World Travels Bring Prize Winners to the Bay Area
In the last few months, we have been lucky to catch up with several past Prize recipients as they’ve traveled through the Bay Area for various events.
First we caught up with 2009 Goldman Prize winners Yuyun Ismawati from Indonesia and Olga Speranskaya from Russia. Yuyun and Olga were in town for a funder’s briefing on climate, environmental health and justice, hosted by the Marisla Foundation and Global Greengrant Fund.
Yuyun and Olga became fast friends on the 2009 Goldman Prize tour, and today they work together as colleagues for IPEN (International POPs Elimination Network), a global network working to establish and implement safe chemical policies.
Olga was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2009 for her work to eradicate toxic chemicals in the environment. In 2010, she was nominated and unanimously elected to a co-chair position at IPEN. Over the years Olga has worked on several emerging issues, including electronic waste, asbestos pollution, mercury contamination, POPs and more.
Fellow 2009 Prize recipient Yuyun Ismawati also works with IPEN as a steering committee member and leader for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and Mining issues. Yuyun is recognized by many in the international community as the authoritative global leader on this issue and is playing an instrumental role in promoting the elimination of mercury use in ASGM sectors, as well as working to ban the export-import of mercury to ASGM sectors globally.
