Maria Theresa (Terri Chio) Gonzales
As an advocate of youth empowerment and environmental conservation, Terri Chio Gonzales works with other community leaders towards empowering the youth as stewards of environmental conservation through volunteerism which helps to support existing community-based environmental conservation efforts in her community of Tawi-Tawi and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Philippines. She works with Youth4Nature, a youth organization which she started that has 2,000 member-volunteers, conducting information and education campaigns that address environmental concerns and raising awareness. While in the U.S., Terri worked with the Great Basin Resource Watch in Nevada, learning about community-initiated efforts in environmental conservation and protection of indigenous lands in Northern Nevada through the sharing of stories and exchanging of perspectives with some of the Western Shoshone People. Now back in the Philippines, she is organizing and mentoring youth groups in her community to formulate community solutions such as educational campaigns to raise awareness not only on the sustainable use of available natural resources and water resource management, but also on the value of community "Bayanihan."
