The Director General of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of the Environment, María Artola, and the Vice President of Global Communications of the environmental organization Conservation International, Haroldo Castro, signed today in Curitiba, Brazil, the agreement through which the 2006 Biodiversity Reporting Award is launched. This agreement has been signed within the framework of the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity that is being held in the aforementioned Brazilian city from March 20 to 31.

The Biodiversity Foundation and Conservation International promote the Biodiversity Reporting Award whose objective is to support environmental journalism in Latin America, promote the publication of environmental reports, as well as recognize the professional excellence of journalists who cover these issues. Until 2004, this award was held simultaneously in four languages and in six countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Madagascar and Peru. In 2005, thanks to the participation of the Biodiversity Foundation, this journalistic contest was extended to two new countries: Venezuela and Ecuador. In 2006, the number of participating countries has expanded to nine with the addition of Mexico.

The Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with Conservation International, launches the second edition of the Biodiversity Reporting Award in Spain, which distinguishes the best articles on biodiversity conservation, published in Spain from January 1 to November 1, 2006 in the categories of written press, radio, television and online media. The winners in each of these categories will receive a prize of 3,000 euros gross.

The awards of the II Prize for Reporting on Biodiversity in Spain will be awarded at an event organized during the VIII National Congress of the Environment.