Michael Bengwayan

Michael Bengwayan is fighting environmental decay and poverty in the Cordillera region of the Philippines by creating local solutions to solve some of the world's environmental problems. He is introducing nitrogen fixing trees to enrich soil fertility, provide livestock forage, and enhance soil and water conservation. He discovered and is teaching people about making biofuel from petroleum nut for cooking (as a replacement for LPG), lighting, heating, and drying as well as running small gasoline engines. He is promoting rainwater harvesting for household and farm use, and he is training farmers, women, and youth on environmental enterprises and organic gardening. Michael holds postgraduate degrees in environmental science, rural development, and development studies and is a past Fellow of the Ford Foundation, European Union, Reinhard Mohn, and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in the US, Ireland, Sweden and Belgium.