Three young environmental leaders from Uganda, Barbados and the Philippines have won the Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award 2026, honoured at a ceremony held during the United Nations biodiversity conference, CBD COP17, in Yerevan, Armenia, on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. The Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award celebrates young women and gender-diverse changemakers whose community-led work protects biodiversity and advances a more gender-just and sustainable planet.
The second edition of the award was organised by Women Engage for Common Future (WECF), together with the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Netherlands National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN NL) and Both ENDS. Each winner receives a monetary prize to support their work directly.
What is the Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award?
The award was launched at COP16 in 2024 and is named after the late Irene Dankelman, a pioneer in connecting gender equality with climate and biodiversity action who believed that women and youth have a vital leadership role in protecting the environment. It honours young ecofeminist leaders whose work brings together gender justice and environmental protection, and aims to encourage others to replicate community-led, inclusive solutions and to invite funders to support them.
The 2026 ceremony took place in the COP17 Green Zone, on the Upper Stage of the Karen Demirtchian Sport Complex, from 16:15 to 17:45. The awards were presented by the Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Vassilis Maragos, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Armenia, Marieke Monroy-Winter, and Dr Anush Nersesyan, a leading researcher at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. Closing words were given by Olga Azatyan, Head of UN Women Armenia. The organisers said the winners were brought to Yerevan thanks to the WomenPower2030 project.
According to IUCN NL, the ceremony brought grassroots feminists and high-level speakers together in a dialogue on why gender-just solutions are essential to tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. COP17, the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, is taking place in Yerevan from 19 to 30 October 2026. It is the UN biodiversity conference, separate from the UN climate conference COP31, which follows in Antalya, Türkiye, in November.
The three winners of 2026
Sarah Adongo, Uganda
Sarah Adongo is a lawyer and Legal Officer at Witness Radio, a Ugandan team of human rights investigative journalists, lawyers and social workers who monitor, map and investigate land eviction cases. She focuses in particular on the sexual and gender-based violence that so often accompanies evictions, and she has contributed to revising the Ugandan National Land Policy.
Adongo works side by side with affected women and their communities, helping them understand and claim their rights and pursue practical legal remedies. She trains women who are often excluded from consultations to become confident spokespersons and leaders in defending their communities and territories. The selection committee described her work as a “compelling and unusually intersectional file”.
Yemi Knight, Barbados
Yemi Knight is the founder and Executive Director of AnchorBridge Environmental, a youth-led organisation combining policy advocacy with climate education across the Caribbean. Knight secured reform of the Barbados Water Authority’s Standards of Service, improving water access for rural, lower-income communities.
Their research on disaster evacuation planning for LGBTQ+ communities was cited by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its landmark 2025 Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights. Knight has also helped shape Barbados’ climate commitments, served as UN Youth Advisor for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean region, and delivered climate-literacy briefings to feminist, LGBTQ+ and youth organisations across the region. The selection committee noted that Knight’s verifiable policy wins are even more remarkable given their public stance as an openly queer Caribbean advocate.
Monitte Lantas, Philippines
Monitte Lantas, 24, is a young Tagbanwa Indigenous leader from Narra, on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. She is President of the local youth Indigenous organisation Nagkakaisang Kabataang Katutubo ng Narra (NKKN) and Secretary of the national coalition Ugnayin National Indigenous Youth Network Philippines (UGNAYIN PH).
Her youth-led mangrove project has planted more than 2,000 seedlings, and her campaign against destructive mining helped secure a 50-year mining moratorium for Palawan. She supports Indigenous elders in documenting community processes and has engaged in the Women Environmental Advocator initiative, which supports women’s participation in environmental governance. NKKN was formed in 2021, beginning with volunteer coastal clean-ups, tree planting and community outreach.
Accepting the award, Lantas said: “I accept it with a grateful heart, not only for myself, but also for the community, my fellow Indigenous youth.” She received the award from Dr Anush Nersesyan during the ceremony in Yerevan.
Why the award matters for young climate leaders
The three winners show how youth leadership works in practice: legal defence for communities facing eviction, policy reform that improves water access, and Indigenous-led protection of mangroves and ancestral land. In each case, the work is rooted in a community, led by young people, and connected to wider questions of rights, fairness and nature protection.
For young people watching COP17 and looking ahead to COP31, the award carries a practical message: community projects, evidence and persistence can change policy, from a water authority’s service standards to a mining moratorium lasting 50 years. The organisers say they will publish a deeper look at the winners’ journeys and their insights from COP17 in the coming days. Readers can follow more youth climate stories in our climate coverage.
Key facts
- Award: Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award, second edition, launched at COP16 in 2024.
- Ceremony: Wednesday, 21 October 2026, COP17 Green Zone, Karen Demirtchian Sport Complex, Yerevan, Armenia.
- Organisers: WECF (lead), WEDO, IUCN NL and Both ENDS; winners brought to Yerevan through the WomenPower2030 project.
- Winners: Sarah Adongo (Uganda), Yemi Knight (Barbados) and Monitte Lantas (Philippines, age 24).
- Prize: Each winner receives a monetary prize to support their work; the amount was not stated in the organisers’ announcement.
