Less than a year ago, Berta Caceres won the world's leading environmental award, the Goldman Environmental Prize for her courage and leadership in defending human and environmental rights in her native Honduras.  

Here is a video about her brave work:

This was her powerful acceptance speech for the award:

In the early morning hours of Thursday, March 3, Caceres' courageous battle as leader of the indigenous Lenca people of Honduras ended when she was murdered by gunmen in her hometown of La Esperanza.  

Caceres was killed the day before what would have been her 46th birthday.

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The reaction to her death has been global:

Berta Cáceres, Honduran human rights and environment activist, murdered

Award-Winning Human Rights Defender Murdered In Honduras

Berta Cáceres, Indigenous Activist, Is Killed in Honduras

Berta Cáceres, Honduran Indigenous Rights Leader, Is Murdered

In Caceres' native Honduras, this is how the newspaper La Prensa reported her death:

'La mataron por su lucha': madre de Berta Cáceres

According to NPR, La Prensa reported:

Cáceres was currently working to stop a company from building a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Rio Blanco community said would fundamentally change their way of life. Authorities, the paper reports, said she was killed during a robbery, but her mother said that Cáceres was killed "because of her struggle."

The Goldman Prize organization mourned Caceres' death with the following blog:

Goldman Environmental Foundation mourns the loss of Berta Cáceres - Goldman Environmental Foundation

Many Hondurans took to the streets to mourn and protest the murder of Caceres.

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Caceres is survived by her four children, ages 26, 24, 23 and 21, and by her mother.