08 July 2014 - Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary for Policy Manuel Gerochi led the Philippine delegation to the historic inaugural session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) from June23 to 27 in Nairobi, Kenya.
UNEA is the newly-constituted universal platform on decision-making on the environment where 193 member-countries of the United Nations can meet and address the globalenvironmental agenda and call for international action. The First United Nations Environment Assembly was attended by 1,065 delegates from 170 national delegations. Representatives of major groups and various stakeholders were likewise present at the UNEA.
The high-level segment opened on June 26 with the theme “Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 Agenda, including sustainable production and consumption and Illegal Trade in Wildlife.” In its statement, the Philippines reaffirmed its solidarity with the international community in its fight against illegal trade in wildlife and reported on its intensified efforts to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade. The Philippines is the only country in Asia to have destroyed its stockpiles of ivory tusks seized from poachers and illegal traffickers of ivory.
The Philippines also shared with the body its efforts in support of its commitment to Sustainable Development. In 2012, the Philippines was categorized as a “strong performer” based on the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) developed by the Yale and Columbia Universities, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the European Commission, which is an affirmation of the very good policies of the Philippine government on the environment The Philippines also affirmed its commitment to adopting policies and measures towards the use and promotion of clean technologies, increasing environmental awareness in production and consumption and increasing efficiency in the use of resources, and ensuring a balanced economic andsocial development as well as mitigating environmental damages by changing production and consumption patterns.
In a parallel event, Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbiterio Velasco, Jr. represented the Philippines at the Global Symposium on Environmental Rule of Law. Justice Velasco emphasized the need to intensify efforts to reduce not just the supply but also the demand for illegal wildlife trade. One of these efforts could be the strengthening of domestic laws on protection of endangered species, and the crafting of domestic rules ofprocedure in the prosecution and adjudication of environmental cases. He suggested that making mere possession of endangered species malum prohibitum might help in reducing the demand for endangered species. He also spoke of crafting rules of procedure to prescribing fixed periods within which cases withenvironmental dimensions should be decided by magistrates and judges. Environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr., President of the Law of Nature Foundation was a guest speaker in the same symposium. He spoke on the topic “Legal action as a lever for social and environmental change.” END