Participants 2015

Karen Aghababyan

Laureate

Karen Aghababyan has completed his PhD in Biology (specialization Zoology) in 2001. He was working in the Institute of Zoology of Armenian NAS until 2003, and is teaching in American University of Armenia....

Dionysia Theodora Avgerinopoulou

Laureate

Dionysia Theodora Avgerinopoulou

Dr. Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou is the Executive Director of the European Institute of Law, Science and Technology, the Chair of the Circle of the Mediterranean Parliamentarians on Sustainable...

Dipal Chandra Barua

Laureate

Bright Green Energy Foundation

I have devoted more than 35 years of his life, finding sustainable market based solutions for the social and economic problems faced by the rural people. I was the Founding Managing Director, Grameen Shakti...

Heide Bergmann

Laureate

Oekostation Freiburg

Heide Bergmann is an educator and gardener based in Freiburg where she co-founded the Oekostation Freiburg in 1986. The Oekostation is an educational center for sustainable development which is supported by...

Andreas W. Bett

Laureate

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

Andreas W. Bett is physicist. Since more than 25 years he works at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, ISE. He is deputy director of ISE and heading the division “Materials – Solar Cells and...

Oleg Bodrov

Laureate

non-governmental non-profit environmental organization Green World

Chairperson, NGO Green World Oleg Bodrov is an engineer-physicist and environmentalist. After finishing his studies at the Leningrad Polytechnic University (1976) as an engineer-physicist he has been engaged...

Hildegard Breiner

Laureate

Hildegard Breiner is co-founder of the Austrian and Austrian-Swiss / Austrian-German networks against nuclear power. She is working for renewable energies, against fracking and in relation to nature...

Dieter Brübach

Awarding Institution

B.A.U.M. Umweltpreis

Dieter Brübach is working for the „Bundesdeutscher Arbeitskreis für umweltbewusstes Management e.V. (B.A.U.M. e.V.)”, Office Hannover since 1989. From 1989 – 1990 he worked as a research assistant, from...

Claus Biegert

Awarding Institution

Nuclear-Free Future Award

The Nuclear-Free Future Award Foundation has started a new website to support the growing campaign to ban uranium mining: www.u-ban.org I hope we can...

Desmond D'Sa

Laureate

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance

Bernd Dallmann

Founder

Bernd Dallmann has been Managing Director of FWTM – Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH since 1987. As course leader and lecturer, he also founded the Freiburg economic development school in 1994 in...

Franz Daschner

Laureate

Viamedica Foundation

Franz Daschner was the first physician who received the German Environmental Award (Deutscher Umweltpreis) for his work. With the prize money, he founded the Foundation Viamedica. The main focus of the...

Milkyas Debebe

Laureate

New Life Ethiopian Residents Charity

Milkyas Debebe is with a management back ground and has spent more than 7 years in energy & environment projects as a developer & implementer. He received certificate on contributing to clean indoor air...

Ernesto C. Enkerlin Hoeflich

Laureate

Tecnologico de Monterrey

Ernesto Christian Enkerlin Hoeflich (born 14 December 1958 in Monterrey, Nuevo León) is a prominent Mexican conservationist, environmentalist and researcher, specialized in parrots' ecology, environmental...

Duquesne Fednard

Laureate

D&E Green Enterprises

D&E Green Enterprises is an award winning social enterprise which seeks to break the cycle of energy poverty in Haiti by specialising in the manufacture and distribution of low-cost, high-efficiency energy...

Debesai Ghebrehiwet

Laureate

Africa Earth Keepers

I am Debesai Ghebrehiwet renewable energy specialist, Environmental partition-er, laureate and innovator of high efficient improved stoves , Energy Efficient Gas stove and brick designs and this year i am...

Adolf Goetzberger

Laureate

FhG ISE

Adolf Goetzberger founded the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg in 1981, the largest solar energy institute in Europe. He is retired but still active in solar energy. He was...

Hans Grassmann

Laureate

Hans Grassmann has a Diploma Thesis with H. Wegener (Erlangen), and the PhD with H.Faissner (Aachen). He worked at University of Aachen and CERN (UA1), Fermilab (CDF), SCC Laboratory (Dallas), and also at...

Monika Griefahn

EEF Trustee

Right Livelihood Award Foundation / European Environment Foundation

Monika Griefahn is a founding member of Greenpeace Germany and was Co-CEO (1980-1983). From 1984-1990 she worked on the board of Greenpeace Internat. From 1990-1998 she was Minister of the Environment in the...

Rainer Griesshammer

EEF Trustee

Rainer Grießhammer is a chemist, member of the management board of the Institute of Applied Ecology, Freiburg and director of the future heritage foundation (Stiftung Zukunftserbe). Leader of the research...

Edeltraud Guenther

Laureate

TU Dresden

Edeltraud Guenther received her doctorate in Environmental Accounting from the Universitaet Augsburg and holds the Chair in Environmental Management and Accounting at the Technische Universitaet Dresden...

Goran Gugić

Laureate

GIZ/CIM, Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania

Managing Director, Lonjsko Polje Nature Park Public Institution Goran Gugić graduated from the Forestry Faculty of Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. He moved to Croatia despite of the war, and headed...

Mathilde Halla

Laureate

SENECA - Seniorennetzwerk contra Atom

Mathilde Halla, was a schoolteacher for mentally challenged children. In 1973 she joined a small activist organization in Austria and started campaigning against the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf. In 1986,...

Silvia Hämmerle

Laureate

Life-Giving Forest e.V.

Silvia Hämmerle is founder and chairwoman of the Life-Giving Forest eV. The association supports persons with disabilities in raising and sustainably utilizing a nearly-natural forest in the Philippines....

Syeda Rizwana Hasan

Laureate

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA)/Friends of the Earth

Syeda Rizwana Hasan is an enrolled lawyer with the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. In professional life, she is working for the cause of environment as the Chief Executive of a reputed national NGO named...

Peter W. Heller

EEF Trustee

Peter W. Heller worked as Deputy Mayor for Environmental Protection of the City of Freiburg, 1993-1997 he served as Chairman of he Executive Committee of ICLEI, Cities for Sustainability. Peter W. Heller is...

Heike Hoedt

Laureate

Solare Bruecke / Simply Solar

Since 1996 Heike Hoedt has been associated with Solare Bruecke e.V., a German non-profit organisation, which is developing and promoting technical know-how on Scheffler Reflectors and other solar thermal...

Winfried Hoffmann

Laureate

Applied Solar Expertise - ASE

Winfried Hoffmann is working in the PV industry since 1979. He was CEO of the company ASE (Applied Solar Energy GmbH a JV between RWE and DASA) in 1994, and later RWE Solar GmbH, in the late 90s one of the...

Michaela Hogenboom Kindle

Laureate

Symbiose // CIPRA International

Michaela Hogenboom Kindle mission is to foster a connected and sustainable society in Liechtenstein and beyond. As co-founder of Symbiose she puts this mission in practice through consulting and community...

Mohammad Zahirul Islam

Laureate

Marinelife Alliance

Mohammad Zahirul Islam holds a Master Degree in Zoology, and have Marine Conservation course from the Duke University Marine Lab (USA). Has extensive experience in sea turtle monitoring, conservation and...

Sigrid Jannsen

EEF Trustee

Sigrid Jannsen’s activities in renewable energies started in 1974. Her scientific focus was on waste water treatment and in particular on the energetic use of biological wastes. After her retirement Sigrid...

Kristin Kaschner

Laureate

Albert-Ludwigs-University & UWC Robert Bosch College

Kristin Kaschner is a marine biologist, member of the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group & Marine Mammal Task Force on Protected Areas. She is also a member of the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative and has...

Elias Kindle

Laureate

Symbiose Association, Dreiklang general partnership

It is up to us to change the path that society is going now. Elias is most interested in projects and practices that support everyone to flourish. Everyone doesn’t just include humans but all the beings on...

Inza Kone

Laureate

Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire

I am a Primate Conservation Biologist. I ama Lecturer at the Faculty of Biosciences of the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Director of Research and Development at the Centre...

Faustin Kopangoye

Company

Gabon Environnement

Founding President of the Network of Living Labs for Sustainable Development (RELLDDI) General Secretary NGO Environment Gabon since 2004 with an ecotourism site in the National Park PONGARA Member of...

Daniel Letoiye

Laureate

Westgate community conservancy

Daniel Letoiye is Director and co-founder of Westgate community conservancy, Samburu County in Kenya. Successfully implemented restoration of degraded African rangelands program using Holistic management...

Joachim Luther

Laureate

Fraunhofer ISE

Joachim Luther has over thirty years of experience in physics and renewable energies. His main focus areas are: solar electricity generation, solar and energy efficient buildings and sustainable energy...

Lena Mahr

Laureate

Siemens AG

Lena Mahr is a Master of Science in Carbon Management with a Business Administration background. She was working in different organizations as Oceana, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. LLC and Siemens in several...

Teresa Manera de Bianco

Laureate

Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca

Teresa Manera’s research interests focus on quaternary mammal and bird footprints from Pehuen-Co site in Buenos Aires province (Argentina). For a project to protect this site she won the Rolex Award for...

Natalia Manzurova

Laureate

Natalia Manzurova completed an apprenticeship as specialist for radiobiology. She worked 10 years as scientific assistant at the Scientific Experimental and Research Center ONIS, where scientists studied the...

Alistair Marsden

Laureate

Alistair Marsden is a Director of Dulas. The Dulas mission is to improve lives through renewable energy and sustainable technology and it seeks to meet these goals through ongoing commitments to equality and...

Charles Mathews

Other

JUCCCE (Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy)

Charles Mathews is the project director of the sustainable consumption programme at JUCCCE that helps with the greening of China. The Chinese Dream seeks to reimagine prosperity and reshape consumerism by...

Mardi McBrien

Laureate

A forester gone rogue. Passionate about the environment, non-financial reporting leader & campaigner. Mardi McBrien joined the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) as Managing Director in 2011 following...

Rodrigo Medellin

Laureate

National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM

Rodrigo Medellín works on ecology and conservation of bats, jaguars, and other mammals. As a Senior Professor at UNAM, he has produced over 170 publications in over 10 countries. His work is used to improve...

Marilyn Mehlmann

Laureate

Global Action Plan (GAP) International

I work with GAP International, a network of member organizations in 25+ countries empowering people to live and work increasingly sustainably. The Rachel Carson Prize 2011 was awarded “…for long-term efforts...

Julien Meyer

Laureate

Julien Meyer is both bio acoustician and linguist. His research is focused on human language, including the relation between language and natural rural environments. He currently runs the”Icon-Eco-Speech”...

Golden Misabiko

Laureate

Golden Misabiko is a university graduate in Economics and English. He has interests and expertise in Human Rights, Social Economic and Cultural Rights, Economy, Good governance, Peace building, Conflict...

Vik Mohan

Laureate

Blue Ventures Conservation

Vik Mohan is medical Director to Blue Ventures Conservation and architect of Blue Ventures' award winning Population, Health and Environment program in Madagascar. He is advocate for an integrated and...

Maggie Muurmans

Laureate

Griffith Centre for Coastal Management

Maggie Muurmans works in the field of sea turtle conservation and other environmental areas. Her work was awarded by the Future for Nature award in 2009 (given to her by David Attenborough) and the Woman of...

René Ngongo Mateso

Laureate

OCEAN

René NGONGO is President of the Environment and Natural Resources Commission of the Economic and Social Council of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is co-founder and President of the Congolese...

Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria

Laureate

Nishant Bioenergy P Ltd

Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria, Mechanical Engineer from Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Chandigarh, India (1987). He is also alumni of Global Social Benefiting Incubator -2007, and of...

Nikola Nikolov

Laureate

Faculty of forestry / Regional Fire Monitoring Center (RFMC)

Nikola Nikolov, is a full Professor at the Faculty of Forestry in Skopje where he also founded the Regional Fire Monitoring Center (RFMC), which he is leading. He is an expert in the field of forest fire...

Olivier Nsengimana

Laureate

Saving Endangered Grey Crowned Cranes in Rwanda

Olivier Nsengimana is a Project Manager and Veterinarian for Saving Endangered Grey Crowned Cranes in Rwanda. In 2014 he received the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and Environment. Nsengimana was previously...

Regula Ochsner

Laureate

ADES Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire Suisse-Madagascar

Regula Ochsner is the founder and CEO of the NGO ADES (Association pour le Développement de l’Energie Solaire, Suisse-Madagascar). The objective of this programme is to provide solar cookers (Box and...

Caleb Ofori Boateng

Laureate

Herp Conservation, Ghana

Caleb is the founder and director of Herp Conservation Ghana (Herp-Ghana); West Africa’s first amphibian and reptile conservation society. As, the director of Herp-Ghana, he leads various community level...

Jessica Olson

Awarding Institution

Sierra Club

Jessica Olson is an experienced activist whose work with the largest youth-led grassroots organization, the Sierra Student Coalition, has led to the development of over a thousand young activists. Olson has...

David Osborne

Laureate

Celsius Global Solutions

David Osborne is an Engineer and the Technical Director of Celsius Global Solutions providing simple, sustainable solutions to provide clean water to communities in Africa and India. The Jompy water boiler...

Balgis Osman Elasha

Laureate

African Development Bank

Balgis Osman Elasha holds a PhD in Forestry Science, Master in Environmental Science and a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) with honor in Forestry and Agricultural Science. She has more than 17 years’ experience...

Marion Pancur

Awarding Institution

The Nuclear-Free Future Award

Marion Pancur, Germany, is managing director of the Nuclear-Free Future Award Foundation (NFFA), a nonprofit organization based in Munich. Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award honors people worldwide who...

Igor Prokofyev

Laureate

Grassroot Alliance PERESVET, NGO

Igor Prokofev is the Director of NGO Grassroots Alliance PERESVET. Since 2009 he is coordinator of the iBats Russia project. He is a founder of the Bat Conservation Alliance in Russia. The main goal of his...

Denise Marçal Rambaldi

Laureate

Rio de Janeiro State Govern

Denise Rambaldi is a Forest Engineer, Lawyer and holds a Master of Environmental Science. She worked with the golden lion tamarin, and made an important contribution to the creation of the Golden Lion...

Uwe Riecken

Laureate

German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn

Uwe Riecken is working as senior scientist and head of the Department for Habitat Protection and Landscape Ecology at the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn. He studied biology at the...

Jamal Mohamed Safi

Laureate

Environmental Protection and Research Institute, EPRI

University Professor and Chairman of EPRI, Gaza, Jamal Safi is Professor at Al-Azhar University-Gaza and Founder Chairman of the Environmental Protection & Research Institute, Gaza, since 1989. He has 25...

Wolfgang Scheffler

Laureate

Solare Bruecke e.V.

I was born in Austria in 1956, but spent most of my life in Germany. In 1983 I finished my masters degree in physics at the University of Cologne. At that time, I already had started the development of the...

Thomas Scheurer

Laureate

Swiss National Park Scientific Board

Thomas Scheurer is scientific co-ordinator of Swiss National Park research. Furthermore he is managing director of the Swiss Interacademic Commission for Alpine Studies ICAS and of the International...

Hans-Werner Schock

Laureate

Hans-Werner Schock worked on the development of thin-film solar cells at the University of Stuttgart since the early 1970s. A series of R&D projects under his guidance resulted in several production lines...

Andreas Schroeter

Laureate

Sunlabob Renewable Energy Ltd

Andy Schroeter, co-founder and director of Sunlabob Renewable Energy Co. Ltd., is an experienced social entrepreneur focused on providing commercially-viable renewable energy and clean water solutions in...

David Schweidenback

Laureate

Pedals for Progress

David Schweidenback is founder of “Pedals for Progress” which collects used bicycles and sewing machines in the greater New York City Philadelphia area and uses that material as economic development aid in...

Bhaskar OBE Sen Gupta

Laureate

Water Academy, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS

Professor in Water Technology, Heriot-Watt University, EDINBURGH Campus. Sen Gupta specialises in community water supply to resource poor communities. His work on arsenic remediation from groundwater in the...

Sundar Sharma

Laureate

UNISDR-Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network

I, 49, of Nepal, am a forestry professional having master's degree in ‘Forest Ecology and Management’ from Freiburg University in 2008. I have been recently awarded as a Laureate of Green Star Award 2013 (UN...

Khop Narayan Shrestha

Laureate

MDI Nepal

Khop Narayan Shrestha is the Executive Director of MDI Nepal (Manahari Development Institute- Nepal). He is active in promoting responsible agroforestry systems in the degraded lands affected primarily...

Balbir Singh Seechewal

Laureate

Ek Onkar Charitable Trust Seechewal

Balbir Singh Seechewal is a famous environmentalist, who was praised by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the former president of India, as the preacher of “A Noble Mission”. The international Time Magazine...

Virginia Sonntag-O’Brien

EEF Trustee

European Environment Foundation

Virginia Sonntag-O’Brien has more than 20 years’ international experience in the areas of energy and climate change at the interfaces between policy and finance, and public and private sectors, particularly...

Andreas Speich

Laureate

retired

Speich is a Swiss citizen and studied chemistry and forestry at the ETH Zurich. From 1982 to 1985 he was advisor at the Kenya Forest Department such as head of the forest Estate City of Zurich. He globally...

Heinz Stockinger

Laureate

Salzburg Platform Against Nuclear Hazards (PLAGE)

As a non-professional in the energy field, I came to play a key role in Austria’s “no” to nuclear power in the 1978 referendum on the country's first and ready-to-operate Zwentendorf NPP, and during the...

Jean Thomas

Laureate

Tenkile Conservation Alliance

Jean Thomas was a high school science teacher when she and husband Jim moved to a remote Papua New Guinea mountain in 2003 to devote their lives and limited resources to protecting a critically endangered...

Samson Tsegaye

Laureate

Solar Energy Foundation

Samson Tsegaye is working as leader for different organizations. He holds diplomas in military engineering & administration (Holeta Genet Military Academy), project management in renewable energy industry...

Carlos Roberto Vasquez Almazan

Laureate

FUNDAECO, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS GUATEMALA

Carlos Roberto Vasquez Almazan is a Biologist and Conservationist with emphasis in Critical Endangered Biodiversity sites in Guatemala. He carries out surveys and established a network of nature reserves...

Christine von Weizsäcker

Laureate

Ecoropa

Christine von Weizsäcker is a biologist, researcher and activist, working on technology assessment for civil society since the seventies. Participant in the Rio Process on Sustainable Development since 1992...

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker

EEF Trustee

European Environment Foundation

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker is Co-President of the Club of Rome and member of the International Resource Panel of UNEP on Sustainable Resource Use. He worked as a professor for inter-disciplinary biology;...

Paul Walker

EEF Trustee

Green Cross International

Paul Walker, United States, is the International Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability (ESS) Program for Green Cross International (GCI). The ESS Program is an international effort to...

Alyn Ware

Laureate

Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament

Alyn Ware is a peace educator and nuclear disarmament policy analyst from New Zealand. He is the Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. He also serves as the...

Eicke R. Weber

EEF Trustee

European Environment Foundation

Eicke R. Weber was Director of the Fraunhofer Institut for Solar Energy Systems ISE (till Dec. 2016). Since Jan. 2017 he serves as director of the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore BEARS....

Jutta Wiesenthal

Awarding Institution

The Nuclear-Free Future Award

Jutta Wiesenthal has worked in various countries organizing art, charity and sport events. She is project manager of the award ceremonies of the Nuclear-Free Future Award Foundation. The Tschernobyl disaster...

Joachim Wünning

Laureate

WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH

Joachim Wünning is an entrepreneur from the Stuttgart area. His company is developing, producing and selling low pollutant and highly efficient gas burners for heating high temperature industrial furnaces....

Tetsuro Yasuda

Awarding Institution

Blue Planet Prize

Tetsuro Yasuda is secretary general of the Asahi Glass Foundation. He is in command of coordinating the Blue Planet Prize, which includes the support for the selection committee activity, cultivating...

Tjan Zaotschnaja

Awarding Institution

The Nuclear-Free Future Award

Tjan Zaotschnaja was born in Kamtschatka. 1980 shortly before the Olympic Games in Moscow she was expelled from the USSR due to her engagement with the Human Right Movement. Since 1992 she is working as...

Sergiy Zibtsev

Laureate

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine

Specialization: forest fire science, policy and management; forest policy, forest radioecology; Work Experience: research in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (1993 - current), sustainable forest and fire...