Laureates by Category

The steadfast, committed and selfless work of Dr. Rosa Elena Simeón Negrín has been vital for fostering the notions of sustainability amongst and raising the environmental awareness of Cubans.

She took on a position of leadership, which was to continue for some 20 years, just at a time when the issue of the environment was beginning to…

Dr Tewolde Berhan was born on 19 February 1940 in a small village near Adwa town in Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. His father was an Orthodox priest and his mother the daughter of one of the founders of the Lutheran Church of Mekane Yesus who had originally been trained for priesthood in the Orthodox church. Both parents put a strong…

As General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev was instrumental in bringing the Cold War to an end and ensuring that humanity and our planet does not suffer nuclear devastation.

In 1970, he was elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
From 1971 till 1991, Gorbachev was a member of the Communist…

As President of Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1980-1982) and as the Chairman of Preparatory Committee and of the Main Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1990-1992), Professor Tommy Koh of Singapore has contributed greatly to promoting international environmental cooperation. These events are only two of…

Summary

WEDO, established in 1990 by former U.S. Congresswoman Bella Abzug (1920-1998) and feminist activist and journalist Mim Kelber (1922-2004), brings together women from all around the world to take action in the United Nations and other international policymaking forums. 
Since its inception, WEDO has been a…

Bhutan, a kingdom under the reign of Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) Jigme Singye Wangchuck, has the environment as the centrepiece in its constitution and all of its national development plans. Bhutan has an excellent track record in the field of environment - more than 74% of its land is under forest cover and 26% of this cover is protected areas…

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, known in Europe as the 'Green Patriarch,' has taken the lead among religious leaders in his concern for the environment. His Holiness has initiated seminars and dialogues to discuss the need for the mobilization of moral and spiritual forces to achieve harmony between humankind and nature. One…

His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is popularly known as 'The Man of the Arab Environment'. Under his leadership, development activities have touched all aspects of life in the UAE with agriculture and afforestation as the focus of his main concerns

One of Sheikh Zayed's most…

Julia Carabias Lillo coordinated a research and rural development programme in extremely impoverished peasant communities in the four regions of Mexico called the 'Integrated Use of Natural Resources' (PAIR the acronym in Spanish).

She was a member of the Commission for Developing Countries and Global Change, which published the report…

Mr. Zhou Qiang currently occupies the most senior position in southern China’s Hunan Province as Party Secretary. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Zhou was the governor of Hunan and during his tenure he dedicated himself to transforming the province into a model of environmental sustainability, calling on the protection of the Dongting Lake, China’s…