AUB alumnus Najib Saab, (bachelor’s in architecture 1978) editor-in-chief of Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia magazine (Environment and Development magazine) and secretary general of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), won the Zayed International Prize for Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in society.

The Zayed International Prize for Environment was established in 2001 by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to acknowledge the environmental commitment of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. At $1 million, it is the most valuable environmental award in the world.

An established architect who grew up in a publishing family, Najib Saab opted to leave a lucrative practice, devoting himself to advance the environment cause in the Arab region. The jury described Saab as: “a Lebanese national who has done more than most to bring environment into the day-to-day discourse within governments, the private sector and among the public and grassroots in the Arab world”.

In addition to Saab, this year’s laureates were President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea, Cambridge scholar Sir Partha Dasgupta, and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, founder of the Global Footprint Network.The winners were honoured by the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at a special awards ceremony held on March 14, 2011 at Dubai International Convention Center.

Past winners include Jimmy Carter, the former President of the United States, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, and Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and UN special climate envoy.

AUB has been an academic member of AFED since 2009. A good number of its faculty and students participate in AFED’s numerous activities and programs and have contributed to the annual reports that are published on the state of Arab environment.

 

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