Delima Silalahi, Environmental Activist From North Sumatra Wins Goldman Environmental Prize 2023

Delima Silalahi, an environmental activist from North Sumatra who won the Goldman Environmental Prize 2023 award which was handed over in New York, USA, Monday. (Between/Edward Tigor)

JAKARTA - A grassroots environmental activist named Delima Silalahi who comes from North Tapanuli, North Sumatra Province, won an international award at the 2023 Goldman Environment Award. "This appreciation is something that encourages me to continue to move on environmental issues and indigenous peoples, of course," Delima said in a statement quoted in Jakarta, Monday.

The Goldman Environment Award is an award for the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists around the world who inspire people to act to protect planet Earth.

Delima is the executive director of the Community Prekarsa Study and Development Group (KSPPM), a non-governmental organization dedicated to the protection of customary forests in North Sumatra.

In February 2022, thanks to a special campaign conducted by Delima with the indigenous community in Tanah Batak, the government has finally granted legal management rights of 7,213 hectares of customary forest to six indigenous community groups.

"I am very happy even though I realize that this is not my own struggle. This is a victory for the movement of indigenous peoples in Indonesia," said Delima.

"The struggle for the right to land and the right to our identity does not come down from the sky, it is fought for. We are not violating the law. There is a constitution that guarantees our struggle. The state will not just give it to us," he said.

Apart from Delima, several figures from Indonesia have received this award, namely Loir Botor Dingit (1997), Yosepha Alomang (2001), Yuyun Ismawati (2009), Prigi Arisandi (2011), Aleta Baun (2013), and Rudi Putra (2014).

The Goldman Environment Award was initiated by community leaders and philanthropist Richard and Rhoda Goldman in San Francisco, United States, in 1989. For 34 years, the foundation has made a huge impact on planet Earth.

To date, the Goldman Environment Award has awarded 219 winners, including 98 women in 95 countries. Most of the winners then occupied government officials, heads of state, leaders of non-governmental organizations, and Nobel Prize recipients.

"Now, when the world realizes an acute environmental crisis, such as climate change, extraction of fossil fuels, and air and water pollution, we are increasingly aware of our relationship with each other and with all life on the planet," said the President of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, John Goldman.

The handover of the award will be celebrated in a live ceremony at the Opera House San Francisco on April 24, at 05.30 PM PDT or April 25 at 07.30 WIB. This is the first direct ceremony (face-to-face) since 2019.

The ceremony will be hosted by Outdoor founder Afro, Rue Mapp, and guest musician Aloe Blacc. The event will be broadcast live on Goldman Environmental Prize's YouTube channel.

The second ceremony will be held at the Eisenhower Theater located at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, on April 26, 2023, at 7.00 PM EDT. The ceremony will be hosted by the winning journalist for the Pulitzer Award, with a special welcome by the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.