Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

The newest album from 2008 Goldman Prize recipient Feliciano dos Santos and his band Massukos entitled “Cancoes da Nossa Terra” or “Songs of Our Land,” hit stands earlier this summer. Santos was awarded the Goldman Prize for his efforts to promote public health in Mozambique and throughout Africa by implementing clean water and sanitation initiatives. Santos’s…

2013 Goldman Prize recipient Kimberly Wasserman has been hard at work since winning the Prize last April. In addition to her work with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Wasserman is chairing the newly formed Illinois Environmental Justice Commission, which held its first meeting last month. According to a press release, the commission is charged…

A recent article entitled “Strategies and Tactics for Managing Environmental Conflicts: Insights from Goldman Prize Recipients,” was recently published in the Journal of Natural Resource Policy Research. The article breaks down the work of the Goldman Prize recipients into six broad strategy categories: organizational creation and engagement; law and policy; education, training and awareness-building; changing…

Congratulations to the Gwich’in Steering Committee and 2002 Goldman Prize winners Sarah James, Norma Kassi and the late Jonathon Solomon, who are celebrating 25 years of protecting the Arctic’s natural beauty and defending indigenous rights. The celebration, which took place on August 25, 2013 in Arctic Village, Alaska, was filled with native dancing, music, and…

For nearly a decade Shell has been trying to build an oil pipeline through the heart of Rossport, Ireland, which would cut through private property, jeopardize the area’s delicate bog ecosystem and threaten both the safety of Rossport’s citizens and the local farmers’ way of life. However, thanks to a small group of local, committed…

In 2005, Stephanie Roth was awarded the Goldman Prize for leading an international campaign to stop construction of Europe’s largest open cast gold mine near the historic Romanian town of Rosia Montana. Thanks to her efforts, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) withdrew support and the European Union expressed concern over the mining project.…

Continuing efforts to support past Goldman Prize winners under duress, Douglas E. Goldman, President of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, recently sent a letter to the President of South Korea asking her to release 1995 Goldman Prize recipient Choi Yul from prison. Choi was sentenced to one year in prison in March 2013 and has already…

1999 Goldman Prize recipient Jorge Varela recently announced that he is coming out of retirement to head up Honduras’ Association of Fisherfolk of the Gulf of Fonseca (APAGOLF) as executive director. Jorge Varela was awarded the Goldman Prize in 1999 for his marine conservation work in Honduras, particularly his efforts to protect the ecological diversity…

Randall Arauz was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2010 for the role he played in drawing international attention to the inhumane and environmentally catastrophic shark finning industry in Costa Rica and around the world. More recently, Arauz celebrated a victory when five shark species were added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade…