Environment correspondent for The Straits Times Jessica Cheam, who is also founder and editor of Eco-Business, was awarded one of the first ever Green Technology Journalism Awards for Southeast Asia today.
She was one of ten winners honoured by Siemens for exemplary reporting on issues relating to energy efficiency, industrial productivity, and sustainability in ASEAN.
Ms Cheam won the Sustainability category for her Straits Times article on deforestation entitled “Give our trees a chance” in which she sounded alarm bells over the rapid rate at which rainforests in Southeast Asia are being depleted.
The other winners were Thean Lee Cheng of The Star in Malaysia, who won the Energy
Efficiency category with her sustainable business article “Going green,” and Dewi Kurniawati of The Jakarta Globe, whose article ““Green wheels: Why are cleaner cars still elusive in Jakarta” won the award for the Industrial Productivity category.
Merit awards were given to The Manila Bulletin’s Myrna Valasco for her column entitled “The country’s grand renewable energy ambition: Fact or fiction?”, Aris Munandar from Media Indonesia for his overview of the challenges of generating renewable energy from plant waste in Indonesia entitled “Electricity from oil palm (Sawit) waste,” and Purple Romero of Newsbreak in the Philippines for her thorough report on the dangers of fuel wood consumption for tobacco curing in “Harming Ilocos forests?”
Special mentions were given to Nguyen Thanh Tung of the Vietnam Investment Review for his piece entitled “Economy’s green colored vision” on Vietnam’s efforts to build a low-carbon economy, and to Sawitree Rangabpit of Engineering Today in Thailand for her article, “Hospitals getting through a crisis with energy-saving measures.”
Eco-Business writer Aw Hui Min won the Young Journalist category with her piece, “The food waste recycling dilemma”, which was part of a collection of stories by Nanyang Technological University undergraduates on the problem of food wastage in Singapore. Angel Bombarda of The LaSallian in the Philippines received the merit prize for the Young Journalist category with “Planting small but constant things that will save the world.”
“We were very impressed with the quality of journalism displayed by the media in this region. The enthusiasm shown by journalists and editors toward our award programme proves that sustainability is no longer just a buzz word in this part of the world – it has grown to become a real and pressing issue in both growing and developed economies,” said Lothar Herrmann, chief executive officer of Siemens ASEAN.
The winners were chosen from over 200 entries from eight countries by an independent panel of seven judges from various industry sectors.
Siemens’ chief sustainability officer Barbara Kux said, “The launch of the Siemens Green Technology Journalism Award in ASEAN is part of our effort to facilitate a deeper awareness of the global green transformation and appreciation for the profound effects of the world’s megatrends.”
The winners were given their awards at a dinner at Conrad Centennial in Singapore on Monday night.
The dinner also featured a panel discussion on the Asian Green Cities Index, an independent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which evaluates the environmental policies and performance of 22 of Asia’s strategic cities.
Speaking to an industry audience of 200, Mr Jans Friederich, head of research for the Asian Green City Index at the EIU said that the index was “designed to look at where some cities have had successes” and to look at the best practices of different cities so that cities could learn from each other.
“A programme like this helps you to locate yourself in the international context,” he said.
Nicholas You, chairman of the steering committee of the world urban campaign at the UN-Habitat, said that such a study could better inform policies that decision-makers and politicians make.
Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities executive director Khoo Teng Chye, noted that Singapore started with all the problems of a developing city: floods, pollution, crime, amongst others, but took an approach that placed a lot of emphasis on the environment, water and pollution even while it grew rapidly.
What’s interesting, Mr Khoo said, was that the study observed that rich cities perform better in the index, but “it’s the cities who perform better (environmentally) who then become rich,” he said.
“If you take an approach to develop with the environment, you can create a lot of growth,” he said.
The report credits this approach for Singapore’s rise to the top of the Asian Green Cities Index. “The country’s many policies, incentive programmes and public awareness campaigns have worked well in improving its urban environment,” said Mr Herrmann.
Siemens had announced Singapore as the winner of the Asian Green Cities Index earlier in the day. > Read more
