The Center for Environment Concerns – Philippines (CEC) recognized the valiant environment defenders who put their lives on the line against large-scale mining. They include the late Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, residents of Didipio in Nueva Vizcaya and community organizers.
She doesn’t fear Duterte’s threat of killing them all; she fears more the threat of seeing our natural resources, and the virgin forest, destroyed.
But hope springs eternal. Environmental defenders everywhere are tirelessly working to protect the last frontiers of nature and restore our despoiled environment.
By Frances Quimpo The history of protecting the Philippine environment and the country’s natural resources is a history of resistance: stories of valiant struggle and often untold sacrifices by people and communities to protect their lands, mountains, rivers, and seas from the threat of plunder for profit. In order to recognize the valiant struggles of…