Indonesian, others honored for environmental activism

Yahoo News 12 Apr 11;

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – An Indonesian clean water activist was among six environmentalists from around the world to be given the prestigious Goldman Prize, the San Francisco foundation that administers the award announced Monday.

The honor is given out each year to leading grassroots environmental activists from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America.

The prize includes a $150,000 cash award for each recipient.

Among the recipients this year was Prigi Arisandi, a biologist in Indonesia's second city Surabaya who initiated a movement to stop industrial pollution from flowing into a local river that provides drinking water to three million people.

Other recipients of the 2011 award were:

- Raoul du Toit in Zimbabwe, who spearheaded efforts to preserve his country's dwindling black rhino population.

- Dmitry Lisitsyn of Russia, who fought to protect Sakhalin Island's endangered ecosystems from the petrochemical industry.

- Ursula Sladek of Germany, who helped create the country's first cooperatively-owned renewable power company to reduce its reliance on nuclear energy.

- Hilton Kelley of the United States, who is leading efforts for environmental justice for those hurt by last year's BP oil spill along the Texas Gulf Coast.

- Francisco Pineda of El Salvador, who led a grassroots movement that stopped a gold mine from destroying the country's already limited water resources.

The coveted prize was created in 1990 by civic leaders and philanthropists Richard Goldman, an insurance industry entrepreneur and his wife, Rhoda.

Winners are selected by an international jury after a confidential nomination process, from among candidates submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.