Cecile Ndjebet, an international women’s rights advocate from Cameroon, has won the 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award, the Korea Forest Service said Sunday.

The award ceremony was held on Thursday, as part of the 15th World Forestry Congress in Seoul.

This year’s award was given to Ndjebet in recognition of her decadeslong efforts in promoting women’s participation in forest preservation, as well as their rights to land and forests, said Maria Helena Semedo, the Food and Agriculture Organization deputy director-general and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests chairperson.

Ndjebet, the founder and leader of African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests, has been dedicated to preserving and restoring forests in Cameroon and other countries in Africa, and is also a champion of women’s rights in the field.

“It is an honor to present the Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award here in South Korea,” Deputy Minister Nam Tae-hun of the KFS said. Nam added he “hopes that the award winners’ contributions to preserve forests, as well as their contributions to make a sustainable world, become more widely acknowledged.”

The award was first established in 2012 by the CPF, which is chaired by the FAO. The award, which was made in memory of Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, has been given to individuals who have helped preserve and restore forests.