Tereza Fajksova of the Czech Republic won the Miss Earth 2012 crown, followed by Stephany Stefanowitz (Miss Earth Air) of The Philippines and Venezuela's Osmariel Villalobo (Miss Earth Water) in second and third places, respectively, at the beauty pageant held in Manila, media reports said Sunday.
Camila Brant of Brazil came in fourth for the title of Miss Earth Fire.
The Venezuelan beauty also won the Miss Photogenic award at this year's contest, with Costa Rica's Fabiana Granados in second place.
Guatemala's contestant Stefany Miranda won the Evening Gown competition.
Of the 81 participants who came to The Philippines a month ago for the competition, 16 moved to the final, including four Latin Americans, as well as the contestants from Russia, South Africa, Germany, the United States, Italy and Nepal.
Russian contestant Natalia Pereverzeva sparked controversy when, during the preliminary essay competition when asked what made her proud of her country, she said that Russia was "all I loved," but then criticized the country's elite and corruption.
"My Russia is a beggar, My Russia cannot help its elderly and orphans. From her, bleeding, like from a sinking ship, engineers, doctors, professors are leaving because they don't have anything to live on," the beauty queen said.
Last year, the winners and runners-up in the Miss Earth competition were, from first place to fourth, Ecuador's Olga Alava, Brazil's Driely Bennettone, The Philippines' Athena Imperial and Venezuela's Caroline Medina.