The 1998 Goldman Prize Winners

SAN FRANCISCO - The April 20 celebration of the ninth annual Goldman Prize was highlighted by a surprise visit from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who told the assembled crowd, "It is no exaggeration to say that safeguarding the environment, species, ecosystems, the global commons, is one of the essential pillars of peace itself."

This year's six winners, representing each of the five continents and the island nations, are:

AFRICA (South Africa) - Sven "Bobby" Peek, a native of industrial South Durban, grew up next to a refinery that poured 60 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air each day. As a child, Peek suffered from severe respiratory illness. Now a tireless champion of environmental justice, Peek united his racially divided community behind a successful campaign to close an illegal toxic dump in his neighborhood.

ASIA (Japan) - Hirofumi Yamashita has devoted more than a quarter of a century to fighting a land reclamation project that threatens to destroy Isahaya Bay, one of the richest wetlands on Earth. While the massive project was scaled back in response to his criticisms, a gargantuan metal dike was installed, cutting off the wetlands from the bay waters. Yamashita is now leading a crusade to remove the dike and restore the bay ecosystem.

EUROPE (Italy) - Anna Maria Giordano has launched a campaign to protect migrating raptors from sport hunters and game poachers near her Sicilian home. Despite death threats from irate male hunters and the firebombing of her car, Giordano refused to back down. Thanks to her perseverance and courage, the number of birds killed during the spring migration has dropped significantly.

ISLAND NATIONS (Dominica) - Atherton Martin employed extensive local and international organizing skills to stop a foreign-owned, government-backed copper mine that would have devastated ten percent of the island nation's original tropical rainforests. Dominica is known as "the Nature Island" because it harbors some of the greatest biodiversity in the Caribbean. Thanks to Martin's efforts, Dominica is still the Nature Island.

NORTH AMERICA (US) - Kory Johnson was just nine years old in 1989 when she founded Children for a Safe Environment in reaction to her sister's untimely death. She organized a youth campaign that helped stop a proposed incinerator in Phoenix, Arizona and has led efforts to combat environmental health threats to children, especially children living in low-income communities.

SOUTH AMERICA (Colombia) - Berito Kuwaru'wa has waged an international struggle on behalf of his indigenous tribe imploring multinational oil companies not to drill in the remote homeland of the U'wa, a traditional people who believe that oil is the blood of the Earth. Kuwar and 5,000 other U'wa have pledged to throw themselves off a 1,400-foot cliff if the drilling is permitted to proceed.

Note: Aurora Castillo, 1995 Goldman Award Winner and founder of Mothers of East Los Angeles, died on April 30 at the age of 84. She will be fondly remembered for her unfailing spirit, vitality and dedication to environmental justice.

For more information, contact The Goldman Environmental Prize, 1 Lombard St., No. 303, San Francisco, CA 94111, (415) 788-9090, www.goldmanprize.org.