Sustainability campaigner and former pop star wins top award
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A WOMAN who helped develop a link between the Findhorn Ecovillage and the United Nations has won international recognition.
May East, who now heads a global sustainability charity based in Edinburgh, today received a Women of the Decade in Sustainable Change Award at the Women’s Economic Forum in Portugal.
As chief executive of the Gaia Education, May works with governments, city planners, academics, and communities around the world to plan a more sustainable future.
The award recognises her work over three decades to promote the role of women in society in vulnerable regions at risk from climate change.
May has been particularly active in areas such as Bangladesh, India and Zambia, working with women to develop their leadership skills, provide education and training, establish businesses and support sustainable food production.
May East said: "I am delighted to receive this award from the Women’s Economic Forum. It is an award I am proud to share with the entire team from Gaia Education who do remarkable work with women around the world. Scotland has been a leading voice in the global sustainability movement and the support of the Scottish Government has also been crucial to the success of our many projects with women.
"Communities around the world are facing up to the challenge of climate change and women are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the policies that will help meet this challenge. I dedicate this award to the many inspiring women I have worked with over the past three decades."
May has also been nominated by the World Peace Forum for a Luxembourg Peace Prize in June.
Originally from São Paulo in Brazil where she had a successful music career, May moved to Scotland in the early 1990s.
Working at Findhorn, she was heavily involved in the creation of the UK’s first UN linked training and sustainability centre in the village.
She was previously named as one of the top 100 Global Sustainability Leaders and in 2013 was awarded Special Fellow status from the United Nations Training and Research Institute.
