CHANGE STARTS WHERE YOU STAND
After working closely with Prigi Arisandi and the team at ECOTON, the governor of East Java, DR Soekarwo, has agreed to create a new sanctuary zone for native fish on the Surabaya River. Arisandi’s team just concluded a one year research project on the Surabaya, which revealed that the river’s water quality is the healthiest…
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo covers more than three million acres, and houses 13 primate species, forest elephants, and animals found nowhere else on Earth, including the okapi, a forest giraffe. On June 24th, 2012 a gang of armed poachers launched an attack on the reserve’s headquarters, leaving seven people…
Evgenia Chirikova recently testified before the European Parliament on Vinci’s role in the St. Petersburg-Moscow toll motorway project which threatens to destroy the Khimki forest. Vinci is a French company that Chirikova claims is wrought with corruption and special interests. Chirikova’s team supported their testimony with a graphic photo exhibition documenting the arrest and use…
After finally getting caught up on our inbox and backlog of to-dos, Goldman Prize staff took some time to reflect on our week in Rio. And while we share the many frustrations at the vacuum of government leadership, it’s become clear that the events at Rio Centro did little to undermine the tremendous participation from…
This week we are spotlighting artist and activist Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the man behind the stunning aerial photography and videography collections that were featured at the 2012 Goldman Prize ceremony. A View from Home, the opening video used at the ceremony, (created by Mill Valley Film Group), was based on the feature-length film, Home, by Arthus-Bertrand.…
Amid continuing criticism against the outline agreement that came out of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development last week in Rio de Janeiro, a group of civil society leaders have signed on to a statement titled “The Rio+20 We Don’t Want” addressed to the UN and the government delegates at Rio+20. Among the leaders signed…
An alarming new report by Global Witness (an environmental and human rights NGO) reveals that environmental activists are being killed at a rate of one per week. According to an article on The Guardian about the report, last month was one of the deadliest for Filipino activists, while environmental defenders working in the America’s face…
Indigenous groups from around the world, including Japan and the Philippines, gathered yesterday to deliver a resolution to UN delegates at Rio+20. Goldman Prize staff was on site as the groups marched in solidarity to the Rio Center, the official site of the UN summit. A group of leaders representing the various indigenous groups met…
A wet and rainy day in Rio did not dampen activists’ spirits. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, as the UN Sustainable Development summit got underway on Wednesday. Protests of every variety now fill the city, spotlighting everything from environmental protection to economic reform. Goldman Prize staff members Melina Selverston-Scher and Jenny Park had the opportunity…
Goldman Prize staff members Melina Selverston-Scher and Jenny Park spent yesterday at the People’s summit in Rio de Janeiro. Touted as the ‘counter conference,’ the People’s summit departs from the ‘suit and tie’ formality of the UN conference and offers a more relaxed, grassroots forum for alternative ideas and discussion. An outlet for idealism, radical…