# Gab Mejia

Gab Mejia is a Filipino conservation photographer based in Manila, Philippines.
The focus of Mejia's work is for the conservation of culture, forests, wetlands and wildlife. He is a National Geographic Explorer, Nikon Asia Ambassador, and a columnist for The Manila Times. In 2021, he was awarded the World Wide Fund For Nature International President's Youth Award. Mejia was listed on the 2021 Forbes Under 30 List for The Arts in Asia for photography. In 2023, he was awarded the Climate Pledge Fund grant by National Geographic Society to dig deeper into the interconnected complexities of the Philippine forests by illuminating the lives of environmental forest defenders.

## Personal life

Mejia was fathered by Saturnino Mejia in the Philippines, and has three older siblings. In 2011, he climbed his first international mountain in Malaysia in Mount Kinabalu. He is a certified PADI scuba diver, and took on professional photography to document the interconnection of culture and nature in the Philippines.

## Early life and education

In 2016, he was selected to be part of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative for marine conservation in the United States Aid Oceans Workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Mejia completed his Bachelors of Science degree in Civil Engineering specialising on research on Environmental and Energy Engineering in the University of the Philippines. He co-authored an academic paper in the Wetlands Science Practice Journal (January 2020). He joined environmental organisations such as the Marine Biological Society, and was chosen as an Ambassador for Sustainability for the Eurail Europe on Track Program. In 2019, he joined the Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellowship in the Jackson Wild Summit for natural-history filmmaking and science communication. He was accepted in the Emerging League Program Fellowship of the International League of Conservation Photographers in 2021.

## Photography

Mejia has published photographic stories on National Geographic, BBC, Vogue, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), CNN, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
In 2023, he was awarded the global winner for the ArtPartner #CREATECOP28 Art Competition for his documentary work entitled, the Passage of Storms, which delves into the long-lasting impact of super typhoons on local people, and serves as an elegy for all the many lives that have been lost and forgotten. He exhibited photographs in ArtFair Philippines, Fotografiska Shanghai, and Photo London. He won the Global Wetlands Youth Photo Contest 2017 with his photo of the Gabaldon floodplain in Mt. Sawi, Nueva Ecija.
He is a National Geographic Explorer, Nikon Asia Ambassador, and a columnist for The Manila Times.

## Social work

In 2018, he received an Early Career-Grant from National Geographic Society. In 2018, he joined the World Wildlife Fund National Youth Council, and co-founded Youth Engaged in Wetlands (YEW).
Mejia co-founded the international non-profit environment youth organization for the conservation of wetlands and migratory birds named Youth Engaged in Wetlands. In 2018, he joined the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Dubai, UAE to involve the youth sector in the decision-making processes. Mejia is also part of the National Youth Council of the World Wide Fund for Nature, that engages youth through environmental education programs in schools around the Philippines. He has presented environmental stories in TEDx talks and other international platforms. Mejia is a supporter of the Scarisbrick Hall Global Classroom.
Between 2018 and 2020, he worked in the Agusan Marshlands to document the struggles and progress of the Manobo Tribe in the Philippines amid climate change. Additional projects include documenting the endangered wildlife such as the Tamaraw in the Philippines.
In 2021, he has been awarded the World Wide Fund for Nature International President's Youth award. Mejia is the first Filipino to win this environmental award.
In 2024, he was selected by the Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation as part of the Re.Generation Future Leaders Program of thirteen individuals, under the age of 35, represents a diverse range of backgrounds and expertise – from science and activism to entrepreneurship and media, among others. United by a shared passion for environmental protection, they are poised to become the architects of a sustainable future.

## Awards

* 2017 Grand winner of Global Youth Wetlands Photo Competition by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
* 2018 Best Cultural Photo Award in Transformed by Travel Photo Competition by Cultural Vistas.
* 2019 National Geographic Early-Career Grant
* 2019 Brand Ambassador Nikon Asia
* 2020 Tatler Asia Gen T. Honoree: 400 Leaders Below 40 For dedicating his career to saving global wetlands
* 2020 Inaugural cohort of National Geographic Field Ready Program
* 2020 National Geographic COVID-19 Journalist Grant.
* 2021 Forbes Under 30: The Arts
* 2021 World Wide Fund for Nature International President's Youth Award
* 2023 Global Winner of #CreateCOP28 by ArtPartner and the United Nations.
* Named by Tatler Asia as a Generation T. Honouree in the list of 400 Leaders Below 40 shaping the future of Southeast Asia.