ECONOTES : Leaders Who Go for the Green

Six grass-roots heroes have been named Goldman Environmental Prize winners and will receive trophies and $60,000 in ceremonies today in San Francisco. The awards, founded five years ago by the Goldman Environmental Foundation, are the world’s largest for environmental work. The winners:

* North America: Matthew Coon Come, 38, the Grand Chief of Canada’s Cree Tribe who has led an international struggle against the James Bay hydro-electric dam project that would have destroyed the Cree’s way of life.

* Europe: Ildiko Schucking, 34, a German primatologist who leads an effort to redirect World Bank policies toward sustainable development.

* Island Nations: Andrew Simmons, 34, a teacher on St. Vincent in the Caribbean, who founded a community organization that involves youth in protecting natural resources.

* Africa: Laila Kamel, 46, of Cairo, volunteer director of an environmental organization whose work with large-scale recycling programs has provided both income and educational opportunities for unskilled workers.

* South America: Luis Macas, 43, a Quechua Indian from the Andean highlands who, in 1992, negotiated a land transfer of 3 million rain forest acres back to indigenous control.

* Asia: Tuenjai Deetes, 42, a Thai woman who worked with minority hill tribes to develop self-sustaining communities while restoring a major watershed.