The winners of the 2020 prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize have been announced. Among this year’s winners are Kristal Ambrose from the Bahamas, who pressured the government to ban single-use plastic bags, cutlery and straws, and Styrofoam containers and cups; Chibeze Ezekiel from Ghana, the national coordinator of 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon, who also works with Ghana’s youth climate activists; Nemonte Nenquimo, an Indigenous leader in the Ecuadorian Amazon who led legal action against oil extraction in the region; and Leydy Pech, an Indigenous Maya woman from Hopelchén, Mexico, who promotes sustainable development practices for Mayan communities.

Pech is also a beekeeper, protecting a rare native bee species. This is Pech speaking at this year’s Goldman virtual ceremony.

Leydy Pech: “The prize gives me the opportunity to tell the world that the lands of the Indigenous peoples are being stripped away by the imposition of mega extraction projects, agro industry, tourism and others, that strengthen a model of capitalism that threatens natural resources and our way of life.”