Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

In this guest blog, Goldman Prize winner — and African ‘shero’ — Fatima Jibrell (2002, Somalia), pictured above, gives an update on a new program developed by her organization, African Development Solutions (Adeso). With support from our pilot grantmaking program, Adeso is restoring Somalia’s fragile coastline, a critical ecosystem for people and wildlife alike: Although Somalia has the longest coastline in…

The Goldman Prize winner community has joined together to issue the following statement in solidarity with fellow Prize recipient Berta Cáceres, following her death last week: “Berta Cáceres, a Member of our Family, has been Assassinated” We are the recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize and come from all corners of the world with the same…

Our Program Officer for South and Central America, Ryan Mack (pictured above on the right) shares his memories of meeting 2015 Goldman  Environmental Prize winner Berta Cáceres (center) who was murdered by intruders in the early hours of Thursday March 3rd, 2016. Ryan visited Berta in her home of  La Esperanza, Honduras in early 2015 to learn more…

Berta Cáceres, an indigenous Lenca woman who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her fearless work to defend the Gualcarque River, its surrounding environment and people from the Agua Zarca Dam, was killed by gunmen last night in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras. “On behalf of my siblings Doug Goldman and Susie Gelman,…

International Women’s Day on March 8 is a great opportunity to honor the women who have made a positive difference to our lives; they might be a family member, a politician or even a celebrity. But what about the unsung ‘sheroes’ who quietly work to make a lasting difference to some of the world’s most marginalized…

Why is the Leuser Ecosystem — an area of forest on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia — known as ‘the last place on earth’? Conservationist Rudi Putra (2014, Indonesia) explains: “This is the only location in the world where four charismatic species and critically endangered species — the Sumatran rhino, tiger, elephant, and orangutan…

“That’s right officer, I’m here for the forests — they’re here to destroy it.” This was the rallying cry of Goldman Prize winner and former leader of the Australia Greens political party Bob Brown (1990, Australia), who, along with three other protesters was arrested at Lapoinya in Northwest Tasmania last week. Together, they were defending…

In the lead-up to the 2016 Prize announcement in April, we thought it was time to showcase the incredible diversity of Prize recipients in the almost three decades of our existence. These environmental heroes come from a variety of backgrounds, with many facing almost insurmountable challenges, such as war and government repression; even attacks from…

For our first blog of 2016, we asked last year’s Prize recipients to tell us hopes and plans for the coming year. Sharing their thoughts with us are Howard Wood (2015, Scotland) of the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST), Jean Wiener (2015, Haiti) of the Foundation for the Protection of Marine Biodiversity (FoProBiM) and Phyllis Omido (2015, Kenya) of…

Less than two weeks have passed since the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC/COP21) led to an adoption of a global agreement to fight climate change. But is the agreement enough for those most vulnerable to its effects? We asked Andrew Simmons (1994, Islands and Island Nations)…