Vatican appeals to Buddhists for ‘climate of peace’

The Vatican has urged Buddhists and Christians to work together, “on the basis of the genuine patrimony of our religious traditions, to create a climate of peace to love, defend and promote human life.” In its first interfaith message since the election of Pope Francis, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue stressed that the Argentine [...]

Banned chemicals found in Mindanao rivers

At least eight kinds of pesticides, seven of which are banned internationally, have been found in air and water samples obtained from several rivers and communities in the southern city of Davao, prompting activists to warn of an impending environmental disaster. The pesticides were found by Interface Development Interventions, Inc, a Davao-based environmental organization and [...]

Government gets praise and censure on climate investment

Climate campaigners hailed the government yesterday for its “exemplary” effort in combating the effects of climate change and making communities ready to face its impacts. “But there’s still a lot to be done,” said Renato Redentor Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC). Constantino, former climate campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast [...]

US taken to court over Philippine reef damage

Environmental activists and scientists today filed a citizen suit before the Supreme Court asking for a “Writ of Kalikasan” over the grounding of the US minesweeper USS Guardian in Tubbataha Reef last January. The writ of Kalikasan is an extraordinary legal remedy for cases involving environmental damage of such magnitude as to prejudice the life, [...]

Philippine tribal protest forces mine closure

A mining company announced today it has shut down operations at a nickel mine in the southern Philippine province of Surigao del Sur, after locals blocked the entrance, citing environmental concerns. Members of the Badjao tribe in the village of Cabangahan, Catilan town, formed a human barricade on Monday to prevent Marcventures Mining and Development [...]

Chinese vessel aground on heritage site

A Chinese fishing vessel has run aground on the Tubbataha Reef, barely three months after a US Navy minesweeper became stuck on the same World Heritage site, Philippines officials say. The Chinese vessel, with at least 12 crewmen on board, ran aground yesterday night some 1.1 nautical miles east of the Tubbataha Ranger station, said [...]

Mine gets green light despite opposition

The government yesterday granted an environmental compliance certificate to the country’s largest mining project, despite opposition from various sectors, including Church leaders in the southern Philippines. The controversial US$5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project of Swiss firm Xstrata and its local unit, Sagittarius Mining Inc., was stalled for years over a ban on open-pit mining in South [...]

Groups urge ban over mining firm’s negligence

Environmentalists and scientists urged the government on Thursday not to allow the Philex mining firm to resume operations after it failed to prevent a disastrous toxic spill in August last year. “Philex deserves to be punished for its negligence, not given a second chance at mindless exploitation,” said Clemente Bautista Jr, national coordinator of the Kalikasan [...]

Church group to DENR: act on BFI’s violations

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should act on the alleged violations committed by the Bukidnon Forests Inc. (BFI) and its contractor in extracting pine tree resins instead of suggest ways on what should be done to legalize future extractions, an official of a Church-based environment group said Wednesday. Belino Epie, of the [...]

Tribal leader killed in Mindanao

Government forces this week shot and killed a tribal leader who had allegedly been waging war against an Australian-backed mining company in South Cotabato. Kitari Capion was reported to be unarmed when soldiers attacked his house Tuesday. Capion was allegedly shot in the back when 15 soldiers shot at the tribal leader’s house. The military [...]

Romancing the reefs with trouble in paradise

You never forget your first shark. It was 1989, and I was a relatively new scuba diver on my first weeklong dive trip to Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea. It was a perfectly clear summer’s day, and I had barely righted myself after nervously back-rolling into the ocean from the rubber dinghy that ferried [...]

Grounded US Navy ship needs to discharge oil

The US Navy has admitted it needs to remove thousands of liters of oil from a minesweeper stuck on World Heritage-listed coral in the Philippines, warning it is too badly damaged to be towed away. The 68-meter USS Guardian, which became embedded in the Tubbataha Reef a week ago, will have to be lifted onto [...]

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