Alok Shukla Awarded Goldman Environmental Prize 2024

What is Goldman Environmental Prize?

Alok Shukla Goldman Environmental Prize are announced annually to recognize the extraordinary and grassroot level works of people in the field of Environmental Protection. The possible areas to provide Goldman Environmental Prize categorized into 10 points such as Climate & Energy, Drilling & Mining, Environmental Justice, Food & Agriculture, Forests, Freshwater, Land Conservation, Oceans & Coasts, Pollution & Waste, Wildlife Protection. Goldman Prize winners work across a variety of environmental areas, advocating for progress, facilitating local engagement and demanding systemic change to protect our natural world.

The first Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony took place on April 16, 1990 on Earth Day and coincidentally it was the 70^th birthday of Richard. This award distributed to 6 people from 6 continents annually. Each winner receives a bronze sculpture in the shape of an Ourboros, which depicts a serpent biting its tail that is a symbol of nature’s power of renewal. Each winner will get $200,000 as Prize money with Certificate and Bronze Sculpture.

Who Confer the Goldman Environmental Prize?

Goldman Environmental Prize is provided by the Goldman Environmental Foundation that is a Non-Governmental Organization based in San Fransisco, United States of America. Goldman Environmental Foundation that was founded by Richard and Rhoda Goldman in 1989. The Foundation which works in the field of environmental protection and recognizes grassroots environmental heroes from roughly the world’s six inhabited continental regions ex. Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Islands Nations, North America, South and Central America. The Prize recognizes Individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance natural environment, often at great personal risk. The Goldman Prize views Grassroots Leader as those involved in local efforts, where positive changes are created through community or citizen participation. By rewarding ordinary individuals for their outstanding and extraordinary environmental achievements, the Goldman Environmental Foundation hopes to inspire other people to emulate the examples set by the Prize recipients. The foundation has conferred Goldman environmental prize to 226 winners from 95 different Countries.

Alok Shukla, from Chhattisgarh has won the Goldman Environmental Prize 2024 for India for his successful contribution to protect Hasdeo Forest and local environment in Chhattisgarh. Alok Shukla led a successful community that saved 445,000 acres of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. In July 2022, the government cancelled the 21 proposed coal mines in the Hasdeo Aranya Forest which is pristine forests and popularly known as the lungs of Chhattisgarh.

Know about Hasdeo Forest

Hasdeo forest spreads over an area of 657 square Miles and it is dense, biodiverse and one of India’s most extensive forest tracts in India. This forest provides a critical tiger corridor linking neighboring sanctuaries and habitat for appropriately 50 endangered Asian Elephants. This forest is also a home of 25 endangered species including Leopards, Sloth Bears, Grey Wolves, Striped Hyenas, 92 bird species, such as white-eyed buzzard, 167 rare and medicinal plant species.

The forest is also a catchment area for the watershed for the Hasdeo River, which flows into the Mahanadi River and serves as the Watershed for the Hasdeo Bango reservoir, irrigating an area of 741000 acres of agricultural land. Around 1500 tribal people depend on the Hasdeo Aranya forest for their livelihood, cultural identity and sustenance.

Who is Alok Shukla?

Alok Shukla is a convenor with Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (the Save Chhattisgarh Movement). Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan is an informal alliance of grassroots movements across Chhattisgarh. Alok Shukla is also a founding member of the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee) which is a grassroot movement uniting forest dwelling villagers across the region. Alok Shukla had struggle to protect Hasdeo Forest for 12 years in Chhattisgarh and now he has been awarded with Goldman Environmental Prize 2024.

This prize is also awarded to 5 other people from different countries as given below: –

1. Sinegugu Zukulu and Nonhle Mbuthuma, South Africa, Africa for their combined efforts to stop destructive seismic testing for oil and Gas off South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
2. Alok Shukla, Chhattisgarh, India, Asia for their successful effort to protect Hasdeo Forest from 21 Planned Coal Mines in Chhattisgarh that was cancelled by the Central Government in July 2022, after the protest started by the people leading by Alok Shukla.
3. Teresa Vicente, Spain, Europe, for her unprecedented grassroots campaign to save the Unique Ecosystem of the Mar Menor, Europe’s Largest saltwater lagoon from collapse, resulting in September 2022 and helps to granting the legal rights.
4. Murrawah Maroochy Johnson, Australia, Islands & Island Nations for her efforts in blocking the development of the waratah coal mine, which would have destroyed the nearly 20000-acre Bimble box nature refuge and added 1.58 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
5. Andrea Vidurre, United State of America, North America, for her grassroot leadership that persuaded the California Air Resources Board to Adopt two historic transportation regulations that significantly limit trucking and rail emissions. The locomotive rule and California Advanced Clean Fleets Rule is a forward journey to 100% zero emissions for freight truck sales by 2036.
6. Marcel Gomes, Brazil, South and Central America, for his international campaign that directly linked beef from JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, to illegal deforestation in Brazil’s most threatened ecosystem. He created pressure on global retailers to stop selling the illegally sourced meat, leading 6 major European supermarket chain in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to indefinitely boycott the sale of JBS products in December 2021.