Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

This year was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. According to scientific modeling from scientists at University College London, if we don’t want it to get any hotter and stick to a 2 degree Celsius rise — the international target recommended by experts ahead of the Paris climate change talks — we must keep between 60-80%…

Those who are likely to be most affected by climate change are fighting back — young people of island nations. Ahead of the United Nations summit on climate change in Paris taking place later this month, young people from the Caribbean to remote Pacific Islands are calling on world leaders to protect their vulnerable islands.…

How will we feed over 9 billion people by 2050, and who exactly will feed whom? One thing we do know: business as usual is not the answer. As the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General, José Graziano da Silva said in a speech earlier this year, “The model of agricultural production that predominates today is not…

In the run-up to Food Day this week, we’re highlighting the troubling growth of America’s factory farms — otherwise known as ‘Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations’ (CAFOs) — and what one farmer and activist is doing about it. CAFOs Unbound CAFOs are large-scale feedlots where up to one million livestock such as chicken, cattle and pigs are confined for their entire lives,…

Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on the effects of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup; a popular herbicide produced by biotech giant Monsanto. The report concluded that the chemical – even at small doses – is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The Evidence Builds The WHO report isn’t the first…

At the Goldman Prize, we look forward to the month of October every year as the work of past and present Prize winners is showcased on the big screen! As such, we’re delighted to announce several opportunities for you to watch Prize winners in action: Mill Valley Film Festival (October 8th – 18th) First up is the acclaimed annual…

For this week’s blog, we share reflections from Program Officer Myriah Cornwell, who recently traveled to Durban, South Africa, to attend the World Forestry Congress. What is a forest? What do you see when you think of a forest? What about even rows of the same type of tree stretching as far as the eye…

TIMBY (‘This Is My Backyard’) is a new smartphone app that 2006 Goldman Prize winner Silas Siakor is using to monitor illegal logging in his home country of Liberia. His work to train local communities to use the app is just one of the exciting projects the Goldman Prize has supported as part of our recently launched Pilot Grantmaking Program for former…

Next week is the 14th World Forestry Congress where the global forestry community will gather to address key forestry issues. The event takes place only once every six years, presenting a unique opportunity for Prize winners and staff members to join the conversation. The theme for this year’s Congress is “Forests and People: Investing in a Sustainable Future.” With…

It’s almost impossible to have missed the internet exploding last month with outrage about the killing of a 13-year-old lion called Cecil in a national park in Northern Zimbabwe. Since then, the issue of trophy hunting has dominated the headlines, with those defending the practice speaking out just as loudly as those decrying Cecil’s death. We…