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Future Earth Member Eduardo Brondizio Co-Winner of 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

Argentine ecologist Sandra Díaz and Brazilian-American anthropologist Eduardo Brondízio are being awarded the 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for their extraordinary work linking biodiversity to humankind, the Tyler Prize Executive Committee announced today.

Díaz and Brondízio are using the win to draw attention to humanity’s “entanglement” with nature in a joint call for policies, business models, and individuals to acknowledge their dependence and shared responsibility in the “fabric of life.”

“The climatic crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and the outrageous socioeconomic inequities in the world are all interrelated, all connected by the living fabric of the planet,” the winners said in a joint statement. “They need to be tackled in an integrated manner. One cannot solve one of these crises without considering the other two. Solutions to them can enhance and synergize each other, while narrow-minded or short-sighted solutions to one of them can harm the others. Socio-environmental justice and respect for our connections with other life on Earth should stop being abstract concepts. They should be incorporated in policies, legislation, and initiatives from the public, civil society, and private sectors.”

Credit: Diego Augusto Lima

Díaz, at the cutting edge of the interactions between biodiversity and humankind, is calling for respect for nature and its vital contributions to people to be embedded in all sectors of legislation and the economy. She also calls for an end to huge subsidies and financial incentives for activities that harm human and non-human life.

Brondízio, an anthropologist at the forefront of interdisciplinary studies on the Amazon, is calling for a shift in how academics, decision-makers, and international climate and biodiversity financing view and engage with the Amazon. He believes that addressing the socio-economic struggles of everyday Amazonians is key to addressing the surrounding environmental and climate issues. To achieve this, he singles out two key actions:

  1. Address poverty, unemployment, violence, and infrastructure precarity in the Amazon in all biodiversity and climate initiatives and investments in the region.
  2. Support existing biodiversity-rich and socially inclusive bioeconomy initiatives that are led by, and benefit, rural, Indigenous, and urban communities in the Amazon.
Credit: James Vavrek

Brondizio is a member of the PECS advisory board and Lead Faculty of Earth System Governance (ESG), two Future Earth Global Research Networks.

“Eduardo Brondízio and Sandra Díaz’s groundbreaking work has reshaped how we understand the deep interconnections between people and nature. Their contributions, including those through Future Earth’s networks, have made a real impact on science and society and inform global policies for a more just and sustainable world,” said Wendy Broadgate, Future Earth Interim Coordinating Director and Global Hub Director, Sweden.

The Tyler Prize Executive Committee awarded the USD $250,000 Prize to Díaz and Brondízio for their “commitment to understanding and addressing biodiversity loss and its impact on human societies.”

“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,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, chair of the Tyler Prize.

The first individuals from South America to receive the Tyler Prize, Díaz and Brondízio worked together (with co-chair Josef Settele) on the Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES), released in 2019, as well as the United Nations’ Convention on Biodiversity.

About the Tyler Prize

Established in 1973, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement recognizes global leaders in environment and sustainability. Often called the “Nobel Prize for the Environment,” past winners include Jane Goodall, Michael Mann, Daniel Pauly, and Gretchen Daily, among others.