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Filipino youth groups will kick off a global legal action with their counterparts in Brazil on June 5 to urge government leaders to focus on the degradation of the environment, said an environmental lawyer.
?This will be done to enforce the implementation of environmental laws,? lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. said during a tribute on Monday for being the first Asian awarded by the Center for International Environmental Law for his outstanding contributions to the environment cause.
?The young people from Brazil and from our country will simultaneously file legal actions on June 5. Why the Philippines? Because we have the richest marine resources in the world; and Brazil because they have the richest land on Earth,? he added.
In a speech during the tribute organized by the Federated Organization of Women Active and Responsive to Development (FORWARD) at the Sacred Heart Center, Oposa underscored the poor implementation of environmental laws in the country and the need to take action to save the ?sources of life.?
?Not even one percent of 170 environmental laws in the country have been properly implemented,? he said.
He said at least 300 lawyers are working on 25 petitions included in the menu of legal actions.
The environmental issues that will be addressed by the global legal action are: watershed protection, soil and water conservation, protection against storm surges, sea level rise through the enforcement of easement zones along coast lines, and reversion of abandoned fishponds.
Oposa said they are aiming to protect mangrove areas, ensure food security for the people be identifying protected lands and the implementation of Executive Order No. 774 or the reorganization of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change.
?The EO 774 contains everything,? said Oposa who was referring to the content of the order that include the proper implementation of the Solid Waste Management Act, among others.
?We will give them a bouquet of legal actions. We will call this the patrimonial malpractice of the national government,? he said.
The environmental lawyers from various parts of the country will meet in Bantayan Island this week to discuss the legal strategy for the global movement, said Oposa. /Editorial Assistant Ma. Bernadette A. Parco with UP Intern Jeshelene T. Diolan
