AWF Nominee Eugene Rutagarama Wins Prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize

The African Wildlife Foundation is pleased to announce that Eugene Rutagarama was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize on April 23, 2001,in San Francisco. Rutagarama, a Rwandan, is a conservationist working for the AWF-supported International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP). He has put his life on the line to protect the world's dwindling mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) population from the ravages of civil war and human encroachment.

"Rwanda has suffered unimaginable humanitarian crises in the 1990s," says African Wildlife Foundation President, Michael Wright. "Yet Eugene felt an obligation to transcend this suffering to protect the mountain gorillas and other pieces of Rwanda's natural heritage, often at great personal risk. There are few people who have his strength and level of commitment. I thank the Goldman Environmental Foundation for choosing to honor this exceptional man."

For information on the Goldman Environmental Foundation's award winners, please click here.