The economy of Gabon is characterized by strong links with France, large foreign investments, dependence on skilled foreign labor, and decline of agriculture. Gabon on paper enjoys a per capita income four times that of most nations of Africa, but its reliance on resource extraction industry fail to release much of the population from extreme poverty, as much of 30% of the population lives under the poverty threshold.
The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The award is given by the Goldman Environmental Foundation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is also called the Green Nobel.
Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Trans-Gabon Railway is the only railway in Gabon. It runs 670 km (420 mi) east from Owendo port station in Libreville to Franceville via numerous stations, the main ones being Ndjolé, Lopé, Booué, Lastoursville and Moanda.
The Global 500 Roll of Honour was an award given from 1987 to 2003 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award recognized the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world. A successor system of UNEP awards called Champions of the Earth started in 2005.
Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga is a Cameroonian businessman known as the chief executive of the newspaper L'Anecdote and the TV channels Vision 4 and Télésud. Belinga caused controversy in March 2006 when he was sentenced to four months in prison for defamation after naming Grégoire Owona, a government minister, in a list of 50 presumed homosexual Cameroonians published in L'Anecdote. In 2023, he was arrested and charged in relation to the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo.
Belinga is a location in Gabon with as yet unexploited iron ore deposits. These ore deposits extend into neighbouring Cameroon and Congo.
Chutes Kongou is a massive cataract about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) wide and up to 56 metres (184 ft) tall, located in Ivindo National Park in eastern Gabon. It is located on the Ivindo River and is one of the strongest-flowing waterfalls in the world with an average flow of 900 cubic metres per second (32,000 cu ft/s).
Daniel Ona Ondo is a Gabonese politician who was Prime Minister of Gabon from January 2014 to September 2016. He previously served as Minister of Education and First Vice-President of the National Assembly. He is a member of the Gabonese Democratic Party.
Olga Speranskaya is a Russian scientist and environmentalist. She has been the Director of the Chemical Safety Program at the Eco-Accord Center for Environment and Sustainable Development in Moscow since 1997 and holds a master's degree in Geophysics from Moscow State University, and a doctorate in Environmental physics from the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 2010 to 2018, she was a co-chair of the International POPs Elimination Network. Speranskaya has led many campaigns against the use of organic pollutants, fought to ban the burial and transport of hazardous chemicals, and provided information to government decision-makers for policy changes in many different countries.
Pierre-Claver Zeng Ebome was a Gabonese politician and musician. He held a succession of ministerial portfolios in the government of Gabon during the 1990s and subsequently served as a Deputy in the National Assembly of Gabon. Zeng Ebome was the President of the African Development Movement (MAD), a minor political party, until February 2010, when it merged itself into the National Union; afterward he was briefly a Vice-President of the National Union from February 2010 to May 2010.
Wadja Egnankou is a scientist from Côte d'Ivoire, a researcher at the University of Abidjan. He is a botanist, wetland expert and lecturer at the University of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. He is also the founder and president of the NGO SOS-FORETS. He received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1992 for his efforts to protect the mangrove forests of the country.
Heroes of the Environment is a list published in Time magazine. The third list was published in September 2009. It contains 30 entries, individuals or groups, that have contributed substantially to the preservation of environment. It is divided into four categories: Leaders and Visionaries, Activists, Scientists and Innovators, and Moguls and Entrepreneurs.
Laila Rashed Iskander Kamel is an Egyptian social entrepreneur and politician. She is formerly Egypt's Minister of State for Environment Affairs in the interim government of Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi.
Thuli Brilliance Makama is a Swazi environmental attorney. She is a Lawyer and the Executive Director of the green group Yonge Nawe/ Friends of the Earth Swaziland, an environmental organization that focuses on environmental justice. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2010. Being the Attorney of public interest for the environment in Swaziland, Thuli has strived to guarantee that the opinions of the local community are taken into account while making decisions concerning the environment.Thuli is Oil Change International's senior advisor for Africa, providing strategic direction and campaign support for the organization's work in the continent.
Samuel Nguiffo is a Cameroonian lawyer. He is manager of the Center for Environment and Development in Yaoundé. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1999, for his efforts on protection of the tropical rainforests of Central Africa.
Maria Elena Foronda Farro is a Peruvian sociologist and environmentalist. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003, for her campaigns of improving waste treatment from the country's fishmeal industry. She was elected as congresswoman for the region of Ancash in 2016 as a member of The Broad Front for Justice, Life, and Freedom.
Raoul du Toit is a Zimbabwean environmentalist. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2011, for his efforts on protection of the black rhino. Since 1986, Raoul du Toit has helped in coordinating rhino conservation initiatives in Zimbabwe, working tirelessly through the turmoil and turbulence of Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. He is the Africa Rhino Program Coordinator for the International Rhino Foundation, as well as Director of the Lowveld Rhino Trust which he founded.
Liz McDaid is a South African activist who is the "Eco-Justice Lead" for the Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute (SAFCEI). Along with Makoma Lekalakala, she was awarded the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize for the African region for their work on using the courts to stop a Russian-South African nuclear deal in 2017. In 2018 McDaid and Lekalakala received the Nick Steele Memorial Award for their work in winning a crucial court case to halt plans by the South African government to proceed with a national nuclear build programme. McDaid is currently Head of Energy at Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.
Chibeze Ezekiel is a Ghanaian environmental activist and a 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize award recipient for Africa. He is known to have challenged the Ghanaian Ministry of Environment to cancel the construction of a coal plant through activism.
