Four champions of human rights, climate and the environment have been awarded this year’s Alternative Nobel Prizes in Stockholm. The four Right Livelihood Award winners received the awards in person on Wednesday evening in the Swedish capital.
They include lawyer Marthe Wando from Cameroon, Russian ecologist Vladimir Slyujak, and Frida Husson, who campaigns for Aboriginal rights in Canada, and the India-based Forest and Environment (Life) Legal Initiative.
The Right Livelihood Foundation announced the winners at the end of September. Wandou, Sliwjak, Huson and Life have been honored for their commitment to women’s and girls’ rights, climate and environmental protection and indigenous rights. When the award was announced, Foundation Director Ole von Uexküll said they were bold catalysts who showed what grassroots movements can do.
Hailed in Stockholm, German climate activist Luisa Neubauer hailed Sliujak as someone who, under the most difficult of circumstances, fights for social and climate justice and against coal mining that is burned in German power plants, among other things. Slyugak dedicated the award to all the activists in Russia who fought tirelessly for the climate. This is probably the worst time for activity in Russia right now. “This is the time when the world really needs to get active,” he said. “Because activists are really making a difference.” “Let’s celebrate activism around the world.”
The donation-funded Right Livelihood Awards, commonly referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prizes, are awarded one million Swedish kronor (about €98,000). In addition, honorees receive long-term support from the Foundation. The awards are at a critical distance from the actual Nobel Prizes.
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