A tribute to Joji Cariño as she receives the Frankfurt Conservation Award 2025 by Marcus Colchester, on behalf of all at FPP

After a lifetime of human rights advocacy on behalf of indigenous peoples, Joji Cariño, Senior Policy Advisor at the Forest Peoples Programme, has just been awarded the Frankfurt Conservation Award 2025 by the Bruno H. Schubert-Foundation.

Joji comes from a prominent family of Igorot indigenous activists from the Central Cordillera of the Philippines. As a teenager she was swept up by the mobilisation of her people in opposition to the Chico Dams project being pushed through by the Filipino dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, and funded by the World Bank. Indigenous opposition to the dams during this period of Martial Law was met with militarisation and hundreds of arrests. Joji witnessed the brutal crackdown against the protesting Igorot by the security services and was deeply affected by the assassination of prominent indigenous leader, Macli-ing Dulag, who was the chief convenor of the peace pacts between the Kalinga and Bontoc peoples opposing the dams, which would have flooded large parts of their homelands.

These experiences confirmed Joji in what was to be a lifetime’s dedication to the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide. In the 1980s, she was closely linked to the campaigning organisation, Survival International. She helped found the London-based PIPLinks which provided solidarity support for the indigenous peoples of the Philippines and played a lead role in the early years of the International Alliance of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, taking the voice of indigenous peoples to multiple international fora, such as the World Bank, various agencies of the United Nations, the Rio Summit on Environment and Development and much more.

Joji was then appointed as a Commissioner of the joint IUCN and World Bank’s World Commission on Dams, which was set up to develop sustainability standards for the hydropower sector. FPP accompanied this work by coordinating and convening the indigenous peoples’ review of their experiences with dams. Thanks to Joji’s leadership, the WCD adopted the requirement that dams should only be developed in indigenous areas subject to their Free, Prior and Informed Consent, consistent with emerging standards in international human rights law. Much of this work was carried out in close coordination with FPP, which she later joined as staff and led as Director for some years.

Joji continued her rights advocacy at many other international forums, notably at the Convention on Biodiversity, the World Conservation Congress and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, all of which went on to develop policies and standards that uphold the rights of indigenous peoples and the importance of their traditional knowledge system in natural resource management and conservation.

Joji’s achievements and recognition through this award are a demonstration of the importance of long term advocacy. In a world of sound bites, influencers and viral messaging, we see that some of the biggest gains come from sustained and focused commitment to counter social and environmental injustice. 

Thank you, Joji,  for your inspiration and leadership!