ROME, 22 July 2024 - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), through the Collaborative Partnership on Forests which FAO chairs, conferred the 2024 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award on Filipina community leader Mrs. Nida Collado on 22 July 2024 at its headquarters in Rome, Italy. 

Mrs. Collado was recognized for her outstanding achievements and steadfast commitment to forest conservation and restoration and boosting livelihoods through Community-Based Forest and Coastal Management. An evening ceremony and reception on the opening day of the 27th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO 27) and the World Forest Week 2024 (WFW 2024) was held to honor her.

The Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award is an honor granted to individuals who have made extraordinary efforts to improve the world’s forests and the lives of people who depend on them. This year, a total of 578 nominations were submitted, the highest number of candidates in the history of the award. The candidates were evaluated based on four main criteria: overall impact, innovative aspects of the work, empowerment of others, and transferability and scale. Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004, she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In her remarks on behalf of the jury, Ambassador Carla Barroso Carneiro, Permanent Representative of the Federative Republic of Brazil to FAO, said that many candidates deeply impressed them but Mrs. Collado’s extraordinary efforts towards sustainable forest management in San Vicente, Palawan left an indelible mark in her community which made the jury unanimously agree to grant her the award.

Mrs. Collado, president of the Macatumbalen Community-Based Forest and Coastal Management Association (MBFCMA), is leading the association and community members of farmers, fisherfolk and women whose activities initially were limited to household chores, in reforesting  about  1,850 hectares of denuded logged-over area and protecting the remaining forest and source of water of the community in about 400 hectares.  She convinced community members to conduct reforestation initiatives through volunteerism, while introducing rattan handicrafts as additional livelihood, until she was able to mobilize projects from both government and non-government organizations.  Women and youth are now joining Nida in forest protection activities, education and information drive, and even in seminars and conventions. Nida, a mother of six children, has been constantly an inspiring speaker in various local and international events and won awards like the 2023 Philippine Resilience Award for her work that contributes to climate resilience; Gawad Ulirang Ina (Model Mother: HERoes of our Lives) for the whole Province of Palawan in 2021 for not only being a model mother but also a mother to her province for her efforts and passion for the environment; award for the MBFCMA for "Best Peoples Organization Environmentalist in Palawan” (2016); and “Best Community-Based Forest Management Peoples Organization - CBFM-PO" (awarded by the Palawan Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office, 2022).  

Mrs. Collado introduced the "adopt an island mangrove plantation" technique in rehabilitating denuded mangroves for a more effective trap against strong and big waves. The technique allows groups from various villages to adopt a space in denuded mangrove areas and create individual pockets of mangrove plantations with much closer distances. Through her leadership, Mrs. Collado introduced the importance of collaborating with other communities to expand forest protection and conservation. 

“Mrs. Collado’s passion and innovative thinking have created lasting and positive change in forest management and restoration of mangroves – she is an inspiration for all of us,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.

Philippine Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN Rome-based Agencies Neal Imperial, who graced the awarding ceremony for Mrs. Collado, said “I am proud that a Filipina prime mover of sustainable forest management in the Philippines has been recognized by the FAO.  She is now a global inspiration for the protection and preservation  of our remaining forest for the benefit of the present and future generations.”

“From the few believers we had when we started, to being heard at the national level, and now standing here on the global stage, this journey has been incredibly meaningful for me and those who believed in and supported me. Winning the Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award proves that our efforts are worth cultivating and expanding,” Mrs. Collado said.

Aside from being invited to attend the international award recognition ceremony at the COFO 27 and WFW 2024, the winner also received a cash prize of USD 20,000.

Supporting Mrs. Collado as she travelled to Rome was Ms. Femy Pinto, Executive Director of the Non-Timber Forest Products-Exchange Programme – Asia. According to Ms. Pinto, Mrs. Collado and her association members have painstakingly protected the forests, while their lives were on the line especially against illegal logging and land grabbing. 

Previous Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award winners are Nepalese community forestry movement leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha (2012), Mexican environmental campaigner Martha Isabel ‘Pati’ Ruiz Corzo (2014), Ugandan forestry activist Gertrude Kabusimbi Kenyangi (2015), Brazilian forestry activist Maria Margarida Ribeiro da Silva (2017), Burundian forestry activist Léonidas Nzigiyimpa (2019), and Cameroonian activist and social forester Cécile Ndjebet (2022). END

Mrs. Nida Collado, 2024 Wangari Maathai Forest Champion, receives her award from FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Forestry Division Director Zhimin Wu, and Chairperson of the FAO Committee on Forestry and Permanent Representative of Austria to FAO and WFP Mr.  Gunter Walkner.

From left to right:  Ms. Louise Mabulo, founder of The Cacao Project and Culinary Lounge; Philippine Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to Rome-based UN Agencies Neal Imperial; Mrs. Nida Collado, 2024 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award winner; Ms. Femy Pinto, Executive Director of Non-Timber Forest Products-Exchange Programme – Asia; and Deputy Permanent Representative to Rome-based UN Agencies and Agriculture Attaché Dr. Josyline C. Javelosa.