The Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award recognises inspiring individuals who have helped to conserve, restore, and sustainably manage forests. The award was established by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) in 2012 in memory of Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.
Forests have huge climate change mitigation and adaptation potential, provide us with invaluable ecosystem services, host most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and sustain the livelihoods of millions of people. Forests located on indigenous and tribal territories in Latin America alone contain about 14% of the carbon stored in tropical forests. This demonstrates the importance of protecting, valuing, and harnessing forests for climate action.
The loss of forests and biodiversity at alarming rates and continued unsustainable practices are serious issues that need to be tackled to reach the Global Forest Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Almost 90 percent of forest losses between 2000 - 2018 occurred in tropical areas, with rainforests in South America and South-Southeast Asia most affected. Forest management needs to become more attractive than its alternative which is to change land use, and the world’s degraded lands must be urgently restored. Indeed, restoration, afforestation, and agroforestry are crucial if we are to reach the Global Forest Goal of a 3% increase in forest area worldwide by 2030.
More than ever, Forest Champions are needed to address these challenges, advocate for change and inspire others to follow in their exemplary path. Only together with the brightest minds, convincing arguments, innovative and impactful actions, we can manage all types of forests and forest landscapes more sustainably, recognize forests’ multiple values and unlock the potential of their goods and services.
Among the achievements we are looking for in our 2024 Forest Champion are a track record of work:
Note: Applications related to grassroots and youth-led initiatives are particularly encouraged.
Funding: The awardee/s will receive a cash prize of $USD 20,000.
Spotlight: The awardee/s will receive travel support to participate in a prestigious international forest event. This will provide the recipient with the opportunity to present their ideas and work to a larger audience, gain visibility and build their network.
The awardee/s will be selected by an expert jury appointed by CPF members. The jury will consider gender and regional balance when selecting potential awardees.
The awardee/s will be notified of their selection via email in the first half of 2024 and invited to a prestigious international event where the award ceremony will take place.
The CPF launched the first Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award in 2012 to honour and commemorate the impact of the late Kenyan environmentalist, who championed forest issues across the globe. Maathai was the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace in 2004.
Her Green Belt Movement is an environmental organization that empowers communities, and particularly women, to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. The movement has also planted over 51 million trees in Kenya. This spirit is revived through the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which was launched with a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature.
Previous Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award winners are Nepalese community forestry movement leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha (2012), Mexican environmental campaigner Martha Isabel ‘Pati’ Ruiz Corzo (2014), Ugandan forestry activist Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi (2015), Brazilian forestry activist Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva (2017), Burundian forestry activist Léonidas Nzigiyimpa (2019), and Cameroonian activist and social forester Cécile Ndjebet (2022).
