On the occasion of the UN General Assembly, composer, singer, author, actor, and activist Sting and Trudie Styler, actress, film producer, director, human rights activist, environmentalist and UNICEF Ambassador, will be honored for their worldwide environmental work on Tuesday, September 25 at The Harvard Club in New York City by the Cinema for Peace Foundation and the BMZ, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Last year, Cinema for Peace New York introduced the Universal Human Rights Logo, and this year, an evening on Climate Change and Development. During the program Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development will present support for the Rainforest Fund and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
In 1989, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler started the Rainforest Fund, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples in South America, Africa and Asia. To date they have raised more than $30 million for the cause and have expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in more than 20 countries.
“The mission of the Rainforest Fund is to protect the rainforest and the rights of indigenous peoples. Through its work the Fund has played a decisive role in improving the concrete living conditions of many people – and it has made these topics part of the mainstream in industrialised societies. That is the tremendous achievement of the Fund’s founders Sting and Trudie Styler,” says State Secretary Hans-Jürgen Beerfeltz, of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. “Moving forward, the BMZ is going to be supporting and cooperating with the Rainforest Fund too, because we share the same goals.”
Previous Cinema for Peace Award recipients include Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and Sean Penn.
The host for Cinema for Peace New York will be Amy Goodman, Host and Executive Producer of the award winning news show Democracy Now.
“Last year Cinema for Peace introduced on this occasion the Universal Human Rights Logo with the help of such wonderful supporters as Aung San Suu Kyi and Robert De Niro," says Jaka Bizilj, Founder of Cinema for Peace. “This year the focus is on climate change, sustainable development, and how artists may inspire others to create a climate of change.”
“The fight against Climate Change become one of the world’s greatest challenges,” adds Bizilj. “The United Nations has called for an 100-billion- annual fund for Climate protection and the seat will be selected this year.”
In 2009, Cinema for Peace introduced the Green Oscar together with President Mikhail Gorbachev and Leonardo DiCaprio to honor inspiring achievement of a film artist in the domains of environment and climate protection.
