Sandra Diaz and Eduardo Brondízio, scholars of human-nature interconnection, win the 2025 Tyler Prize with call for policies, business models and individuals to recognize humanity’s 'entanglement' wit

(Press-News.org) FEBRUARY 11, 2025 – Argentine ecologist Sandra Díaz and Brazilian-American anthropologist Eduardo Brondízio are being awarded the 2025 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for their extraordinary work linking biodiversity to humankind, the Tyler Prize Executive Committee announced today. 

Díaz and Brondízio are using the win to draw attention to humanity’s “entanglement” with nature in a joint call for policies, business models, and individuals to acknowledge their dependence and shared responsibility in the “fabric of life.” 

“The climatic crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and the outrageous socioeconomic inequities in the world are all interrelated, all connected by the living fabric of the planet,” the winners said in a joint statement. “They need to be tackled in an integrated manner. One cannot solve one of these crises without considering the other two. Solutions to them can enhance and synergize each other, while narrow minded or short-sighted solutions to one of them can harm the others. Socio-environmental justice and respect for our connections with other life on Earth should stop being abstract concepts. They should be incorporated in policies, legislation, and initiatives from the public, civil society, and private sectors.” 

Díaz, at the cutting edge of the interactions between biodiversity and humankind, is calling for respect for nature and its vital contributions to people to be embedded in all sectors of legislation and the economy. She also calls for an end to huge subsidies and financial incentives for activities that harm human and non-human life. 

Brondízio, an anthropologist at the forefront of interdisciplinary studies on the Amazon, is calling for a shift in how academics, decision-makers, and international climate and biodiversity financing view and engage with the Amazon. He believes that addressing the socio-economic struggles of everyday Amazonians is key to addressing the surrounding environmental and climate issues. To achieve this, he singles out two key actions: 1) address poverty, unemployment, violence, and infrastructure precarity in the Amazon in all biodiversity and climate initiatives and investments in the region; 2) support existing biodiversity-rich and socially inclusive bioeconomy initiatives that are led by, and benefit, rural, Indigenous, and urban communities in the Amazon. 

The Tyler Prize Executive Committee awarded the USD $250,000 Prize to Díaz and Brondízio for their “commitment to understanding and addressing biodiversity loss and its impact on human societies.” 

“Eduardo Brondízio's research has illuminated the vital role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in conservation, while Sandra Díaz's work has been instrumental in reshaping how biodiversity is conceptualized and valued in policy discussions around the globe,” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, chair of the Tyler Prize. 

The first individuals from South America to receive the Tyler Prize, Díaz and Brondízio worked together (with co-chair Josef Settele) on the Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES), released in 2019, as well as the United Nations’ Convention on Biodiversity.

ABOUT SANDRA DÍAZ

Sandra Díaz, based in Argentina, is a leading voice on ecology, having produced the global spectrum of plant form and function. This analysis represents the world’s first quantitative assessment of plant diversity—a term referring to traits that specifically affect responses to the environment and effects on the functioning of ecosystems. She has further built on this global picture to find out how different plant forms and functions relate to us and the rest of the world. She is heavily engaged in interdisciplinary work focused on how we value nature and how biodiversity decline affects different sectors of society. A professor of ecology at Córdoba National University in Argentina, and a senior member of Argentina’s National Research Council (CONICET), Díaz has received numerous prestigious awards and is a Martin School Fellow at Oxford University as well as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Independent Advice on Breakthroughs in Science and Technology to the Secretary General of the United Nations. Together with co-laureate Eduardo Brondízio and Josef Settele, she co-chaired the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in 2019. Honored worldwide for her critical contributions to biodiversity, Díaz is a member of the Royal Society and the Academies of Sciences of Argentina, USA, France, Norway, and Latin America.

ABOUT EDUARDO BRONDÍZIO

Anthropologist Eduardo Brondízio is a world-renowned authority on the Amazon. He has spent decades documenting, analyzing, and responding to the social and environmental transformation and governance challenges of Amazônia. The region represents one of the most environmentally critical, and threatened, parts of the Earth system. In sites across the region, Brondizio has developed novel approaches to explain rural and indigenous management of biodiversity and landscapes, deforestation, agroforestry intensification, migration, urbanization, inequities in biodiversity value chains, and population vulnerability related to climate change as well as the governance approaches to complex landscape arrangements. Born in Brazil, Brondízio is a distinguished professor of anthropology at the Indiana University-Bloomington, where he directs the Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes and senior research fellow at the Ostrom Workshop. He also holds a professorship in the Environment and Society Program at the University of Campinas, Brazil. An active voice in international research networks and policy, Brondízio has contributed to numerous international initiatives, journals, and scientific boards on global environmental and climate change and sustainability, such as co-chairing the IPBES Global Assessment Report with Díaz and Josef Settele in 2019. He is a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, the International Science Council, a foreign member of the French Academy of Agriculture, and was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the United States National Academy of Sciences.

ABOUT THE TYLER PRIZE 

Established in 1973, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement recognizes global leaders in environment and sustainability. Often called the “Nobel Prize for the Environment,” past winners include Jane Goodall, Michael Mann, Daniel Pauly, and Gretchen Daily, among others. 

“Sandra and Eduardo have dramatically advanced our understanding of the planet's biodiversity, but they have also gone far beyond that. The Tyler Prize Committee felt that their evidence-based recommendations to protect and sustainably use our vital natural assets is a perfect example of science leading to impact.” - Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Chair of the Tyler Prize 

Díaz and Brondízio will receive the Tyler Prize, which is administered by the University of Southern California, at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 10, 2025. 

Media Contact 

Kristin Deasy (English and Spanish)

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement 

Email: kristin@reagencylab.com 

Phone: +54 9 2944 36 3161 

Jayde Lovell (English)

ReAgency Media 

Email: jlo@reagencylab.com 

Phone: +1 347 698 3291 

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