This year’s recipients included Batmunkh Luvsandash (main picture), who was instrumental in creating a vast protected area in Mongolia’s Dornogovi province. It now forms an important bulwark against Mongolia’s mining boom. The waterway was subsequently designated a national park, as previously reported in ‘what went right’. “In these difficult times for environmental activists, these seven individuals serve as powerful reminders of what is possible through determination, resilience and hope,” said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. Image: Goldman Environmental prize