Yuvelis Morales Blanco
As a young adult, Yuvelis Morales Blanco helped prevent fracking from gaining a foothold in Colombia and defended the venerated Magdalena River.
Alannah Acaq Hurley
Alannah Acaq Hurley helped mobilize 15 Indigenous nations, Alaskans, and NGOs to defeat what would have been North America’s largest open-pit mine—securing a historic EPA veto that protects 25 million acres of salmon-rich wilderness.
Theonila Roka Matbob
Theonila Roka Matbob compelled mining giant Rio Tinto to acknowledge responsibility for decades of environmental devastation and social harm—launching the clean up of its abandoned copper mine.
Sarah Finch
Sarah Finch and the Weald Action Group won a historic UK Supreme Court ruling that requires fossil fuel projects to account for their full climate impact—reshaping environmental law across the UK and beyond.
Borim Kim
Borim Kim and Youth 4 Climate Action channeled the voice of a generation demanding climate action—securing Asia’s first youth-led constitutional climate victory, mandating significant reductions in emissions.
Iroro Tanshi
Iroro Tanshi built a community-led wildfire prevention system, protecting one of Nigeria’s last remaining rainforests and the habitat of the endangered short-tailed roundleaf bat.
Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari
In March 2024, Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari and Asociación de Mujeres Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana won a landmark rights of nature court decision to protect the Marañón River in Peru. For the first time in the country’s history, a river was granted legal personhood—with the right to be free-flowing and free of contamination.
Laurene Allen
Laurene Allen protected thousands of New England families affected by PFAS-contaminated drinking water. Her campaign pressured an industrial giant—responsible for leaking toxic forever chemicals into community drinking water sources—to close in May 2024, marking an end to more than 20 years of rampant air, soil, and water pollution.
Carlos Mallo Molina
Carlos Mallo Molina helped lead a global campaign to stop the construction of Fonsalía Port, which was officially canceled by the Canary Islands government in October 2021. The massive recreational boat and ferry terminal threatened a 170,000-acre marine protected area on the island of Tenerife, home to sea turtles, whales, and sharks. Carlos is now realizing his vision for a world-class marine conservation and education center.
Besjana Guri & Olsi Nika
Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika’s campaign to protect the Vjosa River from a hydropower dam boom resulted in its historic designation as the Vjosa Wild River National Park by the Albanian government in March 2023. This precedent-setting action safeguards the Vjosa River throughout Albania, as well as its free-flowing tributaries.