Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site Wins First Place and Gold Award at 2005 Livcom Finals
The Glenridge Quarry Naturalization Site was awarded First Place and a Gold Award in the Natural Category of the Environmentally Sustainable Project Awards at the 2005 International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom) Finals in La Coruna, Spain in November. Niagara Region was one of 24 finalists of the 125 submissions in their category.
The International Awards for Liveable Communities were introduced in 1997 and is regarded as the premier environmental/ quality of life awards, and the only global stage on which international best practice is demonstrated, developed and shared. The LivCom event is endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme.
The objective of LivCom is to encourage best practice, innovation, and leadership in providing a vibrant environmental sustainable community that improves the quality of life. In 2004, 50 municipalities from 25 different countries were represented at the highly successful 2004 International Awards for Liveable Communities Finals hosted by Niagara Region.
There have been successes from Niagara in previous International Awards for Liveable Communities competitions. In its first year of the awards in 1997, the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake received an award. In 2000, the Township of Wainfleet won a first place award and in 2002, Niagara Region won a third place award.
The International Awards for Liveable Communities have three award categories: Liveable Communities, Environmentally Sustainable Projects, and Bursaries. The 2005 LivCom Finals saw the launch of the awards for Environmentally Sustainable Projects. The Project Awards are a major development for LivCom and are open to either public and private developers, or a partnership of both.
Projects were judged based on the following evaluation criteria: community involvement, landscape enhancement, environmentally sensitive practices, heritage management, and future planning.
The awards were presented by the Global Co-ordinator of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development, Jan-Gustav Strandenaes. At the 2005 LivCom Finals, Mr Strandenaes said: "What LivCom brings to the task of increasing sustainable development, is in the area of grass roots mobilisation. If only one community implements sustainable policies, they are alone but if they know that communities around the world are doing it, they are strong."
Alan Smith, Director of LivCom said, "The finals of LivCom once again provided a very high standard of finalists with important information exchanged and partnerships between towns, cities and nations forged that will be mutually beneficial for years to come."
The standards that the finalists are now achieving in their towns and cities is rising all the time as the Chairman of the Judging Panel, Gabe de Buysscher said, "LivCom is the benchmark for liveable communities and as we have seen this year, the benchmark is rising all the time and across the globe irrespective of financial and social backgrounds."
For more information about the International Awards for Liveable Communities, please visit www.livcomawards.com.
From "Niagara this Week" Friday, November 25, 2005
