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ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity honoured

Three youth leaders from Indonesia and a business newspaper from the Philippines have been honoured as the 2014 ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity for their outstanding work in biodiversity conservation and advocacy.
Three youth leaders fromIndonesia and a business newspaper from the Philippines have beenhonoured as the 2014 ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity for theiroutstanding work in biodiversity conservation and advocacy.

The award ceremony was held in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, the Philippines on November 26.

Thewinners in the Youth Category are Indonesia ’s Adeline Suwana of theyouth organisation Sahabat Alam and twin Giovanna and Gabriella Thohirof the Bekantan Twins Project while the Philippines ’ BusinessMirrorwas recognised as the Media Champion of Diversity. 

At theage of twelve, Adeline Suwana founded Sahabat Alam, an internationallyknown youth environmental organisation with thousands of members allover Indonesia. Adeline and her organisation generate awareness ofbiodiversity conservation through school seminars, events, talk shows,films and other activities to encourage young people to do something forthe environment.

Meanwhile, Giovanna and Gabriella Thohir wererecognised thanks to their efforts in inspiring fellow youth and thepublic in Indonesia to conserve the endangered bekantans (proboscismonkeys). 

Business Mirror, one of the leading newspapers inthe Philippines , has made its contribution to biodiversityconversation by a weekly column of stories and reports in the field.-VNA

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