The 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners include activists from six continents who protected rivers, stopped pollution, and preserved wildlife habitats.
Seven environmental activists from around the world received the Goldman Environmental Prize today for their work protecting natural resources and communities from harm. The 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners will be honored at a ceremony in San Francisco during Earth Week celebrations.
The Goldman Environmental Prize honors people who work at the local level to protect the environment. It is considered the top award worldwide for grassroots environmental activists.
Rhoda and Richard Goldman, who were philanthropists and civic leaders from San Francisco, created the prize in 1989. Over the past 36 years, 233 winners from 98 countries have been honored with this award. Among these winners are 106 women.
Many past winners have gone on to become government officials, heads of state, leaders of non-profit organizations, and Nobel Prize winners. Notable past Goldman Environmental Prize winners include Wangari Maathai from Kenya, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in founding the Green Belt Movement, which planted over 51 million trees.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, another notable winner from Nigeria, led a peaceful campaign against oil pollution in the Niger Delta before his tragic execution by the Nigerian government. His courage inspired environmental justice movements around the world.
Lois Gibbs, who won the prize in 1990, organized her community after discovering her neighborhood in Love Canal, New York, was built on a toxic waste dump. Her work led to the creation of the U.S. Superfund program that cleans up hazardous waste sites across America.
“It’s been a tough year for both people and the planet,” said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “There’s so much that worries us, stresses us, outrages us, and keeps us divided.”
She added that these environmental leaders serve as an “antidote” to these difficult times. The work acknowledged by the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners shows what people can achieve through determination and hope, even when environmental activists face many challenges.
The 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners award ceremony will take place on April 21, with Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro, as the host. The musical group Rueda con Ritmo, featuring Son Chévere, will take the stage. People can watch the ceremony live on the Goldman Prize’s YouTube channel at 5:30 pm Pacific Time.
The 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners come from Tunisia, Mongolia, Albania, the Canary Islands, the United States, and Peru. Each faced different environmental challenges in their communities.
Semia Gharbi from Tunisia led a campaign against illegal waste trafficking between Italy and her country. Her work resulted in 6,000 tons of household waste being sent back to Italy in February 2022.
More than 40 corrupt officials and others involved in the waste trafficking scheme were arrested. The European Union has made its rules for waste shipments to other countries stricter due to Gharbi’s efforts.
In Mongolia, Batmunkh Luvsandash fought to protect his homeland from mining operations. His activism led to the creation of a 66,000-acre protected area in Dornogovi province in April 2022.
This protected area is home to Argali sheep and 75% of the world’s endangered Asiatic wild ass population. It also contains many unique plant species. The protected land helps counter the rapid growth of mining in Mongolia.
Two activists from Albania, Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika, campaigned to protect the Vjosa River from a surge in hydropower dam development. Their work led to the river being designated as the Vjosa Wild River National Park by the Albanian government in March 2023.
This landmark decision protects all 167 miles of the freely flowing Vjosa River, plus its tributaries, for a total of 250 miles of undisturbed river corridors. The Vjosa ecosystem contains important freshwater biodiversity and provides habitat for several endangered species.
The Vjosa Wild River National Park is the first of its kind in both Albania and Europe, protecting a wild river.
Carlos Mallo Molina from the Canary Islands led a global campaign to prevent the construction of Fonsalía Port. This massive recreational boat and ferry terminal would have threatened a 170,000-acre marine protected area.
The port, planned for the island of Tenerife, would have destroyed critical habitat for endangered sea turtles, whales, and sharks. In October 2021, the Canary Islands government canceled the port project due to pressure from the campaign.
Now, instead of the port, Molina is working to create a world-class marine conservation and education center, which will be the first of its kind in the Canary Islands.
In the United States, Laurene Allen took action when one of New England’s most significant environmental crises affected her community. She worked to protect thousands of families whose drinking water had been contaminated.
Allen’s campaign put pressure on the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant, which had leaked toxic “forever chemicals” into community drinking water sources. In August 2023, the plant announced it would close.
The plant’s closure in May 2024 will bring an end to more than 20 years of extensive air, soil, and water pollution in the area.
Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari from Peru and her organization, Asociación de Mujeres Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, won a groundbreaking court decision in March 2024 to protect the Marañón River.
For the first time in Peru’s history, a river was granted legal personhood, with the right to flow freely and remain free of contamination. The court found that the Peruvian government had violated the river’s inherent rights.
As a result, the government must take immediate action to prevent future oil spills into the river. The court also ordered the creation of a plan to protect the entire river basin and recognized the Kukama people as stewards of the river.
These seven 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners represent a growing movement of local environmental defenders worldwide. Their successful campaigns demonstrate that determined individuals can make a significant impact in protecting natural resources and communities.
The Goldman Environmental Prize not only recognizes these achievements but also inspires others to take action to protect the planet. By highlighting these success stories, the prize draws attention to pressing environmental issues and effective grassroots solutions.
Like past Goldman Prize recipients such as Phyllis Omido, who shut down a lead-smelting plant in Kenya that was poisoning her community, or Pablo Fajardo, who led a historic legal battle against Chevron for oil contamination in Ecuador, the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners have demonstrated remarkable courage and persistence.
As environmental challenges continue to mount globally, the work of these activists offers hope and provides practical examples of how communities can fight for environmental justice and achieve success, even against powerful opponents.
