CONGRATULATIONS TO EARTHSHOT PRIZE WINNER COSTA RICA!

On Sunday, October 17th, the Duchess of Cambridge and her husband Prince William announced the winners of the esteemed Earthshot Prize at an inaugural award ceremony in north London to a star-studded guest list acknowledging the places and people on the front lines driving global change in protecting our planet. Costa Rica was named among the five winners that each received £1 million ($1.37 million) to fund their innovative solutions for the protection and repair of our oceans, air and land.

This initiative that has been created, organized and led by Britain’s Prince William aims to find solutions to repair the planet and stemmed from his disappointment in world leaders and their lack of effort and response to the climate change crisis. During the ceremony, the Duke of Cambridge’s passion could be felt as he addressed the guests and the public (broadcasted on BBC One) saying,

“We are alive in the most consequential time in human history. The actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand.”

Prior to the ceremony William urged billionaires and world leaders involved in the new space tourism rage to consider using their money, brains and manpower on the more important and pressing environmental issues facing Earth.

The eco-friendly vibe could be felt at the event as organizers asked all guests to “consider the environment when choosing their outfits” for the evening and the only guests that were allowed to attend were already in London at the time so as not to create air emissions via planes.

The Duchess of Cambridge took to the stage to present the winning award to Costa Rica in the “Protect and Restore Nature” category for its massive efforts creating a project that pays local citizens to restore the country’s ecosystems. She said,

“For too long, we have neglected our wild spaces. And now we are facing a number of tipping points. If we don’t act now, we will permanently destabilize our planet. And we will rob our children of the future they deserve. With an innovative policy paying citizens to protect the rainforests and restore local ecosystems, the people of Costa Rica and their Ministry for Environment have reversed decades of deforestation. Since the program launched, Costa Rica’s forests have doubled in size, leading to a boom in ecotourism and contributing $4 billion to the economy”.

Costa Rica’s ambitious endeavors in paying citizens to plant trees to protect and restore nature has led to a revival of our rainforests, doubling the number of trees and serving as an example for other countries to follow. Some of the other winners of the Earthshot Prize included projects battling air pollution, food waste hubs that provide food for those most in need and restoring coral reefs.

Both Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth have also been quite vocal about the topic in support of Prince William and a more sustainable trajectory.

“As a world, we need to come together to inspire, reimagine and build the sustainable future we so desperately need,” said Prince Charles.

The Queen expressed her frustration with world leaders that speak of climate change yet have done nothing to help fight the issue and went on to say she is interested to see who will be present at the upcoming COP26 climate summit event scheduled in Glasgow Scotland.

The Earthshot Awards will continue every year from now until 2030 with 5 new winners in the 5 different categories each receiving £1 million to develop their projects. The next ceremony is scheduled for the US.

More information can be found at earthshotprize.org/the-earthshots/