Environmental Groups Demand Stronger Climate, Conservation Action Ahead of President's Address

Environmental groups, scientists, and community advocates called for stronger government action on climate change, biodiversity protection, and environmental governance ahead of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), while expressing hope that greater public participation can help address the country’s ecological challenges. At the “Plundered, Not Poor: State of the Philippine Environment 2026” forum held on Friday at the University of the Philippines Diliman, the speakers highlighted concerns over environmental degradation, extractive projects, and the protection of environmental defenders, while emphasizing the role of citizens and communities in advancing sustainable development. Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) executive director Mattie Balagat said environmental groups remain critical of the administration’s performance on environmental issues. “Four years into the Marcos Jr. administration, the verdict of the environmental movement is definitive: it is a failure. We see no genuine climate action—only the worsening commercialization of our patrimony, the masking of corporate destruction as ‘green solutions,’ and the violent silencing of our defenders,” Ms. Balagat said. Living Laudato Si’ Philippines executive director and national convener of Aksyon Klima Pilipinas Rodne R. Galicha said stronger implementation of environmental policies and science-based decision-making are needed to improve climate resilience. “Corruption in environmental governance has many faces. It is not only bribery or stolen public funds. It also happens when political influence overrides science, when environmental laws are selectively enforced, when public resources finance projects that weaken climate resilience, and when communities bear the environmental costs while a few enjoy the benefits,” Mr. Galicha said. Speakers also raised concerns about the effects of large-scale projects on biodiversity and local communities. Representatives from mining-affected and Indigenous communities called for greater protection of natural resources and ancestral lands. “I do hope and pray that if you believe that our forest is worth protecting, if you believe our rivers deserve to remain clean, that farmers and fisherfolk deserve a future, and that our children deserve to inherit a country rich in life, not only on a matter of resources, stand with us in this fight,” said Zesirie G. Enggo of the Kasibu Inter-Tribal Response towards Ecological Development (KIRED). KATRIBU secretary general Funa-ay Claver said the shift to renewable energy should also uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights. “The transition to renewable energy is not ‘just’ if it follows the same model of land grabbing, rights violations, and corporate plunder as seen in extractive projects. A truly just transition is rooted in justice and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights to ancestral land and self-determination,” Ms. Claver said. The proposed Waste-to-Energy project in Smokey Mountain also drew criticism from environmental advocates, who called for greater investment in zero-waste initiatives. “The government must strictly enforce RA 9003 and RA 8749 rather than funding toxic and destructive incinerating false solutions. We demand immediate investment in community-based and humane Zero Waste systems that uplift our marginalized families instead of displacing them. True environmental justice empowers communities to manage resources safely, rather than burning our future to ashes,” said Shey Levita of Plastic Free Pilipinas under the EcoWaste Coalition. The forum likewise highlighted the situation of land and environmental defenders. Emmanuel Acosta, convenor of the Defend Negros Network, called for accountability in cases involving human rights violations. “The government’s attempts to cover up the killings and other human rights violations against land and environmental defenders expose its deep complicity in silencing dissent. As Marcos Jr. prepares to tout gains in agriculture and counterinsurgency efforts in his upcoming SONA, the public must remember that the food on our tables has too often been produced at the cost of farmers’ blood, spilled in the pursuit of justice,” Mr. Acosta said. Closing the event, IBON Foundation executive director Jose Enrique “Sonny” A. Africa stressed that development should benefit both people and the environment. “Upper middle-income status from growth that plunders our land, waters, and mountains to enrich a few while making communities poorer isn’t progress. Our hope for more democratic politics, sustainability, and real development lies in the people, not with the trapos and capitalists who cause the problem to begin with,” Mr. Africa said. Despite the concerns raised, participants expressed optimism that stronger public engagement, accountability, and cooperation among communities, scientists, and advocates can help advance environmental protection and sustainable development in the country. — Kaizzer Angela Marie V. Manuba