Dr Gregory Thaler awarded the 2026 Harold and Margaret Sprout Award

Dr Thaler receives the award at the ISA Annual Convention, 24 March 2026 in Columbus, USA

Dr Gregory Thaler, Associate Professor of Environmental Geography and Latin American Studies, has been awarded the 2026 Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for his book ‘Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World’.

Based on six years of research in Indonesia, Brazil, and Bolivia, Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World critiques ‘land sparing’ in tropical forest conservation. It challenges the idea that agricultural intensification can spare land for nature, and explains how false promises of sustainable development have masked the failures of green capitalism. It was previously awarded the 2024 International Science Prize from the Hans Günter Brauch Foundation for Peace and Ecology in the Anthropocene.

Established in 1972, the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award is given annually by the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association. Past recipients include Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom for Governing the Commons and Rob Nixon for Slow Violence. 

I'm thrilled at this recognition for Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World. In a time of accelerating ecocide, I hope this book can be a resource for those seeking to understand why forests are being destroyed for profit and how we can move beyond false solutions to build meaningful alternatives. Dr Gregory Thaler