Brussels, 08/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Portuguese project Sown Biodiverse Pastures was crowned winner of the World You Like Challenge competition on Thursday 7 November for its innovative solution in reducing CO2 emissions, soil erosion and the risk of wild fires while increasing the productivity of pasturelands.
Sown Biodiverse Pastures will receive a chance to record a professional video and support to promote the project across European media.
European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard announced the winner at the Sustainia Award Ceremony in Copenhagen: “This project is a perfect example of how practical solutions for climate action can also save money and create jobs and growth. It has been truly encouraging to see the amount of innovative projects from across the European Union that were submitted in the World You Like Challenge. It's time to scale up these climate solutions to build a world we like, with a climate we like”.
The Sown Biodiverse Pastures project involves more than a thousand Portuguese farmers and provides them with seed mixtures adapted for specific soils which help increase the soil's resilience to environmental instabilities. The project, promoted by the Terraprima organisation, has led to improved soil fertility, water retention and erosion resistance as well as helping to increase the productivity of pastures across many parts of Portugal.
The two runners-up in the Challenge were also honoured at the ceremony: a) Airport Carbon Accreditation: this European project, based in Brussels, is a cooperation between 75 European airports which aim to improve their energy efficiency and lower their CO2 emissions ; the programme was launched by the European airport trade body ACI EUROPE in 2009; and b) Low Energy Houses for Everyone: this project by the Polish organisation Dworek Polski builds traditional Polish houses that are both affordable and low in energy consumption.
The World You Like Challenge was organised as part of the pan-European campaign A world you like. With a climate you like, launched by the Commission in October 2012 to raise public awareness of viable ways of achieving the EU's greenhouse reduction target of 80-95% by 2050. (AN/transl.fl)