Prestige (Thailand)

A BETTER TOMORROW

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Hailed as “guardians of the future”, Rolex Awards Laureates are pioneers and protectors of the planet who have the potential to reinvent the future. The five new Laureates of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise announced in 2021 are continuing this tradition, while also demonstrat­ing Rolex’s fundamenta­l belief in always pushing the boundaries

THE ROLEX AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISE were set up in 1976 by André J. Heiniger, then Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, to mark the 50th anniversar­y of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch. Intended to be a once-only celebratio­n, the awards drew so much internatio­nal interest that Rolex transforme­d them into an ongoing programme that has, in the years since, supported 155 Laureates whose endeavours have made a significan­t contributi­on worldwide to improving life and protecting our planet.

The Rolex Awards are one of the three pillars of the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative dedicated to supporting those who contribute to a better world. According to Heiniger, “We initiated the Rolex Awards for Enterprise out of a conviction that we

had a responsibi­lity as a company to take an active interest in improving life on our planet and in the desire to foster values we cherish: quality, ingenuity, determinat­ion and, above all, a spirit of enterprise.”

The 155 women and men selected as Rolex Awards Laureates since 1976 include an extraordin­ary cohort of skilled pioneers, spread across a wide range of geographic­al locations. Laureates have featured archaeolog­ists, architects, educators, engineers, entreprene­urs, explorers, filmmakers, geologists, medical doctors, microbiolo­gists, mountainee­rs, physicists, primatolog­ists, sociologis­ts, veterinari­ans and wildlife biologists.

The tangible benefits of the Laureates’ projects are even more varied. In those directly related to the environmen­t: 21 million trees have been planted; 34 endangered species and 27 major ecosystems protected, including 57,600-square-kilometres of Amazon rainforest; hundreds of new species have been discovered; 17 challengin­g expedition­s have been completed; and 48 innovative technologi­es have been developed for a range of applicatio­ns.

Viewed from a wider perspectiv­e, millions of people across the world have benefited from the Laureates’ award-winning projects over the past 46 years.

Unlike most other awards and grant programmes, The Rolex Awards are not designed to recognise past achievemen­ts – they are given for new or ongoing projects. Candidates must be aged 18 or over, and there are no academic or profession­al requiremen­ts, nor any restrictio­ns on gender or nationalit­y. Anyone, anywhere, can apply for a Rolex Award. This has allowed many people without access to traditiona­l funding sources to gain recognitio­n and funds.

To win a Rolex Award requires an original, visionary project that can benefit humanity and/or the planet, along with the skills and determinat­ion to implement it. The Awards are given to projects focusing on the following: the environmen­t; science and health; applied technology; cultural heritage; and exploratio­n – but those that do not strictly fit these particular discipline­s have also won Rolex Awards.

Projects are judged on their originalit­y and the impact they have on the world at large, as well as on the candidates’ spirit of enterprise. Five Laureates are chosen in each biennial edition of the Awards, and each of the five receives funding to implement their project and becomes a member of the network of Rolex Laureates.

More than 35,400 people have applied for Rolex Awards since the 1976 launch. A shortlist of applicatio­ns is judged by an independen­t, interdisci­plinary jury of experts. The jury changes for each series of the Awards, and typically includes conservati­onists, doctors, educators and innovators, explorers and scientists. Previous judges have included: Sir Edmund Hillary and Junko Tabei, the first man and first woman to ascend Mount Everest (in 1953 and 1975 respective­ly); global environmen­t advocate Yolanda Kakabadse; astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the Internatio­nal Space Station; leading geneticist Steve Jones; and eminent oceanograp­her and explorer Sylvia Earle, who served in both 1981 and 2012.

Meanwhile, the five Laureates of the 2021 Rolex Awards for Enterprise are tackling some of the world’s most intractabl­e challenges with brilliant ideas and hard work. Guiding us towards a sustainabl­e future, their projects include: fortifying staple foods to fight malnutriti­on in Tanzania (Felix Brooks-church, USA); protecting the rich biodiversi­ty in the Trans-himalaya (Rinzin Phunjok Lama, Nepal); exploring and protecting mesophotic coral reefs and their biodiversi­ty in the Indian Ocean (Luiz Rocha, Brazil); seeking climate change clues in the planet’s northernmo­st caves (Gina Moseley, UK); and using indigenous knowledge to map resources to prevent climate conflict in the Sahel (Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chad).

These individual­s are not only making impactful and positive changes to our world, but also serve as an inspiratio­n for many generation­s to come.

 ?? © ROLEX ?? RINZIN PHUNJOK LAMA WORKS TO PROTECT THE RICHLY DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE TRANS HIMALAYAN REGION, HOME OF ICONIC AND GLOBALLY THREATENED MAMMALS, BY INVOLVING LOCAL COMMUNITIE­S.
© ROLEX RINZIN PHUNJOK LAMA WORKS TO PROTECT THE RICHLY DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE TRANS HIMALAYAN REGION, HOME OF ICONIC AND GLOBALLY THREATENED MAMMALS, BY INVOLVING LOCAL COMMUNITIE­S.
 ?? © LEAH KIDD ?? FELIX BROOKS-CHURCH TACKLES MALNUTRITI­ON IN TANZANIA THROUGH EQUIPPING RURAL FLOUR MILLS WITH A ‘DOSIFIER’ MACHINE, WHICH ADDS CRITICAL MICRONUTRI­ENTS TO FORTIFY STAPLE FOODS.
© LEAH KIDD FELIX BROOKS-CHURCH TACKLES MALNUTRITI­ON IN TANZANIA THROUGH EQUIPPING RURAL FLOUR MILLS WITH A ‘DOSIFIER’ MACHINE, WHICH ADDS CRITICAL MICRONUTRI­ENTS TO FORTIFY STAPLE FOODS.
 ?? © AMI VITALE ?? HINDOU OUMAROU IBRAHIM USES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ TRADITIONA­L KNOWLEDGE TO MAP NATURAL RESOURCES AND PREVENT CLIMATE CONFLICTS IN THE SAHEL.
© AMI VITALE HINDOU OUMAROU IBRAHIM USES INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ TRADITIONA­L KNOWLEDGE TO MAP NATURAL RESOURCES AND PREVENT CLIMATE CONFLICTS IN THE SAHEL.
 ?? © ROBBIE SHONE ?? GINA MOSELEY AIMS TO LEAD THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE THE PLANET’S NORTHERNMO­ST CAVES TO IMPROVE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE ARCTIC.
© ROBBIE SHONE GINA MOSELEY AIMS TO LEAD THE FIRST EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE THE PLANET’S NORTHERNMO­ST CAVES TO IMPROVE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE ARCTIC.
 ?? © JUSTIN GRUBB ?? LUIZ ROCHA WORKS TO EXPLORE AND PROTECT MESOPHOTIC CORAL REEFS AND THEIR BIODIVERSI­TY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN, AND TO STRENGTHEN CONSERVATI­ON OF THESE LARGELY UNKNOWN ECOSYSTEMS.
© JUSTIN GRUBB LUIZ ROCHA WORKS TO EXPLORE AND PROTECT MESOPHOTIC CORAL REEFS AND THEIR BIODIVERSI­TY IN THE INDIAN OCEAN, AND TO STRENGTHEN CONSERVATI­ON OF THESE LARGELY UNKNOWN ECOSYSTEMS.

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