Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Mayr was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1993, for leading a struggle for protecting biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. He lived two years with the Kogi, and founded the "Fundación Pro-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta" in 1986. In 1994 the Colombian government returned 19,500 hectares of traditional lands to the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada.