Three youth leaders from Indonesia and a business newspaper from the Philippines have been honoured as the 2014 ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity for their outstanding work in biodiversity conservation and advocacy.

The award ceremony was held in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, the Philippines on November 26.

The winners in the Youth Category are Indonesia ’s Adeline Suwana of the youth organisation Sahabat Alam and twin Giovanna and Gabriella Thohir of the Bekantan Twins Project while the Philippines ’ BusinessMirror was recognised as the Media Champion of Diversity. 

At the age of twelve, Adeline Suwana founded Sahabat Alam, an internationally known youth environmental organisation with thousands of members all over Indonesia. Adeline and her organisation generate awareness of biodiversity conservation through school seminars, events, talk shows, films and other activities to encourage young people to do something for the environment.

Meanwhile, Giovanna and Gabriella Thohir were recognised thanks to their efforts in inspiring fellow youth and the public in Indonesia to conserve the endangered bekantans (proboscis monkeys). 

Business Mirror, one of the leading newspapers in the Philippines , has made its contribution to biodiversity conversation by a weekly column of stories and reports in the field.-VNA