October 26, 2006 13:35 PM

Thai's "Mother Of Hornbills" Among Rolex Laureates For 2006

By Jackson Sawatan

SINGAPORE, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- A Thai microbiology professor who turned hornbill poachers and illegal loggers in south Thailand into protectors of the birds and their habitats, has been named along with four others as the recipient of this year's "The Rolex Awards for Enterprise."

Prof Pilai Poonswad, who is known in Thailand as the "Great Mother of the Hornbills" for her role in the conservation of the birds, joins the 55 Laureates who, since 1976, have been singled out by the Swiss watchmaker for their innovative projects to make the world a better place to live.

"I'm glad to receive this award. It's a recognition for the project," she told Bernama.

Four other laureates are Alexandra Lavrillier, a French ethnologist who established a mobile school to preserve Siberian nomads' cultural heritage; Brad Norman, an Australian environmentalist implementing a global photo-identification database for whale shark conservation; Chandra Shroff, an Indian woman who set up a mobile resource centre to showcase Kutchi embroidery and teach a new generation of artisans about the tradition; and Rory Wilson, a British zoologist who tested a revolutionary energy-expenditure measuring device to help conserve wildlife.

Each Laureate will receive US$100,000 and a personally inscribed gold Rolex chronometer at an award ceremony here tonight.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise director Rebecca Irvin said the five were selected from nearly 1,700 applicants from 117 countries.

"They will be recognised for their contributions to science, technology, the environment, exploration and cultural heritage," she said.

Irvin said there has been an unprecedented number of entries from Asia- Pacific this year including an increase of 66 per cent from Southeast Asia over 2004.

"The 12th series marks the first time we have held our awards ceremony in Southeast Asia. Although there hasn't been a winner from Malaysia since 1984, we hope to see one in the coming years," she said.

Agriculture engineer Thean Soo Tee was named a Rolex Associate Laureate 1984 for his work in growing asparagus on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Southeast Asia's highest mountain, to prevent soil erosion.

Individuals from any country or background who have little or no access to traditional sources of funding are eligible to apply for a Rolex Award but they must submit their own ideas and proposals.

The deadline for entries for the 13th Rolex Awards, which will be held in 2008, is May 31, 2007 for Asia, the Pacific and North, Central and South America; and Sept 30, 2007 for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In addition to the prizes awarded to the 2006 laureates, five associate laureates will also be selected who will each receive US$50,000 and a steel-and-gold Rolex chronometer.

The five associate laureates this year are Christian Donoso (Chile), Zenon Gomel Apaza (Peru), Shafqat Hussain (Pakistan), Runa Khan Marre (Bangladesh) and Julien Meyer (France).

Their projects range from revitalising and preserving whistled and drummed languages via the Internet to implementing an insurance scheme to save the snow leopard in Pakistan.

-- BERNAMA

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