Matt Damon and Hayden Panettiere are to be honoured for their dedication to ecological issues at the upcoming Environmental Media Awards.

Damon will be recognised with the Ongoing Commitment Award for his work with Water.org, the organisation he co-founded that aims to bring safe water and sanitation to Third World countries, while actress Panettiere has been named the 2013 recipient of the Futures Award, which is given to young stars who have the potential to become environmental activists.

She is active with conservation group the Whaleman Foundation.

The awards gala will be geld in Burbank, California in October (13).