Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

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…

Nothing beats the dog days of summer like a good read, which is why we are pleased to present two new titles from Goldman Prize winners for you to check out: “Optimism: Reflections on a Life of Action,” provides a glimpse into 1990 Goldman Prize winner Bob Brown’s life since retiring from Australian Parliament in…

2013 Goldman Prize winner Jonathan Deal and his team at Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) are calling for the South African government to place a new moratorium on shale gas exploration in the country. Deal was awarded the Goldman Prize for leading a successful campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo,…

In his acceptance speech at the 2014 Goldman Prize ceremony, Prize winner Suren Gazaryan told the story of his colleague Evgeny Vitishko, an environmental activist from Russia who was sentenced to three years in a penal colony for his role in exposing illegal construction in a national forest and speaking openly about the environmental impact…

Government crackdowns on civil society groups have surged in recent years, an alarming trend impacting many Goldman Prize winners around the globe. 2010 Goldman Prize winner Thuli Makama, an environmental attorney from Swaziland, knows first-hand how difficult it is to effectively operate in a country where civil society is repressed. She stopped by the Goldman…

1998 Goldman Prize winner Bobby Peek and his team at groundWork recently released a report exposing egregious air pollution violations and a resulting human health crisis being created by South Africa’s major energy utility, Eskom. Eskom provides 95% of South Africa’s energy, 90% of which comes from coal. Most of the production and processing of…

A recent report from the UN and Interpol titled “The Environmental Crime Crisis,” estimates that illegal environmental crime, from illegal logging to elephant poaching, generates up to $213 billion a year, with the majority of profits going to international crime syndicates and terrorist organizations. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said,…

In what some are calling “the greatest triumph of the environmental movement in Chile,” the government of President Michelle Bachelet rejected an $8 billion dam proposal that would have devastated Chile’s pristine Patagonia region. The HidroAysén hydroelectric project would have flooded 15,000 acres of land in Patagonia, threatening the region’s biodiversity and cultural significance. The…