Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

A Conservation Success Decreased poaching, collaborative conservation, community engagement, and rebounding wildlife populations? Against a backdrop of weighty environmental headlines typically fueling my eco-anxiety, interviewing Rudi Putra (Indonesia, 2014) was like a breath of fresh air. “I’m an optimist because I’ve seen positive change happen in the Leuser Ecosystem,” Rudi remarked as we discussed his…

We continue to stand in solidarity with our three dedicated Burmese Prize winners—Ka Hsaw Wa (1999), Myint Zaw (2015), and Paul Sein Twa (2020)—and support their ongoing work to bring peace, democracy, and environmental conservation to Myanmar. We condemn the military crackdown on the Burmese people and urge the international community to listen to these…

We want to thank Robert Redford, one of the world’s great environmental champions, for his 17 years as the voice of the Goldman Environmental Prize. In addition to narrating Prize winner videos, Mr. Redford has been a special guest at the Prize ceremony, acted as a global ambassador for the Prize, and, for over 50…

Indigenous people are often at the helm of environmental movements. Fueled by a deep connection to nature and their cultural traditions, Indigenous people make powerful advocates for environmental conservation and maintaining balance between people and nature. In honor of Earth Day this April, we’re diving deeper into the stories of three Indigenous recipients of the…

In this guest blog, Program Officer Lindsey Freedman shares her experience traveling to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in March 2020, to meet with 2020 Prize winner Paul Sein Twa. Paul led his Indigenous Karen people in establishing a 1.35-million-acre peace park in the biodiverse Salween River basin in Myanmar. In February 2021, a military junta staged…

Meeting Powerhouse Rizwana Hasan A conversation with Rizwana Hasan (Bangladesh, 2009) is like a crash course in international relations, environmental studies, and political economics rolled into one. She navigated our questions and led the conversation with clarity and ease, expanding upon some topics and addressing others with brevity, always looping back at the end to re-articulate her…

In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating three Goldman Prize winners who’ve made formidable contributions to the fight against climate change. These three women, each of whom sought to protect the environment in different ways, are a powerful reminder that climate change isn’t a problem with a single solution. There…

This interview was conducted on January 18, prior to the military coup d’état in Myanmar* on February 1, 2021. Since then, we have been in contact with the three Burmese Prize winners—Ka Hsaw Wa (1999), Myint Zaw (2015), and Paul Sein Twa (2020)—and are monitoring their safety. Meting Ka Hsaw Wa Smiling and exuding boundless…

Congratulations to Andrew Simmons (St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 1994) on the publication of his new book, Impacts of Climate Change on Young People in Small Island Communities. The book is an expansion of Andrew’s PhD thesis and argues that youths are generally excluded from research, studies, and planning on climate change but face the…

Happy New Year! 2021 brings new possibilities for hope, self-examination, and continued action for our planet and its defenders. Reflecting on the extraordinary and challenging year that just concluded, one particular word rises above the many for me: resilience. While it would be easy to enumerate our myriad weaknesses as a species, Homo sapiens at…