La Donna Bravebull Allard

A historian, environmental activists and Standing Rock Sioux elder, Allard founded the first resistance camp of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

The Standing Rock tribe consider the pipeline a threat to the region’s clean water and to ancient burial grounds, believing that it must be stopped in the name of cultural and spiritual  preservation.

The first water protector camp was on Allard’s private property and out of this grew the global Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

By the end of last year, more than 10,000 indigenous people and environmental activists were camping in the area and protesting at the Standing Rock Camp.

Medha Patkar

Patkar was a central leader in protests against the construction of a series of dams in India, an initiative that would submerge more than 37,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land.

In 1985 Patkar led peaceful rallies against the project and was repeatedly beaten and arrested by the police. Between 1991 and 1994, she did three separate hunger strikes, one of which very nearly killed her.

The dam and its associated canal system would also displace some 320,000 villagers, mostly from tribal communities, whose livelihoods depend on these natural resources.

The work of Patkar and other forced a halt to major work on this project and has led the state government to establish an independent task force to review the dam.

The Black Mambas

The Black Mambas are an all female anti poaching group, working in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

Founded by Transfrontier Africa in 2013, the group is formed of 26 women. In the last three years since their creation, the group has cut poaching by more than 75%, removed over 1,000 snares, put two bush meat kitchens out of action and had six poachers arrested.

Last year they won the Helping Rhinos ‘Innovation in Conservation’ Award.

Tina And The Lancashire Nans

In 2014, Tina Rothery held a three week community protection camp made of mothers and grandmothers in to oppose fracking plans by the Cuadrilla corporation and the dangers they held for their children.

The corporation took the ‘Nanas’ to court over the camp and Tina stepped forward as the organiser of the group.

Fined £55,000 by Cuadrilla, Tina says she has ‘drawn her line in the sand’ and refuses to pay.