Berta Caceres is a female humanitarian from Honduras born on 4th March 1971in La Esperanza. She majorly advocates for environmental conservation and human rights. As an individual from the indigenous Lenca community, she supports global communities to embrace diversity to enhance humanity across the world. She has had a significant impact in Honduras and other parts of the world in her bid to fight for marginalized communities. Berta Caceres has also received various recognitions and awards for her impact as a defender for human rights and environmental conservation, such as the Goldman Environmental Awards (“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony”). She was the co-founder of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras. Berta Caceres died on 3rd March, 2016, in her home town La Esperanza.
The main purpose and concept entailed in Berta Caceres’ speech at the Goldman Environmental Awards ceremony were to shed light on socioeconomic inequalities and the rise of global human rights violations. She also highlighted some of the negative impacts of environmental degradation through human activities and some of the ways of dealing with the menace (“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony”). The main idea in her speech is calling upon everyone worldwide to invest more resources in environmental conservation and human empowerment. She reasons out that human empowerment by respecting human rights will help enhance equality and embrace diversity. Environmental conservation will also reduce the negative impacts of unethical environmental practices on human beings.
She utilizes various historical backgrounds to support most concepts in her speech, such as a brief history of the Lenca community and their marginalization within societies. She also mentions how an organization she co-founded has positively impacted the well-being of indigenous and marginalized communities in Honduras. For example, highlighting how their efforts enabled the stoppage of the construction of a dam that had a devastating effect on the life of individuals and the environment (“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony”). The words used by Berta Caceres in her speech are majorly descriptive words that are brief and precise to the point, which enables the target audience to conceptualize the concepts of her main ideas.
Berta Caceres’ speech is effective in that she utilizes the podium to address various critical environmental and human rights issues. Keeping in mind that the audience at the venue comes from different parts of the world will help disseminate her ideas globally. She also uses her speech time to call upon the corporate sector to ensure that their activities aim at having sustainable development to the people by considering their free will and autonomy (“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony”). She concludes her speech by encouraging the world population to protect the natural resources and ecosystem since it is the only home available and supports humankind.
The Goldman environmental award is a major event that appreciates the efforts of various individuals for their outstanding contributions towards environmental conservation and the impacts of the environment on the people. The event’s audience is majorly comprised of individuals from different parts of the world with a common goal of ensuring environmental conservation. The main concept of the speech, which revolves around the environment and human rights, is appropriate for the audience since it encourages them to embrace diversity (“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony”). The audience of the event is also mixed with individuals from different ethnicities, genders, and cultural backgrounds. The speech is effective for the audience since she calls upon everyone in the audience to rise and fight for environmental and human rights justice. She uses the platform to portray that the fight against human rights violations and environmental pollution should be an all-inclusive effort regardless of an individual’s geographical location.
Work Cited
“Berta Caceres Acceptance Speech, 2015 Goldman Prize Ceremony.” YouTube, uploaded by Goldman Environmental Prize, Web.