A mine despoiled the beauty of the rainforest. This Goldman Prize winner took action

Global Health A mine despoiled the beauty of the rainforest. This Goldman Prize winner took action April 20, 20266:58 AM ET By  Gabrielle Emanuel Theonila Roka Matbob of Papua New Guinea is one of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize winners. She is being recognized for her efforts to repair the environmental and social harms caused by a copper and gold mine. Goldman Environmental Prize hide caption toggle caption Goldman Environmental Prize Theonila Roka Matbob was born in what should have been a lush rainforest. Her family's home is near the center of the largest island in Papua New Guinea's Autonomous Region of Bougainville in the Pacific Ocean. Instead, she says, the mountains around her were mostly rock and sand. "You have to go miles — into another region and territory — to find the trees, the forest," says Roka Matbob, who is now 35. She grew up hearing constant warnings about the environment. "From our grandparents and parents, the advice you always get is: Don't go near the water. Don't go near the river. It is poisonous. Do not eat anything that falls onto the ground," she recalls. "And they don't tell you why." Sponsor Message Roka Matbob started asking questions and, eventually, she figured out the why. Her work as an activist to repair the environmental and social harms has earned her The Goldman Environmental Prize for 2026. The winners were announced today: grassroots environmental champions, one in each of the world's inhabited regions. Roka Matbob won for the island nations. The trigger for her environmental woes –- and activism –- is a mine. Roka Matbob grew up minutes from the Panguna copper and gold mine, which had been developed by Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies with headquarters in Australia and the U.K. The mine near Roka Matbob's home was run through the subsidiary Bougainville Copper Ltd. While the mine had long been abandoned, between 1972 and 1989 it produced millions of tons of copper and hundreds of tons o...