust 2000 for the US$30,000 Equatorial Prize.<\/p>\n
"In mid January, the United Nations development program
\nformally announced that Toro village was one of 26 finalists for
\nthe Equatorial Prize, and that two Toro villagers were invited to
\nattend the conference in Malaysia," said Wibowo on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Wibowo has been researching the Toro community's collective
\nefforts at overcoming their current environmental and economic
\nproblems by reviving their customary law and cultivation
\npractices since March 2002.<\/p>\n
"At the conference, the Toro village representatives will have
\nthe opportunity to meet people from other equatorial communities,
\nto make a presentation on their efforts, and exchange experiences
\non biodiversity protection," Wibowo further said.<\/p>\n
The Toro community's biodiversity-protection initiative began
\nin 1993 with efforts to re-establish their cultural identity as
\nan important basis for their customary natural resource
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
Since that time, the villagers have succeeded in re-
\nestablishing environmentally friendly utilization of natural
\nresources and traditional cultivation practices of crop rotation.<\/p>\n
Their efforts at biodiversity protection have already won them
\nthe right from the Lore Lindu National Park authorities to go
\ninto the surrounding protected forest to collect rattan, bark and
\nother materials for their small-scale craft industries.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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