Colombia’s Rodrigo Botero Garcia, who has worked for decades to preserve large swaths of land in the Amazon region, received Stanford University’s highest environmental prize, the Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability, during an October lecture and ceremony at Stanford Law School. The event marked the 12th anniversary of the award, established by a gift from SLS alumnus and lifelong conservationist Raymond E. Bright, JD ’59, who passed away in 2011.

Among Botero’s many accomplishments are several major expansions of Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Park, at the heart of the Colombian Amazon and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

“Botero shows us that finding common ground, negotiating, and bridge-building skills can move the needle, even in one of the hardest places in the world to advocate for the environment,” says George Triantis, JSD ’89, dean of Stanford Law School, of the ceremony. SL