Silas Siakor

Silas is the former Director of the Liberia-based Sustainable Development Institute (SDI).

He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2006 for his work gathering evidence that proved that Liberia's former president, Charles Taylor, was using profits from logging to fund the civil war.

His work, carried out at great personal risk, led to UN sanctions on the export of Liberian timber.

As Director of SDI from 2005 to 2009, Silas coordinated civil society’s input into Liberia’s forest reform, and he continues to work for social justice, human rights and the environment.

He was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 2008 Heroes of the Environment and, in 2012, was awarded the Alexander Soros Foundation Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Environmental and Human Rights Activism.

He is now working with communities across Liberia to secure legal recognition and protection for their customary lands.