WCS’s President and CEO Adam Falk presents the WCS Distinguished Leadership in Conservation Award to Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, at a ceremony at WCS’s Central Park Zoo on Sept. 22, 2025. Credit Terria Clay @WCS

New York, NY – September 22, 2025 – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has presented Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, with the WCS Distinguished Leadership in Conservation Award, the organization’s premier honor recognizing extraordinary commitment to nature and people.

The award was presented by WCS President and CEO Adam Falk during a special ceremony at the WCS Central Park Zoo as part of Climate Week NYC.

“It is an exceptional opportunity for WCS to bestow this honor on a true lifelong leader, Minister Marina Silva,” said Falk. “Her leadership has defined what is possible when ambition, courage, and lived experience converge in the fight to protect nature and the global climate and to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.”

Said Silva: “I feel deeply honored to receive this award, which is not only a recognition of my individual work, but also of Brazil’s global importance in preserving the environment and tackling climate change. Since President Lula took office, we have achieved a 46% reduction in deforestation in the Amazon, launched a new NDC aligned with the 1.5°C goal, developed policies that benefit Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the true guardians of biodiversity, and created new economic mechanisms to value standing forests, such as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), which could benefit around 70 countries that hold tropical forests. All of this is the result of the commitment of our staff at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, environmental agencies, and other Brazilian government institutions, combined with the valuable contributions of civil society and academia,” the minister stressed. “Both personally and in my public work, I devote every effort to integrating economy and ecology — the only way to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for humanity.”

Silva’s personal story is inseparable from her passion for conservation. Born into a family of rubber tappers in the Amazon, she worked tapping rubber as a child to help pay off family debts and did not learn to read until the age of 16.

She became a close collaborator of Chico Mendes, the legendary leader of Brazil’s rubber tappers’ movement, until his tragic assassination in 1988. A few years later, she entered politics in her home state of Acre, and in 1994 became the youngest Brazilian Senator at the time.

From 2003 to 2008, Silva served in her first stint as Brazil’s Minister of the Environment, where she spearheaded the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon, which achieved historic declines in forest loss while strengthening Brazil’s agricultural economy. She also created the Brazilian Forest Service and established the groundbreaking Amazon Fund, the world’s first and most successful results-based mechanism for financing reduced deforestation.

In 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reappointed her as Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Under her leadership, Brazil has again curbed deforestation, reversing upward trends from previous years.

Looking ahead, Silva is playing a central role in preparations for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which Brazil will host in Belém, Pará, in November 2025. She coordinates the Global Ethical Stocktake (GES), convening diverse leaders and communities worldwide to advance a civil society contribution to COP30, deliver the Paris Agreement’s goals, and reinforce the urgent commitment to limit global warming to 1.5ºC, an initiative jointly launched by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Together with President Lula, she is poised to launch the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) at COP30, an innovative investment-based finance mechanism to reward governments already prioritizing tropical forest conservation and restoration.

WCS collaborates with Silva and her ministry on multiple initiatives, including the design of the TFFF, strengthening of the management of protected areas combatting wildlife trafficking, and a pilot project applying the WCS High Integrity Forest Investment Initiative (HIFOR) methodology in a National Park in the Amazon.

“On behalf of WCS leadership, our Board, WCS Brazil, and our colleagues and friends across the global conservation community – from GEF to CI, TNC, WWF and others – we are proud to recognize Minister Marina Silva with the WCS Distinguished Leadership in Conservation Award,” Falk said. “Her lifelong dedication to protecting nature, advancing climate action, and championing Indigenous Peoples and local communities is an inspiration to us all.”

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