AOSIS wins award

As taken from the CIEL website link - http://ciel.org/CIEL/Climate_Change/Anderson_AOSIS_Dec10.html

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) is pleased to award the inaugural Frederick R. Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Addressing Climate Change to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

For two decades, the 42 member States of AOSIS have served as the moral compass of international climate negotiations, demanding an agreement that reflects the increasing urgency of the climate crisis and the equal and sovereign right of every State to a safe climate. From their earliest work on an ambitious climate treaty to current efforts to strengthen emission reduction targets and emerging initiatives to transform their own energy sectors into drivers of sustainable development, the members of AOSIS have constantly challenged the global community to demonstrate the real leadership climate change demands. Through their collective efforts, the AOSIS members have demonstrated the power of even the smallest States when they stand together and speak with a single voice. In so doing, AOSIS has inspired many other countries and peoples to make themselves better heard by joining their voices together.

CIEL President Carroll Muffett presented AOSIS with the 2010 Frederick R. Anderson Award at a ceremony on December 7, 2010, during the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico.

About AOSIS

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. It functions primarily as an ad hoc lobby and negotiating voice for small island developing States (SIDS) within the United Nations system.

AOSIS has a membership of 42 States and observers, drawn from all oceans and regions of the world: Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Pacific and South China Sea.

The founders of CIEL assisted in the organization of AOSIS at the Second World Climate Conference in November 1990 and CIEL has been honored to assist AOSIS members many times in the ensuing years, including in the development of the Male’ Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change.

About the Award

The Frederick R. Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Addressing Climate Change was created in 2010 to commemorate twenty years of service by CIEL’s founding chairman, Frederick R. Anderson. In addition to his long service to CIEL, Mr. Anderson, served as the first President of the Environmental Law Insitute and the Dean of American University’s Washington College of Law. In 2010, he received the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in Environmental, Energy and Resources Stewardship. Mr. Anderson is a partner with the law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Washington, DC.