Rural Priest Wins Environmental Prize
A Roman Catholic priest in rural Honduras who is a harsh critic of deforestation and its effects on poor communities has been named one of the six winners of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded by the San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Fund.
Father Andres Tamayo, 48, will receive $125,000. He leads a grass-roots movement that has imposed an unofficial moratorium on logging in his province of Olancho, spurred by the damage to local farming.
Tamayo has received numerous threats from logger “mafias” who cut timber without permits.
“This makes us feel less like orphans acting alone, that there are people in the world who value our struggle,” Tamayo said.
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