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We're The Asian-Pacific Hub

Join us in our mission to ensure that nature’s rights are recognized and upheld across the Asia Pacific region.

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our team

Somabha Bandopadhay
Somabha Bandopadhay
Governance Facilitator
About me
Candy Hidalgo
Candy Hidalgo
Membership and Outreach Facilitator
About me
Jina Im
Jina Im
Communications Facilitator
About me
Jina was struck by the idea and philosophy of the Rights of Nature while she was writing her master's thesis on standing in environmental litigations. After reading the article "Should Trees Have Standing?", she started to question the present anthropocentric system and became more hopeful of making a paradigm shift on Mother Earth where Nature is appreciated. In 2023, she worked as an intern in GARN to engage in the movement and to deepen her knowledge.
After she pursued an LLB from the Sookmyung Women’s University in South Korea, she worked as an assistant at the Supporter Service Team at Greenpeace where her interest in the environment and Nature grew more sincerely. She recently graduated with an LLM in Transnational Law at the University of Bremen in Germany.
Currently, she is interning at UNEP in the legal and policy unit at the Secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions which aim to protect human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and waste.
With a passion for raising awareness of the Rights of Nature, she has been working as a Communications facilitator in the Asia-Pacific Hub of GARN.
A licensed environmental planner, Candy Hidalgo is the Deputy Coordinator of the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), a social development network of more than 230 civil society organizations in the Philippines. At PMPI, she has helped oversee the implementation of diverse projects and activities of PMPI nationwide since 2013, with thematic concerns including climate change adaptation/ mitigation, disaster risk reduction and management, and the Rights of Nature.
She holds a BS Community Development degree and a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines, as well as a Certificate in Applied Humanitarian Logistics Management. Before joining PMPI, she worked as a project officer at PHILSSA and was a research associate at the Institute of Philippine Culture of Ateneo de Manila University.
Inspired by her work in PMPI, she continues to participate in activities and programs like the Deeptime Network’s Leadership and Personal Empowerment Program, REGEN-Nations program, and Development Entrepreneurship that help her reflect on her role and respond to the challenges of this everchanging world.
Somabha Bandopadhay is a Teaching Assistant at The West Bengal National University for Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS), Kolkata where she was formerly associated as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Regulatory Studies, Governance and Public Policy. She is pursuing active research and activism on transgender law and their rights.
She pursued a BA.LLB (International Law Honors) from the School of Law, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar and pursued LLM (Human Rights) from National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
Recently, Somabha has been awarded the Indo-Canadian Shastri Scholarship to pursue research on the victimization of transgender persons and is preparing to undertake comparative research soon.
She is regularly invited as a panelist by Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Kolkata and for lectures on topics like Human Rights Obligations and India, Need for Coronavirus Act in India and on research methodology by All India Reporter (AIR) and AIR Research Centre. She is presently pursuing research on Glyphosate and the Rights of Nature in collaboration with Earth Thrive, United Kingdom and another with WBNUJS, Kolkata on Transgender trauma and stigma.
She is furthermore a member of World Youths for Climate Justice and is passionately working on the Rights of Nature where she also serves on the advisory boards of various organizations.
She has been working with GARN as the Facilitator for the Youth Hub for the past two years and is now leading the Asia-Pacific Hub as the Governance Facilitator.
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