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 keeps working to halt and reverse biodiversity loss while also addressing interconnected pressures such as climate change, food security, and human well-being. Within this context, international recognition programs play a vital role by showcasing successful approaches, spreading knowledge, and inspiring action across different sectors and regions. A prominent illustration of this is the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity, an international award dedicated to honoring individuals whose contributions have delivered a concrete impact on conserving and sustainably managing 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.
An honor designed to elevate biodiversity to a prominent place on the global agenda
The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity was established to highlight how essential biodiversity is for maintaining resilient ecosystems and supporting human life. Robust biodiversity sustains food production, helps regulate the climate, safeguards water supplies, and bolsters economic well-being and cultural heritage. Yet biodiversity loss has intensified in recent years, propelled by habitat degradation, pollution, unsustainable resource use, and the impacts 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 are set to take place on 27 August 2026 in Tokyo, Japan, events expected to help build global momentum ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 17), which is scheduled for Yerevan, Armenia. COP 17 will be organized under the theme “Taking action for Nature,” highlighting both implementation and accountability during a pivotal period for worldwide biodiversity commitments.
Celebrating outstanding achievements across diverse fields of endeavor
One of the defining features of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity is its recognition of excellence across different areas of contribution. Rather than focusing on a single discipline, the Prize acknowledges that progress in biodiversity conservation depends on complementary efforts that address scientific, social, and political dimensions.
Historically, award categories have included implementation, science and research, and policy and enlightenment. Implementation-focused recipients are often those who translate knowledge into action, delivering conservation outcomes through field projects, community engagement, or sustainable resource management. Science and research honorees contribute by advancing understanding of ecosystems, species, and ecological processes, providing the evidence base needed for informed decision-making. Policy and enlightenment awardees, meanwhile, play a critical role in shaping legislation, influencing governance frameworks, and raising public awareness.
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 influenced by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
The relevance of the MIDORI Prize has grown in parallel with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), agreed at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD in 2022. The Framework represents a global blueprint to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, setting out 23 action-oriented targets that address drivers of degradation while promoting sustainable use and equitable benefit-sharing.
Achieving the ambitions of the KMGBF requires a whole-of-society approach, involving governments, the private sector, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and individuals. The MIDORI Prize directly supports this vision by recognizing individuals who embody leadership and innovation in advancing these objectives. In doing so, it helps translate the Framework’s targets into visible examples of progress, making abstract goals more tangible and relatable.
As the 2030 deadline approaches, the urgency to scale meaningful solutions becomes increasingly clear, and recognition initiatives such as the MIDORI Prize can accelerate this momentum by highlighting successful strategies and encouraging their implementation in a wide range of 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 recognized 21 individuals from 20 countries. This geographic diversity underscores the global nature of biodiversity challenges and the universal relevance of conservation efforts. From tropical forests and coral reefs to urban ecosystems and agricultural landscapes, the work of past recipients demonstrates that impactful action can take many forms.
The legacy of the Prize extends beyond individual recognition. Award ceremonies and associated forums provide opportunities for knowledge exchange, networking, and collaboration, enabling winners to share experiences and learn from one another. These interactions help foster a global community of practice dedicated 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.
Public participation and the nomination process
By seeking nominations directly from the public, the MIDORI Prize strengthens the notion that caring for biodiversity is a collective duty, enabling communities, organizations, and individuals to bring forward efforts that might otherwise go unnoticed, especially in areas or fields where recognition is limited.
The nomination period for the 2026 Prize runs from 2 February to 31 March 2026, a timeframe in which submissions are assessed according to criteria that emphasize demonstrable outcomes, creative methods, and alignment with global biodiversity objectives. Through this evaluation approach, the Prize seeks to honor individuals whose contributions offer valuable perspectives and inspire others working in the same arena.
Public participation in the nomination process also serves an educational purpose, helping expand public insight into biodiversity challenges and the people striving to address them. As individuals look into potential nominees and their work, they develop a more concrete understanding of the practical efforts that support environmental sustainability.
Looking forward to 2026 and the years that follow
As global attention turns to COP 17 and the ongoing implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, initiatives like the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity gain even deeper relevance, maintaining progress, showcasing key accomplishments, and reaffirming to the international community that individual leadership remains a potent driver of meaningful change.
The 2026 Award Ceremony and Award Winners Forum in Tokyo are anticipated to offer a space for thoughtful exchange and discussion at a crucial moment for biodiversity governance, and by bringing together award recipients, policymakers, scholars, and practitioners, these events will nurture shared insight and underscore the urgent importance of coordinated action.
Across the decade poised to define the planet’s biological diversity, recognizing and supporting those who set the benchmark becomes not just symbolic but a strategic pledge to the ideas, practices, and partnerships vital for safeguarding nature now and in the future. The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity stands as compelling proof of the impact that committed individuals can achieve when their work is acknowledged, amplified, and connected to global sustainability efforts.
