The fonio-husking machine, invented by Rolex Laureate and mechanical engineer Sanoussi Diakite, is helping prevent a delicious, West African cereal from disappearing. His machine is liberating villagers, especially women, from the traditional, labour-intensive process of preparing fonio by hand.
One Indian woman's enduring commitment to improving the living standards of the rural communities of Kutch, a remote and poor region in India;s far north-west, has fundamentally transformed the lives of thousands of women.
Two Laureates of the Rolex Awards, one from the United States, the other from the Philippines, will team up in a bid to devise a fast-track solution to help overcome one of the major drivers of global climate change.
An Associate Laureate of the 2004 Rolex Awards, Jo Thompson was selected for her pioneering efforts to save the bonobo, an endangered ape that dwells only in the Congo Basin region of Africa. During the Congo's war years (1998-2002), Thompson's wildlife project maintainted an active presence within the country.
Associate Laureate Laureate Cristian Donoso kayaked along Antarctica's rugged coast, documenting the fate of wildlife endangered by global climate change. Now he has returned there with two companions to kayak to a remote section of the Antarctic Peninsula, then turn the kayaks into sleds and scale the Antarctic Andes, exploring the effect of climate change on high glaciers.
