Two American researchers awarded Tyler Prize for impactful work on environmental and Indigenous issues

Argentinian ecologist Sandra Díaz and Brazilian anthropologist Eduardo Brondízio were awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement on Feb 11, sharing a $250,000 prize.

This marks the first time South Americans have won the award, often called the "environmental Nobel Prize."

Díaz and Brondízio, known for their significant contributions to conservation, co-chaired a pivotal United Nations report on biodiversity, revealing that 1 million species are at risk of extinction due to human activity.

“Eduardo Brondízio’s research has illuminated the vital role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in conservation, while Sandra Díaz’s work has been instrumental in reshaping how biodiversity is conceptualized and valued in policy discussions around the globe,” Julia Marton-Lefèvre, chair of the Tyler Prize, said in a statement.

A significant portion of Brondízio's work analyzes the effects of variations in social organization on the Amazon environment.

During a press conference, he said that Indigenous groups have been managing and creating the modern Amazon Rainforest for thousands of years. "We refer to it as an anthropogenic forest."

“The rainforest is currently changing due to the rapidly expanding cities in the Brazilian Amazon, where over 80% of the population now lives in mostly unstable conditions,” he continued.

Díaz takes a plant-based approach to the relationship between humans and nature. “Nowadays, there is hardly any area of the biosphere that is not marked by people. Therefore, we may conclude that nature is, in fact, human nature today," Díaz said during the conference.

According to Díaz, the foundation of modern society is the misconception that humans and nature are distinct, with systems that prioritize profit—often temporary gains—for a privileged few at the expense of both people and the environment. According to her, plant life and environmental issues are a reflection of these choices.

“Climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and the outrageous inequality among different people are not separate issues but rather different symptoms of the same underlying problem,” she added.

Ecologist and professor Osvaldo Sala of Arizona State University in the United States described it as a “great day” for South America, adding that their findings “offer an extraordinary novel path forward for humanity.”

Biologist Mercedes Bustamante, who is well-known for her studies in the Brazilian Cerrado, said the prize provides "an incentive for researchers and institutions in a region that is home to several megadiverse countries and immense cultural diversity."

“In this context of concerning political shifts, the voices of the Global South will be even more crucial to ensuring diverse perspectives carry weight and are taken into account,” Bustamante added.