Goldman Environmental Prize 2005.

Each year the Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to activists from six geographic regions who often face life-threatening situations while encouraging their peers, governments, and international organizations to work toward preserving the environment. The winners for 2005 are:

* Isidro Baldenegro Lopez, of Chihuahua, Mexico, who organized sit-ins and marches that got logging bans enacted for old-growth forests of the Sierra Madre range.

* Corneille E.N. Ewango, of Epulu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, who protected the Okapi Faunal Reserve through years of civil war. He hid the reserve's herbarium collection, computers, and data in the forest, and confronted military commanders when troops began poaching primates and elephants in the reserve.

* Kaisha Atakhanova, of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, who led a coalition of 60 grassroots environmental groups in successfully lobbying to prevent nuclear waste from being commercially imported into her country. Kazakhstan already suffers massive pollution from Soviet nuclear testing and stockpiled radioactive waste.

* Jose Andres Tamayo, of Olancho, Honduras, who organizes protests against unregulated logging and drew government attention to corruption in the country's National Forestry Agency, resulting in the general manager's resignation.

* Stephanie Roth, of Rosia Montana, Romania, who is fighting Europe's largest open-cast gold mine being built in Rosia Montana. Efforts spearheaded by Roth led to the World Bank withdrawing its support for the project.

* Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, of Papay, Haiti, who founded the Peasant Movement of Papay to educate Haitians about deforestation, alternative energy, and sustainable agriculture. The group has planted more than 20 million forest and fruit trees to help stabilize soil and provide food.