Filipino environmental groups continue to urge climate justice within and outside the country, as Congress deliberated the National Coastal Greenbelt (NCG) Act and the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Act, while the Climate Accountability Resolution is set to be voted on by the United Nations.
On Wednesday, 13 May, representatives of Mangrove Matters PH, the Global Mangrove Alliance of the Philippines (GMAP), Oceana Philippines, Oceanus Conservation, and Wetlands International Philippines (WIP) attended the initial deliberation of the two proposed bills in the House of Representatives, sharing the progress made in protecting coastlines and establishing coastal greenbelt zones through local ordinances. It was not enough, they said.
“These 127 [local government units] LGUs have proven that coastal greenbelts are not just sound environmental policy—they are practical governance that save lives and sustain livelihoods. But local action can only go so far. Without a national law, these gains remain fragile,” said Lead Convenor of the GMAP and Country Manager of Wetlands International Philippines Dr. Annadel Cabanban.
She cited that local ordinances are still prone to “fragmented mandates, inconsistent enforcement, and lack of sustained funding.”
According to GMAP, mangrove greenbelts are an adaptive defense stronger than “grey infrastructures,” essential in biodiversity, and in reducing wave energy and storm surge. However, it has declined from an estimated 450,000 hectares in 1918 to around 311,000 hectares in 2020.
The proposed NCG bill will establish a national standard for greenbelt zones, give institutional support to LGUs, and strengthen the rights of local and indigenous communities, among other provisions. Whereas the ICM bill addresses the connectivity of human activity to terrestrial and marine biodiversity, developing long-term strategies for the development of coastal areas, establishing capacity building and public awareness programs, and environmental monitoring.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is expected to determine their stand on a series of landmark findings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a climate resolution, which will obligate UN member states to comply with the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion (ICJAO) as concrete action.
The climate change resolution draft was led by the Pacific Island nation Vanuatu, supported by the Philippines through former U.N. Ambassador Antonio M. Lagdameo, the Netherlands, Singapore, Colombia, Barbados, Kenya, Jamaica, Burkina Faso, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Sierra Leone.
If adopted, the resolution will give countries legal obligation and accountability in addressing climate change, that it is “not a political choice.”
The United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on 20 May, in New York.