Just in time for World Environment Day on June 5, Inter-American Foundation grantee partner Guakía Ambiente received the National Energy Globe Award 2017 for its efforts to bring clean energy to low-income communities on Hispaniola Island.
The internationally renowned Energy Globe environmental prizes were established in 1999 with the sponsorship of UNESCO and in cooperation with UNEP. The regional, national and global awards distinguish energy projects that conserve natural resources and utilize renewable or emission-free sources.
This year more than 2,000 projects from more than 170 countries took part. In naming Guakía Ambiente the winner for the Dominican Republic, contest organizers said its community hydroelectric generation project is a “successful model of sustainable development.”
Guakía Ambiente formed in 2008 in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme. Last year with IAF support, Guakía Ambiente installed eight micro-hydroelectric units in the Dominican Republic and one in Haiti, bringing electricity to some 500 households and avoiding an estimated 3,400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
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