Nominations

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 9TH GAWAD BAYANI NG KALIKASAN ARE NOW OPEN!

Deadline for submission of nominations: June 9, 2026 11:59PM PST

The Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan (GBK) is a biennial awarding initiative and lecture series that addresses the need to heighten and reinforce the efforts of communities, sectors, organizations, or individuals to protect their rights and the environment. The 9th GBK will honor the living heroes who defend our environmental treasures

The Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan may be awarded to individuals and organizations advancing significant and valiant struggles or exemplary initiatives to defend the environment and the Filipino people’s rights to their natural resources. Each prospective awardee for the Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan must be recommended by at least two individuals, organizations, communities, or institutions.

The GBK hopes to continually strengthen people’s resolve to protect and conserve the environment and national patrimony, as well as their right to access and benefit from it. In particular, it aims to:

To promote awareness of critical environmental issues and the situation of communities directly relying on natural resources;
To recognize the valiant struggles and exemplary initiatives of Filipino environmental and human rights defenders, both individuals and organizations, who have contributed to upholding the environment and people’s welfare at the local and/or national levels;
To inspire other people, especially those confronting similar challenges, to follow and learn from defenders to continue the defense of the environment, lives, and rights;
To strengthen the link between the struggle for social, economic, and political rights and the sustainable preservation and conservation of the environment.

View the Nominations Kit here.

Who can be nominated for the Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan?

Qualifications for the Individual Awards:

Must be an individual who is advancing significant and valiant struggles or exemplary initiatives to defend the environment and Filipino people’s rights to their natural resources—an environmental human rights defender
Must have a record of excellent integrity and dedicated leadership
Must not be currently working in government, or hold a position of elected or appointed public office
Must not be an active or former defense personnel affiliated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and other affiliated security bodies, agencies, or institutions
Must not be part of, or related, up to second degree of consanguinity or affinity, to a current staff of the Secretariat of GBK (Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines), or members of the Awards Committee, or Board of Judges
Can be formerly nominated for or shortlisted in past iterations of GBK, but did not become an awardee

Qualifications for the Organizational Awards:

Must be a non-profit organization who is advancing significant and valiant struggles or exemplary initiatives to defend the environment and Filipino people’s rights to their natural resources
Must not be a for-profit organization/business enterprise
Must not be established by the government, or composed mainly of members of government
Can be a legal entity or an informal collective
Can be formerly nominated for or shortlisted in past iterations of GBK, but did not become an awardee

Who can nominate for the Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan?

Anyone can nominate their environmental heroes for the Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan, with a few situational exceptions. A nominee cannot nominate themselves (no self-nominations). A nominee cannot be nominated by members of their immediate family. It is highly encouraged that the nominator has a close working relationship with the nominee, so that applications are made with the best information available about the nominee and their advocacy. For Organizational Awards, nominators cannot be members, staff, management, or Board members of the organization they are nominating.

How many will be awarded?

Seven recipients of the Gawad Bayani ng Kalikasan will be chosen by the Board of Judges. There will be three (3) individual awardees (Gawad sa Indibidwal), three (3) organizational awardees (Gawad sa Organisasyon), and a recipient (or recipients) of the Natatanging Gawad (Most Distinguished Award).

Natatanging Gawad (Most Distinguished Award) — Awarded either to one (1) individual or one (1) organization in recognition of his/her/their being an inspiration and example to the Filipino people for offering time and talents for the defense of the environment and advancement of the people’s welfare.

Gawad sa Indibidwal (Individual Award) — Awarded to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary ability and effort to uphold the environment and people’s welfare, whether in the form of advocacy, campaigns, education, research, technology development, community services, mass media, or cultural work.

Gawad sa Organisasyon (Award for Organizations) – Awarded to people and community organizations and institutions that have demonstrated unity in upholding the welfare of the people and of the environment by exemplary actions and advocacy, campaigns, education, research, technology development, community services, mass media, or cultural work.

What is the process of nomination and judging?

Call for Nominations
- Members of the public nominate an individual or organization through https://tinyurl.com/9thGBKNominationForm (Google Form).
Screening and Deliberations
- Initial Screening: The Secretariat screens the nominees whether submission requirements are complete and compliant with the initial qualifications.
  - The Secretariat validates the nominees by contacting the nominator and other references/contacts related to the nominee.
- Shortlisting: The Awards Committee will score the screened submissions according to the criteria and hold deliberations to produce a shortlist of ten individuals and organizations after deliberation.
  - The Secretariat may reach out to the nominators, or the nominees, in order to do field validation, or request extra materials.
  - Once the nomination screening and shortlisting is complete, nominators and nominees will receive confirmation if they have been shortlisted by mid-July. Shortlisted candidates will be promoted on online and media platforms before the ceremony.
- Final Deliberation: The Board of Judges will deliberate on the shortlisted ten and choose the final awardees, according to the criteria.
  - From a shortlist of ten awardees, the Board of Judges will choose:
    - One (1) recipient of the Natatanging Gawad (Most Distinguished Award)
    - Three (3) recipients of the Gawad sa Indibidwal (Individual Award)
    - Three (3) recipients of the Gawad sa Organisasyon (Award for Organizations)
  - Shortlisted candidates will be notified of the results of the final deliberation by the start of August. Awardees will receive support to attend the ceremony. Shortlisted candidates who were not selected will be highly encouraged to still attend the ceremony.
Awarding
- The Awards Ceremony will be held tentatively on August 31, 2026. It is open to the public and will be promoted on online and media platforms.
- Awardees will be invited to join a lecture series organized by the Secretariat following the Awards Ceremony, to provide a platform for more audiences to learn from the awardees.