Ellen MacArthur was only 24 when she secured a place in the history books by becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world in 2001. Four years later, she broke the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, taking just over 71 days to complete the voyage.

Her account of battling squally gales, skirting icebergs and narrowly avoiding a collision with a whale enthralled millions. The mental and physical exertion of sailing, the freedom of the high seas, the thrill of being immersed in the breathtaking power and beauty of the ocean were all MacArthur ever dreamed of. 

Then, at the peak of her career, she retired from competitive sailing and changed course entirely. 

Time spent alone at sea, surviving on limited supplies of food, water and fuel, had given MacArthur an acute awareness of what it meant to live with finite means. She saw a parallel with humanity, which was consuming beyond what the Earth could provide. 

“You cannot use up finite resources in a world with a growing population. It just cannot work,” MacArthur told the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We need to rethink and redesign our entire economic model.”  

In 2010, the trailblazer set up the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to rally support for a more circular global economy focused on eliminating waste and pollution – including from plastics –promoting the reuse of products and materials, and regenerating nature. 

For its efforts, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been named 2023 Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

“We need a systemic transformation to address the plastic pollution crisis,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has been instrumental in engaging businesses and decision makers, enabling large-scale solutions that can steer us toward a future unblighted by plastic pollution.”

From a straight line to a circle 
Since the launch of its first report in 2012 at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, the foundation has radically shifted the discourse of some of the most powerful global corporations and helped governments understand the changes needed to create more sustainable economies. 

It has spearheaded global initiatives on plastics, fashion and food, while creating a network of business leaders, policymakers and academics to pilot sustainable practices. This year, it launched the Circular Startup Index, a public database featuring more than 500 start-ups accelerating the transition to a circular economy. The foundation has also helped to develop the curriculum for the first-ever Master of Business Administration focused on this model.

Today, 430 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year, two-thirds of which quickly becomes waste. Plastic pollution causes between US$300 billion and US$600 billion a year in social and economic costs and has precipitated what has been called an environmental catastrophe by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

When the Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010, few were talking about plastic pollution.

In 2016, the foundation produced the first big global study on plastic packaging. Its findings, which immediately captured headlines around the world, were a wake-up call. The report concluded that most plastic packaging is used only once and that 95 per cent of the value of plastic packaging material, worth a staggering US$80 billion to US$120 billion annually, is lost to the economy.

A follow-up report in 2017 showed that, without fundamental redesign and innovation, about 30 per cent of plastic packaging will never be reused or recycled.

“Plastics are very high volume, low value. They are the ultimate linear economy example,” MacArthur said. “If we really want to shift from a linear to circular economy, then this is a really good place to start.”

By 2040, a shift to a lifecycle approach could reduce the volume of plastics entering the environment by over 80 per cent, slash virgin plastic production by 55 per cent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent. Redesigning how humanity produces, uses, recovers and disposes of plastic could also save US$4.5 trillion by 2040.

In collaboration with UNEP, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation leads the New Plastics Economy; Global Commitment. It unites more than 1,000 organizations – including consumer goods giants such as H&M, PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company – as well as governments representing 1 billion people behind a common vision to stop plastic from becoming waste.

Lessons and data from the Global Commitment offer valuable insights as negotiators push for an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution by 2024.

A third round of negotiations on the instrument’s draft document is due to start in Nairobi on 13 November. Observers say the final instrument could be the most significant multilateral environmental pact since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. 

For the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the deal must prioritize the shift from single-use to reusable plastic products.

Discussing the future, MacArthur hopes that the lifecycle approach will one day be so normal that the foundation will no longer be needed.

“One thing that ocean racing and record-breaking teaches you is the importance of the goal,” MacArthur said. “You have to be driven, and you have to understand exactly where you're trying to get. I see the circular economy as an opportunity. It's such a fantastic place to get to.”

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution, a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

In a scene unchanged for generations, fishers rise before dawn to trawl the coastal waters of China’s Zhejiang province, hoping for a bountiful catch.

These days, many are just as likely to return to shore with a cargo hold full of plastic as they are with fish.

That is because since 2019, the Blue Circle environmental initiative has paid Zhejiang’s fishers – and residents in coastal communities– to collect plastic debris, such as bags, bottles and discarded fishing nets.

The plan is part of an ambitious effort, backed by cutting-edge equipment and blockchain technology, to remove and manage plastic pollution along parts of the province’s 6,600km coastline. The push is also designed to provide benefits to local communities.

Since its launch, the initiative has enlisted the help of 10,240 boats and 6,300 fishers and local residents to recycle nearly 2,500 tonnes of plastic.

“We hope that Blue Circle’s marine waste management model can expand beyond this country and to the world, galvanizing more people into action to address marine pollution,” said Chen Yuan, marine ecological environment division chief from the Department of Ecology and Environment of Zhejiang province.

For its contribution to fighting plastic pollution, Blue Circle has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision , one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

“Humanity’s addiction to plastic is threatening the health of our planet, our well-being and our prosperity,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “To ensure a just transition and improve livelihoods, we must embrace innovation. Blue Circle is demonstrating what is possible when technology and sustainability come together.”

Novel solutions 
Developed by the Department of Ecology and Environment of Zhejiang province and Zhejiang Lanjing Technology, Blue Circle says it is the largest marine plastic waste recycling programme in China.

The initiative has developed a digital platform that uses blockchain technology and internet-based tracking to chart the journey of individual plastic pieces.

Live feeds from boats, ports and production lines, along with interactive maps, catalogue the collection, shipment, storage, recycling and remanufacturing of plastic. Shoppers can access that information by scanning QR codes on goods made of certified plastic from the ocean.

Blue Circle’s use of blockchain technology and the web offers an exciting glimpse into the future of environmental action.

“We have created a digital platform that can serve as a model for the world,” said Chen Yahong, general manager of the Marine Business division of Zhejiang Lanjing Technology, in an interview with UNEP.

By 2025, Blue Circle plans to make its digital system public and expand to integrate a range of businesses, including small and informal sector, governments, and public welfare organizations.

Humanity’s’ produce-use-and-discard’ approach to plastic is causing an environmental nightmare. More than 90 per cent of plastic that has ever been produced is buried, burned or has leaked into the environment, usually after just a single use. Emissions linked to this short-sighted approach could account for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions under the most ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement by 2040.

Benefit to fishing communities 
Alongside tea growing and silk farming, fishing is a pillar of Zhejiang’s rural economy. But it is not the industry it used to be due to the ageing demographic of coastal areas.

To help low-income communities, Blue Circle offers a range of financial incentives and benefits. It pays its “ocean cleaners” 0.2 Chinese yuan (US¢3) for every plastic bottle collected, about seven times more than the market rate.

Blue Circle members are able to access basic social security insurance and low-interest loans from banks and rural credit unions via a digital platform. So far, loans worth up to 130 million yuan (US$18 million) have been issued under the scheme.

The initiative has also established a “prosperity fund” financed by profits from the sale of plastic particles to manufacturing companies. Through the fund, plastic waste collectors earn an average of 1,200 yuan (US$165) per month. By working with the government and businesses, Blue Circle has supported over 6,000 low-income residents and fishers in coastal areas.

“Zhejiang comprehensively practices environmental protection in all sectors in collaboration with governments, enterprises and the public. This promotes economic growth and protects marine ecosystems, and people in Zhejiang look forward to a beautiful natural environment and high-quality ecological space,” said Chen Yuan.

Globally, UNEP works with governments and businesses to promote a just transition for plastics , including in developing countries. This entails ensuring sustainable production and consumption of plastics in a manner that is fair and inclusive of everyone concerned, including waste pickers and other workers in the plastics value chain. The adoption of digital solutions and the promotion of transparency can play a pivotal role in realizing these objectives. Furthermore, this approach not only promotes decent job opportunities but is also essential for ensuring inclusivity, a critical factor in achieving this endeavour, experts say.

Harmony with nature 
China still produces some 30 per cent of the world’s plastic, but the country has been taking steps to address plastic pollution and its impact on the environment.

China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018 and no longer receives much of the developed world’s plastic scrap. More recently, the government has unveiled plans to phase out all single-use and non-biodegradable plastic products by 2025.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has recognized Blue Circle’s work as worthy of being promoted across the country. With further backing from government departments at all levels, Blue Circle hopes to significantly expand its activities to cover 289 ports in nine coastal provinces and two municipalities by 2025.

According to Chen Yuan from the Department of Ecology and Environment, much of Blue Circle’s success comes from the mutual benefits the project is designed to bring to fishing communities: income for cleaner coastal waters.

He also points to the province’s track record in environmental action. In 2018, Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programme was named a Champion of the Earth. Zhejiang’s green drive gained significant momentum when President Xi Jinping, then party chief of the province, visited the forested, hillside town of Anji in 2003. There, Xi extolled the virtues of protecting nature and famously said, “clear waters and lush mountains are as invaluable as silver and gold.”

Chen Yuan said: “People have indeed seen with their own eyes that clear waters and green mountains are worth the price of gold.”

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)Champions of the Earth honours individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

It was only when José Manuel Moller began living on the outskirts of Santiago in a low-income neighbourhood that he experienced what is known as "poverty tax" – the extra costs people incur due to their economic circumstances.

A university student at the time, Moller was in charge of buying groceries for the house he shared with friends. Unlike in more affluent areas of the Chilean capital, there were few big supermarket chains in the area. So, most residents relied on local convenience stores that sold smaller quantities of essentials like cooking oil, beans and detergent – but at a premium.

Moller estimates he was paying up to 60 per cent more than if he had bought the same goods in bulk, and that plastic packaging was both inflating prices and creating an environmental problem.

"You realize that something unfair is happening," Moller told the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "We are pushing lower-income consumers to pay more for packaging that ends up being a problem for sustainability and waste in the same neighbourhoods. The equation is wrong but to change this, you need to change the system."

To address what is a global issue, the 35-year-old founded Algramo (meaning "by the gram" in Spanish) in 2012. The social enterprise works with a range of retailers, from local shopkeepers to global brands, to encourage customers to use prefilled and refillable plastic containers for basics, such as dish soap and washing-up liquid. These household staples can be bought by the gram, with consumers paying the same per unit no matter how much or how little they buy.

Since 2020, Algramo customers have reused more than 900,000 pieces of packaging, keeping more than 100 tonnes of plastic from becoming waste.

For his efforts, Moller has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Entrepreneurial Vision , one of the United Nations' highest environmental honours. Moller also works to galvanize the zero-waste movement through his role as vice chair of the United Nations Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste, an initiative set up in March 2023. The board helps raise awareness of the need to prevent, reduce and sustainably manage waste.

"How humanity produces, consumes and disposes of plastic has created a disaster," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. "José Manuel Moller's work shows us that reusing plastic can enable a range of economic, social and environment benefits, which is crucial to transforming our relationship with this material."

Driving the refill revolution 
Less than10 per cent of plastic ever produced has been recycled. The rest is buried, burned or leaks into the environment, usually after just a single use. That plastic infiltrates land and sea and often makes its way into the human food chain.

To end the plastic pollution crisis , experts say it is crucial to find solutions that tackle the negative impacts of plastic products at all stages of their life cycle.

For Moller, encouraging consumers to make more sustainable choices is a key part of that process.

"The challenge around sustainability is not only about technology, it is also about consumer behaviour. I started thinking about how I could make people fall in love with an empty bottle,” Moller said. 

In Chile, Algramo has partnered with convenience stores to allow shoppers to buy products in reusable bottles, with consumers returning their old containers when they do. At large retailers, Algramo has installed dispensing stations where customers can refill their own receptacles. The business is aiming to have more than 50 dispensing locations in the country by the end of the year.

Customers can also pay for orders via a phone app. Each container is fitted with a radio-frequency-based tag, a kind of smart barcode linked to an online account. The account tracks purchases and customers are rewarded every time the container is reused with a cash incentive. The money pops up in a virtual wallet, which can then be used as a discount on future purchases.

"Algramo believes that the solution to plastic pollution must not only be for high-income millennial vegetarians," said Moller. "This should be designed for everyone, who, at the end of the day, make decisions based on price. So, the approach of Algramo has always been affordability."

An ambition to change the world 
For refill systems to become truly mainstream, Moller knows the importance of operating on a larger scale.

In recent years, Algramo has focused on expanding into other countries, including by providing expertise and software to other start-ups. Its greatest achievement, Moller said, has been convincing some of the world's biggest consumer goods companies to offer refill services for some products.

"Algramo has an ambition to change the world, not to offer detergent," Moller said. "I'm not excited about selling powder detergent or laundry detergent, I'm excited about changing the industry to move the needle on packaging and solving the poverty tax."

In Indonesia, Algramo is trialling a project in collaboration with Nestlé for two of its products, including a chocolate beverage. It is preparing to enter the Mexican market, having embarked on partnerships with Walmart and Target in the United States. It also has a partnership with a Lidl retail store in Birmingham, England, that allows customers to refill laundry detergent.

Despite the best efforts of social enterprises like Algramo, Moller admits there is a limit to what they can achieve. Ultimately, government regulation is needed to counter the rising tide of plastic pollution, he says.

"How do we push companies to do more than what the regulations are asking them to do?" Moller asks. "That is one of the main problems that we have today."

Moller says he feels an urgent need to shift consumer habits and make reusing plastics part of daily life. That drive stems from the fear that time is running out to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis, he told UNEP.

In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at current rates, the planet would be on track to breach the most ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement between 2030 and 2035.

Addressing plastic pollution is critical to countering the climate crisis, experts say. The production, use and disposal of conventional fossil fuel-based plastics is responsible for more than 3 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

"Reducing plastic pollution is relevant, it is urgent, and we are running late," Moller said.

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

UNEP's Champions of the Earth honours individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN's highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

On a sprawling campus in Pretoria, scientists, engineers and researchers are hard at work in South Africa’s biggest and best-resourced laboratory complex. Hunched over microscopes, peering into petri dishes and meticulously recording test results, they have a shared vision: to improve the quality of life for all South Africans, as sustainably as possible. 

For almost eight decades, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has harnessed some of the most brilliant minds to drive innovation in agriculture, energy, chemicals, health care, manufacturing, mining and defence.

In recent years, Africa’s leading science and technology research organization has also developed a series of innovations to tackle plastic pollution, which is taking a mounting toll on the environment.

“Everything that we do as CSIR ought to contribute towards improving the quality of life of the people of South Africa,” said CSIR’s Chief Executive Officer, Thulani Dlamini, in an interview with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “That's the litmus test of whether we are really making an impact.”

For its efforts to develop and apply solutions to plastic pollution, CSIR has been named the 2023 Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation , one of the United Nations’ highest environmental honours.

“Science-based, data-driven solutions are essential for environmental action to be effective,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “The outstanding work undertaken by South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research reminds us that innovation is crucial if humanity is to forge a more sustainable future for people and planet.”

Innovation to improve lives 
Following the end of World War II, South Africa recognized that scientific research and innovation was needed to spur its economic recovery and industrial development. Thus, through an act of parliament, the country established CSIR in 1945.

Throughout its history, CSIR has played a vital role in providing rigorous evidence to inform decision making.

In 2022, it was the first to use Pathways , a software application developed by Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of Oxford to evaluate local strategies to reduce plastic pollution.

Its findings contributed to a report aimed at policymakers, which concluded that South Africa could reduce plastic pollution by 63 per cent by 2040 with interventions across the plastics value chain. Those include limiting the demand for plastic, using alternative materials and increasing waste-collection.

“There is no single solution to effectively address plastic pollution in the country,” said Dlamini. “It will require both upstream interventions – such as reducing demand and coming up with alternatives – as well as downstream interventions, such as improved waste collection, disposal and increasing recycling capability.”

Tackling plastic pollution 
Affordable, flexible and durable, plastic has transformed everyday life and brought about many benefits to society, including in health care, construction, packaging and energy.

However, plastic generates 1.8 billion tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions a year, 3.4 per cent of the global total. Less than 10 per cent of plastic ever produced has been recycled. The rest is buried, burned or leaks into the environment.

South Africa’s rising population and increased consumption means that, without urgent action, plastic pollution in the country is set to almost double to 865,000 tonnes in 2040 from 491,000 tonnes in 2020, according to CSIR data .

To help reduce that toll, CSIR has developed a compostable plastic. Outside experts say that for very specific applications in which plastic waste is hard or nearly impossible to collect, such as agricultural mulch films, biodegradable plastic may be a useful solution. Products made from CSIR’s plastic alternative can biodegrade within 180 days or, combined with organic waste, turn into compost within 90 days, leaving no toxic residues.

Not all “biodegradable” plastic is what it is purported to be, however.

Thanks to equipment provided by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Government of Japan, CSIR hosts the only laboratory in Africa with the capacity to test plastics that are promoted as biodegradable. Not only does this enhance transparency but the process can also identify any problematic types of new material.

The council has also created the #SolvePlasticsAfrica Hub, an open-source online platform that can help foster solutions, knowledge-sharing and collaboration between private and public sector partners across the continent.

“We don't want to do research that only ends up in the lab. We want to see this being translated where it makes an impact. We want to see the commercialization and scaling up of some of the solutions that we've developed,” Dlamini said.

CSIR employs about 2,400 staff, of whom 1,600 are scientists, researchers and engineers. The council’s cutting-edge research has led to numerous breakthroughs outside of plastics, including the development of a stem cell technology that could hold the key to finding cures to some of Africa's most prevalent diseases. Other highlights include techniques to genetically engineer pearl millet to boost its nutritional value and a high-resolution mapping tool to manage South Africa’s forests and monitor their biodiversity.

“We are not just about making materials or blending polymers,” said Maya Jacob John, a principal researcher at CSIR. “In the long run, [our goal] is solving problems, including plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.” 

About the UNEP Champions of the Earth

The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)Champions of the Earth honours individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. The annual Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour. #EarthChamps 

About the #BeatPollution campaign

To fight the pervasive impact of pollution on society, UNEP launched #BeatPollution , a strategy for rapid, large-scale and coordinated action against air, land and water pollution. The strategy highlights the impact of pollution on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and human health. Through science-based messaging, the campaign showcases how transitioning to a pollution-free planet is vital for future generations. 

An attorney and member of California’s Indigenous Yurok Tribe, Amy Bowers Cordalis has spent decades striving to restore the natural flow of the Klamath River in the United States.

The Klamath, which runs through the states of Oregon and California, was once the third-largest salmon-producing waterway in the Western United States. But four hydroelectric dams – built between 1911 and 1962 – stifled the river’s flow, decimating local salmon populations. The fish are a keystone species and vital to the Yurok’s way of life.

In October, though, Cordalis and the Yurok celebrated as crews razed the last of the Klamath’s four dams. The demolition was the result of a seismic 2022 decision in which federal regulators greenlit the removal of the dams and the restoration of the river.

The ruling marked the culmination of decades of Yurok advocacy, protests and legal action. Cordalis played a key role in the effort. She led the appeal to regulators and helped forge a negotiated agreement with California, Oregon and the dams’ owner that resulted in the decommissioning of the structures.

“I thought we were going to be the generation that witnessed the collapse and complete death of the river,” she says. “But now we will be the generation that sees the rebirth and restoration of our ecosystem, our culture and our lifeblood.”

For her commitment to Indigenous rights and environmental stewardship, Cordalis has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Inspiration and Action category. She is one of six laureates in the 2024 cohort.

“Indigenous Peoples are on the frontline of global conservation. Empowering them can help foster healthy ecosystems for all,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “Amy Bowers Cordalis’ relentless activism and community mobilization has led to a decisive victory for ecosystem health and environmental stewardship. This can inspire activists and Indigenous rights defenders everywhere.”

Rivers at risk

Rivers are arteries of life for humans, wildlife and ecosystems. More than 140,000 species rely on freshwater habitats, rivers and lakes, for their survival.

Yet few rivers globally remain in their natural, free-flowing state, and they are increasingly threatened by myriad factors, including pollution, land conversion and climate change. River flow has decreased in 402 basins globally, a five-fold jump since 2000, according to UNEP data.

Few people understand this better than Cordalis and her fellow Yurok, who are the largest Native American tribe in California, with more than 5,000 members, according to the tribe.

Known as the “salmon people”, the Yurok have historically depended on the fish as a source of sustenance and a cornerstone of their culture. But dams on the Klamath prompted seasonal toxic algae blooms, which change temperatures and fuel diseases, diminishing water quality, say California officials. Growth in populations and settlements has further increased pressure on the river.

In 2002, the federal government diverted water from the Klamath for agriculture, resulting in low river flows. This proved fatal for at least 34,000 adult salmon. 

“It was like seeing your entire family being murdered in front of your eyes,” Cordalis recalls. “It was a form of ecocide.”

Combining culture, science and law

The fish death traumatized but also galvanized the Yurok, who ramped up their activism to remove the dams, collaborating with other communities, scientists, commercial fishers and environmental groups.

For Cordalis, it was a defining moment that inspired her tojoin law school and later become general counsel for the Yurok Tribe.

When she took up the role in 2016, the Klamath had one of its lowest salmon runs on record, forcing the Yurok to close its commercial fishery. Inspired by her great-uncle’s legacy – his Supreme Court win in 1973 reaffirmed the Yurok Tribe’s land rights and sovereignty – Cordalis launched a series of legal actions that have helped to sustain salmon populations.

In 2020, she formed the non-profit Ridges to Riffles to provide advocacy and policy support for Indigenous communities to protect and restore their natural resources.

Gabriel Paun doesn’t know how he’s survived this long.

The 47-year-old Romanian environmental defender has been assaulted, stalked, threatened and driven off the road. After years of cataloguing illegal logging in Romania’s national forests, he says he has a bounty on his head.

“I'm not upset or angry or worried. Nothing to complain about,” Paun says with a wry smile. “I can't explain why I have survived so many times. But I'm happy because I can do more.”

There’s an unsettling ease with which Paun describes decades of run-ins with what he calls the “forest mafia” – a collection of rogue loggers that observers say are wreaking havoc on some of the last remnants of Europe’s old-growth forests.

“I'm not fighting only for the trees, but for the entire forest ecosystem, including the thousands of species that live under and above ground,” Paun tells the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Primary and old-growth forests are of the utmost importance. I have all the reason to dedicate my life and career to them.”

For his efforts to defend the environment in the face of grave danger, Paun has been named a 2024  Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Inspiration and Action category. Paun is one of six laureates in the 2024 cohort. 

“As ecosystems around the world are degraded and destroyed, environmental defenders stand as nature’s truest allies. Yet they continue to endure physical attacks, smear campaigns and other hardships,” says Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “Gabriel Paun’s brave, impactful actions make him an inspiration to environmental defenders across the globe who are seeking to protect forests and ecosystems from destruction.”

Treefall

Romania is home to two-thirds of Europe’s last remaining old-growth forests, according to the European Union. Those forests are primarily nestled along the Carpathian Mountains. They provide essential ecosystem services, climate regulation and flood control, to millions. They’re also home to some of Europe’s largest populations of big carnivores, including lynx, brown bears and wolves.

Yet forests in the country have been under siege for decades. In 2019, Romania’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, said over half of all logging in Romania was unauthorized. The European Union says the practice is fuelling deforestation.

In 2009, Paun founded the non-government organization Agent Green to expose environmental crimes in Romania. Despite a limited budget and small team, Agent Green says it has helped save tens of thousands of hectares of primary and old-growth forests. In December 2023, it reported that it prevailed in years-long lawsuits against logging in the Domogled-Valea Cernei National Park, effectively protecting over 29,000 hectares of forests.

“The name ‘Agent’ speaks for itself: We stand for investigations,” Paun says. “But we also work with scientists to document particular forests and show the authorities – or the owners, if it's a private one – that it's a precious forest, and it's worth preserving.”

Paun says his organization is dedicated to non-violence. But his opponents don’t always sing from the same hymn sheet.

Bodily harm

On a chilly winter day in 2014, Paun tracked a truck exiting Romania’s oldest national park, the Retezat, loaded with lumber. Paun covertly followed the truck until it arrived at a sawmill. Camera in hand, he approached the factory entrance to document the crime.

In response, one security guard pepper-sprayed him.

In another incident in the Retezat in 2015, Paun says he was attacked and suffered serious injuries to his ribs, head and hand. Footage of the incident has since garnered nearly 150,000 views.

A European Parliament briefing in 2023 expressed “particular concern” after investigations revealed that “cases of violence and murder against whistle-blowers and foresters are surging” in the country.

Globally, over 1,700 environmental defenders from 61 countries were murdered between 2012 and 2021, according to a UNEP report .

“Environmental defenders are in terrible isolation. Our opponents are more or less happy that we are very few, and that makes us very vulnerable,” Paun says.

In the courts

Agent Green says it has filed “hundreds” of lawsuits to prevent illegal logging. The group has brought some of its cases to European institutions in a process Paun terms “a never-ending story.”

Yet Paun remains optimistic that environmental justice will prevail. He’s also extending his work beyond Romania, advocating at international summits and meetings with development agencies.

His latest project is the establishment of a shared peace park in the Carpathians, one of Europe's few truly wild areas at the Ukraine-Romania border.

“For wildlife and all the other species, there are no boundaries. The only boundary exists in our very own minds,” Paun says. “Our vision is also for people to live without borders. So it's a very symbolic project. And I think it's ecological diplomacy at its best.”

Ultimately, Paun says his inspiration comes from the beauty of nature.

“All the threats I've endured mean little or nothing to me,” he says. “I have to keep going because I cannot unlearn what I learned. And I learned that the planet is suffering and needs healing. If I stopped, then I would be morally dead. And to me, moral death is the most painful death of all.”

Amid the rolling sand dunes and jagged stone pillars of China’s Ulan Buh Desert, hundreds of scientists are gathered at the Desert Forestry Experimental Centre.

Located in Inner Mongolia’s Bayannur City, they pore over data and prepare drought-resistant saplings under the watchful guidance of Lu Qi, Chief Scientist of the Chinese Academy of Forestry. Their goal is to fight off desertification and nurture a green oasis in one of China’s most inhospitable landscapes.

The Ulan Buh is one of the country’s major deserts, and part of a desert ecosystem that covers more than one-fifth of China’s land. The country has struggled for millennia with desertification. Climate change has made the process worse. The creeping sands threaten farmland and villages, and cause more than US$9 billion in direct economic losses each year.

China, though, has a seemingly simple solution: plant and sustain strips of forests to block desert expansion. Success, however, is contingent on rigorous research into water scarcity, technological advancement and even multilateral cooperation.

Lu has expertise in all of these challenges. In a career spanning three decades, he has led more than 50 scientific projects, published over 180 peer-reviewed papers, written 20 books and has helped China implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The 61-year-old is channelling that experience into revitalizing the desert.

“The important driving force behind combating desertification is not just to protect nature but also to protect our own living environment,” Lu tells the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

For his efforts to address desertification through science and multilateral engagement, Lu has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Science and Innovation category. Lu is one of six laureates in 2024.

“Desertification and drought are devastating the planet and human well-being,” says Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “But by combining science and policy, Lu Qi has shown that it is possible to counter land degradation, help communities adapt to climate change and create a better future for millions.”

Seeing the desert for the trees

Lu’s early academic pursuits centred around forestry; he never saw the desert until he was in his thirties and had completed his doctorate in ecology. But combating desertification falls under the forestry industry’s umbrella, underpinning China’s stance that reforestation and afforestation, the planting of trees where there were none before, are among the key solutions.

Lu says his “passion for exploring the unknown” led him to China’s landmark Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program. Dubbed the “Great Green Wall”, the initiative was launched in 1978 and is the world’s largest afforestation project, according to researchers. It covers more than 30 million hectares across the country’s northern reaches. China hopes it will extend to over 400 million hectares – an area larger than India and Egypt combined – by 2050.

Lu has played an important role in the project – from collecting data in the field during his early career to analyzing desertification strategies in the lab. He is the founding president of the Institute of the Great Green Wall in Beijing, which provides scientific and technological support to major national ecological projects. The institute also engages in multilateral cooperation via training workshops and conferences, which Lu says gives other countries access to “China's wisdom and solutions”.

“Forests play a crucial role in water conservation and soil preservation. They are also closely linked to people's quality of life, income, and food security,” Lu says. Earlier this year, the government reportedly pledged US$1.7 billion to reinforce the Three-North initiative.

According to China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, its results have been encouraging. At the end of the twentieth century, deserts in China were expanding by 3,436 square kilometres a year. In comparison, from 2009, deserts have been shrinking by 2,424 square kilometres per year, with up to 8.8 million hectares of China’s desertified areas turned into green land since 2016. This is restraining soil erosion, improving living conditions for desert communities and providing a buffer against sandstorms for villages and even major cities, like Beijing. Forests also sequester twice as much carbon as they emit, contributing to climate change mitigation.

“The Three-North Project is not just an ecological governance project – it is also a comprehensive strategic plan that tightly integrates regional economic development with people's happiness and well-being,” Lu says.

New frontiers

On a brisk and clear autumn day, Lu surveys the rough terrain of the Ulan Buh Desert. Power lines stretch across swathes of sand while pockets of green shoots and trees pepper an otherwise grey-brown landscape. In the distance, construction trucks and farmers are reshaping land and expanding irrigation canals that draw water from the Yellow River.

The area has struggled against the encroaching desert for hundreds of years, says Lu. Now, it exemplifies China’s desertification management efforts.

Under Lu’s supervision, researchers have identified and collected saplings of drought-resistant plants suitable for the region. The institute has already converted more than 11,000 hectares of desert into fertile land in the Ulan Buh, Lu says.

But the fight is far from over.

“Combating desertification requires comprehensive participation throughout the entire process, across all dimensions and regions,” Lu says. “Our work goes beyond policy suggestions; it includes providing technical support, data analysis and solutions, all of which are outcomes of our research team.”

Lu has provided his expertise to the UN Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility and several other international organizations at the forefront of global desertification action. Many of his research papers and books also focus on policymaking and offer best practices to mitigate desertification, land degradation and drought through multilateral cooperation.

The State Council of China named Lu as a counsellor in 2024 to help guide the government’s approach to critical issues. The appointment is the latest landmark in Lu’s influence in the policymaking sphere. It is also testament to his and China’s innovative approach to a centuries-long problem.

“We live in a ‘sea of sand,’” he says, quoting a Chinese idiom. “This scenery is both awe-inspiring and full of potential. Therefore, my wish and expectation are that more people will realize this and actively participate in the great cause of desert governance and ecological restoration.”

Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil learned from a young age the importance of respecting the rights of the least fortunate.

One of Gadgil’s most formative early memories was accompanying his father – an economist and statesman – on a visit to a hydroelectric project in India’s Maharashtra state. Deforestation was rampant in the surrounding areas and Gadgil’s father often questioned the trade-offs India was making.

“My father said to me: ‘We need this electricity, and we need India to progress industrially. But should we be paying the price, which is environmental destruction and suffering for local people?’” recalls Gadgil.

“This empathy for people, along with a love of nature, was imbued in me at a very young age.”

Such experiences shaped Gadgil’s approach to ecology. In a scientific career that has spanned six decades – taking him from the halls of Harvard University to the upper echelons of India’s government – Gadgil has always considered himself a “people’s scientist”.

His research has helped to protect marginalized people, promote the community-driven conservation of ecosystems, from forests to wetlands, and influence policymaking at the highest level.

Of the seven books and at least 225 scientific papers he has written, Gadgil’s landmark work, dubbed the Gadgil Report, called for the protection of India’s ecologically fragile Western Ghats mountain range in the face of growing threats from industry and the climate crisis.

For his vast contributions, Gadgil has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Lifetime Achievement category. He is one of six laureates in the 2024 cohort.

“Science can help us find solutions to the devastating loss of nature our world is experiencing. Madhav Gadgil has demonstrated this for decades,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “His work has advanced conservation while demonstrating a deep respect for people and community knowledge, bringing to the fore lasting solutions for some of India’s most-pressing environmental challenges.”

Land degradation and disasters

Nearly a third of India’s land is degraded, leaving communities dangerously exposed to disasters. Landslides in the southern state of Kerala in 2024 killed more than 200 people in one of the region’s worst disasters in years. The rainfall that triggered the landslides was made more intense by human-caused climate change, while quarrying and deforestation may have weakened the affected slopes, according to a recent report by a global network of scientists.

The Gadgil Report raised the alarm in 2011 about the negative impacts of unchecked development on the area. Commissioned by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Gadgil and other scientists recommended categorizing ecologically sensitive areas across the Western Ghats and ensuring development is “environment-friendly and people-oriented”. The report has gathered significant media attention over the years, making a strong push for ecological protection in the region. The World Heritage Committee and the International Union for Conservation of Nature also reviewed the report’s findings when considering the Western Ghats’ nomination as a World Heritage Site.

While the area remains under pressure, Gadgil believes he has helped reframe the discourse around ecological protection and restoration efforts across India.

“Communities are exercising their rights to their land and natural resources. They are getting organized, and we must work with them,” he says. “We must continue along the path of inclusive development and conservation.”

That’s a well-trodden path for Gadgil.

Throughout his decades-long tenure at the Indian Institute of Science, where he founded the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Gadgil has worked closely with forest dwellers, farmers and fishing communities, not to mention activists and policymakers.

One of his biggest achievements through the centre was the establishment of India’s first biosphere reserve in 1986. Gadgil carried out ecological reconnaissance in three states in the Western Ghats and recalls how he spoke and trekked with, and even lived among the forest communities in sacred groves.

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is now the largest protected area in India, and Gadgil’s championing of community-led conservation efforts and resource management has proved vital in preserving land and biodiversity in a region where habitat degradation and forest fragmentation have long been rife.

As a member of several government agencies and committees, including the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Council, Gadgil was one of the architects of India’s Biological Diversity Act and was involved in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.

With these laws, Gadgil has helped forest communities establish registers to monitor biodiversity in local ecosystems. These also enable communities to take stock of and make best use of forest products such as bamboo, fruits, fish and plants.

In one village in Maharashtra, local conservationists found toxic chemicals discharged into a river were hurting fish populations, according to Gadgil. Several nearby villages agreed to ban the chemicals and the river’s biodiversity has since improved, he explained.

Some villages have also used the biodiversity registers to document the environmental fallout of quarrying and fight against the practice in court, the ecologist added.

“Positive things are happening in many villages, and it is heartening to see,” Gadgil says.

Inspiring India’s youth

Gadgil’s wide-ranging contributions throughout the years have earned him some of India’s highest civilian honours – including the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards – as well as the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Volvo Environment Prize.

Despite his storied career, Gadgil is not one to rest on his laurels.

Looking to the future, Gadgil has been mentoring village youths about their community forest rights while helping them to better understand their surrounding ecosystems.

He proudly cites the example of one boy, who was trained to take photos of plants and identify species with his smartphone. Local botanists saw an unusual flower he had posted online, identified it as a rare ground orchid, and published a scientific paper that featured the boy as a co-author, according to Gadgil.

Ultimately, the ecologist believes that technological advances and the increase in publicly available scientific information will inspire more communities to fight for their rights. That is critical, he believes, with India facing the worsening effects of the climate crisis.

In his early 80s now, Gadgil plans to keep pushing for the conservation of India’s most fragile ecosystems.

“I have the satisfaction that as a scientist, empathetic to the people, I have been able to do various things which have helped in changing the direction of what is happening,” Gadgil says. “I'm a durable optimist – and hopeful that this progress will continue to gather pace.”

The SEKEM story begins in the Egyptian desert with a tent, a tractor and a piano.

In 1977, the initiative’s founder, Ibrahim Abouleish, returned to Egypt after 20 years working abroad in chemistry and pharmacology.

At the time, Egypt was facing a dilemma. It had to feed a fast-growing population, but its agricultural sector was underdeveloped, farmland was being lost to the desert, and the overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers was poisoning soils.

So, on an untouched swathe of desert northeast of Cairo, Abouleish set up a tent and founded SEKEM. Named after a hieroglyph for “vitality of the sun”, the organization soon became a hotbed of biodynamic agriculture, a form of organic farming that emphasizes harmony between nature, human development and spirituality.

Abouleish’s first two investments were a tractor and – much to the bemusement of local small-scale farmers – a piano.

His son, Helmy, SEKEM’s current chief executive officer, says the piano symbolized the importance of “emotions and feelings” in reconnecting humanity with nature. The two would lead SEKEM together until Ibrahim’s death in 2017.

“For my father, it was always about building a relationship with the desert where, out of basically nothing, you create an organism,” Helmy Abouleish says with a smile during an interview with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Now, 47 years after its founding, SEKEM has blossomed into a multifaceted development organization that is helping to counter desertification, build resilient food systems, tackle rural poverty and address the climate crisis. By the end of the year, SEKEM says it will have helped 15,000 farmers switch to biodynamic agriculture since 2022, extending the practice across some 19,000 hectares of farmland.

SEKEM’s rehabilitation of degraded lands and deserts into functional and productive ecosystems provides a much-needed reprieve for imperiled ecosystems, experts say. Globally, 12 million hectares of land capable of producing 20 million tonnes of grain are lost due to drought and desertification each year.

For its efforts to address land degradation and desertification while fostering sustainable development, SEKEM has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Entrepreneurial Vision category. SEKEM is one of six laureates in the 2024 cohort.

“Too often, the way that humanity produces food is simply unsustainable. This threatens both the natural world and our long-term ability to feed ourselves,” says Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “SEKEM shows that it is possible to make food systems work for people and planet, which is vital for overcoming environmental crises like desertification and restoring humanity’s balance with nature.”

Sowing the seeds

For millennia, agriculture has been a cornerstone of Egypt’s economy. It provides livelihoods for 55 per cent of the country’s population, but decades of encroaching deserts, land degradation and overpopulation have made assuring food security a challenge, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

In a race to meet rising food demand and support a population in which over a quarter of people live in poverty, Egypt has long relied on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These are often viewed as the cheapest way to boost yields. But when overused, they can leach into groundwater and weaken soil structure, eroding land and eventually giving way to the desert.

SEKEM eschews chemical fertilizers. It works with farmers across the country to ensure a wide variety of plants and animals – from honeybees to owls – are present on farms, essentially creating mini ecosystems. SEKEM extols the benefits of plant residue and animal manure to boost crop yields. This closed cycle maintains soil health and helps make farms more resilient to desertification.

Biodynamic agriculture can also provide a much-needed boon in the fight against the climate crisis, experts say. Healthy soil is among the most effective means of storing planet-warming carbon. Soil is also home to more than 25 per cent of global biological diversity and supports most life above ground, according to the FAO.

Harvesting hope

SEKEM says it aims to help 40,000 farmers transition to biodynamic farming by the end of 2025 in partnership with the Egyptian Biodynamic Association. By 2028, the goal is to reach 250,000 farmers with farms spanning 1.6 million acres.

The scenario is a far cry from SEKEM’s early days, when biodynamic agriculture was an untested concept in Africa, says Abouleish.

“My father wanted to prove that you can rethink the economy, rethink agriculture,” he says. “He called his vision the ‘Economy of love’.”

Among SEKEM’s other endeavours is an effort to reclaim 1,000 hectares of desert and establish a self-sufficient community. With 96 per cent of Egypt’s land being desert, the aptly named “Greening the Desert” programme aims to feed tens of thousands of people while sequestering carbon.

From a tent in the untouched desert, SEKEM has burgeoned into a leading development organization. It runs schools, training centres and a university, preparing farmers and youth to combat land degradation and desertification.

SEKEM sells organic products locally and globally, and its partnerships with European banks and international alliances enables continued investment in biodynamic farming methods in Egypt. The initiative’s diverse portfolio includes specialized companies spanning natural pharmaceuticals, textiles, and more.

After Ibrahim Abouleish’s passing in 2017 – SEKEM’s 40th anniversary – Helmy Abouleish and the organization established a plan that would guide it through 2057. That plan includes extending biodynamic farming to Egypt’s 7 million farmers.

“Unless we reach them, we will not have achieved our original vision,” Abouleish says. “A lot of people told us this is a mission impossible. But we are specialists in mission impossible. We love mission impossible.”

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.

The Paro Resolution on Environment and Sustainable Development, declared in May 1990, states that Bhutan's natural resources base is central to a sustainable and prosperous future of the country. The development of a National Environmental strategy that will ensure the careful stewardship and sustained use of these natural resources was urged. Development should be pursued on a middle path thus ensuring that new industries, new agricultural markets and new forestry products will be carefully developed with respect to their broader environmental ramifications.

Bhutan’s success in preserving its natural resources has been possible because of the country's recent entry into the economic development process, as well as the Buddhist faith, an important factor in all aspects of Bhutanese life.

Bhutan is developing a National Environment Secretariat and an Environmental Trust Fund, as well as new legislation and policies to ensure sustainable utilization of resources, promote community involvement in environmental activities, improve land use planning, and integrate traditional with modern natural resource use practices. Additionally, Bhutan will attempt to base economic growth on environmentally sound technologies, expand environmental education, and develop a family planning policy.

Bhutan boasts the most varied habitats and a rich array of animal and plant species. Under Bhutanese law, 60% of the kingdom will remain forested for all time. There is currently an astonishing array of plants - more than 5500 species, including over 300 medicinal strains. There are 165 species of mammals, including many rare and endangered animals such as the golden langur, the snow leopard and the red panda. To date, 770 species of birds have been recorded, including the rare and endangered black-necked crane.

A progressive integrated conservation and development programme reconciles the needs of the community with environmental protection, the foundation of Bhutan's entire economic ethos. National parks sustain important ecosystems and have not been developed as tourist attractions. In many cases one would not even be aware that one is entering or leaving a protected area.

Bhutan ranks in the top 10% of countries with the highest species density on earth, and it has the highest fraction of land in protected areas as well as the highest proportion of forest cover of any Asian nation.

Development in Bhutan is guided by principles that emphasise preservation of both natural and cultural heritage, as well as sustainability from subsistence to a more modern economy. Renewable natural resources remain the most important sector, and in 1998 contributed 36.1% of the Gross Domestic Product. Thus, short-term profit at the expense of long-term loss of natural heritage is not for Bhutan. Its cautious approach puts conservation first and relegates economic benefits to a secondary role.

By the late 1970s, Bhutan had established an extensive system of protected areas. Since then, among other actions, the nation has:

• Established the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation to provide    long-term financing for conservation;
• Revised and identified nine protected areas representative of Bhutan's diverse    ecosystems, comprising 26% of land area;
• Established the Nature Conservation Division within the Department of Forestry    Services, with a mandate to oversee and manage protected areas;
• Pledged to maintain, in perpetuity, at least 60% of land as forests;
• Enacted the National Plant Quarantine Act (1993) to control the movement of diseases, insects and other pests;
• Included provisions for establishing protected areas and conservation regulations in the Forest and Nature Conservation Act (1995);
• Ratified the international conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change (1995);
• Adopted the National Biodiversity Action Plan (1998);
• Adopted the Middle Path, a National Environmental Strategy (1998);
• Initiated a National Biodiversity Programme to oversee ex-situ conservation and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity (1998);
• Legislated environmental assessments for all development and industrial     activities (2000);

Guiding principles for the future development of Bhutan are complemented by a unifying concept the distinctly Bhutanese notion of Maximizing Gross National Happiness (MGNH). The aim of MGNH is to promote important values and to provide direction to the Kingdom's long-term development, and the concept must be translated into tangible goals. Towards this end, five themes are identified and provide powerful objectives for steering the process of change: human development, the promotion and preservation of culture and heritage, balanced and equitable socio-economic development, good governance, and environmentally sustainable development.