As someone who is passionate about the environment and cares about sustainability, recognizing and showing support to those hard-working individuals who come up with solutions for our current problems related to the environment, climate change, or sustainability is important to see. The Goldman Environmental Prize is one such award a creative environmentalist would love to obtain.
Background
The Goldman Environmental Prize was founded by Richard N. Goldman and Rhoda H.Goldman in 1989. The couple was devoted to the environment and wanted to make a difference by giving recognition to those helping protect and maintain the environment at the grassroots level.
About the Goldman Environmental Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize is one of the most desired prizes around the world for budding environmentalists, this prize is awarded annually to environmentalists from six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations, North America, and South & Central America. This prize functions as recognition given to an individual by their peers or a global group of environmental organizations who believe they have made a positive impact on the environment. The awardee is selected through an international jury and the victor is announced during April annually to synchronize with Earth day.
Qualities of Recipients
Those who have received the prize show attentiveness toward the protection of endangered species, combating destructive development projects, promoting sustainability, influencing environmental policies, and striving for environmental justice. Winners predominantly are individuals who put themselves in danger in order to fulfill their goal of saving the environment at any cost.
Example of a Winner
There have been many recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize, one of the many winners is Liz Chicaje Churay who received the 2021 Goldman Prize for South and Central America. Liz Chicaje Churay and her partners worked meticulously and tirelessly in order to get the Peruvian Government to create the Yaguas National Park in 2018.
Chicaje and her community have long understood the threat illegal loggers and miners present as they have the potential to harm the diverse ecosystem in the Yaguas National Park. She worked with government officials, conservationists, scientists, and she also worked with researchers from the Fields Museum of Chicago to educate Peruvians in order for them to understand the severity of the situation.
Chicaje understood the potential ecosystem devastation that could arise if the habitats of the 3,000 species of plants, 500 species of birds, 500 species of birds, and other wildlife continued to be exploited. There was also the addition of peatlands that needed to be protected as they are known to be vastly diverse in species. Peatlands also help with climate mitigation as they work as carbon sinks, and due to illegal logging and mining, the possibility of all the organisms being impacted or endangered was all the more reason to act.
After traveling around Peru and speaking with many indigenous leaders and gaining much support, Chicaje traveled to speak with political figures. In 2017, Chicaje had even traveled to Bonn, Germany for the COP23 and was part of Peru’s official delegation. It was in 2018, that Chicaje’s hard work paid off as the government announced the creation of the Yaguas National Park.
“The Goldman Environmental Prize.” 2021. Goldman Environmental Foundation. June 16, 2021. https://www.goldmanprize.org/.
