Rodrigo Tot, South and Central America Tot, an indigenous leader in Guatemala’s Agua Caliente, led his community to a landmark court decision that ordered the government to issue land titles to the Q’eqchi people and kept environmentally destructive nickel mining from expanding into his community. Lake Izabal and its surrounding land in El Estor are of vital importance to the indigenous Q’eqchi people who maintain their living by farming and fishing.

Photograph: Goldman Environmental Prize