The 10th annual LivCom Awards,
which are being held this weekend in Hangzhou, PR China,
were hailed by Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, the representative
from the United Nations Environment Programme, as an
"inspiration for people from all over the world to embrace
the challenge of creating a better future for everyone".
Mr Strandenaes, the UN’s global NGO
co-ordinator for all NGO policy work on Sustainable
Development, was addressing delegates from 16 nations and
five continents at the start of the 2006 LivCom Awards for
Liveable Communities.
"Governments cannot solve the problems of
the environment alone; they need civil societies, local
municipalities and the participation of people, and I can
think of no other institution in the world that meets
exactly those criteria more than the LivCom Awards.
"These awards stimulate communities to be
creative and implement ideas that will lead to a better
future. Delegates, who are already an inspiration for the
rest of the world just by coming here, will in turn be
inspired themselves; they will be part of cutting edge
thinking on how to make the environment more liveable, and
they will meet people who think and work alike.
"They will realise that they are not
alone in the struggle, that they are on the right track, no
matter how much they may have been criticised, and will have
a communal feeling that they are doing something important."
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