“Ms Goodall’s untiring work to preserve the great apes of Africa in their natural environment fits perfectly with UNESCO’s work in favour of the environment and of sustainable development,” Mr Matsuura said. “Ms Goodall was one of the first people to sound the alarm regarding the serious danger facing the great apes, that provide us with a direct link to humanity’s past.”

Ms Goodall has been a researcher and champion of chimpanzees and other primates since she first arrived in Africa in 1960 at the age of 26. Only 400,000 great apes survive today, compared to two million 50 years ago and experts predict their extinction within three to five decades, unless present trends are reversed.

UNESCO’s 60th Anniversary Medal, struck this year to commemorate the Organization’s anniversary, has been awarded so far to French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, and to former UNESCO Directors-General Federico Mayor and Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow.

The ceremony was organized by Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences (BES) in collaboration with the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences (EES) and the World Heritage Centre.

Contacts:

Renée Clair (BES): r.clair@unesco.org 

Samy Mankoto (EES) s.mankoto@unesco.org

Joanna Sullivan, World Heritage Centre: j.sullivan@unesco.org