Nonette Royo

Nonette Royo is a human rights and environmental lawyer, activist, and author with more than three decades of experience advancing social and environmental justice across Southeast Asia and beyond. Influenced by stories from her childhood about guardian spirits and ethnic warriors protecting sacred forests in the Pantaron Mountain Range in the Philippines, Royo dedicated her career to supporting Indigenous and local communities in their efforts to safeguard their lands and rights. She identifies as an alternative lawyer, focusing on advocacy for historically marginalized groups and using legal tools to promote justice.

Royo's professional background includes advising the Global Greengrants Fund, USAID and DFID-UK Natural Resource and Community Forestry Portfolios, and the Norwegian Climate and Forest funds, all of which are dedicated to Indigenous Peoples and local communities involved in forest and climate programs. She co-founded and led the Samdhana Institute and established several non-governmental organizations that advance Indigenous Peoples' and women's legal rights. Her work has primarily focused on Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including Indonesia, the Philippines, the Mekong region, and Melanesia.

Royo serves as the first executive director of the Tenure Facility, an organization dedicated to securing land and forest rights for Indigenous peoples and local communities. The Tenure Facility funds projects that aim to secure land rights, reduce conflict, drive sustainable development, improve human rights, and address climate change. The organization has expanded its funding from $1 million to $150 million, dispersing nearly $30 million in a single year to support land rights initiatives in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Tenure Facility has contributed to securing land rights covering 34 million hectares across 35 projects.

Royo is a frequent speaker on Indigenous rights, including delivering a TED Talk on forest guardianship and the influence of her father, an Indigenous healer in the Philippines. She has addressed the significance of the Tenure Facility's recognition as a finalist for the Earthshot Prize and emphasized the importance of land rights for cultural survival and environmental protection. As a Donella Meadows Fellow, Royo applies systems thinking and personal mastery to her leadership at the Tenure Facility, collaborating with international funders and governments to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities in protecting the environment through secure land rights. Her work highlights the critical role of legal empowerment for Indigenous communities in advancing human rights, environmental law, and climate action.