As ecosystems face unprecedented pressure, recognizing individuals who drive meaningful change has become essential to sustaining life on Earth. The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity highlights those efforts and amplifies their impact worldwide.
The global community continues to seek effective ways to halt and reverse biodiversity loss while addressing interconnected challenges such as climate change, food security, and human well-being. Within this context, international recognition initiatives play a crucial role in elevating successful approaches, sharing knowledge, and inspiring action across sectors and borders. One such initiative is the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity, an international award dedicated to honoring individuals whose work has made a measurable difference in the conservation and sustainable use of the planet’s biological diversity.
The nomination process for the 2026 edition of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity is now underway, inviting the public to recommend individuals whose achievements reflect notable leadership, creative approaches, and lasting influence. Submissions can be made from 2 February to 31 March 2026 via the official platform of the AEON Environmental Foundation. By opening nominations to everyone, the Prize strengthens its dedication to openness and inclusivity, ensuring that meaningful contributions from a wide range of regions and fields gain recognition on the global stage.
A prize designed to elevate biodiversity on the global agenda
The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity was created to underscore the vital role biodiversity plays in sustaining resilient ecosystems and supporting human life. Strong biodiversity underpins food systems, moderates climate patterns, protects water resources, and enhances both economic prosperity and cultural traditions. Nevertheless, biodiversity decline has accelerated in recent years, driven by habitat degradation, pollution, the overuse of natural resources, and the effects of climate change.
Set against this context, the Prize functions not only as an accolade but also as a vehicle for raising awareness, showcasing notable individual efforts to capture public attention with practical responses and emphasizing that dedicated leadership can deliver concrete environmental results. Through its recognition, the Prize narrows the divide between scientific insight, policy formation, and real-world action, fostering cooperation among different fields and sectors.
Since its inception, the Prize has honored individuals whose work spans a wide spectrum of fields, from scientific research and community-led conservation to environmental education and policy advocacy, reflecting the recognition that protecting biodiversity cannot be achieved through isolated actions but depends on coordinated efforts that unite science, governance, and engaged public participation.
Global cooperation stands at the core of the initiative
The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity is jointly organized by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a collaboration that unites a philanthropic institution with a leading body in global environmental governance to ensure the Prize reflects international biodiversity goals while staying closely connected to practical, real‑world outcomes.
The Convention on Biological Diversity, created in 1992, stands as the primary global framework that directs biodiversity conservation, encourages sustainable use, and ensures fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources, and through its involvement, the CBD Secretariat positions the MIDORI Prize within broader international efforts, linking individual achievements to collective global goals.
The 2026 Award Ceremony and Award Winners Forum will be held on 27 August 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. These events are expected to contribute to global momentum around the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 17), scheduled to take place in Yerevan, Armenia. COP 17 will be convened under the theme “Taking action for Nature,” emphasizing implementation and accountability during a critical phase for global biodiversity commitments.
Celebrating outstanding achievements across diverse fields of endeavor
One hallmark of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity is its ability to honor outstanding achievements across a range of fields, and instead of centering on a single discipline, the Prize recognizes that meaningful advances in biodiversity conservation rely on complementary efforts that span scientific, social, and political spheres.
Historically, these award categories have covered practical execution, scientific inquiry, and both policy development and public education. Individuals honored for implementation are usually those who transform knowledge into real-world action, delivering conservation outcomes through on-the-ground projects, partnerships with local communities, or responsible resource stewardship. Recipients recognized for science and research deepen insight into ecosystems, species, and ecological processes, providing the evidence needed to guide informed decisions. At the same time, those acknowledged for policy and enlightenment play an essential role in crafting legislation, shaping governance, and elevating public understanding.
This holistic approach mirrors the complexity of biodiversity challenges and reinforces the idea that no single pathway is sufficient on its own. By celebrating achievements across these domains, the Prize encourages cross-sector dialogue and highlights the value of integrated strategies.
A decade shaped by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
The significance of the MIDORI Prize has steadily increased alongside the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), approved during the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD in 2022. This Framework serves as a worldwide roadmap designed to stop and reverse biodiversity decline by 2030, outlining 23 practical targets aimed at confronting the main causes of ecological degradation while advancing sustainable use and fair benefit-sharing.
Achieving the ambitions of the KMGBF requires a whole-of-society approach, engaging governments, the private sector, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and individuals alike. The MIDORI Prize actively reinforces this vision by honoring individuals who demonstrate leadership and creative thinking in pushing these objectives forward. By doing so, it turns the Framework’s targets into clear illustrations of advancement, making formerly abstract aims more concrete and easier to grasp.
As the 2030 deadline approaches, the importance of scaling up effective solutions becomes increasingly clear. Recognition initiatives such as the MIDORI Prize can accelerate this process by amplifying successful models and encouraging their replication in different contexts.
Shaping a heritage of far‑reaching global influence
Since it was established during the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity has celebrated 21 individuals from 20 countries, underscoring the global nature of biodiversity challenges and the collective value of conservation. Covering tropical rainforests, coral reefs, urban landscapes, and agricultural lands, the work of past laureates illustrates that substantial advances can arise through a wide variety of strategies.
The legacy of the Prize reaches well beyond honoring individuals, as its award ceremonies and related forums create spaces for exchanging knowledge, building networks, and encouraging collaboration, allowing winners to discuss their experiences and learn from each other. Such interactions nurture a worldwide community of practice committed to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Furthermore, public acknowledgment can boost an awardee’s profile and trustworthiness, helping them obtain funding, shape policy decisions, and grow their programs. In doing so, the Prize serves as a powerful driver that amplifies individual contributions and supports wider systemic transformation.
Community engagement and the selection procedure
By inviting the public to submit nominations, the MIDORI Prize reinforces the idea that safeguarding biodiversity is a shared responsibility, allowing communities, organizations, and individuals to highlight initiatives that might remain overlooked, particularly in regions or disciplines where acknowledgment is scarce.
The nomination period for the 2026 Prize runs from 2 February to 31 March 2026. Submissions are reviewed according to criteria that emphasize tangible impact, innovation, and alignment with global biodiversity objectives. Through this process, the Prize seeks to identify individuals whose contributions offer valuable lessons and inspiration for others working in the field.
Public engagement in the nomination process also serves an educational function, encouraging greater awareness of biodiversity issues and the people addressing them. By learning about potential nominees and their work, members of the public gain insight into the practical actions that support environmental sustainability.
Anticipating 2026 and the years ahead
As global attention turns toward COP 17 and the ongoing implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, initiatives like the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity play an increasingly important role. They help maintain momentum, celebrate progress, and remind the international community that individual leadership remains a powerful driver of change.
The 2026 Award Ceremony and Award Winners Forum in Tokyo are expected to provide an opportunity for meaningful dialogue and reflection at a pivotal time for biodiversity governance, and by uniting award recipients, policymakers, scholars, and practitioners, these gatherings will cultivate collective understanding and highlight the pressing need for coordinated action.
Over the decade that will shape the planet’s biological diversity, acknowledging and empowering those who set the standard is not merely symbolic but a strategic commitment to the ideas, methods, and alliances essential for protecting nature today and in the years ahead. The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity serves as clear evidence of the influence dedicated individuals can exert when their contributions are recognized, elevated, and linked to global sustainability initiatives.
