Nicanor Jesus "Nicky" Pineda Perlas III (born January 10, 1950 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino activist and a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize") in 2003.

Perlas was the son of Jesus C. Perlas, Sr. and Anunciacion M. Pineda. He finished his elementary education at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1964 and finished his secondary education in the same school in 1968.

While spending his high school years at the Ateneo, he was the Athlete of the Year and the recipient of the Silver Medal of the school's Math and Science Club in 1968.

Perlas pursued his undergraduate studies at the College of Agriculture in Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental. With the highest honors, he graduated Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, major in Agronomy and minor in Agricultural Economics in the said educational institution in 1972.

He would then seek to pursue his masteral studies at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna, but would soon be forced to abandon his studies after being involved in the opposition of the Bataan nuclear power plant under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos.

In his university days, Perlas was one of the key organizers of a university-wide education reform movement that resulted in changes in university policies. During this time, he founded the first ecological society in the Philippines. After graduation, he co-organized a successful large scale global campaign, the first of its kind during his time, to halt 12 nuclear plants in the Philippines.

Perlas subsequently become a technical adviser to the Presidential Commission on the Philippine Nuclear Power Plant, Office of the President of the Philippines, where he was instrumental in stopping the operation of the fully constructed and operational Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a $2.2 billion project plagued with design, construction, location, and corruption problems.

Shortly thereafter, Perlas was appointed member of the national technical panel overseeing the regulation of pesticide use in Philippine agriculture. While in this capacity, he simultaneously mobilized and headed a national effort that resulted in the banning of 32 hazardous pesticide formulations in the Philippines. The ban triggered the creation of a P750 million government program to reduce the use of pesticides in Philippine agriculture.

Perlas was the chief negotiator for a network of national networks, which involved 5000 organizations, that successfully stopped the agenda of radical and one sided liberalization in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

He successfully introduced strong sustainable development language in the Leaders and Ministerial Declarations in APEC, and constrained the Individual Action Plan of the Philippines to abide by sustainable development principles. The successful negotiations prevented the premature exposure and economic decline of 3 million Philippine rice farmers to subsidized and artificially cheap rice coming from other countries.

Perlas is the co-founder, president and executive director of the Center for Alternative Development Initiatives or CADI, in Metro Manila and Iloilo City, where he guides research and policy work and develops initiatives on globalization, threefolding and their impacts on civil society, cultural power and sustainable development.

He has been chairman of several national civil society networks including the Green Forum Philippines, the Philippine Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and the Civil Society Counterpart Council for Sustainable Development.

Perlas has been the resource person and keynote speaker in over 70 global conferences and events in over 20 countries, and over 120 national conferences on a range of topics.

He has provided consultancy work for several UN agencies, the Philippine Senate, donor agencies and foundations, as well as many other global and national civil society organizations and networks and businesses striving for ecological and social responsibility.

Nicanor Perlas is part of the faculty at the graduate program of the Southeast Asian Interdisciplinary Development Institute (SAIDI). He is also a board member and a resource person for training programs of the Gamot Cogon Institute or GCI, based in Iloilo, Philippines.

He is the publisher and editor-in-chief for TruthForce! A national and global internet-based news and analysis service which reaches thousands of subscribers and readers in over 60 countries.

His book, "Shaping Globalization: Civil Society," "Cultural Power," and "Threefolding," has been translated in 9 languages. It is being used in dozens of universities in the Philippines and various parts of the world.

His other awards include the William F. Masterson award, the top award for outstanding alumni of Xavier University for his national and global contributions to sustainable agriculture.

He also received highest honors upon his graduation from Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, major in Agronomy and minor in Agricultural Economics. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class in the College of Agriculture. In Graduate School at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, he was on the dean's list.