The Right Livelihood Award recognizes environmental and international development achievements ignored by traditional Nobel Prizes.

A major Swedish distinction known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize” was awarded on Wednesday to environmental activists from Canada, Russia and India, as well as to a Cameroonian fighting to prevent violence against children threatened by jihadists .

The Right Livelihood Award, which recognizes environmental and international development achievements ignored by traditional Nobel Prizes, said “This year’s change makers show that lasting change depends on communities coming together.” .

Canadian Indigenous rights activist Freda Huson of the Wet’suwet’en people was honored “for her fearless dedication to claiming the culture of her people and defending their lands against disastrous pipeline projects.”

The award organization said its actions set back the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in northern British Columbia “by several years.”

Activist Marthe Wandou, the first Cameroonian to win the prize, was awarded “for having built a model of community protection of children in the face of the terrorist insurgency and gender-based violence in the Lake Chad region of Cameroon”.

Vladimir Slivyak, co-chairman of the Russian environmental group Ecodefence, was recognized “for his defense of the environment and for having helped to generate popular opposition to the coal and nuclear industries in Russia”.

And finally, the Indian Forest and Environment Legal Initiative was recognized “for their innovative legal work enabling communities to protect their resources in the pursuit of environmental democracy in India”.

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philatelist Jakob von Uexkull after the Nobel Foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create awards honoring environmental and international development efforts. .

The prize consists of a cash prize of one million Swedish kronor ($ 114,000) for each recipient, intended to support the recipient’s work.

Previous laureates include American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Congolese gynecologist and Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege, and Greta Thunberg, who had already become an icon of the youth movement against climate change at the age of 16. when she won the award in 2019.