Goldman Environmental Prize 2017

The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1990 to honour grassroots environmentalists for taking risk to protect their lives and the environment. The award is given to six persons from six continents, namely;  Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South & Central America. The prize is given by Goldman Environmental Foundation having its headquarters in San Francisco. The prize is also called as the Green Nobel/ Nobel Prize in Environment.

The Goldman environmental prize honours the achievements of grassroots activists from six continents. The prize is given to the sustained efforts of the activists to protect natural habitats at their personal risk. The following are the winners of the prize for 2017:

• Prafulla Samantra (India): for his social justice movements in India for 12 years.
• Mark Lopez (United States) : for leading an outreach campaign to inform residents of the dangers of lead contamination.
• Uroš Macerl (Slovenia) :for raising sheep when air pollution made growing crops impossible.
• Rodrigo Tot (Guatemala) :for leading Q’eqchi community to a landmark court decision that ordered the government to issue land titles to the people.
• Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo (Democratic Republic of Congo) : for undercovering the document and releasing information about bribery and corruption
• Wendy Bowman (Australia) : for stopping a powerful multinational mining company from taking her family farm and protecting her community