Agro-forestry in Ethiopia awarded in Sweden - world-leading sustainability award recognizes young initiatives for biodiversity

One of the world's leading sustainability awards highlights young people who contribute to the fight for biodiversity. This year, the WIN WIN Youth Award levels up to take place in the international arena - and the response is enormous. Over 350 nominations from all over the world competed for the award. It is now announced that this year's winner is Ariana Yuen with her groundbreaking project Forested Foods.

The Swedish WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award is the world's leading sustainability award. The prestigious award, with a prize of 1 million Swedish kronor, has been presented in Gothenburg for 20 years. Established in 2018, the WIN WIN Youth Award was initially awarded to young people in the region of Västra Götaland but was extended to an international sustainability award for 2020. Young people from all over the world were invited to participate, and the response has been immense - over 350 nominations were received during the spring.

Amongst hundreds of nominations this year’s winner of the The WIN WIN Youth Award is Ariana Yuen with the project Forested Foods. Forested Foods is an Ethiopian organization that fights to preserve forests and create justice for forest-based communities. Ariana is recognized for her work and receives a prize of SEK 20,000.

- Forested Foods has shown that it is possible to build strong local communities in combination with an agro-economy, which contributes to the local farmers being better paid while also benefiting biodiversity. As this year's winner, we hope that Forested Foods inspires and encourages others to follow their good example, says Ahmed Al-Qassam, jury member for the WIN WIN Youth Award.

The founder of Forested Foods, Ariana Yuen, welcomed the news:

– We are so humbled to receive this recognition of Forested Foods' continued pursuits towards building a more sustainable world that works more in favor of people and the planet. This year's theme, Biodiversity, is at the heart of what we do. By partnering with forest communities to regeneratively grow and market sustainable products, we strive to combat deforestation in the world's critical biodiversity hotspots - starting in Ethiopia. We're tackling the often dauntingly complex notions of climate change through the more delightful world of specialty, biodiverse foods.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a third of Ethiopia was covered by forest. Today the forest has decreased to only cover 4% of the country. To reverse the trend, and at the same time prevent deforestation and climate change, an effort was initiated last year to replant trees - and the country broke the world record! 350 million trees were planted in a single day. Forested Foods is an essential part of the fight for biodiversity in Ethiopia. The organization works with holistic methods of forestry to grow, process and market edible products that come from the Ethiopian forest. At the same time, local farmers who grow and refine, for example, honey, spices and fruit in a sustainable way are promoted.

This year the WIN WIN Youth Award will invite 20 of the 350 nominated candidates to participate in a unique educational program about the Global Goals, facilitated by the Forum for Sustainable Visions in Action, ViA. The program offers a series of global online meetings and local adventures; participants virtually visit and interact with one another to become “SDG reporters,” sharing their passion for biodiversity and discussing new ideas from their peers on how to overcome their local challenges. Their solution stories will be shared at the WIN WIN Youth Arena 21 October, in an online publication and on social media.

The jury’s motivation:

Deforestation and over-exploitation of natural resources are two of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, while it also accelerates the effects of climate change. At the same time, land use is an essential source of income for a lot of people and communities around the globe.

Ethiopian based Forested Foods and its founder Ariana Yuen demonstrate well-grounded action for Biodiversity through an agroforestry model that unifies local economic development with environmental conservation. Taking responsibility all the way from farm to table, Forested Foods partners up with small farmers to explore and develop sustainable forms of agriculture.

For the holistic method, engagement and young leadership that hopefully will inspire many more young future changemakers, Ariana Yuen and Forested Foods are honoured with the WIN WIN Youth Award