Presenting the award, Toepfer said that Saab has been elected to the Global 500 Roll of Honour "for his outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment, as one of those who have gone beyond the rhetoric and the grand-standing, who have seized the issues and transformed a dream into reality and turned ideas into action on the ground.

Najib Saab with Steffan de Mistura

Toepfer explained that through Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment and Development) magazine, which he launched as a private initiative, "Najib Saab has triggered an unprecedented environmental public awareness campaign in the Middle East, bringing environmental concerns to the Arab public-at-large and creating a regional environmental advocacy forum," adding that "the influential magazine now is widely circulated in 22 countries, and sponsors more than 360 environmental clubs in schools."

Among prominent past winners of the Global 500 Award since its inception in 1987 are: French Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau; Sir David Attenborough, producer of environmental television programmes; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway; Anil Aggarwal, the prominent environmentalist from India; the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States; Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom whose research on wild chimpanzees and olive baboons provided insight into the lives of non-human primates; and the late Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was murdered during his fight to save the Amazon forest.

NAJIB SAAB -Citation, Global 500 Award - June 2003
NAJIB SAAB - Bio Data

NAJIB SAAB Photo Hi Res