Goldman Environmental Prize

01-05-2024

10:57 AM

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1 min read
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Overview:

Alok Shukla, convenor of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan and founding member of the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, has been awarded the 2024 Goldman Prize from Asia.

About Goldman Environmental Prize: 

  • The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.
  • It is also known as the Green Nobel.
  • It recognizes grassroots environmental heroes from roughly the world’s six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe,Islands & Island Nations, North America and South & Central America
  • The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation.
  • The first Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony took place on April 16, 1990. It was timed to coincide with Earth Day.

Key facts about Hasdeo Aranya region

  • It is a sprawling forest in the northern part of Chhattisgarh which is known for its biodiversity and also its coal deposits.
  • The forest falls under Korba, Surajpur and Sarguja districts with sizeable tribal population.
  • The Hasdeo River, a tributary of Mahanadi, flows through it.
  • It is the largest un-fragmented forests in Central India consisting of pristine Sal (Shorea robusta) and teak forests.

Q1: What is sustainable development?

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Source: Indian forest activist Alok Shukla awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize