Reuters Foundation and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, have selected the six regional winners of the 2008 Reuters-IUCN Media Awards for Excellence in Environmental Reporting. The six will now vie for the global prize of US $5,000 which will be announced at a ceremony in Barcelona, Spain, on 7 October 2008, co-hosted by Reuters, IUCN and Com+ Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development.

The Awards, established in 1998 by Reuters Foundation and IUCN, aim to help raise global awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues by encouraging high standards in environmental reporting worldwide. This year around 350 print entries were received from five continents. The selected regional winners are:

Asia: Hoang Quoc Dung for Bao Tien Phong newspaper discovers Vietnam’s largest trans-border wildlife trafficking network, hidden behind one of the country’s first wildlife breeding farms to obtain certification from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

English-speaking Africa and the Middle East: Ochieng’ Ogodo for IslamOnline vividly illustrates the "Hidden Costs of Valentine’s Day". More than 50 flower farms around Lake Naivasha in Kenya are polluting and reducing the lake water to the extent that it could disappear within 10-15 years.

Europe: Philip Bethge, Rafaela von Bredow and Christian Schwägerl for Germany’s Spiegel magazine depict the current revolution in conservation: the discovery of nature as a marketplace. Meticulously researched, the article shows how pricetags are being put on corals, rainforests and rare plants for producing food, CO2 sinks and drugs. Our planet may be saved, because "destroying nature will no longer be profitable while protecting it will."

Francophone Africa: Ramata Soré for the magazine "L’Evénement" portrays how the pilot farm of Guié located in the Sahel in Burkina Faso is successfully turning desert-like landscapes into flourishing farmland. This model is now spreading throughout the country in the fight against desertification and to enhance development.

Latin America: Augustín del Castillo for Público-Milenio magazine illustrates how real estate speculation in Mexico aimed at American new millionaires is causing major losses in forest cover and putting huge pressure on endangered animal species like the jaguar.

North America, Oceania & the Caribbean: Noémi Mercier for Québec Science reveals the toxic story behind e-waste recycling. Exported to India for their supposedly eco-friendly recycling, computers are dismantled under the poorest conditions, poisoning thousands of people and the environment.

The global winner will be chosen by a Master Jury comprising Sean Maguire, Editor of Reuters Political and General News; Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General; Dennis Dimick, Executive Editor, National Geographic Magazine; and Keith Wheeler, Chair of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. All the regional winners will receive a trophy in recognition of their excellence in environmental journalism.

The next Reuters-IUCN Environmental Media Awards will be held in 2010.

For more information: www.iucn.org/reuters