Runner-Up: Catalina Cock Duque
Establishing fair-trade gold markets to benefit Colombia's indigenous peoples

Fair-trade coffee is becoming as ubiquitous as vente Frappuccinos—but fair-trade gold? Catalina Cock Duque is working to make it happen. The Bogotá native was 17 when she first visited Colombia's coastal Chocó region, and she vividly recalls the scars large-scale gold mining was leaving on its famously scenic and species-rich rain forest. Impoverished Afro-Colombian communities leased their land to mining companies at a fraction of the value of the gold, which was being extracted using mercury, cyanide, and other toxins. Inspired by the success of fair-trade coffee, Duque set up the Green Gold Corporation in 2000, empowering Chocó communities to protect their land and increase their wealth by mining the ore themselves. "The communities showed us responsible ways of mining. It's the locals who have the solutions," Duque says. "Then we tried to put an economic value on it."

Green Gold established ten environmental and social standards for certification, paying Chocó miners top market prices for certified gold. The corporation then sells that gold to global fair-trade markets, reinvesting 60 percent of the profits in the restoration and conservation of more than 19,500 acres to date.

Raising awareness about sustainable mining was the corporation's first priority. Then, it began working to convince jewelers that consumers would pay a higher price for environmentally responsible gold. Today, demand is even greater than what Green Gold's 1,600 certified miners can produce. In 2004, to replicate Green Gold's success, Duque launched pilot programs in Bolivia and Peru through the newly established Association for Responsible Mining. She hopes to expand into Africa and Asia by 2009. "[Communities] see the value of taking care of their own land," Duque says. "They see how they can be the protagonists of their own stories, the source of their own well-being."
–L. S.

Runner-Up: Ma Jun
Exposing polluters to protect China's water basins

In the mid-1990s, Beijing-born journalist Ma Jun decided that history shouldn't repeat itself. Reporting for the South China Morning Post, Ma learned that inefficient irrigation techniques were bleeding the Yellow River dry, but officials viewed the system as a success and planned to replicate it.

Ma's investigation led to his acclaimed 1999 book, China's Water Crisis, in which he exposed acute mismanagement of the country's seven major water basins. The bleak picture his book painted of the future of China's freshwater resources sent shock waves through the nation, and although Ma had planned to return to his work as a reporter, his readers had a different path in mind. "They said, 'We share your conclusion—now we want you to look into the solution,'" Ma explains. "That pushed me further."

Since then, Ma has dedicated himself full-time to eco-activism, joining the environmental consulting firm Sinosphere Corporation in 2001 and accepting one of Yale University's 17 World Fellowships in 2004. He returned to China two years ago, partnering with NGOs to urge developers to disclose the environmental impact of their projects. "China has rules and regulations," Ma says, "but enforcement is weak. People compromise."

Last year, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, in Beijing, and developed the China Water Pollution Map, a public database that charts affected areas and lists offenders—the number of violators now tops 6,000. To be removed from the list, companies must fix the problem and undergo a third-party audit.
–L. S.