e-Award on Empowerment

Instituto-e is part of Osklen, a famous fashion design company that is trying to bring about changes in society using an alternative language that is comprehensible by general public. Instituto-e’s messages relate to the importance of biodiversity protection, the right to information and education, and the protection of cultural and historical heritage. They also have a variety of action-oriented projects in Brazil.

This institute created the e-Awards, to honor people and initiatives that have done outstanding work since the first Earth Summit in 1992. The Earth Charter Initiative was the winner in the Empowerment category. Mirian Vilela, the Director of ECI, accepted the award and gave an inspiring speech about the importance of the Earth Charter and ethical frameworks for sustainable development. Awards were given in the following categories:

Earth – Russell Mittermeir, President, Conservation International
Environment – Sylvia Earle, founder Deep Search Foundation
Energy – Corrado Clini, Minister of Environment, Italy
Education  – Instituto Terra, Sebastiao Salgado and Leila Wanick
Economics – Reciclanip
Empowerment – Earth Charter Initiative

e-Brigades
National: Benki Piyako
International: Maurice Strong
(Find the news article from UNESCO on this award here)

Article from Jornal do Brasil

The award ceremony was held at the Copacabana Fort on 16 June 2012, during the Rio+20 Summit. It was attended by numerous local celebrities, including the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, actors and actresses, and featured a musical performance by two Brazilian music stars accompanied by Andy Summers, the guitarist of the famous British rock group, The Police. The atmosphere was festive and celebratory and the Earth Charter Initiative was loudly applauded by the several hundred guests in attendance.

Premio e Photo Album (by Instituto-e)