The Sunhak Peace Prize was established by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon to search for individuals and organizations that have contributed to the peace and welfare of future generations.
President Anote Tong has been regarded for his great effort to bring about a consensus by the international community concerning climate peace and urge for cooperation for the rights of climate refugees.
Pres. Tong has led the world’s largest marine protection and ocean management initiative even as his own country faces submergence within the next 30 years due to rising sea levels, and consecutively nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He created the ‘Phoenix Islands Protected Area’ the largest existing marine World Heritage Site and helped organize the Pacific Oceanscape.
Dr. Modadugu Gupta has been widely recognized for developing innovative fish farming methods’ to address the food crisis of the poor, and known as the ‘Architect of the Blue Revolution’, and the ‘Saint of the Poor in Southeast Asia’. He successfully bred improved species of fishes such as ‘tilapia’ and ‘silver barb carp’ which he correctly identified would thrive in the Asian rural environment, and revolutionized the aquaculture industry with an explosive increase in production.
In order to develop a regionally compatible method of aquaculture, he ignored threats to his life insisting on visiting war-torn conflict areas, and continues to devote himself to research, helping to spread his method of low-cost highly-efficient ‘IAA (Integrated Aquaculture-Agriculture).’
Dr. Il-Sik Hong, Chairman of the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee said, “the Sunhak Peace Prize is a peace prize for the future generations.” and further added, “to address the climate and food crises, I am very pleased to award President Anote Tong and Dr. Modadugu V. Gupta as dual laureates of the first Sunhak Peace Prize. These two laureates are even now strongly committed to defending the future peace of humanity.”
The Sunhak Peace Prize annually awards $1 million US dollars, the largest of any prize money in Korea. The award ceremony will be held this coming 28 August 2015 (Friday) in Seoul, Korea.