Wangari Muta Maathai, the so-called woman of trees, was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

Ms. Maathai frequently expressed concern about poverty in Africa. In an exclusive interview with Africa Renewal shortly after winning the Nobel Prize, she maintained that Africans “cannot afford to have a region where a few people are filthy rich and a huge number of people are in dehumanizing poverty.” She was the first African female to win a Nobel Peace Prize and the first woman in East Africa to earn a doctorate in veterinary anatomy, which she obtained from the University of Nairobi. She studied in Kenya, the US and Germany.

Ms. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to plant trees across Kenya, alleviate poverty and end conflict. She was driven by a perceived connection between environmental degradation and poverty and conflict. “Poor people will cut the last tree to cook the last meal,” she once said. “The more you degrade the environment, the more you dig deeper into poverty.”
​ She died at the age of 71 in 2011, of ovarian cancer. ​

Leonardo DiCaprio, has been an outspoken advocate for environmental issues throughout much of his career. In 1998, at the age of 24, he established his foundation with the mission of protecting the Earth’s last wild places and implementing solutions to build a more harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world. Through grantmaking, public campaigns, and media projects, Mr. DiCaprio has worked to bring attention and funding to the protection of biodiversity, ocean and forest conservation, and climate change.
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation supports over 35 innovative conservation projects around the world that protect fragile ecosystems and key species.

The UN Secretary-General designated Mr. DiCaprio as a Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change ahead of the 2014 Climate Summit, aimed at catalyzing and galvanizing climate action towards a global climate agreement in 2015.

​José Mujica – also called Pepe - describes himself as a humble peasant, but most of the international press has described him as one of the most interesting politicians of the last and current century: some even suggested his name for the following Nobel Peace Prize. In reality, he is a Uruguayan politician who devoted his live to freedom and democracy. He spent 13 years in prison during the military dictatorship (1973-85), once freed he pursued his aim of building a new democratic regime in his country.
He was nominated as a president in his country from 2010 to 2015, but he is known for leaving 90% of his Presidential income to low-income housing organisations. 
Nowadays, he is retired and keeps on being interested in politics, by inspiring his political view on ancient philosophers such as Plato and Seneca, but many Uruguayans do not forget his deeds and his honesty. 

Nika was just 17 years old when she was killed for joining a protest against the murder of Mahsa Amini, burning her hijab. She disappeared on September the 20th, after 10 long days her corp was found.
She was massacred by the police and buried 40 km away from her home, against her parent's will.


Peace Hero Museums support the protests in Iran and strongly condemn the repression and the perpetuated violence against women and the protesters.

Holly Gillibrand, Scotland


"When there's about 200 species going extinct every day, it's quite scary. So you have to do everything you can."

From her small town in the remote, mountainous Scottish Highlands, this 13 years old is helping to build a UK movement of children demanding more action on climate change. Holly Gillibrand is a young ambassador for Scotland: the Big Picture and a campaigner for animal welfare charity OneKind.