SEED Gold Award Winners

On 4 February 2010, Natural Justice was awarded the SEED Gold Award at a ceremony co-hosted by SEED and the Department of Science and Technology at parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. The Gold Award was given to five winners from 1,100 entries from across the globe, and was awarded to Natural Justice as an “exceptional social and environmental start-up enterprise”, in particular for the biocultural community protocols initiative. The ceremony was a great success with representatives from partner organizations displaying interest and offering to support Natural Justice in future endeavours. The award includes skills training and capacity development for Natural Justice, with the goal of enhancing an already successful organization.

Deputy Ministerial Visit

The Natural Justice office in Cape Town was visited by the Deputy Minister, Department of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, to congratulate Natural Justice on winning the SEED Gold Prize for 2009. The Deputy Minister also serves on the international SEED board, and was particularly interested in hearing how Natural Justice is using bio-cultural community protocols to empower ILC’s in ABS and other negotiations frameworks. The visit was an informal one, in which the Deputy Minister offered the support of SEED and DST; the formal award ceremony to take place in January 2010. In the picture opposite, the Deputy Minister, left, speaks to Johanna von Braun and Scott Dunlop of Natural Justice.