Cebuano environmentalist to speak in Asean forum

CEBU, Philippines -  Pioneering Philippine environmental law practitioner, Atty. Antonio Oposa Jr., will speak before chief justices in the South East Asian Region about ocean destruction and illegal fishing.

As one of Asia’s leading voices in the international arena of environmental law, Oposa is among the speakers in the 2nd Roundtable Meeting of Asean Chief Justices (CJs) on the Environment and Enforcement in Melaka, Malaysia on December 7 to 10, 2012.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno will be attending the event.

His discussion falls under the session on ASEAN Environmental Challenges: Blue Issues of Ocean Destruction, Illegal Fishing, Marine Pollution, Freshwater Pollution, and Flooding

The first roundtable, which was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from December 5 to 7 last year, brought together CJs and their designees from the highest courts of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Its three objectives were to share information on common environmental challenges, highlight their critical role as leaders in national legal communities and champions of the rule of law and environmental justice, with the ability to develop environmental jurisprudence and develop a process for continuing their cooperation and engagement on environmental issues.

A scuba diver and avid nature lover, Oposa established the School of the SEAs (Sea and Earth Advocates) in the white sand shores of Bantayan Island.

The school is totally powered by renewable energy, completely recycled water, and is truly an experiential learning center for sustainable living.

With volunteer fishermen, enforcement operatives, divers, and ordinary citizens, young and old, he organized the Visayan Sea Squadron.

Aside from being a para-legal action team, the volunteer teachers and divers also help local communities establish marine sanctuaries.

Oposa was a recipient of the  Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2009 for “his path-breaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children, and generations still to come.”

At the opening of the Legal Year in January, Malaysian Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria called environmental crime “a threat to our very existence.”

“We must be serious in protecting Mother Earth. For that we should not let any lack  of  sensitivity  in  the past to continue into the future,” said Zakaria in a statement in hosting the event.  (FREEMAN)