In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 19th century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge warned of a world where there was “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”. For two of this year’s laureates of the Champions of the Earth award, the importance of waterways to mitigating the effects of climate change has shaped political and legal advocacy that has had a transformative power for environmental stewardship.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, whose commitment to climate rehabilitation made his country the first signatory to the landmark Paris Agreement, has been a tireless advocate of the need to consider the importance of a healthy and functioning ocean to climate change mitigation.
“The science is very clear about the consequences of a global temperature rise of 3 degrees celsius, and we cannot let that happen,” Prime Minister Bainimarama has said. “If nothing is done soon, human survival will be threatened. We cannot afford to take that gamble.”
Oceans are not the only waterways of importance for healthy and sustainable life on Earth, as another of this year’s laureates has shown with her passionate pursuit of environmental justice for the indigenous communities of the Amazon Basin. Nemonte Nenquimo of Ecuador’s Waorani people has won a series of critical legal victories to prevent the auctioning of parcels of land for resource exploitation along the Amazon River.
Drawn from an exceptional pool of nominees, Nenquimo and Prime Minister Bainimarama are among the six laureates to be awarded this year’s tribute to those whose effective action has led to environmental victories that have transformed our societies for the better.
Most striking among their shared attributes is their commitment to living within and in harmony with the natural world – and ensuring that everyone the world over can benefit from a harmonious, not a dissonant, relationship with their environment. These stewards of the Earth and its waterways also hold dearly the values of equity, fairness and inclusion, and see important links between doing no harm to the planet and doing no harm to its inhabitants.
To draw inspiration from their profiles in action, and see what you can do in your own community to join them as an environmental champion, visit this page.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth and the Young Champions of the Earth honour 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. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society and the private sector. Six laureates were announced in December 2020, on the cusp of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030
By showcasing news of the significant work being done on the environmental frontlines, the Champions of the Earth awards aim to inspire and motivate more people to act for nature. The awards are part of UNEP’s #ForNature campaign to rally momentum for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Kunming in May 2021, and catalyze climate action all the way to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021.
