2024 Stanford Bright Award winner Rodrigo Botero Garcia is a leading environmental activist in Colombia who has dedicated his career to preserving the Amazon rainforest and advocating for local communities and indigenous land rights.

As part of this work, he has had to negotiate with groups who seek to occupy and exploit the Amazonian region—including armed rebels engaged in illegal mining and drug trafficking. And he has done this in what has been ranked as the world’s most dangerous country for environmental activists and people who defend land rights for indigenous people.

Botero received the Bright Award on October 8, 2024 at SLS. During the event, he discussed his multi-pronged conservation work, including his efforts to expand Chiribiquete National Park, the heart of the Colombian Amazon. The park is now the largest protected area in Colombia and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.