Karen Ibasco

Ibasco was born on December 17, 1990 in Manila, Philippines. She is half-Filipino, half-Chinese.[1] She studied at Hope Christian High School in Manila and she speaks Chinese fluently.[3] She obtained her bachelor's degree in applied physics major in instrumentation and a master's degree in applied physics major in medical physics at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, where she graduated cum laude on both degrees. She was also a former college instructor at the College of Science of the University of Santo Tomas and worked as a medical physicist at St. Luke's Medical Center, Global City.[4]

In August 2017, Ibasco was invited in the Senate of the Philippines and voiced her support for the fuel excise tax provision at one of the hearings conducted by the Senate ways and means committee on the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN).[22][23] She indicated in the hearing that "as a signatory to the Paris climate change treaty that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Philippine is committed within a specific timeframe to cut its carbon emissions, which can be done partly by approving the fuel excise tax provision under TRAIN."[23]

Ibasco went to Cambodia in November 2017 and took part with the environmental and social activities such as school tours, tree planting and visited historical landmarks Angkor Wat and Siem Reap.[24]

She joined a climate change conference on December 7, 2017 where she delivered a welcome message at the first Kasugbong Kalibutan International Climate Change Conference in Catbalogan, Samar.[25][26]

She traveled in Vietnam in January 2018 to grace a fashion event together with Miss Earth Vietnam 2010 Lưu Thị Diễm Hương and supermodel Võ Hoàng Yến which was organized by fashion designer, Tuyet Le.[27] She was also the guest of honor in the opening of Shira Clinic and Spa in Hanoi.[28]

During her reign, she collaborated in the Philippines with the Conservation for Ocean Resources and Aquatic Life (CORAL), a non-governmental organization to plant corals in the oceans, worked with Plastic Solutions to reduce the consumption of plastic, conducted school tours to educate children about the environment and promoted the use solar power.[29]

In June 2018, she went to Mexico to attend social and environmental activities of the Miss Earth Mexico pageant.[30] She was accompanied by Miss Water 2017, Juliana Franco of Colombia.[31][32] Ibasco proceeded to Reunion Islands together with Miss Earth Fire 2018 Lada Akimova of Russia and served as guest speakers at the very first Environmental Conference in Réunion Island and visited the city of Saint-Pierre to raise ecological awareness through school tours where they educated children on the daily actions in favor of the environment, spearheaded the planting of more than 1000 trees in the Saint-Pierre territory with the introduction of various endemic species.[33]

In July 2018, she led the tree planting activity in Balasan, Iloilo called "One Thousand Trees for the Future, A Tree Planting Activity" in coordination with The Open Arms for Children, Inc and the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources.[34] She also participated in the opening of the two-day Bataan Environment Summit 2018, which tackled Bataan's environmental conservation and protection achievements.[35]

She traveled to Singapore in August 2018 as special guest for the Miss Earth Singapore 2018 pageant in which she crowned Kara Dong at the Grand Ballroom of One Farrer Hotel on August 3, 2018.[36] She then proceeded to Bogotá, Colombia to attend the Miss Earth Colombia and crowned Valeria Maria Ayos Bossa as Miss Earth Colombia 2018 on August 26, 2018 and then traveled to Belgium and met with the Philippine ambassador in Brussels and talked about the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Belgium.[37][38]

She appeared in the cover page of an American monthly women's fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar- Vietnam edition in March 2018 and wore the 2018 collection of Vietnamese fashion designer Tuyet Le.[39][40]

In addition to her numerous trips around Philippines, during her reign as Miss Earth, Ibasco had traveled to Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Réunion Island, Singapore, Colombia and Belgium.

After winning Miss Earth 2017, she continued with her environmental advocacies and participated in climate change conferences, conducted environmental talks, educated students internationally and joined the American media organization, TEDx as an environmental speaker.[41] She collaborated with the Conservation of Ocean's Resources and Aquatic Life (CORAL) to promote ocean conservation by planting corals in the seabed.[42] She joined another non-governmental organization, Plastic Solutions in 2019 to promote reusable building blocks, ecobricks made from waste plastic bottle packed with used plastics[42][43] and advocated the single-use plastic ban to save oceans.[44] She was also chosen as an ambassador of international non-governmental organization, World Wide Fund for Nature in 2019 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.[45][46][47]

Ibasco was appointed as the Climate Change Commission's Youth Ambassador in the Philippines in 2019 and was sent as one of the representatives of the Philippines in the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit which aims to bring the countries closer to meeting the goals of the Paris agreement which was held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on 23 September 2019.[48][49] As a youth ambassador of the Climate Change Commission, she focused on "Gender and Climate Change".[50]

She served as the muse of Myanmar delegates in the opening ceremony of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held at the Philippine Arena in the Philippines on November 30, 2019.[51][52][53]

In October 2020, she revealed that she contracted and tested positive for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and she shared survival tips and spread awareness of the disease in the Philippines.[54][55][56]

Ibasco was selected to join the virtual United Nations event during the speech of Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres which was held at Columbia University in New York City in December 2020.[57]

In December 2020, she was designated as the ambassador for R.E.START Renewable Energy Transition to promote energy conservation and to raise awareness on renewable energy transition.[58]

• Karen Ibasco on Instagram

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Katherine Espín	Miss Earth 2017	Succeeded by Nguyễn Phương Khánh
Preceded by Loren Artajos (Assumed)	Miss Philippines Earth 2017	Succeeded by Celeste Cortesi