Tonight the Goldman Environmental Prize winners for 2008 were announced (summaries cribbed from the Goldmanprize.org website):
North America: Jesús León Santos, Mexico: In Oaxaca, where unsustainable land-use practices have made it one of the world’s most highly-eroded areas, León initiated a land renewal program that employs ancient indigenous practices to transform depleted soil into arable land.
Africa: Feliciano dos Santos, Mozambique: Using traditional music, grassroots outreach and innovative technology to bring sanitation to the most remote corners of Mozambique, Santos empowered villagers to participate in sustainable development and rise up from poverty.
South & Central America: Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza, Ecuador: In the Ecuadorian Amazon, Fajardo and Yanza led one of the largest environmental legal battles in history against oil giant Chevron, demanding justice for the massive petroleum pollution in the region.
Europe: Ignace Schops, Belgium: Belgium Raising more than $90 million by bringing together private industry, regional governments, and local stakeholders, Schops led the effort to establish Belgium’s first and only national park, protecting one of the largest open green spaces in the country.
Islands & Island Nations: Rosa Hilda Ramos, Puerto Rico: In the shadow of polluting factories in Cataño, Ramos led the movement to permanently protect the Las Cucharillas Marsh, one of the last open spaces in the area and one of the largest wetlands ecosystems in the region.
Asia: Marina Rikhvanova, Russia: As Russia expands its petroleum and nuclear interests, Rikhvanova campaigned to protect Siberia’s Lake Baikal, one of the world’s most important bodies of fresh water, from environmental devastation brought on by these polluting industries.
On a personal note: I am fiercely proud that my former colleague Marina Rikhvanova is being honored. She is a key member of the Siberian/ Russian Far East environmental network that my former workplace coordinates. She is the real deal, and she deserves this honor. And I'm happy to say that at tomorrow's ceremony I have been asked to help with her speech's subtitles! In her speech she - with characteristic self-effacement- will be refusing the award for herself and instead accepting it on behalf of "the environmentalists, scientists, students, journalists, senior citizens, and all those people who combined their efforts to protect [Lake] Baikal from the [Siberia-Pacific] pipeline construction."
For more information (in English) on the important work of Marina's organization, check out: Baikal Environmental Wave.
What you won't hear at tomorrow's ceremony that actually few people know, is that "The Wave" is a collective founded 18 years ago by three women, and (causing much confusion for me when I was facilitating grants to the group) they regularly rotate the Executive Director role between a set of senior managers (who all currently happen to be women). This rotation seems effective at keeping the most experienced organizers from executive burn-out. Their unusual structure plus the strength of talent in the group make it a remarkable organization.
