Q'ORIANKA KILCHER, PABLO FAJARDO MENDOZA et LUIS YANZA. Apr 14, 2008 - San Francisco, California, USA - Ecuadorian legal activists PABLO FAJARDO MENDOZA and LUIS YANZA, the South and Central America region recipients of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize, with American actress and singer, QORIANKA WAIRA QOIANA KILCHER best known for her role as Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World. A cousin of singer Jewel Kilcher, KILCHER's father is a Peruvian artist of Quechua and Huachipaeri descent. KILCHER has been active in campaigning for the rights of women, indigenous people and against petroleum industry contamination of the Amazon River Basin. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, FAJARDO and YANZA led one of the largest environmental legal battles in history against oil giant Chevron, demanding justice for the massive petroleum pollution in the region. The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize given annually to grassroots environmental activists from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $150,000 and was created in 1990 by civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman. Richard Goldman founded Goldman Insurance Services in San Francisco. Rhoda Goldman was a descendant of Levi Strauss, founder of the worldwide clothing company. Winners are selected by an international jury who receive confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals. 14/04/2008
Apr 14, 2008 - San Francisco, California, USA - Ecuadorian legal activists PABLO FAJARDO MENDOZA and LUIS YANZA, the South and Central America region recipients of the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize, with American actress and singer, QORIANKA WAIRA QOIANA KILCHER best known for her role as Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World. A cousin of singer Jewel Kilcher, KILCHER's father is a Peruvian artist of Quechua and Huachipaeri descent. KILCHER has been active in campaigning for the rights of women, indigenous people and against petroleum industry contamination of the Amazon River Basin. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, FAJARDO and YANZA led one of the largest environmental legal battles in history against oil giant Chevron, demanding justice for the massive petroleum pollution in the region. The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize given annually to grassroots environmental activists from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $150,000 and was created in 1990 by civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman. Richard Goldman founded Goldman Insurance Services in San Francisco. Rhoda Goldman was a descendant of Levi Strauss, founder of the worldwide clothing company. Winners are selected by an international jury who receive confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.