Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

In January 2013, government officials from around the world agreed on the text of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Last week, the convention was presented for adoption and opened for signature at the Diplomatic Conference for the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in Kumamoto, Japan. 2009 Goldman Prize winner Yuyun Ismawati, together with international NGOs IPEN…

In the early 1990s, as the civil war and famine broke out in Somalia, Fatima Jibrell was compelled to do something about what was happening to her land and her people. She founded the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization (now known as Adeso), and over the next decade, she focused on helping Somalia’s…

Goldman Prize staff member Ryan Mack recently returned from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he spent several days at the 23rd Annual Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Conference. The five day conference seeks to improve the quality and accuracy of environmental reporting by fostering collaboration among journalists, government officials and industry experts. Chattanooga used to be known…

Pedro Arrojo-Argudo was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2003 for his water conservation work in Spain. Today, Arrojo continues to advocate for sustainable water management policies that do not rely on damming and diverting, but instead are based on conservation, recycling and smarter agricultural choices. This week, Arrojo is participating in the WILD10 Wilderness Congress,…

Sarin gas, the chemical agent used in August’s deadly attacks in Syria, is one of the chemical weapons stored in Madison County, Kentucky – home of 2006 Goldman Prize recipient Craig Williams, who has dedicated his life to the safe disposal of the United States’ chemical weapons stockpiles. Chemical weapons not only pose an extreme risk…

2008 Goldman Prize recipient Ignace Schops led the effort to establish Hoge Kempen, Belgium’s first and only national park. Raising more than US$90 million by bringing together private industry, regional and European Union (EU) government, local stakeholders, and NGOs, Schops created a new model for land conservation in the EU and beyond. The park has…

Congratulations to 1995 Goldman Prize recipient Yul Choi, to whom the Sierra Club has chosen to award the 2013 Chico Mendes Award. The Chico Mendes Award is given to organizations and individuals who exhibit extraordinary courage and leadership in the fight to protect the environment. Yul Choi is currently serving time on a one year…

The second annual Green Asia Forum took place in Busan, South Korea earlier this month with several Goldman Prize recipients in attendance. The theme and focus of this year’s forum was, “Climate Change and Marine Environments in Asia: Seeking Mitigation Strategies.” Goldman Prize winners in attendance included Von Hernandez, 2003 winner from the Philippines; Rizwana…

1990 Goldman Prize winner Lois Gibbs and her team at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) recently launched a campaign to test popular school supplies for toxic chemicals. CHEJ spent the summer raising money to commission an independent laboratory to test supplies such as lunchboxes and backpacks for chemicals like lead, phthalates and…