Gro Harlem Brundtland awarded Tang Prize in sustainable development

Gro Harlem Brundtland was awarded with the first Tang Prize in sustainable development. The Tang Prize was given to her by the Tang Prize Foundation on 18 June 2014.

She is a former Prime Minister of Norway and was awarded the prize for her innovation, leadership and implementation of sustainable development.  She is known as the Godmother of sustainable development.

About Gro Harlem Brundtland
• Gro Harlem Brundtland was born in Norway in 1939. She is a trained physician.  
• In 1981, Dr. Brundtland became not only the first female, but also the youngest Prime Minister of Norway.
• She served three terms as Prime minister of Norway in the 1980s and 1990s.
• She was director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1998 to2003.
• She also headed the UN World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 which is better known as Brundtland Commission that brought out the seminal report titled Our Common Future.
• Currently, Dr. Brundtland serves as Deputy Chair of The Elders, a group of world leaders whose purpose is to tackle the world's toughest problems. The group is chaired by Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General.
• While being the DG of WHO, she succeeded in generating support for the first negotiated agreement on a major public health issue: The Tobacco Convention.
• In 2003, she was recognized as Scientific American’s Policy Leader of the Year.

About Tang Prize
Samuel Yin established the Tang Prize in December 2012. It is awarded biennially to encourage individuals by recognizing and supporting scholars for conducting revolutionary research in the four major fields of
• Sustainable Development
• Biopharmaceutical Science
• Sinology
• The Rule of Law
The winners of the prize will receive a cash reward of 50 million New Taiwan dollar (NT$) which is equivalent to 1.7 million US dollars. The 50 million NT dollars comprises of 40 million NT dollars as cash prize and 10 million NT dollars as research grant.