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ORDINARY PEOPLE. EXTRAORDINARY IMPACT.

Watch the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony.

Wanjira Mathai

March 10, 2022

A member of the Jury since 2019, Wanjira Mathai has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. She is currently the vice president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI), and previously served as co-chair of WRI’s Global Restoration Council and senior advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. Mathai is the current chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former chair of the Green Belt Movement, which was founded by her late mother, Wangari Maathai (1991 Goldman Prize winner and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) in 1977.

Over the years, Mathai has also served in important strategic and advocacy roles raising the prominence and visibility of global issues such as climate change, youth leadership, sustainable energy, and landscape restoration. She has held various roles with Women Entrepreneurs in Renewables and currently serves on the board of the World Agroforestry Center and as a Leadership Council member of the Clean Cooking Alliance. Mathai was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women in 2018 and 2020.

Recent Posts

Wrapping up a Busy Fall at Asia-Pacific Climate Week


November 21, 2023

Uniting Grassroots Leaders from around the World Today we are celebrating the end to a busy fall season, which brought the Goldman Environmental Prize to five regional climate events and summits around the world. Over the course of the past three months, in five different countries, the Goldman Prize convened 21 Prize winners across five…

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Reflections on Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week


November 1, 2023

Last week, the Goldman Environmental Prize gathered in Panama for Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week. Five Prize winners were in attendance: Ruth Buendía (Peru, 2014), Leydy Pech (Mexico, 2020), Liz Chicaje Churay (Peru, 2021), and Alexandra Narvaez and Alex Lucitante (Ecuador, 2022). For those who won the Goldman Prize during the COVID-19 pandemic,…

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Goldman Prize Winners Reflect on the IUCN Leaders Forum


October 23, 2023

From October 11 – 13, three Goldman Environmental Prize winners attended the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Leaders Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. The three-day conference convened global leaders and experts in policy, finance, and science to discuss how to protect and restore biodiversity across various sectors. Prize winners in attendance were Howard…

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