Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world’s six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The award is given by the Goldman Environmental Foundation headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Key Facts

• It is also called the Green Nobel.
• The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.
• Goldman Prize recipients focus on protecting endangered ecosystems and species, combating destructive development projects, promoting sustainability, influencing environmental policies and striving for environmental justice. Prize recipients are often women and men from isolated villages or inner cities who choose to take great personal risks to safeguard the environment.
• The Goldman Environmental Prize was created in 1990 by civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his wife, Rhoda H. Goldman.
• The winners are selected by an international jury who receive confidential nominations from by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.
• The 2017 Environmental Prizes marking the 28th anniversary were awarded on April 24, 2017 during ceremonies held at the San Francisco Opera House.
• The latest winners for the year 2017 are:
• Wendy Bowman, Australia
• Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• mark! Lopez, United States
• Uroš Macerl, Slovenia
• Prafulla Samantara, India
• Rodrigo Tot, Guatemala