13 October 2022

IPBES and IPCC Chosen to Share 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity

Dear IPBES members, observers and other interested stakeholders,

It is my great pleasure to share with you some tremendous news – IPBES and IPCC have been jointly awarded the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. This news was announced this morning in Lisbon, Portugal, by Dr. Angela Merkel, the former Chancellor of Germany, in her capacity as President of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity jury.
 
IPBES and IPCC were selected from a field of 116 nominations, from more than 40 countries. In making their selection, the Jury highlighted how the selection recognizes “the role of science on the front line of tackling climate change and the loss of biodiversity.” “Evidence based science”, the Jury considered, “has been fundamental not only to advancing many of the political and public actions but also the need to attribute the ‘nature of urgency’ to the ways in which the political agenda approaches the question of combatting the climate crisis”. The prize includes an award of 1 million euro to be shared between the two organizations, to advance our work.
 
The Gulbenkian Prize rewards the entire IPBES community: the thousands of scientists, of holders of indigenous and local knowledge, our 139 member States and the many stakeholders who have strengthened our work. This is your prize, and the congratulations go to all of you.
 
The decision to award the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity to both IPBES and IPCC is also a powerful statement confirming that the global loss of species, destruction of ecosystems and degradation of nature’s contributions to people together represent a crisis not only of similar magnitude to that of climate change, but one which must be addressed with at least similar urgency. The unified message from both of our expert communities is that either we tackle and solve the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis together – or we will fail on both fronts.
 
The Prize will be formally awarded at a ceremony to be held tonight (13 October), in the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. The award ceremony will be attended by António Feijó, President of the Gulbenkian Foundation, Dr. Angela Merkel, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic, ending with a concert by the Gulbenkian Orchestra. The award ceremony may be viewed live online at: https://gulbenkian.pt/en/ from 19:00 CEST on 13 October 2022.
 
This is the third year in which the prize has been awarded. The first winner, in 2020, was Greta Thunberg, and in 2021 it was awarded to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
 
I attach, for your information, the media release issued today announcing the award, and hope that you are as honoured and excited as we are by this tremendous recognition of our work.

With very best regards,


Dr Anne Larigauderie | Executive Secretary
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)