October 11, 2017
For the past three years, the Goldman Environmental Foundation has provided support for Goldman Prize winners to participate in leadership opportunities through the foundation’s networking program. The program was designed to help support Prize winner initiatives by providing funding for Prize winners to attend conferences and events, participate on panels, present as keynote speakers, and collaborate with fellow Prize recipients. This financial assistance helps strengthen Prize winner campaign initiatives by expanding their leadership abilities and connecting them with broader networks.
Last month, we saw the networking program in action with strong Goldman Prize participation at two major conferences: The Green Asia Forum and Europarc.
The 2017 Green Asia Forum, hosted by Korea Green Foundation president and 1995 Goldman Prize winner Yul Choi, was held in Seoul, South Korea, from September 11-15. In attendance were five additional Goldman Prize winners that included Andrew Simmons (1994), Tuy Sereivathana (2010), Prigi Arisandi (2011), mark! Lopez (2017), and Prafulla Samantara (2017). All Prize winners delivered keynote speeches and participated on panels focused on climate change and the importance of environmental education. In addition to being featured guests of the forum, a dinner in their honor was held on the final evening of the conference. The Goldman Prize wishes to thank Yul Choi and his organization for inviting Prize winners to participate and collaborate with other environmental activists from throughout Asia.
The Goldman Prize would also like to extend a warm thank you to 2008 Goldman Prize winner Ignace Schops and his team for hosting the Europarc conference in the Magic Mountains of Portugal from September 6-10. The conference brought together a diverse group of 10 Goldman Prize recipients, including: Janos Vargha (1990), Christine Jean (1992), Marina Silva (1996), Albena Simeonova (1996), Anna Giordano (1998), Manana Kochladze (2004), Evgenia Chirikova (2012), Rossano Ercolini (2013), and Howard Wood (2015). With 370 participants from 38 countries in attendance, the recipients were able to form key alliances and partnerships with European NGOs and activists. Prize winner Marina Silva was invited to be the keynote speaker at the opening plenary. Once again, many thanks to Ignace and Europarc for hosting such a wonderful event!
