The Philippines is recognized as one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, yet it also ranks among the most vulnerable to climate change. Against that backdrop, a new generation of Filipino environmentalists has found an unlikely classroom in TikTok, turning it into one of the most effective channels for biodiversity education the country has seen. A peer-reviewed article in BioScience (November 2024) formally documented this movement, coining the term “green-fluencer” in the Philippine context and pointing to the use of Filipino language as the key to their educational reach.
Filipino Environmentalists on TikTok:
- Celine Murillo (@celinemurillo_)
- Ethan Hernandez (@ethanhernandez2023)
- KalikaSean — Sean Paul Manalo (@kalikasean)
- Elle Hernandez (@ellehernndz)
- Jian Pierre Arguelles (@fullfillzerowaste)
- Raymor “RM” Cuevas (@raymorcuevas)
- Renzo Maano (@renzomaano)
- Cha Ocampo (@cha.ocampo)
- Lokalpedia — John Sherwin Felix (@lokalpediaph)
- Alfonso Ofreneo (@alfonsoofreneo)
Celine Murillo (@celinemurillo_)
If there’s one creator responsible for making Philippine biodiversity go viral, it’s Celine Murillo. A photographer, filmmaker, and former economics instructor, Celine moved to TikTok in 2022 after years of long-form documentary work, and the shift paid off in a significant way. Her account now counts over 700,000 TikTok followers, driven by content that makes viewers genuinely emotional about trees they’ve probably never heard of.
Her signature series, Saribuhay sa Salapi (Biodiversity in Local Currency), explores the native species depicted on Philippine banknotes, with individual videos pulling between 1 million and 3 million views each. A single explainer on the yellow-vented bulbul accumulated 12 million views. In 2024, TikTok named her one of the inaugural 50 global Change Makers, the platform’s first-ever social impact creator elevation program, granting her direct funding for a nonprofit of her choice. Academic research published in BioScience formally identified her as a leading green-fluencer, citing her use of Filipino language and narrative-driven content as central to why audiences stay.
Celine has also spoken openly about the emotional labor and physical risks that come with environmental advocacy work in the Philippines, a country that consistently ranks among the world’s most dangerous for environmental defenders. Her content carries weight that goes well beyond the view count.
Ethan Hernandez (@ethanhernandez2023)
Ethan Hernandez holds dual titles that don’t often appear together: Assistant Professor at UPLB’s College of Forestry and Natural Resources, and one of the most-watched environmental creators in the country. His Facebook page commands 1.1 million followers, and his TikTok presence has been steadily growing — numbers that reflect how effectively he bridges the world of academic forestry and everyday Filipino audiences.
His very first TikTok video pulled 3.7 million views. A second hit 1.7 million within two days of posting. The content covers native tree identification, foraging edible wild greens, improper pruning explainers, and carbon footprint education. All of it is delivered with the precision of a licensed forester with a published research background in plant ecophysiology. He has been featured on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s It’s A Beautiful Day and DZMM Teleradyo’s Kwentong Nayon as a working forester who also happens to go viral. Beyond TikTok, he serves as a resource speaker for biodiversity and herbarium workshops at universities across the country, proof that the offline work is just as active as the online presence.
KalikaSean — Sean Paul Manalo (@kalikasean)
Sean Paul Manalo’s TikTok bio reads: “a Filipino naturalist with a passion for plants and bad puns.” It’s an accurate self-description. The licensed forester and mangrove blue carbon researcher at UP Diliman makes environmental education feel approachable and, often enough, genuinely funny. His account’s 263,400 likes reflect how well that combination lands with audiences.
@kalikasean was one of eight creators selected for the EJN Earth Shorts program in 2024–2025, trained in climate science and fact-checking before producing verified environmental content. His most-watched videos cover common mistakes in mangrove restoration, the role of mangroves as carbon superheroes, and fieldwork dispatches from Philippine coastal forests. Newswatch+ named him a “Nature Nurturer & Island Guardian” in their 2025 eco-influencer roundup. He also earned a YSEALI Academic Fellowship at the East-West Center in Honolulu in Spring 2025, a fitting recognition for someone whose research and content both center on protecting Philippine coastlines.
Elle Hernandez (@ellehernndz)
Elle Hernandez leads with a bio that doubles as a mission statement: “part science, part ocean, full girl.” The marine biologist and UP Diliman cum laude graduate backs it up with content that makes coral reef science feel urgent and personal. Her TikTok account has 13,100 followers and 1.7 million likes, a likes-to-followers ratio that reflects just how shareable her ocean content is.
Beyond the platform, Elle spent two years as a Reef Imaging and Monitoring intern at DLSU-SHORE and served as project manager introducing reef citizen science to coastal communities, training 115 individuals in coral ecology protocols. That field work contributed to a local policy under the West Batangas Coastal Initiative, and she presented a prospective national policy study to the DENR. Her work as an EJN Earth Shorts fellow was later presented at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy in April 2025. Her story is one of the cleaner examples of TikTok content creating real-world policy ripple effects, which makes her one of the more interesting creators on this list.
Jian Pierre Arguelles (@fullfillzerowaste)
Jian Pierre Arguelles co-founded Fullfill Zero Waste Store in Sta. Maria, Bulacan in 2021 alongside his partner Charlene Mae Dana, making it one of the first zero-waste stores in the province. The business was born from a straightforward pandemic-era observation: lockdowns drove an explosion of online shopping, and with it, mountains of single-use plastic packaging. The store’s entire model runs on a bring-your-own-container system, with products sourced from local sellers who share the same sustainability vision.
As a TikTok creator and EJN Earth Shorts fellow, Arguelles translates zero-waste principles into content that meets Filipino consumers where they actually shop. His zero-waste challenge at Jollibee normalizes refill culture in the country’s most iconic fast food setting, a small act that carries a lot of symbolic weight. Newswatch+ specifically highlighted his ability to make sustainable shopping feel achievable for middle- and low-income Filipino consumers, a demographic often left out of mainstream sustainability conversations.
Raymor “RM” Cuevas (@raymorcuevas)
With approximately 2.8 million followers and 102 million likes, Raymor Cuevas is the biggest name on this list by a wide margin. The UP cum laude graduate in Food Technology earned the title of TikTok Philippines’ Top Education Creator of 2022 and joined the EJN Earth Shorts fellowship in 2024–2025. His signature tagline, “Let me explain something,” sets the tone for content that is scientifically grounded without ever feeling like a lecture.
Environmental topics appear regularly in his feed alongside food science and general science content: plastic-eating microorganisms, carbon footprint explainers, climate change breakdowns. The crossover reach is the real story. Manila Bulletin covered the growing influence of science creators like Cuevas on environmental literacy in the Philippines, and the scale of his audience means a single climate video reaches more people than most dedicated environmental campaigns ever do. When RM talks about global warming, millions of Filipinos are listening.
Renzo Maano (@renzomaano)
Renzo Maano is a travel and wildlife documentary filmmaker from Parañaque City whose TikTok content functions more like a short-form wildlife documentary series than a typical creator feed. An EJN Earth Shorts fellow, his account champions eco-tourism destinations, documents conservation efforts in remote ecosystems, and advocates for endangered species legislation, often all within the same video.
His most impactful work centers on the tamaraw, the critically endangered dwarf buffalo endemic to Mindoro. A dedicated video on @renzomaano’s account calls for the passage of the Tamaraw Conservation Bill for permanent legal protection. It is one of the cleaner examples of short-form video driving legislative awareness in a way traditional media rarely achieves. He has also documented the Bayawan Nature Reserve in Negros Oriental, a 300-hectare privately managed forest he frames as a model for private-sector conservation and eco-tourism development. A video on the Visayan Spotted Deer received 41,600 likes, proof that audiences will engage with species most of them have never seen in person.
Cha Ocampo (@cha.ocampo)
Cha Ocampo became a full-time digital creator after discovering freediving in 2019, and the pivot has built one of the most distinctive ocean advocacy presences on Philippine TikTok. Her account has 147,800 followers and 3.5 million likes. She also carries PADI AmbassaDiver status alongside her role as founder of InDepth Expeditions, a project focused on wildlife conservation experiences in Philippine dive sites. Cosmopolitan Philippines named her its Women of Influence 2026 Sustainability Steward, a recognition that her profile has grown well beyond the dive community.
Her advocacy spans four pillars: ocean and wildlife conservation, climate change, sustainable economy, and women’s health. Her practical content covers reef-safe sunscreen guides, leave-no-trace beach tips, and responsible behavior around marine wildlife. This reaches a beauty and lifestyle-adjacent audience and brings them into conversations about marine conservation through the lens of freediving culture. Cha is perhaps the clearest example on this list of environmental advocacy reaching people who wouldn’t necessarily think of themselves as environmentalists.
Lokalpedia — John Sherwin Felix (@lokalpediaph)
John Sherwin Felix describes himself as a dokumentarista ng pagkaing Pilipino, or documentarist of Filipino food. His project, Lokalpedia, functions as a living encyclopedia of endemic, heirloom, and endangered Filipino food ingredients. These are edible species of flora, fauna, and funga at risk of disappearing from Filipino tables and, eventually, from Philippine ecosystems altogether. As Inquirer Lifestyle documented, his advocacy rests on a simple but powerful argument: when a native ingredient disappears from the kitchen, it often disappears from the landscape too.
The Sangkap Series goes deep on individual ingredients like paho (wild mango), pasyotes, indigenous fermented foods, and artisanal salts, one per episode, with the detail of a field researcher and the storytelling instincts of a journalist. Felix is also involved in formal Philippine conservation work, grounding Lokalpedia in advocacy that extends well beyond the screen. For audiences who might not identify with environmental advocacy but care deeply about Filipino food and culture, Lokalpedia offers one of the most accessible entry points on this list.
Alfonso Ofreneo (@alfonsoofreneo)
Alfonso Ofreneo’s TikTok bio cuts straight to his philosophy: “You can only love what you know!” The wildlife and biodiversity creator’s account has 22,200 followers and 256,100 likes, and it stands out as one of the most science-forward wildlife pages on Philippine TikTok.
His content covers Philippine endemic animals including the Philippine Eagle, native deer species, monitor lizards (which he calls “Philippinosauruses”), and the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins of the Visayas. All of it is placed within the broader context of Southeast Asian biodiversity and evolutionary history. What sets him apart from most environmental creators is a consistent practice of citing peer-reviewed journal articles directly in his video captions, a habit that gives his content unusual depth and credibility for a short-form platform. If you want to follow someone on TikTok who will actually make you smarter about Philippine wildlife, Alfonso is your best bet.
FAQs: Filipino Environmentalists on TikTok
What is a Filipino green-fluencer?
The term “green-fluencer” was formally coined in the Philippine context by a peer-reviewed article in BioScience (November 2024), referring to content creators who use social media to mainstream biodiversity and environmental education. What distinguishes Filipino green-fluencers is their use of the Filipino language and narrative-driven formats to reach audiences that traditional conservation campaigns rarely do.
Who is Celine Murillo?
Celine Murillo is a photographer, filmmaker, and former economics instructor who became one of the Philippines’ most prominent environmental TikTok creators after moving to the platform in 2022. She now has over 700,000 TikTok followers and was named one of TikTok’s inaugural 50 global Change Makers in 2024.
Are Filipino environmental TikTok creators actual scientists?
Several are practicing scientists. Ethan Hernandez is an UPLB assistant professor and licensed forester with a published research background in plant ecophysiology. Elle Hernandez is a marine biologist who contributed to national reef policy. Sean Paul Manalo is a published mangrove blue carbon researcher. Raymor Cuevas graduated cum laude in Food Technology from UP. Alfonso Ofreneo regularly cites peer-reviewed research in his video captions. Scientific grounding is one of the defining characteristics of the Philippine environmental TikTok ecosystem.
What environmental topics do Filipino TikTok creators focus on?
The range is wide: Philippine biodiversity, forestry, mangrove ecology, marine biology, coral reef science, zero-waste living, sustainable tourism, wildlife documentary filmmaking, food heritage, and endemic species conservation. Some creators specialize in a single ecosystem or advocacy area; others use environmental science as one thread within broader science or lifestyle content.
Is environmental advocacy dangerous in the Philippines?
The Philippines consistently ranks among the most dangerous countries for environmental defenders. Celine Murillo has publicly reflected on the emotional toll and physical risks that come with her advocacy work. This reality adds a dimension to these creators’ content that goes beyond follower counts and viral videos. Many of them are doing high-stakes advocacy in a context where environmental activism carries genuine personal risk.
M2.0 Communications is a PR company in the Philippines that has been helping brands tell compelling and meaningful stories. M2.0 provides public relations and digital services, including social media management, influencer relations, and video production. Visit our case studies page to learn more about the brands we’ve worked with.
