THUNBERG WINS ‘ALTERNATIVE NOBEL’
CLIMATE ACTIVIST AMONG 4 WINNERS OF THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is among four people named on Wednesday as the winners of a Right Livelihood Award, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel’.
Thunberg is being recognised “for inspiring and amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts”, the prize foundation said. It added that the 16-year-old, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, “personifies the notion that everyone has the power to create change. Her example has inspired and empowered people from all walks of life to demand political action”.
Created in 1980, the annual Right Livelihood Award honours efforts that the prize founder, Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt were being ignored by the Nobel prizes.
The four winners will each receive 1 million Swedish crowns ($103,000). The foundation also gave its 2019 award to Davi Kopenawa and the Hutukara Yanomami Association, representing Brazil’s indigenous tribe, for protecting the Amazon forest and its people; Moroccan activist Aminatou Haidar “for her steadfast nonviolent action” for Western Sahara and Chinese lawyer Guo Jianmei for her work for women’s rights in China.
An award ceremony is planned in Stockholm on December 4, six days before the Nobel prizes are handed out. Thunberg said it “is a huge recognition for Fridays For Future and the climate strike movement”.