MANILA – The Philippines' Karen Ibasco was in tears after she was named Miss Earth 2017 in a coronation night held at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday night.

The crown was passed onto Ibasco by Ecuador’s Katherine Espin, last year’s Miss Earth winner.

A medical physicist, Ibasco’s advocacy is conserving energy and embracing renewable and sustainable sources of it.

During the competition’s final Q&A portion, Ibasco was asked who or what she thinks is the biggest enemy of Mother Earth and why.

Ibasco said: “I believe that the real problem in this world is not climate change. The real problem is us because of our ignorance and apathy. What we have to do is to start changing our ways, to start recalibrating our minds and redirecting our steps because together, as a global community, our micro-efforts will have a macro-effect to help save our home, our planet.”

The last time the Philippines won Miss Earth was in 2015 when the country was represented by Angelia Ong. She succeeded another Filipina beauty queen, Jamie Herrel, who won the same title in 2014.

Aside from Ibasco, the other contestants making up her so-called elemental court are Australia’s Nina Robertson as Miss Earth Air 2017, Russia’s Lada Akimova as Miss Earth Fire 2017 and Colombia’s Juliana Franco as Miss Earth Water 2017.