The award was presented in Nebraska City, Nebraska at the site of the ancestral farm of Arbor Day founder, J. Sterling Morton, who became an outspoken advocate for tree planting on the barren Nebraska plains in the late 1800's.

Chuwa has spearheaded tree planting and conservation efforts in Tanzania for over 30 years and has inspired thousands of volunteers to help in the effort. Most notably, this conservation effort is helping in the reforestation of Mt. Kilimanjaro, poverty alleviation, and the replenishment of the species African blackwood, which is the finest wood available for the production of concert-quality woodwind instruments. In 2004 Chuwa celebrated the planting of one million trees.