• Prafulla Samantara, one of the GEP 2017 winners, helped to stop a $2bn mining project on ancestral lands in Odisha. He led the Dongria Kondh tribe to a landmark victory in the Supreme Court over Vedanta Resources Ltd.
• The Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots environmental heroes from the world’s six inhabited continental regions.
• It recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.
• The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them.

Dongria Kondh Tribe:

• Dangaria Kandha is the local tribe of the region named as Niyamgiri, which is characterized by the presence of ecstatic Niyamgiri Hills.
• Niyamgiri is the local place which falls under the Rayagada District in the south Western Region of the state of Odisha, India.
• The tribe is a peace-loving tribe known for their simplicity in life .
• The people practice Horticulture and shifting cultivation.
• Dangaria Kandha also known as ‘Dongaria Kondh’ is a tribe in the south-west part of Odisha, India.
• They are mainly known in the Niyamgiri Jungle area, which falls in the districts of Rayagada and Kalahandi. They worship Niyamraja, the god of the Niyamgiri Jungle.
• The Niyamgiri hill range in Odisha state, eastern India, is home to the Dongria Kondh tribe. Niyamgiri is an area containing densely forested hills, deep gorges and cascading streams.
• To be a Dongria Kondh is to farm the hills’ fertile slopes, harvest their produce, and worship the mountain god Niyam Raja and the hills he presides over, including the 4,000 metre Mountain of the Law, Niyam Dongar.

Source: The Hindu & WIki