Rudi Putra

Rudi Putra is an Indonesian biologist who received a Goldman Environmental Prize in 2014 for his efforts to combat illegal logging, forest encroachment for palm oil production, and policies that open endangered ecosystems to mining and plantation industries.

Putra is a biologist who worked in Aceh Province, and who received a prize of $175,000 from his winning of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2014. In 2013, these activities culminated in the establishment of a petition that asked the Indonesian government to enforce conservation law and reject the proposals in Aceh. He studied the biology and conservation of the Sumatran rhino: the smallest member of the most endangered rhinoceros in the family. This approach involved supporting a programme of local community education about the problem and how the scale of illegal logging threatens the lives not only of animals but also the people of Aceh.

Awards Environmental activists from six regions of the world received an award as part of the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco on 28 April 2014. Each year the award is worth a $175,000 award for the individuals who have shown huge courage and initiative against the odds to take action to protect their environment.