About us
The Earth Prize is an environmental sustainability competition open to teenage students everywhere.
Every participant in The Earth Prize will engage with original bespoke materials and get personalized mentorship from university students. They will also have the opportunity to interact with our world-renowned Ambassadors and showcase their solutions to a global audience.
THE EARTH
FOUNDATION
Inspire. Educate. Mentor. Empower.
The Earth Foundation was founded in 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland, to inspire, educate, mentor, and empower students, schools, researchers, and young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to tackle environmental challenges. Through its initiatives The Earth Foundation strives to build its very own ecosystem.
www.earth-foundation.org
The Ecosystem
Channeling youth enthusiasm. Supporting schools. Promoting research. Empowering change-makers. Creating opportunities. Building a network of inspiration. All to create a self-perpetuating ecosystem that accelerates positive change towards environmental sustainability.
The Youth Board
Beyza Kaya
2024-2025 Youth Board member
Beyza is a dedicated and passionate student from Turkey, driven by her commitment to safeguard vulnerable communities, particularly in her region. Recognized as the "Science Ambassador" of Southeastern Turkey by the STEM Educators Association, she has spearheaded various impactful STEM-related community projects. Among her notable achievements is founding Healthy Companions, where she developed "Tail Tracker," an innovative device that monitors the health status of pets through advanced sensors. This work led her and her team to win the prestigious "Donald James Citizenship Award" at the Conrad Challenge, underscoring her leadership and dedication to community service. As an aspiring environmental engineer, Beyza is determined to leverage technology to address and solve global challenges, paving the way for a brighter, more sustainable future.
Dedie Mwenda
2024-2025 Youth Board member
Dedie Mwenda, known as "The Environmentalist," is Kenyan student dedicated to environmental conservation. Born in 2007, in Nairobi, he now lives in Kalro-kabete with his family. Dedie’s passion for tree planting began in primary school, inspired by his father's stories about Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai. In 2022, he graduated with top marks and joined The Maseno School in Kisumu and launched the "A tree per term" initiative to combat deforestation, leading to a significant reduction in deforestation rates. He serves as the deputy environmental captain and chairman of the Environment and Sustainability club at Maseno School, where they recycle plastics and support underfunded schools and orphanages. Dedie’s efforts have gained recognition, leading to features in the Sunday Nation Newspaper and participation in environmental summits. Dedie aims to become a renowned environmentalist, mentor other youths, and join the decision-making body of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to tackle global climate challenges.
Selin Ozgursoy
2024 Youth Board member
Selin Ozgursoy is a Turkish-American social entrepreneur and AI ethicist. She is UNICEF Turkey's Inaugural Youth Ambassador and UN’s Youngest Advisor on Business in Europe and Central Asia. Ozgursoy is the Founder & Executive Director of Equity Estrel, the biggest international youth-led initiative based in Europe democratizing access to technology. She actively serves as a Youth Advisor to industry giant corporations including Fast Company (GenZ Advisory Board), Microsoft, IBM, and Unilever. She's the youngest UNICEF Youth Foresight Fellow, Chairwoman of UN Women's AI Youth Council, a TEDx speaker, and Forbes' 2023 “Teen Trailblazer."
Zlata Shama
2024 Youth Board member
Zlata Shama is a 14-year-old student at the International School of Geneva. She has always loved being involved in global issues in particular sustainability, equity and social interaction, she has shown that throughout multiple school initiatives such as student council and 9innovate project. Since June 2022, she is a Villars Institute Fellow an solution-oriented nonprofit foundation to accelerate the transition to net zero economy. Zlata is following the Villars Institute & Minerva Project: Systems Leadership Program. During the summer 2023, she was nominated to be a Youth Jury at the FIFAD film festival 2023. Outside, she is also a dancer at national level.
Dashel Myers
2024 Youth Board member
Dashel Myers, a junior at Fieldston School in the Bronx, has co-authored a computational mathematics textbook using Mathematica. He's the Ambassador for Wolfram Research and a leading member of the National STEM Honor Society's advisory council, focusing on SEO. As an entrepreneur, he established an AI firm merging SIEM system functionalities with natural language processing. Actively involved in New York political campaigns, Dashel supports climate-centric candidates and co-created the Organizing Resource Library (ORL) with NYU to aid disenfranchised communities. He aims to study the metamathematics of macromolecule evolution in the future.
Aarna Wadhawan
2023 - 2024 Youth Board member
Aarna Wadhawan is a 14-year-old Indian student. She is a young environmentalist and is working passionately for the causes of afforestation, air, water and soil Pollution along with girl child education. Planting over 7500 trees in India and across the world, Aarna is a 2x TEDx speaker, Josh Talks speaker and has been associated with major organisations such as WWF India, TERI, Global Resilience Partnership, Girl Up Bani among others. She is the youth ambassador of Project 100 and an awardee of the Bharat Youth Awards 2022 (India). Having worked with various NGO’s such as Princess Diya Kumari Foundation, World Environment Council, Project 100, Mobius Foundation and more, she was also an Earth Prize Scholar 2022 for her creation Ecosteria, the Solar Powered UV Lamp which aims to provide sterilization to rural areas where there is a lack of supply of electricity. She was appreciated by the Environment Minister of India for her efforts. Moving ahead, she wants to motivate and inspire young adults like herself to adopt sustainable and environmentally friendly practices to create change in mindsets around the world.
Sagarika Sriram
2022 - 2024 Youth Board member
Sagarika Sriram is the 16 year old Founder/CEO of Kids4abetterworld, established in Dubai in 2017. She used her knowledge of Coding and Web development to create an innovative ”Kids for Kids” technology platform that helps young children to drive sustainability projects in their communities. K4Bworld conducts awareness workshops on sustainability, recycling and waste management, beach and desert clean-ups, and projects related to marine conservation. It aims to educate, motivate and activate children to conserve natural resources and biodiversity. With close to 100,000 visitors to its platform and growing media presence, Kids4aBetterWorld is also a member of UNESCO and CRI #LearningPlanet.
Lesein Mutunkei
2022 - 2024 Youth Board member
Lesein Mutunkei is a 16 year old Kenyan high school student and an avid football player. Lesein heard about deforestation and climate change when he was 12 years old. Inspired by Prof Wangari Maathai, Lesein combined his love for football and nature by committing to plant one tree for every goal he scored for his innovative initiative “Trees For Goals”. Currently, he plants 11 trees for every goal to represent his entire team. Over the last two years, Lesein has planted over 2000 trees including 700 trees at Karura Forest with the help of his football team at Ligi Ndogo.
Erina Wanzul
2023 - 2024 Youth Board member
Erina is a 17-year-old Malaysian student attending SMK Seksyen 9 Shah Alam Selangor. She is deeply committed to promoting economic growth and development through innovation in order to reduce negative externalities in STEM. She has been involved in F1 in Schools since three years, leading two F1 in Schools teams, Keris Racing and ECOLEST9, to victory in the Malaysia F1 in Schools National Finals in 2020 and 2021 as project manager and manufacturing engineer for both teams, and qualifying as a World Finalist in 2021 and 2022. Her team entered their team brand ECOLEST9 at the recent F1 in Schools World Finals, Silverstone, United Kingdom project. They managed to win two awards: the best pit display award and the best team identity award.
Kareena Shah
2023 - 2024 Youth Board member
Kareena Shah is a 17-year-old innovator based in the U.S who is a student at The Knowledge Society. She started a World Water Crisis Awareness Campaign highlighting the water accessibility and safety crises. Her travels to Haryana, India enabled her to work hands-on in marginalized communities by testing for microbial contamination in drinking water. To globalize her vision, she created One Drop at A Time, a podcast which unravels the contributing factors to this acute crisis. She hopes to empower individuals to advocate for changes within their own communities to preserve our Earth’s most important natural resource.
Carlota Ferro
2023 Youth Board member
Carlota is a 17-year-old student at Collège du Léman (CDL) International School, Switzerland who is originally from Lisbon but currently resides in Geneva. She has always been passionate about international issues, specifically inequality, discrimination and sustainability. She is currently the president of a student group at CDL which fundraises for WATU, a charity with various education projects in Tanzania. She coordinates the group’s efforts and organizes multiple fundraisers for WATU each year. She is also the president of the CDL Environmental Association, through which she leads students in creating projects that attempt to make her school more sustainable. In June of 2022, she attended the Villars Symposium, where she began working with other students, teachers, and Norwegian food activist Gunhild Stordalen to create an initiative to push for increased use of planetary health diets in schools. She plans to move to London next year to continue her studies in politics, international relations, and social sciences at university.
Matteo Markel
2022 - 2023 Youth Board member
Matteo Markel is a 16 year old student at the International School of Zug and Luzern in Switzerland. From a young age, he was interested in science and solving environmental issues using technology. He is passionate about carbon reduction and the sustainable systems shaping the future. Matteo worked on the Aquaponics System at ISZL, a project where waste from a fish tank is recirculated to plants which grow and clean the water for the fish. In 2020, he won a grant from the IB and the change-maker association Ashoka. Currently, he is committed to helping ISZL achieve their goal of carbon neutrality by 2027. Looking ahead, Matteo plans to take science courses about ways to balance economic growth with positive social and environmental goals.
Georgia Scarr
2022 Youth Board member
Georgia Scarr is a 17 year old IB student, born in London and raised in Chicago. An environmentalist and humanitarian at her core, Georgia is a passionate activist. She works in several environmental organizations, including being co-founder and co-executive director of the non-profit Eco Circle International, and a core team member of non-profit Illinois Youth Climate Movement. She plans to study Environmental Science at university, with hopes to travel the world in a van afterwards, engaging communities through science to make the world more sustainable. In her free time, Georgia enjoys hiking and camping.
Maria Šimůnková
2022 Youth Board member
Maria Šimůnková is an 18 year old student from the Czech Republic interested in Artificial Intelligence and education. At the age of 16, Maria developed a chatbot for General Practitioners. To learn more about AI, Maria completed an internship at the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she worked on a neural network program for biomedical image segmentation. Currently, Maria is leading an educational non-profit organization focused on educating young people on how to manage their finances.
Saoirse Exton
2022 Youth Board member
Saoirse Exton began her work as a climate activist at the age of 13 in Limerick, Ireland when she founded the local branch of the Fridays for Future movement in her city. Saoirse is a member of the C40 Global Youth and Mayors Forum, which creates an intergenerational conversation on the climate crisis among 14 youth activists from across the world and mayors of the world's mega-cities. She is currently serving her second term as Equality Officer of the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, which enables her to bring student voices to the forefront of decision-making in Ireland.
Vinisha Umashankar
2022 Youth Board member
Vinisha Umashankar is a 15 year old student, an innovator and a public speaker. She lives in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India. She started her innovation journey when she was 12 years old. Videos about her innovation, the Solar Ironing Cart, have been seen over 10 million times with 70,000+ comments. She focuses on innovations that help the less-privileged make their lives more comfortable. Her innovations have won national and international awards. She is the recipient of Earth Day Network "Rising Star" 2021 (USA), Children's Climate Prize 2020 (Sweden) and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award 2019 (India).
The Earth Prize Ambassadors
The Earth Prize Ambassadors are inspiring individuals with a strong passion for environmental sustainability, eager to spread the word about The Earth Foundation initiatives. These Ambassadors will also provide The Earth Prize Finalist teams with advice and guidance ahead of their presentation to the Adjudicating Panel.
Discover The Earth Prize Ambassadors
The Adjudicating Panel
Agustín Ocaña Escobar
Chair of the Panel
Agustín Ocaña Escobar is the Chairperson and Founder of the Global Youth Coalition (GYC), an organization dedicated to youth empowerment, climate action, and sustainable development. His leadership has driven youth engagement across international climate platforms, including the UNFCCC and COP summits.
With a background in Biotechnology Engineering, Education, and Corporate Social Responsibility, Agustín merges technical expertise with a passion for social impact. He also serves as Global Head of Advocacy for Youthinkgreen Germany, focusing on sustainable energy and youth leadership.
Through GYC’s programs like the Global Youth Climate Training (GYCT) and Reeforesting4Peace (R4P), Agustín has mobilized thousands of young changemakers for environmental projects. Based in Hong Kong with a global reach, he collaborates with institutions like Oxford University and grassroots movements to promote resilience and sustainability. His work also explores AI in climate action, advocating for ethical and impactful technology solutions.
Agustín’s visionary leadership inspires youth worldwide.
Federico Bellone
Member of the Panel
Federico Bellone is an environmental scientist specializing in international development, strategic philanthropy, corporate responsibility, and partnership-building to drive sustainable development and systems change. With extensive experience across Latin America, the USA, and Europe, Federico focuses on systemic nature-based solutions to climate change, particularly in Latin America.
Currently serving as Program Officer at The Rockefeller Foundation, he oversees grantmaking initiatives for food systems transformation and climate change on a global scale. Previously, Federico served as the Global Lead for Food and Agriculture Systems at the UNFCCC High-Level Climate Champions, where he spearheaded efforts to advance climate action in these critical sectors.
His career also includes impactful roles at Porticus, the Avina Foundation, Conexsius, and the Spanish International Development Agency (AECID). Federico is passionately committed to large-scale systems change and regeneration to create a more sustainable and equitable future.
Myriam Bonami Hunter
Member of the Panel
Myriam Bonami Hunter is a seasoned Senior Education Consultant with over 15 years of experience advancing climate education and sustainability. As a Philanthropy Strategist and Global Head of Youth Engagement for international youth organizations, she builds impactful partnerships with institutions and government bodies, embedding UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into educational policies. Myriam collaborated with Ministries of Education to elevate climate awareness and empower youth as local climate champions. Founder of MBH Upskilling, she prepares young graduates for the workforce with a focus on leadership and career readiness. Specializing in sustainability innovation management, Myriam develops climate-conscious programs and leads SDG challenge initiatives that address critical social and environmental needs. Skilled in strategic philanthropy, stakeholder engagement, and proposal development, she brings a unique blend of expertise in sustainability, youth empowerment, and partnership building, driving transformative solutions that support a more resilient and educated global community.
Luis Alberto Camargo
Member of the Panel
Luis Alberto Camargo is the founder and director of OpEPA, a non-profit organization that strives to reconnect people with the Earth to accelerate the transition to sustainable and regenerative cultures. Luis holds the position of regional vice president of Latin America in the Education and Communication Commission of the IUCN and is co-director of the Colombia Regenerative initiative. He is also co-founder and board member of Catalyst 2030, and The Weaving Lab. Luis sits on the board of WWF Colombia, Transforma Global and Natures a pride Foundation among others. Luis won the Richard Louv Prize and WISE Award 2023 and is a fellow of Ashoka & Salzburg among others.
Luis focuses on reconnecting youth to nature and people to the Earth, to build more sustainable, regenerative, and peaceful communities.
Hadewych de Groot van Embden
Member of the Panel
Hadewych de Groot van Embden is a systems change strategist and leader in regenerative solutions, currently working at Kelp Blue, a pioneering seaweed company that plants giant kelp forests in Namibia, New Zealand, Alaska, and soon Chile. Kelp Blue’s underwater forests rewild our oceans and have the potential to sequester large amounts of carbon. From a small percentage of the biomass Kelp Blue creates a range of products to transition agriculture to sustainable practices.
In her dual roles, she leads the company’s expansion to Chile as its upcoming Managing Director and drives global strategic partnerships, focusing on carbon credit programs, biodiversity initiatives, and financial mechanisms for regenerative agriculture. Her contributions helped position Kelp Blue among the top 20 finalists in the Elon Musk Gigaton Carbon XPRIZE. With expertise in regenerative agriculture, ocean restoration, and nature-based solutions, Hadewych is dedicated to advancing long-term, holistic sustainable solutions that generate positive financial, social, and natural returns.
Esther Ndeti
Member of the Panel
Esther Ndeti is Investment Principal at Uncap.
With over a decade of experience, she has built a deep understanding of investment strategy in the venture funding space as well as tactical experience in early-stage financing. Her areas of focus have included strategic analysis, due diligence assessment, capital-raising advisory and portfolio management. She is also an advocate for women in business and recently founded ‘Preneur Today’, an initiative that spotlights the work of female entrepreneurs in Africa.
In her previous role, Esther was Executive Director of the East African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EAVCA), where she worked at the intersection of finance and private sector development; supporting institutional investors and regulators through market analysis, strategy development, policy formulation and fundraising. Esther has also served on the Board of Directors of Victoria Business Angels (VBAN), GrowthAfrica and ASSEK.
Esther received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nairobi.
Natalie Schmitt
Member of the Panel
Natalie is an ecologist, conservation geneticist, and documentary film maker, deeply passionate about protecting biodiversity using a holistic combination of science, art, Indigenous knowledge, public education, and community empowerment. Studying elusive, endangered species, like snow leopard and Antarctic whales, Natalie focuses on empowering and learning from grass-roots conservation, and enabling policy, education and management improvement at various scales, including that of the International Whaling Commission. Natalie and her team are developing a portable, affordable and easy-to-use technology to detect DNA and sex from biological samples in real time. She is the founder and CEO of WildTechDNA and leads a skilled, synergic group of geneticists, conservationists, communicators, business partners, and institutions to develop this technology. It is her hope that the simple device will revolutionize the way customs, law-enforcement, field monitoring practices, citizen science, and locally based conservation are conducted around the world. Natalie was chosen as one of the Explorers Club 50 people changing the world that the world needs to know about in 2022.
Mentors
The Earth Prize Mentors are university students who are passionate about sustainability and entrepreneurship and looking for an opportunity to share their knowledge. Mentors will contribute to the development of students’ innovative project proposals by offering them guidance on their ideas and answering their questions. The Earth Prize 2025 will now recognize three mentors with The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year award. The three best mentors, as voted by the competition’s Participants, will receive a $2,500 prize each.
The Team
Get Involved
The Earth Prize is always looking for volunteers passionate about environmental sustainability to help us empower young talents around the world and to drive positive impact.
Discover The Earth Prize Volunteer Community
Ram Chandra Dahal
Teacher at The Royal Academy
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