Frances Camille Rivera

Camille Rivera is a marine ecologist and the Founder of Oceanus Conservation, a nonprofit organization aims to restore the remaining blue carbon habitats in the Philippines. Camille received her Erasmus Mundus MSc in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Ghent, Belgium and a training scholarship from the Center of Excellence in Observational Oceanography at the Alfred Wegner Institute in Germany.
Through her organization, they lobbied for a local agreement to protect 260 ha of mangrove forests across the Philippines. She is also a recent 2022 National Geographic Explorer, where she introduced citizen science of mangrove and seagrass monitoring. With more than a decade of experience in coastal management and marine conservation, she led various community-based mangrove restoration projects, facilitated alternative livelihood to communities, and engaged more than 7000 young people in ocean conservation. Additionally, she has spoken about the role of young people in nature-based solutions in UNFCCC COP26, UN Ocean Conference, and COP28.