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ORDINARY PEOPLE. EXTRAORDINARY IMPACT.

Watch the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony.

Introducing the 2017 Goldman Prize Winners

April 24, 2017

Congratulations to the 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize winners!

mark! Lopez, United States

Prize winner for North America

Born and raised in a family of community activists, mark! Lopez persuaded the state of California to provide comprehensive lead testing and cleanup of East Los Angeles homes contaminated by a battery smelter that had polluted the community for over three decades.


Uroš Macerl, Slovenia

Prize winner for Europe

Uroš Macerl, an organic farmer from Slovenia, successfully stopped a cement kiln from co-incinerating petcoke with hazardous industrial waste by rallying legal support from fellow Eko Krog activists and leveraging his status as the only citizen allowed to challenge the plant’s permits.


Prafulla Samantara, India

Prize winner for Asia

An iconic leader of social justice movements in India, Prafulla Samantara led a historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondh’s land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine.


Wendy Bowman, Australia

Prize winner for Islands & Island Nations

In the midst of an onslaught of coal development in Australia, octogenarian Wendy Bowman stopped a powerful multinational mining company from taking her family farm and protected her community in Hunter Valley from further pollution and environmental destruction.


Rodrigo Tot, Guatemala

Prize winner for South & Central America

An indigenous leader in Guatemala’s Agua Caliente, Rodrigo Tot led his community to a landmark court decision that ordered the government to issue land titles to the Q’eqchi people and kept environmentally destructive nickel mining from expanding into his community.


Rodrigue Katembo, Democratic Republic of Congo

Prize winner for Africa

Putting his life on the line, Rodrigue Katembo went undercover to document and release information about bribery and corruption in the quest to drill for oil in Virunga National Park, resulting in public outrage that forced the company to withdraw from the project.


Don’t miss watching these brave activists receive their awards and join us as we stream live on Monday April 24.

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