In 1995, while in military detention, Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of six individuals awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the most prestigious global prize honouring inspirational grassroots environmental activists from around the world. He was awarded for his role in leading the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni people (MOSOP) of Rivers State, Nigeria, whose lands and water had been polluted by foreign oil companies.
By November 8 of that year, a military council ruling determined that he had incited the murders of four Ogoni chiefs who were part of the MOSOP movement, despite evidence to the contrary.
Two days later, he was executed by hanging at the Port Harcourt Prison.
Thirty-one years later, conservation ecologist and bat specialist Iroro Tanshi has won the same prize, now with $200,000 attached. She is part of a historic all-women cohort—the first since the prize’s inception in 1989–announced at the Goldman Environmental Foundation’s ceremony in San Francisco on Monday, April 20, 2026.
Tanshi was celebrated for her work protecting the endangered short-tailed roundleaf bat (Hipposiderus curtus), which is susceptible to human-induced wildfires, between 2022 and 2025. Through the Small Mammal Conservation Organisation (SMACON), an organisation she co-founded in 2016, she’s led efforts to combat wildfires and preserve the forest and several bat species, including some previously undiscovered 14 species and one she says hasn’t been seen anywhere else and that “we’re [her team] also trying to describe that is new to science”, per a Mongabay profile.
Tanshi’s work began over a decade ago while doing field surveys of caves in Cross River National Park and Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. After discovering the species which was thought to be extinct, she and her team struggled to watch as a wildfire invaded the sanctuary. She’d later discover that the fire originated from a farmland, subsequently adopting firefighting methods for a community of five villages in the area.
She has since extended these efforts to neighbouring Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea’s Bioko Island. Since 2016, she’s worked with organisations such as the Panacea for Developmental and Infrastructural Challenges for Africa Initiative and the US Forest Service towards the protection of these at-risk areas. SMACON recently launched the Tropical Fire Alliance program to expand the wildfire prevention program to other African countries. According to the Wildlife Conservation Network, the program aims to protect 500 million hectares of forest habitat from wildfires over the next 10 years and support 1,000 forest communities.
Before her, the Goldman Prize had been won by only 3 other Nigerians, including Saro-Wiwa; all of whom are male. Odigha Odigha, a Nigerian educator and environmental activist and founder of the Coalition for the Environment, won the prize in 2003 for his efforts to protect the Cross River forests from indiscriminate logging, resulting in a statewide ‘logging moratorium to protect the country’s rainforests.’ In 2022, environmental lawyer and activist Chima Williams won the prize for his efforts seeking justice at the Court of Appeal of the Hague, for the Goi and Oruma communities in the Niger Delta, harmed by the actions of Royal Dutch Shell and its subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria (SPDC)
For many Nigerians, efforts of this sort appear not only unimportant but also male-dominated. As such, accomplishments like hers drive home the urgency of the task at hand and could also inspire young girls and women passionate about saving the planet. Tanshi joins a growing list of Nigerian women gaining global acclaim for their contributions to environmental protection and sustainable practices worldwide (She had previously won the Nature Award in 2020, the 2021 Whitley Award, the 2023 Pritzker Genius Award, and is a 2025 Henry Arnhold Fellow).
Another such name in this group is the CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, Damilola Ogunbiyi.
On March 24, 2026, Ogunbiyi became the first-ever Nigerian to be accorded the TIME Earth Award, which recognises six global leaders at the forefront of climate action. She was listed for contributing to ‘negotiations for major projects and agreements and global initiatives aimed at connecting millions across Africa to electricity, curbing emissions, and bolstering the transition to renewable energy’ per a TIME report.
In her acknowledgement at the award ceremony, she stressed the need to secure more funding towards energy transition, highlighting the increasing efforts of the Global South, especially countries like Kenya, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, and even Nigeria, towards clean energy alternatives. She also pointed out the role young people have to play in ensuring a dignified future for the planet.
Like Tanshi, Ogunbiyi has been in the field for a while. She was the first female General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board from 2011 to 2015, championing decentralised energy projects that supplied over 100 megawatts to hospitals and other government facilities. The Lagos State Energy Academy exists as a legacy of her efforts in renewable energy technology in the state.
In 2017, she became the first-ever female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency (REA), where she initiated the Nigerian Electrification Project. The project, a $550 million World Bank and African Development Bank jointly funded facility, has since provided over 8 million Nigerians with access to electricity.
As MD of the REA, Ogunbiyi also instituted the Energising Education Program to provide uninterrupted electricity to students in 37 Federal universities and 7 teaching hospitals.
According to Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), since 2020, she’s led the organisation’ into working relationships with over 200 partners, supported over 90 countries globally, and secured commitments of more than $1.4 trillion in energy finance through programmes such as Universal Energy Facility, Powering Healthcare, Women and Youth at the Forefront, Cooling for All, and Clean Cooking; and initiatives such as UN Energy Compacts, Energy Transition Plans, Universal Integrated Energy Plans, the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), and the Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative (REMI) among many others.
Ogunbiyi serves on multiple prestigious boards and councils, including the European Investment Bank Climate and Environment Advisory Council, the WHO High Level Coalition on Energy (HEPA), the World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab, and the Global Leadership Council (GLC) of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).
Her list of laurels includes recognition as ‘one of the 20 titans in climate’ on the 2024 TIME100 Climate list, the 2024 Global Female Leadership Impact Award (GFLI) Award, the Energy Institute President’s Award in 2023, and the First Class Order of Zayed II from the President of the United Arab Emirates for her service on the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) Advisory Committee.
What Ogunbiyi and Tanshi represent is a two-pronged approach to protecting the environment: government policy and private sector contributions. Individually, both ends can only achieve so much, with grassroots necessities as a case in point. It’s not unusual for the average citizen to see ecological concerns outside their purview, a duty for those who can afford three square meals alone. But everyone has a role to play. Sometimes, it takes seeing grand achievements by women in these spaces to understand that fact much more deeply.
In June 2025, President Tinubu conferred national honours on Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight other executed Ogoni leaders. Sadly, the pollution continues and disasters like flooding compound. As do other actions like logging and electricity generation, contributing to environmental decline. Now more than ever, we need more individuals like these women on the frontline combating this nosedive.
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