[1][2] He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2006, for his revealing of illegal logging in Liberia and its connection to the civil war, leading to export sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.
[5] Silas Siakor provided proof that Liberian leader Charles Taylor utilized the proceeds from uncontrolled, widespread deforestation to finance the expenses of a savage 14-year civil war that resulted in the demise of 150,000 individuals.
He presented the evidence to the United Nations Security Council, which consequently prohibited the exportation of Liberian timber.
Following Taylor's removal from power in 2003, Siakor has collaborated with Liberia's current administration to establish enduring timber regulations and empower the indigenous forest communities via the inaugural Forest People's Congress, which he founded.
[6][7][8] Siakor was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2006 for taking great personal risks to release evidence that former Liberian President Charles Taylor used profits from illegal logging to pay for a brutal civil war.