Marc Ona Essangui
In Gabon, a country without a culture of civic engagement, Marc Ona led efforts to publicly expose the unlawful agreements behind a huge mining project threatening the sensitive ecosystems of Gabon’s equatorial rainforests.
Marc Ona Essangui, 45, is president and founder of the environmental NGO Brainforest and president of the network of NGOs called Environment Gabon. Wheelchair-bound due to childhood polio, Ona also works for handicapped rights and Internet availability for Africans.
In December 2008, Ona and several other civil society leaders were arrested and held without charge and without access to legal representation in deplorable conditions in a basement cell for five days. Ona was later transferred to prison and charged with possession of documents allegedly for dissemination and propaganda with intent to incite rebellion against the state authorities, a charge which he denies. After media reports about the unlawful arrest from outlets in Africa, the EU and the US, the government released Ona, though the charges have not yet been dropped.
Ona and five other activists were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize—the world’s largest award for grassroots environmental activists, which this week celebrated its 20th anniversary in the San Francisco Opera House.
You can read the rest of the story and see a video about the Ivindo National Park, a 3,000 square kilometer park with forest elephants, western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and forest buffalo. The park is cherished by the Gabonese people. The park is also home to the Kongou and Mingouli Falls, the most admired waterfalls in the equatorial forests of Africa, drawing international tourists to the rural West African country.
: http://goldmanprize.org/2009/africa