Libia Grueso
A social worker and activist, Libia Grueso secured more than 5.9 million acres in territorial rights for the country’s Afro-Colombian communities despite life-threatening circumstances.
María Elena Foronda Farro
Maria Foronda fostered partnerships between community groups, fishmeal producers and the government to institute environmentally sound and profitable business practices in lieu of dumping untreated industrial waste into streams and out of smokestacks.
Jean La Rose
A key leader in the Amerindian struggle for full rights to traditional lands, Jean La Rose coordinated the first indigenous land rights lawsuit in Guyana to protect streams, rainforests and endangered indigenous communities harmed by mining.
Oscar Olivera
A labor leader, Oscar Olivera advocated for affordable, clean water when the city’s water system was privatized. After a brutal crackdown, he emerged and continued protests and negotiations that forced the government to cancel the sale.
Oscar Rivas & Elías Díaz Peña
Elias Díaz Peña and Oscar Rivas cofounded Sobrevivencia to protect indigenous, marginalized communities and prevent developments that threaten Paraguay’s ecosystems and inhabitants.
Jorge Varela
Cofounder of a wetlands protection organization, Jorge Varela advocated for sustainable shrimping to protect ecosystems in the Gulf of Fonseca, where commercial shrimping destroys mangrove forests and poisons estuaries.
Berito Kuwaru’wa
Berito Kuwaru’wa waged a nonviolent international campaign calling on multinational oil companies not to drill in the isolated, traditional homelands of his U’wa people, who consider oil to be the blood of Mother Earth.
Juan Pablo Orrego
Juan Pablo Orrego led the campaign to protect the Bio Bío, one of South America’s last major free-flowing rivers and home to the indigenous Pehuenche people, from the destruction of massive multi-dam developments.
Marina Silva
A central figure in deforestation protests with the late Chico Mendes, Marina Silva helped establish a 2-million-hectare reserve managed by traditional communities.
Ricardo Navarro
Founder of the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology, Ricardo Navarro worked to restore El Salvador’s environment, decimated by 12 years of civil war.