Pinoy lawyer wins award in US

MANILA, Philippines - Environmental lawyer Tony Oposa will receive the International Environmental Law Award from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) at a luncheon ceremony in Washington on April 21.

Oposa is cited as “one of Asia’s leading voices in the global arena of environmental law.”

“His work is internationally known for establishing at the highest Philippine Court of Law the principle of inter-generational responsibility – the right to sue governments on behalf of future generations to stop environmental damage,” an announcement from CIEL said.

An activist working on local, national, and international levels, he has worked tirelessly to protect the country’s natural resources. His work includes a decade-long fight with the government to clean up and rehabilitate Manila Bay, curb over-fishing in the Visayan Sea, fight the misappropriation of the country’s forest resources, and establish the School of the Seas, a learning center for sustainable living.

Oposa said the award “belongs to us all – the Filipino… It is my dream that one day, our collective efforts and passions will ‘infect’ the rest of our people and that one day, we – all the Filipinos, with our native genius for Nature and the natural sciences and arts – will be the beacons of light for the rest of the world.”

The CIEL award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the effort to achieve solutions to environmental problems through international law and institutions.

CIEL is a nonprofit organization working to use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society. It was founded in 1989 and is based in Washington.