Goldman Environmental Prize winner aims to heal her environment : NPR
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 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.” Roka Matbob started asking questions and, …
