The support of a conservationist
May 31 2013
The Amazon Charitable Trust (ACT) was invited to co-host, alongside WWF, the launch of Stanley Johnson’s new book, “'UNEP: The First Forty Years”, released to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme. Mr Johnson’s work traces the history and milestones of the UN agency, which has become the world’s leading inter-governmental organisation on environmental issues, and calls for new major efforts to halt global tropical deforestation.
Stanley Johnson chose the Amazon Charitable Trust due to its approach to the challenges of conservation: empowering local communities and ensuring people and nature thrive together. “I am delighted that the Amazon Charitable Trust has sponsored this celebration. Saving the Amazon, and the other tropical rainforests in Africa and South-East Asia, is one of the world's foremost environmental priorities”, said Johnson. “In my view, in the coming months and years, UNEP, above all, should be focusing on tropical deforestation. Nothing could be more vital for the future of the planet”.
The launch, held at the private members’ club, Pasley-Tyler in Berkeley Square, on May 29, brought together some of Mayfair’s most prominent eco-philanthropist families, world renowned environmentalists and green journalists, government representatives from Brazil, the United Kingdom and other countries, as well as celebrities like Boris Becker and political figures from the UK, including the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
“This is great cause for celebration for the United Kingdom as, for four decades the country has been among UNEP’s leading supporters financially, empathetically and intellectually”, said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner, who could not attend but wrote a letter of support to the event.
ACT’s trustee John Hemming, world renowned conservationist, and Emanuela Evangelista, Italian Biologist of the Year 2009 and ACT’s Xixuaú-based consultant, also attended the event. In his speech, Robert Pasley-Tyler, managing trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust, presented the charity’s project, the Amazon Science Village and Corporate Environmental Village, to the public. “We are honoured to be able to host this event and to have Stanley Johnson on our side. His support to our project reassures us that we are moving in the right direction, towards promoting sustainable development and conservation”, said Pasley-Tyler.