21 April 2004
Manana Kochladze of Tbilisi, Georgia was awarded for her fearless efforts to win concessions to protect the environment and local villagers affected by the BTC pipeline project. Rudolf Amenga-Etego of Accra, Ghana was honored for his fight to suspend a major water privatization project backed by the World Bank.
The Goldman Environmental Prize, known to be the "Nobel Prize for the Environment," is awarded each year to a grassroots environmentalist hero from each of six geographic areas of the world. Each recipient is given a monetary award of $125,000. This year two recipients were honored for their struggles for social and ecological rights in the face of projects sponsored by Multilateral Development Banks.
Europe: Manana Kochladze
This year's winner in the European region is Manana Kochladze of Tbilisi, Georgia, who has worked fearlessly within a political climate that is often hostile toward civil society to amplify the voices of citizens affected by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. For this project, a consortium led by BP with financing from the International Finance Corporation and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will construct an oil pipeline through Georgia and Azerbaijan to a port in Turkey. In her native country, the pipeline will be routed through the pristine Borjomi mountain gorge, a major tourism center and home to a lucrative mineral water bottling factory. Manana has fought to ensure affected villagers will be protected and adequately compensated, force a thorough examination of this project's environmental and social impacts, and hold project sponsors and the Georgian government accountable for their decisions.
Africa: Rudolf N. Amenga-Etego
This year's recipient for outstanding environmental achievement in Africa is Rudolf N. Amenga-Etego of Accra, Ghana. Amenga-Etego has gained international recognition for suspending a major water privatization project backed by the World Bank. This plan would have further impeded access to clean drinking water, a crisis linked to high rates of disease in low-income communities. The privatization would also place an especially harsh burden on Ghanaian girls, whose school work suffers because they literally shoulder the responsibility of providing water for their families.