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.”
Born in the Amazon rainforest, Sonia Guajajara never expected she would one day make history as the first-ever Indigenous woman to become a minister in Brazil.
But that is what happened in January 2023, when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appointed Guajajara as Minister of Indigenous Peoples. Guajajara, 50, is the first person to hold that role.
Her remarkable journey from activist leader to minister is considered a milestone for Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples, giving them an unprecedented voice in protecting nature and shaping policy about their rights, territory and future.
“Just a few years ago, no one could have imagined an Indigenous minister in Brazil. My appointment enables Indigenous Peoples to dream,” Guajajara tells the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) during an interview in her Brasília office. “Now we can speak for and represent ourselves. We understand that it is time to make a statement: It is time to put our foot down.”
Guajajara’s appointment is the latest step in a career that has seen her increase Indigenous Peoples’ representation in Brazilian politics, oversee the official recognition of Indigenous territory and champion Indigenous rights at major conferences, such as the annual UN Climate Change Summit.
To honour her activism, commitment and political achievements, Guajajara has been named a 2024 Champion of the Earth – the United Nations’ highest environmental honour – in the Policy Leadership category. She is one of six laureates in 2024.
"Sonia Guajajara is a trailblazer for Indigenous rights and a much-needed guardian for the Amazon,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Her decades-long effort to protect the rainforest embodies environmental leadership at its best and is an inspiration for environmental defenders everywhere.”
Threats to land and life
Indigenous Peoples own, use or manage at least a quarter of the world’s land. In areas held or managed by Indigenous communities, nature has generally deteriorated less rapidly than in other lands, experts say.
This is vital in the Amazon – the world's largest tropical forest and a critical carbon sink and home to nearly half of Brazil’s Indigenous population, around 867,900 people.
Despite its global significance as a bulwark against the climate crisis, and its importance to the lives of Indigenous Peoples, the Amazon faces growing dangers from climate change, deforestation, mercury pollution and forest fires.
While deforestation in the Amazon has reportedly slowed since Lula took office in 2023, Indigenous Peoples continue to come under attack from illegal loggers, gold miners and drug traffickers, reports the Indigenist Missionary Council – Cimi.
Guajajara says the government is carrying out operations to “remove invaders from within Indigenous territories”, such as the Yanomami reservation, and that more raids are planned.
The plight of the Yanomami people, who live in Brazil’s largest Indigenous reserve, is the most high-profile example of the nation’s fight against illegal mining and environmental destruction in protected areas.
“With these operations, we want to hand the territory back to Indigenous Peoples so they can live in dignity and according to their own customs,” Guajajara explains.
Brazil has recognized 13 territories as Indigenous land in the last two years. Guajajara says that is nearly the total number approved in the preceding decade.
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples says over 520 Indigenous territories are officially recognized, with nearly 270 more in different stages of the demarcation process. Indigenous territories cover 14 per cent of Brazil's land mass, according to Guajajara.
She would like to see the process accelerated but says it faces opposition from lawmakers who support business interests and consider protected Indigenous areas “unproductive and unprofitable".
“We need to be valued more as Indigenous People,” she says. “When Indigenous rights are at risk, it is not just biodiversity and the environment that are threatened, but also humanity.”
Inspiration and influence
Gujajara worked in teaching and nursing before dedicating herself fully to activism in the early 2000s, with key roles in organizations such as the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon and The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.
In these positions, Guajajara says she sought to not only raise awareness of Indigenous issues and influence policy, but to build alliances and train other indigenous leaders.
“Now, people look at me not just as a minister of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, but as a minister of the Indigenous Peoples of the world,” Guajajara says.
In 2018, she became the first Indigenous person to appear on a presidential ticket. While that run was unsuccessful, in 2022, Guajajara was one of two Indigenous women elected to the National Congress as part of the Bancada do Cocar (Headdress Caucus), which works to advance Indigenous rights.
As minister, she is striving to increase Indigenous participation in politics, implement Indigenous-focused policies and protect biodiversity in the face of the climate crisis and illegal logging and mining.
In the Amazon and across Brazil, Indigenous Peoples are dealing with grave threats, such as droughts, forest fires and malnutrition. They are also subject to violence, intimidation, criminalization, and murder for protecting their land and the environment, says the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.
The priority for Guajajara as minister is to establish more territory as Indigenous land, which grants legal protections under Brazil’s constitution.
“Demarcating Indigenous territories and respecting rights is key to combating the climate crisis,” Guajajara says. “Indigenous People are the greatest guardians of the planet; we are the barriers that prevent greater destruction.”
Guajajara is already looking ahead to next year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in the Brazilian city of Belem. It is the first time a COP will be held in the Amazon, and Guajajara is focused on ensuring that Indigenous delegates are not just heard but included in decision-making.
“We must continue to communicate the importance of Indigenous Peoples and territories – for Brazil, for the world, for the climate,” she says.
Angélique Kidjo, Singer-Songwriter, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and 2011 UNEP Champion of the Earth reflects on Mariam Issoufou’s work and the deep cultural wisdom that shapes her architectural vision.
“I have always believed that Africa holds the answers within her soil, her people, her history, her customs. Mariam Issoufou understands this truth deeply. She turns what others might see as limitation — heat, dust, scarcity — into beauty and hope. Her buildings do more than shelter; they heal. They remind us that progress does not mean abandoning our roots, but rediscovering the wisdom they hold.
As a fellow Champion of the Earth, I recognize in Mariam a kindred spirit — someone who transforms struggle into song. She builds the way a composer writes music: with rhythm, emotion, and a deep awareness of the spaces between notes. Her architecture, like great art, carries a message that transcends borders. It tells us we can live in harmony with the planet, if only we remember how to listen.
Mariam is not only shaping structures; she is shaping possibility. In a century defined by climate crisis, she reminds us that the answers are already here — in the earth beneath our feet, and in the courage to build with love.”
Read the full story: Mariam Issoufou, Principal and Founder, Mariam Issoufou Architects.
The Brazilian research institute using cutting-edge technology to stave off deforestation in the Amazon
Imazon has developed AI deforestation prediction models that inform policies and help law enforcement protect the Amazon rainforest, while promoting sustainable economic growth
The dark green area on a digital map, studded with yellow, orange and red dots, may not mean much to an untrained eye. But for the researchers at the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment, a Brazilian and Amazonian non-profit scientific institution known as Imazon, this map tells a dramatic story of the fight for the survival of the Amazon rainforest – the largest ecosystem in the world that produces 20 per cent of the planet's oxygen.
Each dot is a place where Imazon believes deforestation will occur, and each colour signals the degree of the risk, based on satellite data and artificial- intelligence-based modelling. In 2021, the year of the map’s launch, these dots helped identify 15,000 square kilometres of high-risk forest areas -- 71 per cent of which was subsequently saved; informed more than 4,400 environmental legal cases and helped uncover 99 per cent of illegal deforestation.
"Brazil will not be the same without the Amazon rainforest. And the planet will not be the same," says Carlos Souza, an Associate Researcher at Imazon. The dotted map on his screen, created from satellite imagery, shows the areas facing the threat of deforestation by cattle ranching and logging industries.
The institute has tracked the dynamics of deforestation in the Amazon from 1985 to 2024. Its goal was to not merely engage in a scientific exercise or create a historic record, but to come up with a practical tool that would enable Brazilian society – its government, its law enforcement and its businesses – to work together to prevent further destruction of the Amazon, and at the same time support sustainable economic growth. "I believe we sparked a movement. The Amazon is a great laboratory," Souza says.
Imazon was established 35 years ago through the efforts of American ecologist Christopher Uhl. Uhl came to Brazil as a visiting researcher in the 1980s and grew increasingly concerned about the limited understanding and rare documentation of changes taking place in the Amazon. The creation of the institute marked the emergence of a new generation of scientists specializing in this field.
The organization's first office was a small house, where 15 researchers worked at odd hours, so they could share the only three computers they had. Since then, Imazon has published over a thousand studies, including 144 books.
Today, the institute uses artificial intelligence to analyse large volumes of satellite data and develop accurate prediction models. Of all its deforestation alerts, 73 per cent have occurred within 4 kilometres of the predicted location. These early warnings inform government policies and strengthen law enforcement. "This is a significant paradigm shift that artificial intelligence, cloud computing and new algorithms allow, giving us even more precise information about the near future of the Amazon and helping prevent scenarios of destruction," Souza says.
Imazon's data has been used by institutions like the National Monetary Council, which distributes agricultural credits based on applicants' environmental compliance. The institute also has official partnerships with several prosecutor's offices in the region to eliminate deforestation caused by illegal ranching and logging.
Besides data analysis, Imazon carries out extensive fieldwork with local communities to support sustainable practices and protected forest areas. "Science doesn't come from the outside — it comes from within. So, we bring our research knowledge and connect it with local ancestral knowledge [and] the wisdom of the peoples of the forest — Indigenous, Riverside, and Quilombola Peoples," says Ritaumaria Pereira, Imazon's Executive Director.
One of Imazon's big achievements was helping to break down the false dichotomy between "conservation" and "development." When the organization was established, the conversation surrounding the sustainable use of forest resources was highly polarized.
While some groups refused to believe that sustainable forest management was possible and thought that any timber extraction in the Amazon should be forbidden, others sought to engage in predatory extraction without any protection measures or regulation.
Imazon's research demonstrated that sustainable timber extraction was possible and that forest management regulations could significantly reduce the environmental impact of the industry while maintaining its economic gains.
"In fact, Brazil has already shown that it can do its homework. Between 2004 and 2012, deforestation dropped by 84 per cent. During the same period, the Amazon's GDP more than doubled. And that dismantles the entire notion that economic development is tied to devastation," Pereira says.
However, despite these significant gains that must be acknowledged and celebrated, deforestation in the Amazon remains a pressing issue not only for the governments in the region but for the entire world.
"Even with all this arsenal of tools for monitoring, we continue losing the forest — at a lower intensity, at a lower annual rate, but deforestation continues every year," Souza says. He believes that achieving net zero deforestation is a realistic goal, which can be accomplished through the restoration of deforested and unproductive areas, bringing back biodiversity and capturing carbon.
While Imazon can continue leveraging the newest technology and educating various actors on best forest management practices, success will ultimately depend on the political will and accountability.
"When I started working, I thought the challenge was technological. I thought it was a lack of information. It's not. Today it's clear that what we need are assertive public policy decisions for conservation and sustainable use of Amazon resources," Souza says. Then he adds with an attitude of cautious optimism, indispensable to his work: "It is still possible to win this battle. I am very hopeful. There is still time. But we don't have much time."
Dia Mirza, Model, Actress, SDG Advocate and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador for India, shares a deeply personal reflection on the rising heat in India and the transformative impact of Supriya Sahu’s leadership.
"It's difficult to describe how the heat feels during summer in India. “Oppressive” puts it lightly. It’s as if every sip of water evaporates straight back out through your skin. But what’s even harder to capture in words is how this feels as a mother. It’s both angering and heartbreaking to watch global warming compromise the health and freedom of our children, all the while knowing that they will also inherit this crisis.
I live in Mumbai, and my work as an environmentalist has taken me across India. That is how I first encountered Supriya Sahu’s leadership. For years, she has taken on some of the toughest environmental challenges facing our country — from plastics to wildlife conservation — always ahead of her time, always rooted in service to people and nature.
But it is her work on cooling that resonates with me most deeply. Supriya understands that in a rapidly warming world, cooling is not a luxury — it is a human right. She is transforming how communities protect themselves: restoring nature to lower temperatures in cities, redesigning schools so children can learn safely, and championing solutions that keep people cool without warming the planet. As a mother, and as an Indian, I am profoundly grateful for her vision. Because of leaders like her, countless families will be able to watch their children step into a cooler, kinder future."
Read the full story: Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu
Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition of the European Commission, on the life and legacy of Manfredi Caltagirone, honouring his leadership on one of the most urgent climate battles of our time.
“Manfredi dedicated his career to one of the most urgent fights of our time – reducing methane emissions. Methane is the second-most-powerful greenhouse gas and responsible for a third of today’s warming. As head of the IMEO, Manfredi built a team, a vision and a mission. He knew that open, reliable and actionable data is essential to drive change.
Thanks to his work, governments, companies and communities everywhere are better equipped to cut emissions, to protect people and to build resilience. Every tonne of methane avoided means less global warming, fewer disasters and a safer future for all. Manfredi saw that climate action is possible -- that science, courage and cooperation can change the course of events.
I am so sorry not to be able to count on him today. But his legacy is a reminder we cannot slow down and we cannot step back. Climate action must remain central to our collective agenda. This award is a tribute not only to his achievements, but to his vision, his leadership and his ability to inspire those around him.”
Read the full story: Manfredi Caltagirone, Former Head, UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory.
President Thabo Mbeki and the people of South Africa’s commitment to cultural and environmental diversity and their efforts towards achieving the goals encapsulated in the Millennium Declaration of 2000 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation adopted at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002 are noteworthy.
The people of South Africa have not just made substantial progress in the sustainable development of their own country, they have provided leadership and support for the continent as a whole. President Mbeki is well known as one of the architects of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which has a strong environmental component. South Africa also provided the perfect stage for WSSD, which it hosted under the slogan “People, Planet, and Prosperity”. Holding WSSD in South Africa gave delegates a valuable insight not only into the many formidable challenges that Africa faces, but also into how Africa can and will rise to those challenges.South Africa’s implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation is well on track to meet the Johannesburg targets on water and sanitation. It is also a world leader in conservation practices, through its innovative use of a wide variety of available management tools and its spearheading of the groundbreaking sponsorship of the Peace Parks concept to support cross-border conservation of critically important wild habitats.
With the declaration of four new Marine Protected Areas in 2004, it has also brought almost 19 per cent of its coastline under protection, already nearly achieving the 20 per cent target set at WSSD.As well as being a party to more than 43 multilateral environmental agreements, South Africa has enacted a wide range of domestic legislation, backed up by specialist environmental courts, to protect South Africa’s environment. Laws passed by President Mbeki’s government include instruments to safeguard biological diversity, improve air quality, promote environmental impact assessments in business and industry, implement waste management strategies, and curb the pollution of the environment by plastic bags. South Africa also deserves recognition for the unity with which it is pursuing its sustainable development goals. In the words of Martinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa’s Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, speaking on World Environment Day 2004, there is a “groundswell of support with one shared central theme: the absolute imperative to protect, preserve and promote our natural environment.” Millions of South Africans are striving to make a positive difference. “In homes, businesses, factories, schools, churches and community centres we are experiencing a quiet greening revolution.”There is no doubt that this revolution is taking its lead from the top. As President Mbeki said at the opening session of the meeting of Heads of State and Government at WSSD, “we can and must act in unity to ensure that there is a practical and visible global development process that brings about poverty eradication and human advancement within the context of the protection of the ecology of the planet Earth.” President Mbeki and the people of South Africa are setting an example for the world to follow.
Excerpt from President Thabo Mbeki’s address at the welcome ceremony at WSSD:
“South Africans of many races, colours, cultures and religions are hard at work to achieve peace and national reconciliation.
Proud of the fact that they are Africans and moved by the fact that the peoples of Africa share a common burden of conflict, poverty and underdevelopment, they are determined to work hand in hand with their brothers and sisters throughout the continent, to end five hundred years of suffering and the treatment of Africans by others, as less than human.
These South Africans, who occupy the land that is the cradle of humanity, also know what has happened to the natural environment that enabled the evolution of all life on earth, and the emergence of humanity itself.
Around them they see the degradation of the soil. They know the central importance of water to the sustenance of life. They have seen how the natural forests were decimated.
They know of the depletion of the resources of the giant oceans that meet along our southern coast. They experience the pollution of the earth, the air, the rivers and the seas, caused by human activity. They know of droughts and floods. They experience the environmental suffering borne by slum-dwellers and others immersed in poverty.
Understanding the umbilical cord that ties us to the planet earth, they are determined to do everything possible to save the earth from ourselves, to save the earth for ourselves, to ensure that as it took millions of years for humanity to evolve and emerge, so must humanity survive and develop for millions more years on the basis of a healthy partnership between people and the planet, on the basis of a sustainable relationship between a prosperous world and a healthy environment.
