Since the age of 20, Suryamani Bhagat has been fighting for the right of her Indigenous community to own and manage their forests. She has helped her community apply for land titles, and founded the Torang, a tribal rights and cultural centre in her village of Kotari, India. In response to unsafe conditions that women in rural areas face, she helped create a committee of 15 women that patrol the forests and support local residents to protect the biodiversity of their homeland. She now works with the Jharkhand Save the Forest Movement to put land back into the hands of local communities. Photo credit: Thomas Reuters Foundation
