Costa Rican Wins
2010 Goldman
Environmental
Prize
Costa Rica's
Randall Arauz is
one of six
around the world
to be awarded
the 2010 Goldman
Environmental
Prize of and
taking
home$150.000
each each for
their activism.
"I am motivated
and inspired by
the courage of
these leaders,"
Goldman Prize
founder Richard
Goldman, said in
a statement.
"Their
commitment to
fighting for a
better future
illustrates the
perseverance of
the grassroots
environmental
movement around
the world."
The largest
environmental
award, the
Goldman prize
was started in
1989 by the San
Francisco
philanthropist.
The prize honors
an activist from
each of Earth's
six inhabited
continental
regions and an
international
jury picks
winners based on
confidential
nominations
submitted by
individuals and
environmental
groups.
Here's a brief
look at each
2010 winner:
* Randall Arauz
(Costa Rica)
works to stop
shark finning,
where sharks are
hunted just for
their fins,
which are used
in shark fin
soup in Asia. He
led the campaign
to halt the
practice in
Costa Rica,
making his
country an
international
model for shark
protection.
* Thuli Makama
(Swaziland) is
her country's
only public
interest
environmental
attorney,
challenging the
forced evictions
and violence
against poor
Swazis living
next to
conservation
areas.
* Tuy
Sereivathana
(Cambodia) works
to mitigate
human-elephant
conflicts by
introducing
low-cost ways to
diffuse clashes
and getting
locals to help
protect
endangered Asian
elephants.
* Malgorzata
Gorska (Poland)
protects the
Rospuda Valley,
one of Europe's
last
wildernesses,
from threats
that included a
now-stopped
highway project.
* Humberto Rios
Labrada (Cuba)
fosters seed
diversity and
low-input
sustainable
agriculture at
50,000 farms. As
a result,
chemical
exposure among
rural Cubans has
fallen, while
crop yields have
increased.
* Lynn Henning
(USA) tracks
pollution from
large farms,
known as
concentrated
animal feeding
operations (CAFOs).
Regulators in
her home state
of Michigan have
issued hundreds
of citations for
water quality
violations.
The other five
winners are:
Thuli Makama of
Swaziland, Tuy
Sereivathana of
Cambodia,
Malgorzata
Gorska of
Poland, Humberto
Rios Labrada of
Cuba and Lynn
Henning of the
US.
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