Liberian lawyer Alfred Brownell (LLM ’02) was forced to flee his country over his efforts to save more than a half-million acres of tropical forests in his campaign against a Singapore-based palm oil company.
“Brownell’s fearless activism in the face of intimidation, harassment, and death threats has protected 513,500 acres of Liberia’s threatened forests,” the awarding body said in a statement published by CNN and others.

Brownell is widely recognized as one of the leading defenders of environmental and human rights in Africa. As a litigator, he has served as lead counsel not only to Green Advocates, an organization he helped found, but also to its community partners, which together represent thousands of indigenous peoples in West Africa. He has championed the recognition of the customary land and property rights of local communities and indigenous groups against logging, the palm oil industry and large-scale corporate agriculture. He is currently the Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Northeastern University School of Law Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy.