Women Activists Who Took On The Government To Fight For The Environment

Women activists led the environmental moment in both South Africa and France to expose the environmental policies that were damaging to our surroundings and won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for 2018. The activities used their calculated data, determination and will power to help their respective countries from the poor environmental policies by the government.

Makoma Lekalakala is black and belongs to Johannesburg, South Africa while Liz McDaid, who is white lives in Cape Town. A new nuclear power deal between South Africa and Russia was about to have some devastating effects on the communities and environment of South Africa. Both, Lekalakala and McDaid started anti nuclear protests and after an year, the South African court ruled the deal to be unconstitutional.

Claire Nouvain who is a French wildlife filmmaker and journalist started her revolution against the practice of deep sea fishing. Through her research work as a journalist, she made people aware of the consequences it could have on environment. She was successful in imposing an EU wide band on deep sea fishing in 2016.

These victories are, however, not an end for the women as they have persistently been involved in bringing further change. Nouvain, on one hand, is working on ending subsidies to harmful fishing practices while Lekalakala and McDaid, on the other hand, are making people aware that they have the right to access information on issues that concerns them.

Neha Maheshwari