<i>Huge response for climate award 2011</i>

The HSBC-The Daily Star Climate Awards 2011 has received a huge response this year as organisers seek to recognise, for the second time, local efforts in drawing attention to global climate issues.
With the deadline for filing the nomination over, the organisers are now working to short-list the applicants. Field verification to check the authenticity of the information provided by the applicants will begin soon.
The meeting of the jury board will take place this month and the winners will be awarded at a ceremony in December.
Five awards will be given out in four categories -- green business, green operations (a local and a foreign or joint venture firm), knowledge management and community engagement. Foreign companies have been added to the list this year.
Waste Concern is the knowledge partner for the award.
HSBC, a leading international bank, and The Daily Star, Bangladesh's largest English daily, introduced the award in 2010 to recognise individuals and institutions actively working to improve the country's environment.
Last year, the Satkhira district administration won the award in Climate Change Adaptation category for excavating the Morrichap river, which had been dead for the last 15 years and responsible for massive waterlogging in three upazilas of the district.
Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company won the award in Climate Change Mitigation category for financing the country's first green brick project.
Aneire Ehmar Khan, a researcher from Imperial College, UK, was awarded in Climate Change Research and Knowledge Management category for her research on links between salinity in coastal areas and health, especially of women.
Viyellatex Group, a leading apparel company, won the Green Business Entrepreneurship award for adopting green and energy-saving technology in manufacturing garments.