Mary Queen “Queenie” R. Agdalipe is a Filipino fisheries professional, marine conservationist, science communicator, author, and illustrator. Growing up near a coastal community, Queenie’s relationship with the ocean and her home country, the Philippines, deepened her passion for conservation as protecting both ecosystems and people– preserving reciprocal knowledge, stories, livelihoods, and relationships that have sustained communities for generations.
She is the founder of CurrentShift, a women-led community-based marine conservation organization grounded in Science, Stories, and Solidarity. At the heart of her advocacy is a simple belief: fisherfolk communities should not be treated merely as beneficiaries of conservation, but as knowledge-holders, leaders, and stewards whose voices must shape how our oceans are understood and protected.
Queenie is globally recognized as part of the North American Association for Environmental Education and Global Environmental Education Partnership. Across different platforms, Queenie has been working to create spaces where community knowledge can meet science, storytelling, restoration, and collective action while also encouraging each other to see themselves as part of nature.
In 2026, she was the youngest recognized “Women Champion in the Water Sector” in her country, the Philippines. She is also the author and illustrator of Flyway Friends: A Long Journey Home, reflecting her wider commitment to helping people, especially young people, see themselves as part of, rather than separate from, the living world. Her work ultimately asks how conservation can move beyond protecting nature for people, toward protecting nature with the people who have long called these ecosystems home and kin.