Jens-Kjeld Jensen won the Nordic Council Enviroment Prize 2020
Congratulations to Jens-Kjeld Jensen, the winner of the Nordic Council Enviroment Prize 2020.
Jens-Kjeld recieved the award in the Nordic House the 27th October.
Rationale
Jens-Kjeld Jensen is awarded the prize for the lengths he has gone to in order to put the spotlight on the diversity of nature in the Faroe Islands. Jens-Kjeld has collated his knowledge over more than 40 years, describing everything from fleas, mice, and birds to fossils, fungi, and shrubs in the Faroese mountains.
As a self-taught researcher and communicator, his books and hundreds of scientific and popular science articles have informed and, where necessary, warned the Faroese and professionals of the threat that invasive species and interventions in nature pose to the fragile natural environment of the Faroe Islands.
Jens-Kjeld Jensen works with natural scientists around the world and has been involved in documenting more than 350 new species in the Faroe Islands. His work is known and respected among both the Faroese and his colleagues, and he has even had a species of moth named after him. Many Faroese children and adults have, through kindergarten or school excursions, gained an insight into the wonderful world of nature when visiting Jens-Kjeld’s home on the island of Nólsoy. This is why they also think of him and get in touch with him when, later in life, they see or find something exciting in nature.
Jens-Kjeld Jensen’s contribution to the understanding and preservation of the diversity of Faroese nature is invaluable: he is an example of just how much a true impassioned individual can accomplish in their pursuit of a richer natural world.
For this, the adjudication committee believes that Jens-Kjeld Jensen should be awarded the 2020 Nordic Council Environment Prize.
About the Enviroment Prize
The prize goes to a company, organisation or individual for exemplary efforts to integrate respect for the environment into their business or work or for some other form of extraordinary initiative on behalf of the environment. It is the third time the prize is won by a person or an organization from the Faroe Islands. In 2006 Bogi Hansen won the award, and in 2015 the prize went to the energy company SEV.
The four Faroese nominees were
Janus Rasmussen – Nominated for The Nordic Council Music Prize
Jens-Kjeld Jensen – Nominated for The Nordic Council Environment Prize
Oddfríður Marni Rasmussen – Nominated for The Nordic Council Literature Prize
Rakel Helmsdal – Nominated for The Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize
The winners of the Nordic Council’s prizes 2020
Nordic Council Literature Prize – Monika Fagerholm (FIN)
Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize – Jens Mattsson (SWE) and Jenny Lucander (FIN)
Nordic Council Film Prize – Dag Johan Haugerud and Yngve Sæther (NOR)
Nordic Council Enviroment Prize – Jens-Kjeld Jensen (FAO)
Nordic Council Music Prize – Sampo Haaparmäki (FIN)