Iroro Tanshi (Africa), Theonila Roka Matbob (Islands and Island Nations), Alannah Acaq Hurley (North America), Yuvelis Morales Blanco (South and Central America), Borim Kim (Asia) and Sarah Finch (Europe). There are 6 of them, all activists and all have been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the prestigious award that every year goes to six grassroots environmental activists, one for each continent.
It is the first time, since the so-called “Nobel for the environment” was founded in 1989, that it has been awarded only to women, a sign – and here we launch a provocation – that perhaps the solutions to the climate crisis must (re)start from the female universe.
But who are the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize?
Iroro Tanshi, Africa
Nigerian biologist, Iroro Tanshi – after rediscovering the endangered short-tailed roundleaf bat in Nigeri – identified human-caused forest fires as the main threat to the species and launched a successful campaign, together with her community, to protect the Afi Mountains Wildlife Sanctuary. Between early 2022 and May 2025, she and community firefighters prevented major wildfires from occurring in and around the sanctuary by patrolling thousands of farms and effectively responding to more than 70 fire outbreaks, protecting communities, forests and the bat’s fragile habitat.
Theonila Roka Matbob, Islands and Island Nations
Theonila Roka Matbob, from Papua New Guinea, lost her father in the civil war that began with the construction of the Panguna mine, which resulted in the destruction of forests useful for food security and the economy of that region.
Theonila therefore led a campaign that pushed Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest mining company, to sign a historic memorandum of understanding in November 2024 to address the environmental and social devastation caused by its long-dormant Panguna mine. Despite abandoning the site 35 years earlier, after a social uprising against the mine, the company formally acknowledged the wide range of damage caused by the mine and initiated a collaborative cleanup process that aims to address urgent risks and establish a long-term remediation mechanism.
Alannah Acaq Hurley, United States
Yup’ik leader Alannah Acaq Hurley, acting on behalf of 15 tribal nations, Alannah Acaq Hurley led a campaign that stopped the Pebble Mine megaproject in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. As executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay (UTBB), Alannah and a broad coalition won a historic EPA veto of the copper and gold mining project in January 2023.
The victory protects Bristol Bay and its broader watershed – which includes 25 million acres of wilderness, rivers and wetlands and is home to the largest wild salmon migrations in the world – from the construction of what would have been the largest open-pit mine in North America.
Borim Kim, South Korea
Activist Borim Kim and his organization, Youth 4 Climate Action, have won the first successful youth-led climate lawsuit in Asia. In August 2024, the South Korean Constitutional Court declared that the government’s climate policy violated the constitutional rights of future generations, requiring the creation of legally binding emissions reduction targets from 2031 to 2049 to meet the country’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The historic decision represents a watershed moment for the climate change movement in Asia. If implemented, it could avoid more than 1,500 million tons of carbon emissions—equivalent to the annual emissions of about 500 coal plants—over the next 25 years.
Sarah Finch, England
Sarah Finch with the Weald Action Group led a tireless campaign against oil drilling in the south east of England for over a decade, persevering through five years of ongoing court battles against an oil development in Surrey until the coalition secured a Supreme Court ruling in June 2024 that finally forced its closure.
The so-called “Finch ruling” states that authorities must consider the downstream impacts that fossil fuels will have on the global climate before granting permission to extract them. This legal precedent has already halted subsequent fossil fuel extraction projects and other industrial developments across the UK and could influence EU policy in the future.
Yuvelis Morales Blanco, Colombia
Yuvelis Morales Blanco helped mobilize his community in Puerto Wilches against two drilling projects, successfully preventing the introduction of commercial fracking in Colombia. In 2022, the country’s largest oil company, Ecopetrol, suspended contracts for fracking pilot projects.
In August 2024—with the projects still suspended—the Colombian Constitutional Court, in response to a lawsuit brought by a local organization, confirmed that the projects had violated the right of the Afro-Colombian community of Puerto Wilches to free, prior and informed consent.
These six extraordinary women prove that you don’t have to cross oceans to find leading figures in the environmental field: they could be right there, on our doorstep. Global movements are born in backyards and town halls, in our homes, in our neighborhoods and in our communities, led by ordinary people. Change begins right where we are, we read on the site.
Italy had a winner in 1998 with the ornithologist Anna Giordano, for her battle against poaching in the Strait of Messina and against the environmental risks of the Bridge project.
Each Goldman winner receives a cash prize of $200,000. As well as great international recognition.
