The environment in the news friday, 20 April 2007 unep and the Executive Director in the News
Electric New Paper - Singapore : Meet the serene green beauty queen
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- Express TravelWorld - Mumbay, India : Norway to host first-ever eco-tourism conference in May
Electric New Paper - Singapore : Meet the serene green beauty queenShe has helped plant so many trees, she can't count them By Sheela Narayanan, April 20, 2007 IF all environmentalists looked like Hil Yesenia Hernandez Escobar, 23, men would be saving the Earth in droves. Judging from the number of appreciative stares the statuesque MissEarth (she's 1.81m tall) received as she strode across the Shangri-La Hotel lobby, if she had asked them to volunteer to plant trees, or stop driving, most of them would have done it in heartbeat. The Chilean's long eyelashes and skilfully applied dark eye shadow masked the fact that she had just crossed several time zones to get to Singapore to attend the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Champions Of The Earth Awards at the Shangri-La hotel later tonight. Speaking to The New Paper after a 35-hour flight from Chile, MissHernandez said she took her job as a green beauty queen seriously. The MissEarth title is not as well known as the MissUniverse or MissWorld ones. Those titles, she said, are focused mainly on the beauty of the contestants. In her halting English, she added: 'Sometimes people say MissEarth is not as big as MissUniverse. 'MissEarth has to work harder. It's a beauty contest with a cause. We need to bring attention to environmental causes and that's not easy.' Miss Universe winners are spokesmen for Aids charities and MissWorld queens raise money for children's charities during their stint. The youngest of three children whose her father died several years ago, MissHernandez won her earthy crown last November in the Philippines. Hailing from an island called Chileo, which is the second-largest island in South America and is known for it's abundant nature, she studied tourism and took up modelling. She once spent a month working as a model in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. After that, she lived in Santiago, the capital of Chile, studying engineering, but gave up her studies to fulfil her MissEarth duties. And judging from her resume, she is like a pageant junkie. In 2004, she represented Chile in the MissModel Of The World pageant, making it to the semi-finals. She also participated in the MissSouth American Queen and MissWorld Chile pageants in 2003. Miss Hernandez took special pride in mentioning that she is the second Chilean to win a major beauty contest. 'The last one was Cecilia Bolocco twenty years ago, who won the MissUniverse pageant,' she said. Incidentally, MsBolocco was crowned in Singapore when the MissUniverse contest was held here in 1987. When asked what her 'green credentials' were, MissHernandez replied: 'I work with children to plant trees in their schools and around the neighbourhood in Chile.' She said she can't remember how many trees she has planted to date. Part of her job as MissEarth is to work with the community in Santiago to create an awareness of recycling and conservation. 'The environment is such an important topic this year that Chile finally created an environmental ministry. So what I am doing is very important,' she said. Miss Hernandez also insists that she would never wear fur, even if it cost her modelling gigs. 'I will not do that. It's feels awful having a dead animal on your skin. I would rather not work,' she said. A self-professed outdoor person, she enjoys cycling and jogging. She also loves playing volleyball but with her hectic travel schedule, 'it's a bit boring to play volleyball by myself,' she said with a laugh. 'So I do crunches in my hotel room.' However she admits she hates going to the gym to maintain her slim figure. 'I really don't like all those heavy machines, but when I travel, I don't have a choice. I have to use them,' she said. Miss Hernandez admits she is reluctant to give up her crown later this year, as she will miss travelling the world. 'That makes me very happy. My goal before I give up my crown is to be the best MissEarth ever,' she said. After her stint as MissEarth ends in November, she hopes to continue working with the UNEP and other conservation groups. She also plans to resume her studies, although she is having second thoughts about engineering. 'I think I want to do communications or journalism. I would like to be a broadcast journalist or even be like Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks and have my own talk show.' http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,128120,00.html ……………………………. Express TravelWorld - Mumbay, India : Norway to host first-ever eco-tourism conference in MayETW Staff - Mumbai The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), Ecotourism Norway and The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will organise the first-ever Global Eco-tourism Conference in Oslo, Norway from May 14 -16, 2007. TIES will be partnering with a national or regional eco-tourism association for this conference every five years starting 2007. As the first major global conference on eco-tourism since the UN's International Year of Eco-tourism in 2002, the Global Eco-tourism Conference 2007 will review and celebrate the achievements in the eco-tourism field, as well as assessing challenges facing the industry. This conference will bring together national and regional eco-tourism associations and networks from around the world, along with other interested organisations and individuals, to discuss common issues and to help strengthen the collective voice of the eco-tourism community. This conference is aimed at eco-tourism professionals and practitioners, that is, people who in a variety of ways are involved, either full time or as part of their work, in eco-tourism, including: officers of national and regional ecotourism associations, NGOs, eco-tourism business owners, national and local governments, park and protected area services, academics, host communities and indigenous peoples' groups. The centerpiece of this event will be the first-ever gathering of national and regional eco-tourism associations from around the world. There will be a special networking meeting for representatives on May 14, before the conference officially opens. http://www.expresstravelworld.com/200704/market21.shtml ……………………………….. Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 423.36 Kb. Share with your friends:
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