Tonight, Ms. Barbara Pyle joins the company of other esteemed UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize laureates for the pivotal role she has played in protecting the global environment through the power of television.

As we review the list of some of the previous laureates, such as Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper from Brazil whose struggle to save the Amazon forest was tragically cut short, Dr. Lester Brown, President of the World Watch Institute, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the father of the economic ecology movement, it is obvious that they all represent a quest for excellence and a commitment to a contract with humanity.

Ms. Pyle is the first member of the media to receive this award which has traditionally been reserved for scientists and environmentalists. Tonight, we honor someone who is best known for communicating about the work of environmentalists and scientists.

We live in a time when the environmental is a hard sell; where peoples' appetite for scandal, sensationalism, personalities and celebrities is insatiable; where environmental disasters and catastrophes get more coverage than scientific reports on the quality of air and water and the extinction of species. In general, the audience that you are trying to reach refuses to think about limits to growth and ignores the undeniable fact that unless things change, we will ultimately choke in our own waste.

Take the issue of climate change for example. When the world is informed that the global climate will warm more within our lifetime than it has over the past 10,000 years, with devastating consequences for some of humanity, it's business as usual. Action is strenuously resisted if there is any cost or inconvenience attached to it. The science is attacked by fossil fuel-related industries and diplomats are dispatched with a brief to agree on language that protects what is described as the "national interest".

What is remarkable is that for many, little or no progress in setting greenhouse gas emission targets constitutes success.

What role does the media have to play in this and other environment issues? The media is a voice that awakens and empowers. By harnessing the power of modern communications we can build a new understanding and a refocussing of the debate regarding what in this world has abiding value -- economic, sound, moral and ecological. The power of words is the power to cause people to move. And I believe that given the right information many people make the right choice.

The remarkable example of Ms. Barbara Pyle suggests that there is a hunger in the world for people with values and the willingness to assert them.

What is the key to Barbara's success?

In my view, the answer starts with commitment and dedication, embraces talent and good instincts, blends media savvy with business smarts, and ends with desire and tenacity.

Indeed, Barbara Pyle is an environmentalist. She believes in making the world a better place. She is an optimist and knows very well that "people count". But most importantly, she is a skilled media professional who knows how to make environmental issues interesting, accessible, understandable and fun.

Using film and photography as her principal tools of communication she has managed to bring environmental issues closer to the hearts and minds of people around the globe.

Her special talent for tracking down and drawing out community leaders and citizens who have helped make a difference has been a source of inspiration for action.

Barbara Pyle's philosophy is that our planet will not be saved by any one big decision, but by many individual choices. And her belief that the media has an important responsibility to provide the information necessary to enable us to make those choices has been her own inspiration.

Barbara's simple messages grounded in real life experience, coupled with her sensitivity to cross-cultural issues, have helped to raise awareness and understanding, to communicate a sense of urgency, to inform that environmental protection is not the luxury of the rich but a matter of survival of the poor, and the realization that we share one, finite earth and that all of us are responsible for what happens to it.

Ms. Pyle has long understood that films, like ideas have consequences. They shape the concepts and vocabularies that we use to approach the problems of our time.

As a writer, director and producer of television programmes, she has inspired countless individuals to care for the environment, and take responsibility for its protection.

Long before joining CNN in 1980, Ms. Pyle was at the forefront of environmental programming. Today, using the incredible global reach of CNN, CNN International and World Report, Barbara's work has been seen by approximately two billion people worldwide.

She produced more than 35 films which have won more than 75 awards. She is the founder of Earth Matters, CNN's daily environmental news feature and weekly programme on the environment.

Since 1989, she has been the executive producer of Captain Planet and the Planeteers - an animated action adventure series that makes environmental issues accessible to children. She is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of Captain Planet Foundation, an organization which awards grants to children's grassroots environmental projects.

In 1994, she launched People Count, a series of TV specials highlighting success stories behind United Nations Summits and Conferences wherein she explores the world in search of remarkable individuals who are making a difference to improve their own communities.

And now let us turn to the very medium which Ms. Pyle has mastered to illustrate her accomplishments. (Video summary of Ms. Pyle's work was then shown)

In this world of difference and indifference Ms. Pyle is truly a pioneer in building bridges of understanding.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present Ms. Pyle with the 1997 UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize.