Marc Ona Essangui has received the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize that is awarded annually to seven people from six continental regions for his commitment to protect the Ivindo National Park.
Essangui campaigned for three years against the Belinga mine project between the Gabonese government and CMEC, a Chinese mining and engineering company, which put a large hydroelectric dam on the backburner in order to pursue mining. The dam is currently being constructed on the Ivindo River.
He said, "All of this construction was carried out illegally and against the code of the national parks."
He also unearthed and leaked a copy of the Belinga mine project agreement between the government and CMEC, revealing that CMEC had been offered a 25-year tax break as part of the deal.
"When we really started to look into the deal, we noticed that it was China, not Gabon, that was the major beneficiary," he said.
Essangui’s efforts to save the parks and build the hydropower plant landed him in jail in June 2006, and he has not been permitted to leave Gabon since. There has been no construction in Ivindo for almost a year, but Essangui said this has more to do with the economic crisis and the price of iron ore than with the Gabonese government backing down.