The Philippines’ Karla Paula Henry was crowned as this year’s Miss Earth, during the Coronation Night held at the Clark Expo Ampitheater in Pampanga Sunday evening.
Henry bested 84 other contestants from all over the world, succeeding Canada’s Jessica Trisko, Miss Earth 2007.
In the final question and answer round, the final four were asked on what they would tell US president-elect Barack Obama about the state of the global environment if ever they were to meet.
Henry responded by saying she would encourage Obama to implement environmental knowledge in the curriculum of schools not just in the US, but also in the Philippines.
“Environmental knowledge is something that all of us must share, but most importantly we must teach the youth that this is something that we should instill in them so that in the near future they will be the ones to take care of our mother Earth,” she said.
Henry earlier won the Miss Earth Designers Award and Miss Photogenic special award.
Miss Tanzania, Miriam Odemba was Miss Earth Air (1st runner-up); Miss Mexico, Abigail Elizalde was Miss Earth Water (2nd runner-up), and Miss Brazil Tatiane Alves won Miss Earth Fire (3rd runner-up).
Rounding up the pageant’s top eight finalists are Mariana Rodriguez (Miss Colombia), Adriana Reveron (Miss Spain), Nasanin Nuri (MIss Switzerland), and Daniela Torrealba (Miss Venezuela).
The coronation night was hosted by singer Billy Crawford, Miss Earth 2004 Priscilla Meirelles, and Miss Earth Canada 2006 Riza Santos.
Miss Earth is described as one of the three largest beauty pageants in the world in terms of the number of national-level competitions to participate in the world finals.
The participants themselves are involved with environmental causes. The titleholder dedicate their year to promote environmental projects and to address issues concerning the environment.
