C‘It’s an invisible thread that joins Nigeria to Alaska, the forests of Colombia to the courts of London and the classrooms of Seoul to the remote shores of Papua New Guinea. It is a thread made of tenacity, care and a vision that does not accept compromise when the future of the earth is at stake. This year, that thread has been intertwined to draw a new and powerful portrait: for the first time in the history of Goldman environmental prizebetter known as the “Nobel for the environment”, the podium is entirely occupied by women.
Nobel for the environment: an all-female record
Established in 1989, this recognition does not reward big names in politics or science, but the “basic heroes”: ordinary people who, faced with environmental abuse in their neighborhood or community, decide not to look the other way.
The 2026 edition, however, marks a cultural turning point, suggesting that the defense of nature speaks a feminine language today, more than ever. Like that of the six winning activists: six stories of resistance that start from the bottom, from the dust of the streets and classrooms, to change the laws of their countries.
Iroro Tanshi, the keeper of bats in the Nigerian forests
But who are they and what mission did these six women undertake? In Africa, the mission of the biologist Iroro Tanshiit began with the rediscovery of the short-tailed roundleaf bat, a species thought to be nearly extinct.
Tanshi he understood that the sworn enemy of this small mammal it wasn’t just the weather, but the human-started forest fires. Because of this it was not limited to academic research, but created a network of volunteer firefighters among local community residents, patrolling thousands of farms around the Afi Mountains Wildlife Sanctuary. Thanks to this human shield, dozens of outbreaks have been extinguishedsaving not only the bat’s habitat, but also the forests that provide air and resources to thousands of people.
Theonila Roka Matbob, from the wounds of war to the rebirth of the earth
In the Pacific Islands, Theonila Roka Matbob’s story is a tale which has its roots in a painful past. Matbob experienced first-hand the devastating effects of the Panguna mine in Papua New Guinea. a project that has gutted forests and fueled a bloody civil war in which he lost his father.
After thirty-five years of silence and abandonment of the site by multinationals, the activist led an unprecedented diplomatic battle. She managed to bring Rio Tinto, one of the most powerful mining giants in the world, to the negotiating table, obtaining a historic agreement for the reclamation of still contaminated land and water.
The winners of the most important award in the world for ecological activism (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)
Alannah Acaq Hurley, courage against the giants of extraction
Moving to North America, Indigenous leader Alannah Acaq Hurley defended the beating heart of Alaska: Bristol Bay. Here, a monumental gold and copper mine project threatened to destroy the world’s largest wild salmon sanctuary.
Hurley, leader of a coalition of native tribes, he fought for years to ensure that the voices of ancestral peoples were heard. The result was a historic veto by the EPA, or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which definitively blocked the excavation. Not a personal victory, but one that protects millions of acres of wilderness and guarantees the survival of a thousand-year-old culture linked to the rivers.
Borim Kim, the legal revolution that protects tomorrow
In Asia and Europe, the battle has moved from the woods to the courtroom, turning laws into climate shields. In South Korea, the young activist Borim Kim led the movement Youth 4 climate actionYouth Climate Action, in a lawsuit against the state.
The Constitutional Court ruled in her favor, establishing that not having clear climate objectives for the future, violates the fundamental rights of the new generations. The ruling thus forced the government to drastically reduce carbon emissions, setting a precedent that now inspires young people across the Asian continent.
The “(Sarah) Finch Sentence”
In England, Sarah Finch got what is now called the “Finch ruling”. After ten years of battles against oil drilling in Surrey, the Supreme Court has established a revolutionary principle: when authorizing an extraction projectit is necessary to calculate not only the pollution produced by the construction site, but also the impact of fossil fuels once they are burned by end consumers.
A sentence that dealt a very hard blow to the oil industry, but which was also and above all a breath of fresh air for European policies.
Yuvelis Morales Blanco: the “no” to fracking in the heart of Colombia
Finally, in South America, the voice of Yuvelis Morales Blanco was raised against the fracking, a technique of extracting gas and oil which involves crushing rocks underground using high-pressure water jets, often very polluting for aquifers.
Despite threats and pressure, Blanco mobilized his community in Puerto Wilches, managing to stop the pilot projects of the national company Ecopetrol. The Colombian Constitutional Court, in fact, confirmed that local populations have the right to free and informed consent before any intervention on their territory.
The legacy of those who never give up
These six extraordinary stories remind us, with the force of reality, that the environment is not an abstract concept at all or a debate confined to the halls of large international summits.
On the contrary, Earth is our backyardit is the river from which we draw water, it is the air that fills our lungs every morning. The prize of 200,000 dollars that each of these activists will receive certainly represents an important recognition and concrete support for their future battles, but it is a small thing compared to the legacy of hope they give to the entire world.
Their victory is tangible proof of the determination of a single person it can really divert the course of events and change the direction of the story.