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Introducing
the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize
Winners | |
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We are honored to
announce the recipients of the 2024 Goldman
Environmental Prize. Their amazing stories prove that
ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the
planet. | |
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Sinegugu Zukulu and Nonhle
Mbuthuma
Africa / South
Africa | |
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In September 2022,
activists Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu stopped
destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off South
Africa’s Eastern Cape, in an area known as the Wild
Coast. Organizing their community, Mbuthuma and Zukulu
secured their victory by asserting the rights of the
local community to protect their marine environment. By
halting oil and gas exploration in a particularly
biodiverse area, they protected migratory whales,
dolphins, and other wildlife from the harmful effects of
seismic
testing. | |
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Alok Shukla led a
successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres
of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines
in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. In July
2022, the government canceled the 21 proposed coal mines
in Hasdeo Aranya, whose pristine forests—popularly known
as the lungs of Chhattisgarh—are one of the largest
intact forest areas in
India. | |
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Teresa
Vincente
Europe /
Spain | |
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Teresa Vicente led an
unprecedented grassroots campaign to save the unique
ecosystem of the Mar Menor—Europe’s largest saltwater
lagoon—from collapse, resulting in a September 2022
decision by the Spanish Parliament that protects the
lagoon by granting it unique legal rights. Considered to
be the most important saltwater coastal lagoon in the
western Mediterranean, the once-pristine waters of the
Mar Menor have become polluted from agricultural runoff
and a boom in tourism
infrastructure. | |
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Murrawah Maroochy
Johnson
Islands & Island Nations /
Australia | |
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Murrawah Maroochy
Johnson blocked development of the Waratah coal mine,
which would have destroyed the nearly 20,000-acre
Bimblebox Nature Refuge and added 1.58 billion tons of
CO2 to the atmosphere over its lifetime. Johnson’s case,
which overcame an appeal in 2023, set a precedent that
now enables other First Nations people to halt coal
projects by linking climate change to Indigenous rights.
Her victory resulted in the first-ever court-sanctioned
linkage between Indigenous rights and climate change to
successfully stop an Australian coal
mine. | |
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Andrea
Vidaurre
North America / United
States | |
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In April 2023, Andrea
Vidaurre’s grassroots leadership persuaded the
California Air Resources Board to adopt two historic
transportation regulations that significantly limit
trucking and rail emissions. The new regulations—the
In-Use Locomotive Rule and the California Advanced Clean
Fleets Rule—include the nation’s first emission rule for
trains and a path to 100% zero emissions for freight
truck sales by 2036, respectively. The groundbreaking
regulations—a product of Vidaurre’s policy work and
community organizing—will substantially improve air
quality for millions of Californians while accelerating
the country’s transition to zero-emission
vehicles. | |
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Marcel
Gomes
South & Central America /
Brazil | |
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Marcel Gomes coordinated
an international campaign that directly linked beef from
JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, to illegal
deforestation in Brazil’s most threatened ecosystems.
Armed with the evidence from his breakthrough
investigative report, Gomes pressured global retailers
to stop selling the illegally sourced meat, leading six
major European supermarket chains in Belgium, France,
the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to indefinitely
boycott the sale of JBS products in December
2021. | |
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Watch
the San Francisco Award
Ceremony | |
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Join us this evening,
Monday, April 29, 2024, at 5:30 pm PDT / 8:30 pm EDT to
watch the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony in
San Francisco. The ceremony will be hosted by Rue Mapp,
founder of Outdoor Afro, and feature live
entertainment from Jazz Mafia, a quintessential Bay Area
sound. Actor Sigourney Weaver will be narrating the
Prize winner
videos. | |
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Spread the word about
this year's Prize winners by sharing their stories on
social media, and show your support by using the
hashtags #GoldmanPrize and
#GoldmanPrize2024. | | |
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The Goldman Environmental
Prize, administered by the Goldman Environmental
Foundation, is the world's foremost award honoring
grassroots environmental activists. Learn more: goldmanprize.org | | |
Copyright © 2024 Goldman Environmental
Prize, All rights reserved.
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