Amazon Indigenous Woman among Environment Prize Winners

Amazon Indigenous¹ Woman among Environment Prize Winners

Alessandra Korap, a Munduruku Indigenous woman from the Brazilian Amazon, has been awarded a 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize.

The respected award honors six activists³ from six continents who work on grassroots efforts to help the environment. The prize was established in 1989. The Goldman Prize defines grassroots leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen involvement.

Korap is a member of the Munduruku people of the Amazon rain forest. She saw roads, farms and cities coming closer to her village throughout the 1980s. The settlers, loggers and miners posed a threat to the 14,000 Munduruku people, who lived along the Tapajos River.

She and other women worked to organize protests against the outsiders. They presented information to the Brazilian government about illegal agreements that gave the developers access to native land.

The work led to the Brazilian government creating a protected area in the rain forest.

Korap's work earned the Goldman Prize on Monday. She said the prize, which comes with a monetary⁴ award, will "draw attention" to the protected rainforest area, which is her group's "top priority, along with the expulsion of illegal miners."

In Brazil, there continue to be problems defending native land from miners. Some, however, hope that will change with the work of the country's Ministry⁵ of Indigenous Peoples.

But Korap is still concerned that Brazil's economy depends on exports such as beef and soybeans that require more and more land. She says the new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks about protecting land but he also negotiates economic agreements with other nations.

Other prize winners are:

Tero Mustonen, a university professor and activist² in Finland. Mustonen led a group to purchase a piece of land damaged by industrial activity.

Delima Silalahi, a Batak woman from North Sumatra, Indonesia. She organized native groups to fight for their rights to protect forests.

Chilekwa Mumba, an organizer from Zambia who helped people from an area hurt by copper⁶ mining.

Zafer Kizilkaya of Turkey, a conservationist and photographer who worked to create the first community-managed protected area in the Mediterranean⁷ Sea.

Diane Wilson, an American shrimp⁸ boat captain who won a legal case against a plastics company who discharged plastic waste into the Gulf⁹ of Mexico in Texas.

Words in This Story

grassroots –adj. something small or at a very local level

positive –adj. for the benefit of many, something good

logger –n. a person who earns money by cutting trees and selling the wood

pose –v. to present or to make known

access –n. a place of entry

priority –n. something that is important

expulsion –n. the act of sending someone or something away

1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。