Salween Peace Park awarded 2020 Equator Prize

Inter Pares extends a warm congratulations to the communities of the Salween Peace Park on receiving the prestigious 2020 Equator Prize. The Prize recognizes and celebrates the park as an outstanding community and Indigenous initiative that is advancing nature-based solutions for local sustainable development.

The Salween Peace Park is an Indigenous community-led initiative spanning 5,485 km² in Karen State, Burma, that aims to promote environmental sustainability, lasting peace, and cultural survival. It is sustainably and democratically managed by Indigenous Karen communities, including our long-term counterpart the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN). The park is an innovative alternative to the top-down, militarized, destructive development model common in the country.

The Equator Initiative is a United Nations-led partnership that brings together governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, and businesses to foster resilient communities by recognizing and advancing local nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The Equator Initiative creates opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practices, develops capacities of local communities and Indigenous peoples, informs policy through convening multi-stakeholder dialogues, and fosters enabling environments to replicate and scale up community action

Inter Pares would like to thank Global Affairs Canada for supporting this important conservation and peacebuilding work through Inter Pares.