Cynthia Ong Receives 2025 Seacology Prize
Cynthia Ong, an expert at forging coalitions with diverse groups to address environmental and cultural issues on her home island of Borneo, received the Seacology Prize last week.
The prize was awarded at a sold-out ceremony in Berkeley, California, where spirits were high despite the rainy weather. Seacology’s annual event took place in the brightly lit gallery of the David Brower Center, where the current Salt of the Earth exhibition of ecological photography created a stunning backdrop.
While Ong lives and works in the Sabah region of Malaysian Borneo, she has strong ties to the Bay Area. “I thank you for recognizing our humble, very human, and heartfelt work. The work really began with a question—‘Can you help us?’—that came from Borneo while I was here in the US,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Building little bridges, many little bridges between Sabah and California: that’s how it started. So it’s a beautiful circling-back to come here for this, 25 years later.”
Board Chair Paul Cox (far left), Vice-Chair Ken Murdock (left), and Executive Director Duane Silverstein (right) with Seacology Prize recipient Cynthia Ong
Cynthia Ong poses in front of a sign for a local restoration project in Borneo
Ong has tackled a slew of Borneo’s most pressing issues throughout her career. She is the founder of two active organizations working to address intersectional human and environmental issues on her home island. Land, Empowerment, Animals, People (LEAP) operates under the philosophy that the solutions to complex global challenges need to come from local coalitions of indigenous peoples, conservationists, and government and industry players. Forever Sabah has developed a range of forward-looking, collaborative partnerships that aim to take on some of the most challenging environmental issues in Sabah, including food and agriculture; renewable energy; water, waste and soil; and tourism.
“The seemingly heroic journey is possible only with the village: the love, refuge, solidarity, and sometimes sacrifice of family and friends,” said Ong.
She also focuses on training and empowering the next generation of environmental leaders in Sabah. With a team of nearly 70 people, and hundreds more partners in local communities and coalitions, their efforts reach “from the local to the global,” as she put it.
Ong’s work exemplifies a conservation approach that seeks to balance economic development with ecological sustainability. Through multi-pronged efforts, her team hopes to positively shift the political ecology of their home state of Sabah, which is one of the most diverse island environments in the world.
Touching on themes of decolonization and reciprocity, Ong invited those listening to actively investigate their roles in a world in which we are all connected. “Enacting the spirit of solidarity that I came with, I ask you: How does this moment, on this land and in the world, feel in your body? Can we sit with that together?”
You can watch a short video profile of Cynthia Ong, her speech, and the full recording of the prize ceremony on the video playlist below:
Photos from the Prize Ceremony
