€1 million of unrestricted funding: Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity winners on what they’ve accomplished

We launched the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in 2019 as a manifestation of the foundation’s commitment to sustainability and equity. Its name is very intentional—it reflects our belief that people are the solution, and that any approach to tackle climate change and nature loss must benefit humanity too. We intend the Prize to be a beacon of hope and to highlight incredible achievements by people, groups, and organisations that deserve global recognition and scale.

Over the six years we have run the Prize, it has proved to unearth outstanding work and shine a light on topics that deserve greater visibility in the climate conversation, such as models for switching from intensive to regenerative agriculture, the role of communities in restoring nature, and the importance of international cooperation in protecting ungoverned regions for planetary stability. The stories of winners provide inspiring examples of climate leadership and approaches that others can learn from, be motivated by and replicate.

The Prize is intentionally ‘no strings attached’ funding. We manage the risk this could carry through a robust three-tier selection process and due diligence that ensures all nominations reviewed by the Jury are vetted, and all nominees are in a position to receive the Prize. The significant funding and flexibility of the Prize helps winners continue to deliver truly transformative work.

The Foundation and the Jury believe that public signals like the Prize are even more vital when the urgency around climate change is less visible in the global news agenda. The Prize shows our conviction that climate change remains the biggest threat to humanity, and our belief that people are at the heart of the solution. It is one of many important signals to the determined scientists, academics, NGOs, lawyers and campaigners working hard to create a liveable, better planet that they are doing the right thing.

Our hope for the Prize in the future is that it continues to surface extraordinary work from across the globe that needs sustaining and scaling.

Vijay Kumar Thallam, Adviser to government agriculture and cooperation department

Winning the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity has been a major milestone for the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme. It has helped accelerate our work beyond Andhra Pradesh and India. In the spirit of the award—being a prize for humanity—we consciously chose to use this opportunity to contribute to global food system transformation by sharing and expanding the principles of Natural Farming internationally.

Photo courtesy of Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming

With the support of the prize, we initiated international pilots in Zambia and Sri Lanka, responding to strong interest from grassroots organisations and local governments. The unrestricted nature of the prize has enabled us to take thoughtful risks and experiment, has been essential when adapting Natural Farming principles to new geographies and farming systems. Our international pilots require a certain amount of trial, learning, and adaptation, and the support has made it possible for us to create space for this process.

We would like to see the broader philanthropy sector investing far more in building grassroots knowledge systems and farmer-led leadership for agroecological transformation. Today, much of the global conversation and funding around agroecology focuses on policy advocacy and generating evidence through projects. While this is important, a critical gap remains at the farmer and community level.

Yani Saloh, Community learning and governance support partner for the Sungai Utik community

The Gulbenkian Prize’s unrestricted nature has been transformative. For Sungai Utik, it provided not only financial resources but also flexibility, dignity, and trust. After more than 40 years of fighting for legal recognition of our customary forest, this support allowed us to shift from advocacy for rights to planning for their future.

Pak Bandi (left), Yani (right) when distributing community cash funds. Photo courtesy of the Sungai Utik Indigenous Community in Borneo.

Because the grant was flexible, the community was able to collectively determine seven priority objectives, balancing immediate basic needs with long-term investments. This included strengthening community governance institutions to manage funds transparently, distributing cash support to meet essential household needs, investing in a multipurpose vehicle to improve medical access and generate income, building a transition house to support students, strengthening ecotourism, improving animal husbandry and sustainable agriculture, and allocating resources to health and education.

Importantly, the Prize has allowed the community to move at its own pace, guided by adat (customary law) and collective decision-making, rather than being driven by short-term project cycles.

The grant has also enabled us to participate more confidently in national and international climate dialogues. It demonstrates that Indigenous Peoples are not passive beneficiaries of climate finance, but providers of climate solutions. Our forest has been protected for generations; what we needed was trust, recognition, and the means to sustain our stewardship.

Dr Luthando Dziba, Executive director, Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Since the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity was jointly awarded, ex-aequo, to IPBES and IPCC for the critical ‘role of science on the front line of tackling climate change and biodiversity loss’, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has published four assessment reports: Invasive Alien Species (2023); Transformative Change (2024); Nexus (Biodiversity, Water, Food, Health and Climate Change, 2024); and most recently, on Business and Biodiversity (2026).

Recent IPBES reports have emphasized the need for a fundamental rethink of our relationship with nature across our societies, economies and governance structures. IPBES continues to provide the best available evidence for better-informed decisions affecting people and nature, showing that the responsibility to care for nature rests with everyone (a role for all actors) and goes beyond the environmental sector (a role for all sectors).

The support of the Gulbenkian Foundation made a vital impact in IPBES’ ability to advance rigorous, independent biodiversity science and policy.