Quezon City, Philippines – Environmentalists formed a human chain in Quezon Memorial Circle Sunday, April 22, in celebration of Earth Day 2012 which they took also as occasion to challenge the Aquino government to implement a nationwide moratorium on large-scale mining.
The environmentalist groups have documented how destructive mining has been poisoning the Philippines’ river system, causing erosion and further deforestation, displacing poor peasants and indigenous tribes from their lands, sources of livelihood and ancestral domains. All for relatively a pittance which also barely trickle down to the mining-affected communities, the environmentalist groups said.
The human chain and weekend trade fair featuring earth-friendly products and habits capped the weeklong activities led by Kalikasan-PNE and Center for Environmental Concerns. During weekdays, they held a trade fair of organic products and urban gardening at the Quezon City Hall lobby. They also conducted a series of forum tackling topics such as recycling. On Thursday, they held the Greenaration forum, where they discussed the state of the Philippine environment after decades of largely unchecked logging and now also large-scale mining.
Text by Marya Salamat
Photos by Jhun Dantes
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