Announcing the Winners of the Equator Prize 2023 

Celebrating the role of local action in achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework and putting into place economic and development transformations to achieve a nature-positive future for all

 

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and partners announce the winners of the 14th Equator Prize, recognizing ten Indigenous peoples and local communities from ten countries. Winning organizations demonstrate how innovative, nature-based solutions can enable communities to achieve their own local development goals, while building community resilience, even in a time of economic, environmental, political and public health shocks. This year’s awardees join a network of 275 communities who have been recognized since 2002. 

This year’s winners also highlight the theme of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples: “Indigenous Youth as Agents of Change for Self-determination.” Four winners are youth-led initiatives, all are committed to promoting intergenerational equity within their communities, and most work towards accelerating the creation of protected and conserved areas to safeguard nature and accelerate progress on the 30×30 goals. At a time when we are facing unprecedented planetary crises, it is crucial to shed light on the essential contributions of environmental stewardship carried out by Indigenous peoples and local communities, including those of Indigenous youth. 

The winners, selected from a pool of over 500 nominations from 108 countries, hail from Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Ecuador, Guatemala, Greenland, Liberia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Zambia. The Equator Prize winners will receive US$15,000, and the opportunity to take part in a series of special virtual events associated with the UN General Assembly, SDG Summit, UN Climate Ambition Summit, the UNDP Nature for Life Hub, and COP 28 in Dubai.

Meet the winners

EP Winners 2023 Placeholder
EP Winners 2023

Young Emerging Farmers Initiative (YEFI)

The Young Emerging Farmers Initiative (YEFI) is a youth-oriented organization in Zambia that empowers young people in rural and urban areas through sustainable agriculture. YEFI has a network of over 500,000 youth and has successfully addressed...
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Uru Uru Team

The Uru Uru Team was initiated in 2019 by Indigenous youth from the Urus community in Southwestern Bolivia. Their goal was to protect Uru Uru Lake, which has been facing severe pollution issues caused by waste from the nearby city of Oruro...
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Tergar Charity Nepal (TCN)

Tergar Charity Nepal (TCN) is a locally-driven organization focused on improving food security and livelihood in the remote Himalayan community of Samagaun, Northern Nepal. They promote crop diversification and sustainable crop management while implementing bioclimatic passive solar greenhouses for enhanced food security...
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Perfect Village Communities “PVC Burundi”

Perfect Village Communities "PVC Burundi" is a community-owned and managed social enterprise that recognizes the correlation between environmental degradation and decreasing community health...
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Kpanyan Community CLDMC

The Kpanyan Community Land Development and Management Committee (CLDMC) made history in 2019 by becoming the first community to gain formal ownership of their traditional land in the South East of Liberia, under the 2018 Liberian Land Rights Act...
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Kapunungan sa Gagmay’ng Mangingisda sa Concepcion

Kapunungan sa Gagmay’ng Mangingisda sa Concepcion (KGMC) is an organization established by a fishing community in 1986 in Zamboanga Sibugay, a province in the southeastern part of the Philippines...
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Inuit Circumpolar Council

The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is a non-governmental organization that unites 180,000 Inuit Indigenous people across Nunaat, the Inuit homeland that spans Canada, Greenland, Russia, and the State of Alaska in the United States...
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Instituto Zág

Instituto Zág is an Indigenous youth-led organization whose key activity is the reforestation and preservation of traditional knowledge around the Araucaria tree, known as Zág. The Zág tree holds sacred and symbolic value to the Xokleng Peoples, but is currently on the verge of extinction due to centuries of uncontrolled exploitation...
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Comuna Playa de Oro

Nestled deep in the tropical forest of Esmeraldas province on Ecuador's coast lies Comuna Playa de Oro, one of the oldest Afro-Ecuadorian settlements. Despite facing numerous threats, such as illegal mining, deforestation, encroachment of oil palm plantations, and the presence of violent paramilitary groups and traffickers, this resilient community thrives...
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Asociación Tikonel

The Asociación de Desarrollo Productivo y de Servicios Tikonel (Asociación Tikonel) is an organization fostering sustainable natural resource management and the development of community-led micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)...
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From our team

Blog: Equator Prize 2023 winners pave the way to Global Biodiversity Framework

Read: English | French | Spanish

Photo story: What do the Sustainable Development Goals have to do with Indigenous people?

Read: English

eLearning: Introduction to Forest Monitoring Tools for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

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