New York-- The 13^th Equator Prize Award Ceremony celebrates outstanding achievements of ten Indigenous peoples and local communities for their innovative and inclusive nature-based solutions across three categories—Creating a Planetary Safety Net, Redefining Our Relationship with Nature and Creating a New Green Economy. In addition, this year’s Equator Prize award ceremony will also celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the UNDP Equator Initiative partnership.

The Equator Prize winners are from Argentina, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ecuador, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, and Panama. These communities are now joining a community of 274 Equator Prize winners from 87 countries. Four of the Equator Prize 2022 winners are entirely women-led or -managed, with all ten organizations working towards gender equality.

“Humanity has spent far too long trying to bend nature to our will. Indigenous peoples and local communities need more tangible support and the role of women in local sustainable development is paramount, especially given that they govern about a third of the planet and are proven to be effective nature stewards,” stated UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “We would like to thank the governments of Norway and Germany for their generous support to make this year’s Equator Prize possible, to recognize the outstanding community efforts and share local successes.”

The Equator Prize winners call on world leaders globally to help scale, replicate, and fund local actions, to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality.

The 2022 award winners are being recognized at the virtual ‘Nature for Life Hub,’ showcasing the importance of local leadership for nature conservation. Each prize-winning community is awarded US$10,000 to support the continuation of their work, as well as an additional US$5,000 provided by The Sall Family Foundation to scale up their initiatives further.

The award ceremony will be hosted by Nelufar Hedayat, journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. She’ll be joined by distinguished speakers and musicians such as DJ Alok, DJ and Music Producer; Kristine Tompkins, Former CEO of Patagonia and Co-founder/President of Tompkins Conservation; Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue and National Geographic Explorer at Large, among others.

About the Equator Initiative

The Equator Initiative is a United Nations-led, multi-sectoral partnership that brings together governments, civil society, academia, business and grassroots organizations to recognize and advance local, nature-based sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. Its mission is to identify and advance outstanding local efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The Equator Initiative partnership offers a unique platform to celebrate success, inform global policymaking, and support local leadership in advancing innovative projects, in sustainable development and climate issues. The Equator Initiative is celebrating 20 years of supporting local action in 2022. 

About the Winners

Access short summaries of the Equator Prize 2022 winners here. Videos about all the winners are available on request. A recording of the event is available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese at www.natureforlifehub.org.

Media queries: Sangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, UNDP New York, email:

sangita.khadka@undp.org, Tel: +1 212 906 5043