This is not some heroic thing to do. This is a matter of survival. Nature is fine on its own; it can heal, grow back and regenerate. But we, humans, if we abuse Nature, we die.”
FOR more than five years, Maria Thessa Ramos, 42, has been dedicated to preserving everything that helps keep planet Earth intact — leading efforts to build a world that is fit for future generations to inherit, where people and nature can coexist.
“Because I am Nature. If Nature is destroyed, I die,” Ramos said in an interview with the Philippine Information Agency, putting perspective on why she has been doing all these things, on why she is deeply invested in matters related to conserving the environment.
“This is not some heroic thing to do. This is a matter of survival. Nature is fine on its own; it can heal, grow back and regenerate. But we, humans, if we abuse Nature, we die,” Ramos bluntly said, spelling “Nature” with a capital N as if it were a proper noun, a living thing, which it actually is.
For starters, this Southern Leyte native was among the seven finalists of the Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WINDRR) Rising Star Award this year.
Organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and supported by the Government of Australia, the WINDRR Rising Star Award celebrates and honors women who are “bringing fresh energy and innovative ideas to some of the region’s most pressing challenges,” a narrative on the subject states.
“Over 200 entries were selected, coming from 26 countries,” Ramos told Philippine Information Agency (PIA). Her efforts on ecosystem-based adaptation and other related works were among the very few that were chosen.
The seven finalists and the countries they represent are Hakimun Nesha Bappy of Bangladesh, Swastika Devi of Fiji, Xie Hu of China, Nashin Mahtani of Indonesia, Mai Nguyen of Vietnam, Sana Parveen of Pakistan and Maria Thessa Ramos of the Philippines.
“Their diverse experiences highlight the creative and forward-looking solutions needed to tackle the growing frequency and severity of disasters, as well as the impacts of climate change,” the WINDRR literature further said.
The awarding ceremony for the WINDRR was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 25; however, Ramos was unable to attend because she was receiving another award in Manila.
She was one of the 2024 awardees of the Philippine Resilience Awards, recognized for her role as co-founder of the Eastern Visayas Society of Native Tree Conservation and the Youth for Resilience Network.
“I was in Manila also to receive the awards with the Climate Change Commission. I also won the Philippine Resilience Award last year,” Ramos shared.
Sen. Loren Legarda, in a social media post on July 9, cited Ramos as a champion in climate resilience through native tree restoration, leading workshops, school arboreta projects and community partnerships that reconnect people, especially the youth, with the country’s ecological heritage.
“From planting a tree for her son’s first birthday to confronting deforestation, Ramos has transformed her personal passion into a public purpose. Her pioneering project, Reforestation and School Arboreta for Climate Resilience Using Philippine Native Trees, has created living learning labs in schools and homes, fostering stewardship and biodiversity in one of the Philippines’ most disaster-prone regions,” Legarda, known for her strong stand on the environment, declared.
Community coalition
Told that her name has already become big among noted environmentalists in the country and the world, Ramos said she remains grounded, routinely dipping her feet into muddy terrains and the forests at every opportunity.
“Mao ra gihapon, Sir. Magkalapok-lapok ra gihapon ko diha, kamang sa katunggan ug kalasangan (It’s just the same, Sir. I still get soaked deep in mud right there at home, crawling in mangroves and in forested areas),” she quipped.
Indeed, Ramos, the eldest of five siblings and studied at the Visayas State University, has mobilized the involvement of various sectors in the community to join her in planting mangroves off the coastal wetlands of Barangay Bilibol in Maasin City.
Last December, they launched the Coalition for Community Resilience in Maasin City, with national figures from the Climate Change Commission joining the activity.
Ramos has already established a name and a reputation carved in a deep-rooted belief in a life-or-death attitude when it comes to caring for Mother Nature.
She has been working on various projects with numerous organizations under the umbrella of the United Nations and other international groups, projects that balance progress with sustainability, ensuring development does not occur at the expense of the environment, at the very least, while protecting it at the very most.
She has been working on various projects with several organizations under the United Nations and other international groups — projects that align progress with sustainability, ensuring that development is not done at the expense of the environment, but protected.
And she has proven to be a living model of this mantra, both in words and deeds; her actions have truly walked her talk.
In September, she launched her online publication, “Climate Information Services for Agriculture and Fisheries,” a collaborative work with like-minded partners — a paper on arming and guiding marginal sectors amid the ever-changing landscape of reality.
“This is for my ancestors. This is for Southern Leyte. This is for all the communities who want to build back stronger!” Ramos shared on her social media page.
“This is for the enduring Filipino spirit, that we may collectively take our share in resilience-building,” she said. PIA
Southern Leyteña shines on global stage for disaster-resilience initiatives
n Maria Thessa Ramos is among the seven finalists of the Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction Rising Star Award this year.
Contributed photos
This is not some heroic thing to do. This is a matter of survival. Nature is fine on its own; it can heal, grow back and regenerate. But we, humans, if we abuse Nature, we die.”
THE Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WINDRR) stands as a testament to the core principle that effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) is fundamentally impossible without the equal participation and leadership of women. Founded on the recognition that disasters disproportionately affect women and children, but also that women hold invaluable localized knowledge and adaptive capacity, WINDRR aims to transform women from recipients of aid into indispensable agents of change.
History and core mandate
WINDRR’s existence is rooted in the global shift toward gender-sensitive disaster policy, heavily influenced by frameworks like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), which explicitly calls for integrating gender perspectives in all stages of DRR. The network emerged as a formal mechanism to mobilize female leadership, bridge the gap between global policy and local action, and ensure that gender analysis is mainstreamed into every planning and response strategy.
The Network’s primary focus is not simply on documenting vulnerability, but on empowerment and policy advocacy. It concentrates on gathering data, sharing best practices and creating institutional links that can elevate women’s voices into official government and intergovernmental DRR structures.
Major projects and accomplishments
WINDRR operates through three strategic pillars that cover policy, practice and capacity-building, resulting in significant global accomplishments:
– Capacity-building and training: A major project involves the development and deployment of gender-responsive DRR toolkits. These tools train women at the grassroots level to conduct community-based risk assessments, develop gender-sensitive early warning systems and manage evacuation centers with considerations for the safety and dignity of women and girls.
– Policy advocacy: WINDRR members have been crucial in lobbying for legislation that mandates inclusive representation within national and local DRR management councils. This often involves providing evidence-based arguments showing that women’s leadership drastically improves post-disaster recovery and reduces future losses. Their advocacy has led to policy changes in several developing nations, securing budgets for gender-specific DRR programming.
– Knowledge sharing and data: The betwork maintains robust platforms for sharing localized knowledge and case studies. By documenting the unique impacts of climate change and disasters on women’s livelihoods (e.g., loss of land tenure, increased risk of trafficking), they provide crucial data that informs global reports and donor funding priorities.
The Philippine presence
Given the Philippines’ status as one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations, the presence of WINDRR — often operating through local nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions and government gender and development (GAD) offices — is particularly strong and vital.
In the Philippines, WINDRR-affiliated projects concentrate on several key areas:
– Gender-sensitive hazard mapping: Training women, particularly in vulnerable coastal and mountain barangay (villages), to create localized hazard maps. These maps include critical information such as safe routes for pregnant women, access points for water and sanitation, and locations of essential medications, addressing blind spots often missed by technical surveys.
– Climate-smart livelihoods: Following major disasters like Typhoon Yolanda, the network focuses on ensuring women’s access to livelihood restoration grants and training in climate-resilient agriculture or alternative income generation. This prevents women from being forced into desperate measures, thereby mitigating the risk of human trafficking or abuse.
– Leadership integration: Active participation in national DRRM councils to ensure that the required 5-percent GAD budget allocation is appropriately utilized for tangible disaster-resilience programs led by women, rather than simply for ceremonial events.
The work of WINDRR is a powerful affirmation of resilience being a collective endeavor. It ensures that when a storm hits, the community is not only relying on official channels, but on the integrated strength, specialized knowledge and empowered voices of its women leaders.