Masungi's Ann and Billie Dumaliang Named TIME Next Gen Leaders

(SPOT.ph) Filipina conservation heroes and Masungi Georeserve co-founders Ann and Billie Dumaliang have been recognized as part of TIME Magazine’s prestigious Next Generation Leaders list for 2024. TIME celebrated the pair’s resilience in protecting Masungi despite challenges that range from physical and legal threats to the ongoing dispute with government over management of the watershed area.

Other than the Dumaliang sisters, TIME’s group of 20 Next Generation Leaders includes other inspiring individuals like Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan, Thai activist-turned-politician Chonthicha "Lookkate" Jangrew, and Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, among others.

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Ann and Billie continue blazing the trail for Masungi Georeserve

The Masungi Georeserve in Baras, Rizal started as a degraded area ravaged by deforestation and illegal activities in the late 1990s. Efforts to rehabilitate the land have been underway for over two decades. In 2017, a landmark agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) paved the way for the Masungi Geopark Project, aiming to reforest and restore nearly 2,700 hectares of degraded forestland.

However, in a country ranked by Global Witness as Asia’s deadliest country for land and environmental defenders, environmental conservation and protection is anything but easy. Threats come from multiple sources, from poachers and loggers seeking free reign in bountiful Masungi to government planning to rescind the 2017 agreement between DENR and the Masungi Georeserve Foundation.

Although there are numerous setbacks and the risks are all-too-real, Ann and Billie see their work as a long-term initiative.

“Despite all of the challenges we have faced, we also have to celebrate our wins,” Billie says in a video interview with TIME. “We have to celebrate the number of attempts of land grabbing and illegal occupation of forests that we have thwarted. We have to celebrate the number of people who have discovered their biodiversity anew.”

Ann adds, “And it’s really by working together that we can change how things are and usher in a greener future for all of us.”

Also read: Leonardo DiCaprio Joins the Call to Save Masungi Georeserve