Joan Carling has become the first Filipino Indigenous activist to win the 2024 Right Livelihood Award. Also referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize, the award annually honors individuals and organizations committed to advancing social justice and environmental causes.
In an announcement video on Oct. 3, Right Livelihood Award Foundation executive director Ole von Uexkuell acknowledged Carling for “raising Indigenous voices in the face of global ecological breakdown, and her leadership in defending people, lands and culture.”
Carling currently serves as executive director of Philippine-based NGO Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) and chairs several organizations focused on Indigenous rights. She received the honor alongside Palestinian human rights activist Issa Amro, Mozambican environmental activist Anabela Lemos, and research agency Forensic Architecture.
Carling hails from the Kankanaey tribe of Mountain Province in the Philippines, which has been ranked as the deadliest Asian country for environment defenders. For more than three decades, she has led local and international campaigns to address discrimination and challenges faced by Indigenous groups.
Carling told Mongabay that the award is very meaningful for her as it highlights her lifetime commitment to serve and fight for the rights of Indigenous peoples.
“It’s not just about me, but [also about] Indigenous peoples around the world,” she said. “It also sends a powerful message that finally our voices are being acknowledged in the global platform, and that defending our rights and the environment and basically upholding human dignity for all is valid and important.”
The Right Livelihood Award comes with a cash prize of 750,000 Swedish kronor ($72,000) that will serve as a seed fund for IPRI to support environmental defenders needing legal and political support.
Carling told Mongabay that her political awakening started in the 1980s when she lived with tribes who were defending their lands against a massive dam project.
“I saw that the people were willing to give up their lives … to defend the Chico River, which provided them not only their livelihood but also their culture, their cohesion as tribal people,” she said.
Throughout her long career, Carling has headed several campaigns amid death threats and harassment. She said her biggest challenge came at the height of an anti-mining campaign in the Philippines when four of her fellow activists with the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA), which Carling chaired, were killed.
“I was in a serious depression because of that,” Carling said. Facing threats herself, she was forced to take a fellowship abroad, spending a semester teaching human rights in the U.S.
Carling returned to the Philippines with greater resolve. “What kept me going is I cannot rest with the knowledge that my colleagues sacrificed their lives,” she said.
Today, Carling fights to uphold Indigenous rights globally. Indigenous peoples continue to face discrimination and exploitation, she said, especially with the rise of “fortress conservation” and infrastructure projects that threaten further loss of Indigenous lands.
Banner image of Joan Carling, courtesy of Right Livelihood.
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