Romania

Stephanie Roth created an international campaign to oppose the construction of an open cast gold mine at Rosia Montana, Apuseni Mountains of Romania. The Canadian company Gabriel Resources, apart from planning to relocate 2,000 people and tear down 900 homes and centuries-old churches, was also planning on using cyanide compounds in its mining process to separate gold and silver. A 185-meter-high waste rock dam would have been constructed in the Corna Valley, leading to massive human relocation. Because of Roth’s work, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, financier of the mining project, retracted its support. Photo credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize