Tasso Azevedo, a forestry manager and socio-environmental entrepreneur dedicated to preserving the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Bright Award at Stanford University. The $100,000 prize is given annually to an unheralded individual who has made significant contributions to global sustainability. It is the top environmental award from Stanford.
Azevedo founded the Brazilian non-governmental organization Imaflora to create alternatives to deforestation and was the first chief and director general of the Brazilian Forest Service. In the past 18 years, his innovative approach in promoting forestry management techniques has contributed to reducing the rate of deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent, and resulted in a 35 percent reduction of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions. His work has inspired similar efforts around the world.
The Bright Award, issued by Stanford Law School in collaboration with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, is the only honor of its kind to recognize significant achievement in conservation in different regions of the world. The prize was made possible by a gift to Stanford Law School from alumnus Ray Bright.
“Tasso Azevedo’s innovative approach to forestry management represents what the Bright Award is all about,” said M. Elizabeth Magill, the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean at Stanford Law School. “It was a genuine honor to select Tasso as the inaugural recipient of the Bright Award and a joy to personally inform him of the exciting news. His work in preventing deforestation continues to produce dramatic results in South America, and his eagerness to involve all parties in preservation efforts is an example for all who strive to protect our environment.”
“Tasso is thinking about multiple ways in which he can influence ways forests can be successfully managed in a sustainable way,” said Nomination Committee Chair Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson Jr., JD/MBA ’76 (BA ’72), the Robert E. Paradise Professor in Natural Resources Law and Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. “He’s somebody who is thinking very practically and looking at multiple ways he can change people’s behavior, and he has been very effective at doing this at both the governmental and NGO level. These were all characteristics that we had in mind as we searched for a recipient of this first Bright Award.”
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