The University of the Philippines, Diliman, Marine Science Institute (Philippine home of PMS-ICBG) wins prestigious international prize.

Since its founding as the Marine Sciences Center in 1974, the UP MSI has worked to translate its mandate into actions and products that bring it closer to the communities it serves, both locally and internationally. Examples of exemplary achievements of the UP MSI that are directly in line with biodiversity and environmental protection for which the award is based, are as follows: population genetics and species biogeography; assessment and restoration of depleted and threatened marine ecosystems and populations; community based coastal resources management, integrated coastal management, and environmental governance; biodiversity and drug development. UP MSI has made significant contributions to tropical marine science. It has been designated the "National Center for Excellence in the Marine Sciences", giving recognition to its adherence to excellence in both research and teaching at the tertiary level. A more recent recognition in the international arena was its being chosen as one of the four Centers of Excellence in the world within the Global Environment Facility/World Bank Program on Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management.

The Calouste Gulbenkian International Prize is given by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a Portuguese private institution of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education and science. The Foundation was created by a clause in the will of an Armenian businessman and philanthropist Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian. The International Prize worth 100,000 Euros will be shared by the UP MSI and Global Footprint Network.