As a law student in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Lisa Mean felt that she wasn’t learning how to apply the law in practice. She began volunteering with civil society organizations, working as a legal intern, but over time she realized her place was elsewhere. ‘I wanted to work with peace movements... I wanted to participate in peace protests and talk about conservation. That is why I started working with Mother Nature Cambodia,’ she says.
The group has been fighting to protect the country’s precious biodiversity since 2012, running several successful campaigns. In 2023 they received the Right Livelihood Award for their ‘engaged activism’.
