Officer of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: November 9, 2022
• Invested on: October 03, 2024

Barbara Lewis Zimmerman, O.C.
Collingwood, Ontario

Barbara Zimmerman is bolstering biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation for generations to come. As the long-time director of the Kayapo Project, she has worked with the southeastern Amazon’s Kayapo Nation to support their development of sustainable, conservation-based enterprise, and to protect their territorial sovereignty. The project has helped mentor the next generation of conservationists, uphold constitutional Indigenous rights in Brazil, and support the protection of the last large block of rainforest surviving in the lawless southeastern Amazon.