IMELDA ABAÑO is an environmental journalist and a media trainer/mentor for over 25 years covering climate change and other environment-related issues in the Philippines, Asia and the Pacific Region. She has won international and national media awards, including the Asia Journalist of the Year 2019, United Nations Correspondents Association Gold Medal Awards in Environmental Reporting, Ani ng Dangal Awards (Reap of Honors) for her contribution to environmental journalism in the Philippines, among others.
Imelda is the founding President of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists (PNEJ). She has been covering a series of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations and eventually mentored international journalists to report on climate negotiations for over 15 years now. She is a senior journalist for VERA Files (https://verafiles.org/), an online news organization in the Philippines known for its institutionalized role in fact-checking false information, investigative reporting and in-depth reports in multiple formats. It has a dedicated environmental page called Earth Files. Abano is also a consultant for an international media support organization, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, supporting on media programs such as on environmental reporting, training, mentorship, data journalism, networking and reporting resource tools.
