Target countries: Global
Lead members: FAO and UNFF
Contributing members: CIFOR-ICRAF, IUFRO, ITTO
Timeframe: 2025–2028 (continuous since 2012)
Contributions to forest-related goals: GFGs 1 and 3, and forest-related SDGs
External partners: Ad hoc jury, composed of renowned personalities, supports the selection of the winner
The objective is to recognize an individual's outstanding contribution towards forest restoration, sustainable forest products, reducing forest loss, building resilient forest communities and improving livelihoods.
More than ever, Forest Champions are needed to address challenges, such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and unsustainable use of natural resources. Forest Champions, who are on an exemplary path of managing all types of forests and forest landscapes more sustainably, recognizing forests’ multiple values and unlocking the potential of their goods and services, are ambassadors of change and an inspiration for others to engage.
Between 2025 and 2028, activities related to the CPF Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award will follow a biennial cycle. In 2025, the communication and outreach campaign will be developed and launched, together with the call for nominations. This will be followed in 2026 by the selection of the awardee and the organization of the award ceremony. The same process will be repeated in 2027 and 2028, with a new communication and outreach campaign and call for nominations in 2027, leading to the selection of the 2028 awardee and the award ceremony the following year.
The Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award generates medium-term impact by strengthening grassroots-level forest conservation, sustainable use, and restoration efforts through increased visibility, recognition, and support for leadership personalities initiating positive change.
By empowering awardees to scale their innovative solutions—such as reducing deforestation, restoring degraded land, and promoting sustainable forest livelihoods—the Award contributes to climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and improved well-being of forest-dependent communities.
The Award aims to catalyze action that results in measurable outcomes such as increased forest cover, greater use of sustainably sourced forest products, and enhanced capacity of local stakeholders, particularly women and youth, to influence forest policy and management across diverse regions.
The CPF Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award offers both recognition and tangible support to the selected awardee(s). Each awardee will receive a cash prize, as well as travel support to participate in a prestigious international forest event, providing them with an opportunity to present their work, gain visibility, and build their network. Candidates must be nominated by a third party and may be individuals, either living or recently deceased. Professional and research contributions are only eligible if conducted outside of work-related responsibilities, and nominations from family members or business partners are not accepted. An expert jury appointed by CPF members will review all nominations and select the awardee(s), taking into account gender and regional balance. The jury will assess candidates based on four key criteria: their impact on communities (such as reducing forest loss, increasing forest area, promoting sustainable forest products, or addressing human-wildlife conflict); the level and feasibility of innovation in their work (technical, social, or financial); how they empower others, including with regard to social, gender, and youth aspects; and the transferability and scale of their work across different contexts or regions, including through South-South cooperation. Selected awardee(s) will be notified by email in the first half of 2024 and invited to attend the award ceremony at a major international event.
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).
