About the Blue Planet Prize
Blue Planet Prize goes to the outstanding individuals or organizations whose work have and continue to contribute significantly to the improvement of the global environment.
In 1992, the year of the Earth Summit, The Asahi Glass Foundation established the Blue Planet Prize, an award presented to individuals or organizations worldwide in recognition of outstanding achievements in scientific research and its application that have helped to provide solutions to global environmental problems. The Prize is offered in the hopes of encouraging efforts to bring about the healing of the Earth’s fragile environment.
Name of the award Blue Planet was named after the words "the Earth was blue," by the first human in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, upon viewing our planet. The Blue Planet Prize was so named in the hopes that our blue planet will be a shared asset capable of sustaining human life far into the future.
2019 (28th) Blue Planet Prize Winners
Prof. Eric Lambin
（Belgium）
Born September 23, 1962
Professor, Université catholique de Louvain
George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor, Stanford University
Prof. Jared Diamond
（USA）
Born September 10, 1937
Professor, Department of Geography University of California,
Los Angeles Historian, Non-fiction author
Upcoming Events
Prize winners will deliver a series of commemorative lectures.
The University of Tokyo
December 12, 2019 (Thu.)13:20–16:45 (doors open from 12:50)
Yasuda Auditorium,
The University of Tokyo7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo City, TokyoKyoto University
December 14, 2019 (Sat.)13:20–16:45 (doors open from 12:50)
Symposium Hall, International Science Innovation Building, Kyoto UniversityYoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku,Kyoto
Public applications can be made using the form below.
Application formPhoto Report 2018
The awards ceremony is held in the presence of Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess
Akishino every year.
Last year, the Charge d'Affaires of the Australian Embassy and the Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of
Mission of the Embassy of Sweden also attended the ceremony.
Awards Ceremony (October 10, 2018)
Winners entering the ceremony hall
Introductory remarks
Mr. Kazuhiko Ishimura, Chairman of The Asahi Glass Foundation
Introduction of Blue Planet Prize
Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Chairman of the Blue Planet Prize Presentation Committee
Mini-biography video / Presentation of awards
Prof. Brian Walker
Prof. Malin Falkenmark
Felicitation
His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino
Mr. Shinzo Abe, The Prime Minister of Japan (Read by Mr. Toshihide Kasutani, Deputy Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Officials of Minister's Secretariat, METI for P.M. Abe)
Mr. Bassim Blazey, Charge d'Affaires, Australian Embassy
Ms. Victoria Forslund Bellass, Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden
Acceptance speeches
Prof. Brian Walker
Prof. Malin Falkenmark
Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino, Winners and their family,
Chairman Ishimura and spouse
Dr. Yoshihiro Hayashi,
Chairman of the Blue Planet Prize Selection Committee
(October 11, 2018)
Introductory remarks
Introductory remarks
Mr. Kazuhiko Ishimura, Chairman of The Asahi Glass Foundation
Prof. Brian WalkerLecture The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking
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Lecture
Prof. Brian Walker
Questions and Answers
Coordinated by Prof. Kanehiro Kitayama, Professor of Forest Ecology, Kyoto University
Prof. Malin FalkenmarkLecture Water - Bloodstream of the biosphere
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Lecture
Prof. Malin Falkenmark
Questions and Answers
Coordinated by Prof. Taikan Oki, Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University, Japan, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations
(October 13, 2018)
Introductory remarks
Introductory remarks
Mr. Hiroyuki Watanabe, Senior
Executive Director of The Asahi
Glass Foundation
Prof. Brian WalkerLecture The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking
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Lecture
Prof. Brian Walker
Questions and Answers
Coordinated by Prof. Kanehiro Kitayama, Professor of Forest Ecology, Kyoto University
Prof. Malin FalkenmarkLecture Shift in water thinking - crucial for hunger alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa
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Lecture
Prof. Malin Falkenmark
Questions and Answers
Coordinated by Prof. Taikan Oki, Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University, Japan, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations
About The Asahi Glass Foundation
Mission
The Asahi Glass Foundation strives to contribute to the creation of a society that can transmit the genuine wealth of human civilization by supporting advanced research and outstanding students, as well as by recognizing efforts to solve environmental issues that call for global solutions.
View details ofThe Asahi Glass Foundation
The Laureates
Blue Planet Prize winners have been involved in a diverse range of activities.
Blue Planet Prize Story gives a narrative account of prize winners’ backgrounds, and their efforts to secure sustainable development and to safely pass our planet down to the future generations.
Besides, TV programs about prize winner’s careers and activities go on air to various countries of the world. Please check them to learn more.
Along with the story, this website offers various features such as special interviews with prize winners and a story guide, which can help you deepen your understanding of prize winners’ contribution to the improvement of the global environment.
We would be grateful if this could provide you an opportunity to be more aware of or to start paying attention to the global environmental problems.
The Asahi Glass Foundation
winners’ stories The Laureates Broadcasting Program of Laureates
Prof. Eric Lambin
（Belgium）
Born September 23, 1962
Professor, Université catholique de Louvain
George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor, Stanford University
He has clarified the land use changes taking place on a global scale, the effects on ecosystems and the effectiveness of policies, using satellite remote sensing technologies and his original method of time-series analysis. From early on, he has pointed out that land use changes are causing adverse effects globally on natural systems. He has explained the relationship between economic activities and land use by linking socioeconomic data. His research activities have significantly influenced how public authorities and private enterprises develop land use policies for conserving forests. Those research findings have provided scientific support for making the most of forest certification programs, for implementing green purchasing commitments, and for promoting green procurement. He has made great contributions by stimulating the adoption of concrete interventions and practices to improve the sustainability of socioeconomic activities from the individual to the global scales.
Remarks from the Award Recipients upon Notification of their Selection
I am extremely honored to receive this prestigious prize. It is a great encouragement to continue working even harder to better understand the changes in land use around the world, and to improve the design and evaluation of policies to promote sustainable land use.
I am indebted to all the senior colleagues in my field, on the shoulders of which I was able to stand. I have also been very fortunate to work with many bright, young people who joined my research team over the years. This prize rewards a collective effort.
Land use is changing rapidly. We need to become smarter in the way we manage land to mitigate climate change, reverse biodiversity loss, maintain the delivery of ecosystem services while at the same time ensuring food security and enabling communities to flourish thanks in part to their attachment to the places they inhabit.
Mini-biography video
Prof. Jared Diamond
（USA）
Born September 10, 1937
Professor, Department of Geography University of California, Los Angeles
Historian, Non-fiction author
His ideas and arguments presented in his trilogy, “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” “Collapse,” and “The World Until Yesterday,” include civilization theory, organizational theory, and social theory, and were created as a result of his exceptional intellectual explorations. They provide deep insight into the roots of today's environmental issues from a very broad perspective, explaining the significance of environmental issues in the history of human civilization from a unique perception. In “Collapse,” he has listed 12 items as major factors in global environmental issues. He has regarded environmental issues as fundamental to any study of human history. Based on this concept, he has influenced the consciousness of contemporary civilization across nations and generations toward a mindset of thinking about the next steps for civilization. These achievements of Professor Diamond are highly appreciated.
Remarks from the Award Recipients upon Notification of their Selection
The English-language expression “out of the blue” means “totally unexpected,” “dropping out of the blue sky.” In fact, the phone call telling me of my winning the 2019 Blue Planet Prize did come to me “out of the blue,” so for me the prize is doubly blue.
But, in another sense, the prize did not come out of the blue at all – because it reflects the research that I have been doing for the last six decades, and my life experiences that impressed on me already as a child the importance of history, geography, and the environment. My studies in New Guinea on birds and people have served for me as a window on understanding our planet. I’ve lived in half-a-dozen countries, where I’ve seen how differences in geography have differently shaped the lives of my friends from those different countries.
I have a special connection to Japan through my Japanese relatives by marriage. My wife Marie and I have repeatedly taken great pleasure in visiting Japan, in coming to understand Japan through the eyes of our relatives, and in learning how Japan’s environment has shaped Japan.
For all these reasons, I am thrilled to receive the Blue Planet Prize. The prize symbolizes what I have learned from life, and what I have tried to teach and to give back to life.