Joan Carling (born 1963)
is an indigenous Filipino
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
activist and
environmentalist
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
who has defended the rights of native and marginalized peoples for over two decades. She has served as Secretary General of the
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and has chaired the Cordillera People's Alliance in the Philippines. Carling has also contributed to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...
and
REDD+ activities and has served as a member of the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
(UNPFii). In September 2018 she received the
Champions of the Earth
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society.
Award details
T ...
Lifetime Achievement Award from the
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...
in recognition of her work as an environmentalist and a defender of human rights.
Biography
Born on 30 June 1963 in
Baguio
Baguio ( ,
), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...
, Joan Carling is the daughter of a half-Japanese, half-Kankanaey father and a Kankanaey mother.
The
Kankanaey people
The Kankanaey people are an Indigenous peoples of the Northern Philippines. They are part of the collective group of indigenous people known as the Igorot people.
Demographics
The Kankanaey live in western Mountain Province, northern Benguet, ...
belonging to the
Igorot group are based in the
Mountain Province
Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually short ...
in the
Cordillera Central mountain rage. After completing high school, she studied social sciences at the
University of the Philippines, College of Baguio, specializing in
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
. She graduated in 1986.
[
While still at college, in 1984 she was struck by the murder of ]Macli-ing Dulag
Macli-ing Dulag (customarily referred to by his first name, also spelled Macliing or Macli'ing; c. 1930 – 24 April 1980) was a ''pangat'' (leader) of the Butbut tribe of Kalinga province in the Philippines. He is best as one of the leaders of t ...
who had been campaigning against the Chico River Dam Project
The Chico River Dam Project was a proposed hydroelectric power generation project involving the Chico River on the island of Luzon in the Philippines that locals, notably the Kalinga people, resisted because of its threat to their residences, li ...
in order to safeguard the native Kalinga people
The Kalinga people () are an indigenous ethnic group whose ancestral domain is in the Cordillera Mountain Range of the northern Philippines. They are mainly found in Kalinga province which has an area of 3,282.58 sq. km. Some of them, howeve ...
. After attending his memorial in Sadanga
Sadanga, officially the Municipality of Sadanga is a 5th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 8,427 people.
Sadanga boundaries both provinces are Abra to the ...
, for the next three years she joined in efforts towards community integration, becoming a human rights activist in Kalinga Kalinga may refer to:
Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology
* Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India
** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature
** Kalinga script, an ancient writin ...
.
In 1989, while attending a conference on ethnocide
Ethnocide is the extermination of cultures.
Reviewing the legal and the academic history of the usage of the terms genocide and ethnocide, Bartolomé Clavero differentiates them by stating that "Genocide kills people while ethnocide kills social ...
and militarization
Militarization, or militarisation, is the process by which a society organizes itself for military conflict and violence. It is related to militarism, which is an ideology that reflects the level of militarization of a state. The process of milit ...
in Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
, she was one of 16 delegates to be arrested on the grounds that they were members of the Communist New People's Army
The New People's Army ( fil, Bagong Hukbong Bayan), abbreviated NPA or BHB, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), based primarily in the Philippine countryside. It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aimi ...
. After a number of protests, they were finally released. In 1998, she campaigned against the construction of the San Roque Dam. On returning to Baguio, she joined the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, becoming Secretary General in 1997 and Chair from 2003 to 2006.[
From September 2008, she served for two periods as Secretary General of the AIPP, representing its 47-member organization. She has written and edited publications on human rights, climate change, forest conservation, sustainable development and indigenous women. From 2014 to 2016, she served as member of the UNPFii.][ In 2014, she edited ''Her Story of Empowerment, Leadership and Justice'' on indigenous women in Asia, published by AIPP.
In her role as Co-convener of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group on the ]Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...
, in February 2018 she was designated a terrorist by the Filipino authorities for an alleged connection with the Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines ( fil, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a far-left, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is desi ...
and the New People's Army.
In September 2018 she received the Champions of the Earth
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society.
Award details
T ...
Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...
in recognition of her work as an environmentalist and a defender of human rights.[
]
In popular culture
Carling was one of the Filipino women prominently featured in a tribute to female gamechangers at Irish rock band U2's 2019 Joshua Tree Tour during its Manila leg.
References
External links
Joan Carling's account on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carling, Joan
1963 births
Living people
People from Baguio
Filipino environmentalists
Women environmentalists
Women human rights activists
Filipino officials of the United Nations
United Nations Environment Programme
University of the Philippines Baguio alumni