{"id":20058,"date":"2026-03-06T11:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T10:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.my-watchsite.com\/blog\/?p=20058"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:10:48","slug":"protecting-the-planet-rolex-sets-the-time-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.my-watchsite.com\/blog\/protecting-the-planet-rolex-sets-the-time-for-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting the planet: Rolex sets the time for action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At first glance, this announcement looks like an umpteenth prize list published among the mass of international prizes. But these rewards shape the outlines of a greater ambition: supporting those who imagine concrete solutions for the environmental and health challenges of the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The five laureates of the 2026 Rolex Awards \u2013 From left to right: Rosa V\u00e1squez Espinoza, Farwiza Farhan, Binbin Li, Rachel Ikemeh, Pardis Sabeti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These prizes, originally created in 1976 to celebrate the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the Oyster watch \u2013 the first waterproof wristwatch ever designed by Rolex, supported 165 laureates in more than 67 countries. The results are staggering: more than 50 millions of trees were planted, 137 endangered species have been protected, 32 major ecosystems have been preserved \u2013 including 57,600 km\u00b2 of the Amazonian rainforest \u2013 alongside numerous ground-breaking technologies and scientific expeditions. The programme changes in order to celebrate this half of a century. Now renamed Rolex Awards, these prizes will now be granted every year and take after the Perpetual Planet Initiative that was launched in 2019 to support projects targeting oceans, landscapes and sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five women looking the same direction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This 2026 vintage casts light to five scientists and activists who all strive for a better future in their own personal way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laureate of the 2026 Rolex Awards, conservation scientist Binbin Li works with local communities of central China to create a sustainable approach to livestock grazing and protect the natural habitat of wild giant pandas \u2013 \u00a9Jingnan Wang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In China, Binbin Li tackles an emblematic challenge: the survival of the giant panda. There are now less than 2,000 wild individuals. By working directly with rural communities, she helps developing a sustainable model of livestock grazing that protects the bamboo forests as well as benefitting local economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A baby giant panda eating bamboo in Sichuan, China \u2013 \u00a9Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Farwiza Farhan fights for the Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra. It\u2019s the last place on Earth where elephants, tigers, orangutans and rhinoceros still coexist in the wild. She mobilises local communities \u2013 and especially women \u2013 to defend this biodiversity sanctuary against deforestation and industrial threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Farwiza Farhan, defensor of the Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia \u2013 \u00a9Magdalena Stawinski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Medical sciences are also celebrated. Medical geneticist Pardis Sabeti has been developing technological tools that can precociously detect viral epidemies in West Africa. She aims for spreading out a portable diagnostic device in Sierra Leone in order to identify any disease outbreak before it turns into a global crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laureate of the 2026 Rolex Award, Pardis Sabeti puts her pioneering skills at work for Sabeti Lab. This Rolex Award will allow her to develop and test a new portable diagnostic device in the isolated communities of West Africa. The goal is to detect viral epidemies before they spread to larger populations, thus saving millions of lives \u2013 \u00a9Oliver Douliery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Nigeria, Rachel Ikemeh proves that conservation can also be a lever for local development. Her work saved the Niger Delta red colobus monkey from extinction and helped protecting more than 5,839 hectares of forest. With Rolex\u2019s support, she plans to create a training hub and a mobile education programme to increase community-led conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Rachel Ikemeh, photographed in the Niger Delta. The Rolex Award will help her found a new training hub as well as a mobile education programme in the delta. As a biodiversity area the delta hasn\u2019t been studied much by scientists \u2013 she thus hopes to recreate her success throughout neighbouring communities \u2013 \u00a9SW\/Niger Delta Forest Project
 
A red colobus monkey photographed in the Niger Delta, in Nigeria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, on the Peruvian side of the Amazon rainforest, Rosa V\u00e1squez Espinoza has been silently fighting for a critical animal: stingless bees. These pollinators are essential for the survival of many endemic plant species that support local populations\u2019 well-being. Her research even resulted in a historical recognition of the bees\u2019 legal rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rosa V\u00e1squez Espinoza photographed in the Amazon rainforest with a beehive of stingless bees. The Rolex Award will help her expand an indigenous-led corridor of protected stingless bee habitat on the Peruvian side of the Amazon \u2013 \u00a9Ana Sotelo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although Rolex is firstly linked to watchmaking prestige and accuracy, the company has been performing a bigger role for a few decades now: supporting those who explore, understand and protect the Earth. With Perpetual Planet, they are now helping more than 30 international partners: marine biologists, rainforest activists, or pioneers of global healthcare\u2026 In a world where environmental emergencies can be measured in years \u2013 or even in months \u2013 these initiatives remind us of a simple thing: some battles require a long-term vision. Sometimes, celebrating the years gone by can take the shape of protecting the upcoming ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A bee gathering nectar in the Amazon rainforest \u2013 \u00a9Luis Garcia Solsol\/Amazon Research Internacional<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Perpetual Planet Initiatives<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolex website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Awards, the watchmaking house doesn\u2019t waste any time: they take advantage of it. For the 2026 edition of the Rolex Awards, five women from Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, China and the United States were selected for their projects likely to lastingly change the relationship between human beings and our planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[737,27,736],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProtecting the planet: Rolex sets the time for action - MyWatch EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the 2026 edition of the Rolex Awards, 5 women were selected for their sustainable and ground-breaking projects.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.my-watchsite.com\/blog\/protecting-the-planet-rolex-sets-the-time-for-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting the planet: Rolex sets the time for action - 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