Twenty-five years ago, Brazilian rubber tapper Chico Mendes was murdered for his efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. Just a month ago, Edwin Chota, an Ashaninka activist from Peru, was murdered for his efforts to stop illegal logging. Protecting land and natural resources can often be a risky business. According to some observers, it is…
A recent ruling from India’s Supreme Court declared all mining licenses issued after 1993 to be illegal. We reached out to the 2014 Goldman Prize winner from India, Ramesh Agrawal, a right to information activist who successfully shut down one of the largest coal mines in his region, to get his feedback on the ruling.…
In return for $150 million in development aid from Norway, Liberia has agreed to stop cutting down its trees by 2020. The agreement was one of the most significant to come out of the UN Climate Summit, which took place in New York earlier this month. “This partnership holds promise not only for the forest…
Last weekend, several Goldman Prize winners, including Father Edwin Gariguez, Desmond D’Sa and Oscar Olivera joined over 300,000 demonstrators in New York City for the People’s Climate March to demand swift action on climate change. Nearly 125 world leaders gathered in New York this week for the UN Climate Summit, the largest-ever climate meeting. Alongside the…
The Goldman Environmental Prize is happy to announce it will be joining Mill Valley Film Group in co-presenting the film “The New Environmentalists: From Ithaca to the Amazon” as an Active Cinema partner at the 37th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct. 2 – 12, 2014). Active Cinema highlights films that feature groundbreaking social, environmental, and human…
Last week, Goldman Prize Communications Officer Jenny Park attended the 2014 Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The most impactful part of the conference for Park was a tour of Louisiana’s “chemical corridor,” in which participants had the opportunity to hear from activists and industry representatives and to see first-hand what…
Following the tragic news that the Brazilian Socialist Party’s (PSB) top presidential candidate Eduardo Campos was killed in a plane crash last month, Campos’ running mate and 1996 Goldman Prize winner Marina Silva announced that she had accepted PSB’s nomination to take his place in the upcoming election. Born in the Brazilian Amazon, Silva spent…
We recently caught up with Humberto Rios Labrada, who was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2010 for the influential role he played in revitalizing Cuba’s farming industry. By encouraging a return to crop rotation and seed diversity, Rios helped decrease Cuba’s dependence on chemical fertilizers and increased the productivity and sustainability of Cuba’s farms. For…
In the heart of Appalachia, where the coal industry wields enormous power over government and public opinion, lifelong resident and 2009 Goldman Prize winner Maria Gunnoe fights against environmentally-devastating mountaintop removal mining and valley fill operations. Her advocacy has led to the closure of mines in the region and stricter regulations for the industry. As…
Earlier this month, over 80 female environmental activists from more than 37 countries gathered in Bali, Indonesia for the “2014 Summit on Women and Climate,” hosted by Global Greengrants Fund, the International Network of Women’s Funds and Greengrants Alliance of Funds. The four day conference, which took place August 3-7, sought to bring women together…