This week, more than 150 conservation and community organizations, experts and policymakers are gathering in Zambia for the Accelerating Nature-based Solutions conference. Billed as the largest land restoration programming conference in the world, it is hosted by the Global EverGreening Alliance, the government of Zambia, and partners, and is taking place from March 11-15. Mongabay […]
CHEERS TO Bulatlat, MindaNews, Philstar.com, and Rappler for calling attention to the vulnerability of the country’s Indigenous Peoples (IPs), who a
In December 2004, the worst tsunami in recorded history devastated the region encircling the Indian Ocean, killing more than 200,000 people in 14 countries. One year later, researchers showed that mangrove forests confer protection from the sea: They reduced the energy of the tsunami waves, protecting villages near them from major damage. Since then, initiatives […]
PALAWAN, Philippines In the middle of the brackish water of Malampaya Sound in the Philippines’ Palawan province, Panchito Calamare stands on an outrigger fishing boat one drizzling May morning, slowly pulling in his crab line and removing one by one the day’s haul. When he returns home, he hands over the crabs to his […]
Hits and misses for a legal tool to protect the environment in Philippines
by Purple Romero on 28 April 2021
In 2010, the Philippines’ Supreme Court set the provisions for what it calls the “Writ of Kalikasan,” a landmark legal remedy that compels the government to act and halt environmental degradation that impacts more than one municipality.
More than a decade since it was first defined and used in court, the writ has been invoked for various cases, from closing open dumpsites and illegal landfills, to prompting the government to protect important bodies of water like the rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
While many petitions have been approved this way, the rulings haven’t always been implemented by local governments.