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. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Jessica Corbett from Common Dreams

Seven grassroots Earth defenders from around the world were announced on Monday as the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize winners.

“It’s been a tough year for both people and the planet,” said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, in a statement. “There’s so much that worries us, stresses us, outrages us, and keeps us divided. However, for me, these environmental leaders and teachers—and the global environmental community that supports them—are the antidote.”

2025 Goldman Prize winner Carlos Mallo Molina (right) and the Innoceana team work on scuba gear. (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)

“If we apply the same passion and logic that we use in the protection of our own families to our broader communities and ecosystems, then we will win,” she continued. “In these difficult times for environmental activists, these seven individuals serve as powerful reminders of what is possible through determination, resilience, and hope.”

Since 1989, the foundation has awarded the annual prize to individuals from the world’s six inhabited continental regions “for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.”

Africa: Semia Gharbi of Tunisia

Gharbi, a 57-year-old scientist and environmental educator, led a campaign against a corrupt waste trafficking scheme between Italy and Tunisia that led to the arrest of over 40 people from both countries and stronger European Union export rules.

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Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

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Asia: Batmunkh Luvsandash of Mongolia

After being born to a nomadic herder family and working as an electrical engineer for construction and mining projects, 81-year-old Luvsandash used his expertise to fight to protect 66,000 acres of Dornogovi province from extractive activities.

Europe: Besjana “Besi” Guri and Olsi Nika of Albania

The efforts of Guri, a 37-year-old who trained as a social worker, and Nika, a 39-year-old biologist and aquatic ecologist, to safeguard the Vjosa River from a hydropower dam development led to Albania and Europe’s first new national park protecting a wild river and its tributaries.

Islands: Carlos Mallo Molina of the Canary Islands

Mallo Molina, a 36-year-old born in mainland Spain, left his job as a civil engineer specializing in port construction to launch the conservation group Innoceana, which fought to protect the Canary Islands’ marine ecosystem from the proposed Fonsalía Port.

North America: Laurene Allen of the United States

Allen, a 62-year-old clinical social worker, campaigned for the closure of the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and continues to fight for cleanup efforts and stricter regulations regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment and people’s bodies for long periods.

South and Central America: Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari of Peru

Canaquiri Murayari is the 56-year-old president of the Kukama women’s organization Asociación de Mujeres Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kanawon, which won a landmark Rights of Nature court ruling that granted legal personhood to the Marañón River.

This year’s prize winners are set to be celebrated on Monday at an in-person and livestreamed ceremony in San Francisco, California, at 5:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time.

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. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Mayara Souto from BRICS News

BRICS Environment ministers approved a ministerial declaration on Thursday, April 3, at a high-level meeting in Brasilia. In the letter, the countries reiterate the importance of “environmental multilateralism” and “balanced and inclusive global governance” to achieve common goals to protect the environment. “We recognize the urgent need to address global and regional environmental challenges in a collaborative and science-based way,” reads an excerpt from the text.

Environment ministers from the 11 BRICS member countries approved the final declaration of the Environment Working Group on Thursday (March 3). Image: Isabela Castilho/BRICS Brasil

In her opening speech, Brasil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva highlighted the importance of the Global South to multilateralism and international cooperation.
“In the coming decades, the strength of our [BRICS] economies will make us even more influential. Today, we represent about half of the world’s population and 39% of the global GDP [Gross Domestic Product]. More than ever, BRICS is an increasingly fertile space for innovation, rich in cultural diversity, with strategic resources, and an immense quantity and quality of natural capital,” said the minister.

“Our countries are providers of services and ecosystems that are essential to the planet’s balance. They are also essential support to nature-based solutions that are in tune with the Earth’s capacity to assimilate. We are in a good position to lead a fair ecological transition that strengthens a more cooperative and less unequal multipolar world,” continued Marina Silva, who also welcomed the group’s new member countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Global warming

The ministerial declaration on the Environment includes the seven proposals that resulted from discussions regarding the four priority axes presented by the Brazilian presidency — desertification, land degradation, and drought; preservation, restoration, and enhancement of ecosystem services; plastic pollution and waste management; and collective leadership for climate action, in synergy with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The group highlights the impacts of climate change, and the “need to accelerate mitigation and adaptation actions” through the transition of economies to low carbon. The Paris Agreement is recognized in the declaration as an important commitment to the establishment of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — which seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 1.5ºC.

Minister Marina Silva highlighted that BRICS is essential to maintaining this goal, especially in the current international context. “The rise of unilateralism and extremism is jeopardizing global stability and deepening injustices, affecting the most vulnerable populations in particular. This instability is further aggravated in the context of the climate emergency in which we are living. We have broken successive temperature records. Last year was the hottest in history, surpassing the critical limit of 1.5ºC for the first time. In this context, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has reiterated the strategic role of BRICS as a space for dialogue and collective construction of solutions,” she declared.

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What is the contribution of BRICS to sustainable development?

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Nevertheless, the BRICS WG also draws attention to the “national capacities and circumstances” of the group’s countries to combat climate change. The text encourages technology transfer and “adequate climate finance for developing countries,” which is the main challenge of COP30 (the United Nations Climate Conference), also under Brazilian presidency and to be held in November in Belém, Pará.

“BRICS represents almost 50% of the world’s population and almost 40% of the world’s GDP. Therefore, it is an absolutely important group from both a geopolitical and economic standpoint. And, naturally, when we talk about economics, it has everything to do with the issue of climate change — because solutions to climate change are naturally connected to changes in countries’ economies,” said Ambassador and president of COP30 André Corrêa do Lago, who was also present at the event.

The president of COP30 also highlighted the Brazilian presidency at COP for a new type of climate fund. “Financing has been a challenge since the beginning of the Climate Convention negotiations — and it is an extremely difficult and controversial issue. The fund that Brasil is proposing — the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) — is especially innovative. There are different ways to finance forests for each type of activity. There was no formal mechanism designed specifically for forest conservation, and the TFFF addresses exactly that. It seeks to solve a problem that has not yet been solved,” he said.

Technical cooperation

Technical cooperation was highlighted as essential for the BRICS countries to advance in sustainable development. Strategic partnerships and the sharing of initiatives and technologies are being planned towards the group’s objectives. In this sense, the ministers established investment in “research and innovation for the development of green technologies and sustainable solutions.” There is also a provision for the creation of platforms to facilitate the exchange of information and experiences on the subject.

The conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of countries’ natural resources were also presented as a BRICS commitment to “combating the degradation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems.” Moreover, the group urged for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — signed at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada, in 2022. The agreement establishes targets to reverse biodiversity loss by 2050.

Circular economy and integrated waste management were also included in the declaration as a way to reduce plastic and promote recycling. “We reiterate our commitment to eliminating environmental pollutants and developing sustainable value chains,” the document states.

Finally, the BRICS Environment ministers pledge to increase environmental education and raise public awareness regarding environmental responsibility through campaigns, educational programs, and community projects.

According to the text, the initiatives that were jointly signed by BRICS countries will be monitored regularly. “We conclude this Declaration by reaffirming our determination to work together towards a sustainable and prosperous future for all BRICS countries and for the world,” the document concludes.

Marina Silva added that, in addition to the ministerial declaration, the representatives of the 11 member countries also approved a work plan that includes a memorandum of understanding on environmental cooperation for the 2024-2027 period. The document provides for around 50 practical activities in strategic fields such as air quality, environmental education, biodiversity, waste and chemical management, water resources, coastal and marine areas, and climate change.

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