Sir Partha wins top environmental prize

15 Mar 2011

A University of Manchester economist has won one of the world’s top environmental awards.

Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta , who is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Sustainable Consumption Institute, receives the Zayed Prize for Scientific and technological achievements in the environment today (March 15).

Sir Partha is also Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at Cambridge University.

There are two other recipients of the prize: President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea who won the Zayed Prize for Global leadership in environment.

And Dr Mathis Wackernagel and Prof. Najib Saab from Lebanon who shared the Zayed Prize for Environmental action leading to positive change in society.

Named by the prize committee as one of the most outstanding environmental economists of his generation, Professor Dasgupta was one of the first academics to recognise the link between sustainability and economics.

He coined the term “inclusive wealth” to spotlight the way conventional measures of wealth — primarily GDP — fail to capture natural capital or environmental assets.

The biennial Zayad International Prize for the Environment is one of the world’s most prestigious  environmental awards and was established to honour the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan.

He will receive the prize in Dubai from the Patron of the award, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE at a special award ceremony at the Dubai International Convention and  Exhibition Centre.

The ceremony will be attended by environment ministers from different parts of the world, heads of regional and international organizations, and the international media.