Gianina Glarino

Meet Gianina Glarino, an emerging young leader from the Philippines. Gianina is currently working at Kalikasan PNE, a national grassroots environmental center in the Philippines. The organization was founded in 1997 to coordinate and support national campaigns on environmental issues like large-scale mining, land reclamation, agribusiness plantations, climate change, and human rights. Gianina’s role is to provide the organization’s research on these environmental issues with data-driven science, economic reports, and social research. Her research strengthens the organization with information, education, and communication material to engage communities, network members, media, and the general public.

At the age of 24, Gianina leads the national research and communications projects of Kalikasan PNE. She articulates the interconnection of science and politics and pushes for creative solutions on environmental injustices. To pursue these creative solutions, she has the drive and motivation to learn new knowledge or required skills.
It is unique that Gianina became a full-time activist since she studied at the country’s most prestigious national health science research institute. Instead of becoming a medical technologist, she felt an urge to help the environment and work on pressing ecological and planetary health issues.
She now thrives as the Kalikasan PNE national secretariat’s lead field researcher and comprehensive staff worker doing lobby and advocacy, administration and finance, and social media management.

Gianina aims to expand her research and communications capacities by working with a mentoring program of experts in environmental journalism and multidisciplinary research. The grant has helped her improve skills like storytelling, data-driven communications, public policy writing, and process management. She has worked with senior journalists and communications experts and participated in several training sessions and environmental courses.