LOCAL AND GLOBAL

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES
 Intended Learning Outcomes
After the completion of the chapter, students will be able to:
1. discuss local and global initiatives to address
environmental problems.
 Topics To Be Discussed
A. Local Environmental Laws and Programs
B. International Conventions and Protocols
 What is Environmental Law?
• A complex and interlocking body of statutes, common law,
treaties, conventions, regulations and policies

• Open to regulate the interaction of humanity and the rest

of the biophysical or natural environment

• Purpose of reducing or minimizing the impacts of human

activity, both on the natural environment for its own sake
and on humanity itself
 Principles Influencing Environmental Laws
• Environmentalism
- seeks to improve and protect the quality of the
natural environment
- reduce the impact of human activities on th earth and
its various inhabitants

• Ecology, conservation, stewardship, responsibility and

sustainability
 Areas of Concern
• Air quality and water • Pesticides and hazardous
quality chemicals
• Global climate change • Waste management and
• Agriculture remediation of
• Biodiversity and species contaminated land
protection • Management of public
lands and natural
resources
LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
AND PROGRAMS
 Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999
• Republic Act 8749
• The State shall promote and protect the global
environment to attain sustainable development while
recognizing the primary responsibility of local
government units to deal with environmental problems
• The State recognizes that the responsibility of
cleaning the habitat and environment is primarily area-
based
• The State also recognizes the principle that “polluters
must pay”
 Philippine Clean Air Act
• Guiding Principles:
– Protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and
healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature;
– Promote and protect the global environment while recognizing the
primary responsibility of local government units to deal with
environmental problems;
– Recognize that the responsibility of cleaning the habitat and
environment is primarily area-based;
– Recognize that "polluters must pay";
– Recognize that a clean and healthy environment is for the good of all
and should therefore be the concern of all.
 The Pollution Control Law
• P.D. 1181 (supplements the provision of PD 984)
providing for the abatement, control and prevention of
vehicular pollution and establishing the maximum
allowance emissions of specific air pollutants from all
types of vehicle
 Water Pollution Control
• Prohibits the discharge of oil, noxious liquid substances
and other harmful substances into the country’s inland
and territorial waters
• P.D. 825 - prohibits the improper disposal of garbage
 R.A. 6969
• Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste
Control Act
• Authorizes the DENR to establish a program to regulate,
restrict or prohibit the importation, manufacture,
processing, sale, destruction, use and disposal of
chemical substances and mixture that present
unreasonable risk and/or injury to health or the
environment
 Philippine Clean Water Act (2004)
• Also known as R.A. 9275
• An act providing a comprehensive water quality
management and for other purposes
 Climate Change Act of 2009
• Also known as R.A. 9729
• An act mainstreaming climate change into government
policy formulations, establishing the framework strategy
and program on climate change, creating for this purpose
the climate change commission, and for other purposes
 Food Security Act
• 1985
• Deals with preserving the natural environment on
farmlands
• Also increases protection for wetlands and encourages
soil conservation on areas subject to high levels of
erosion
 Ecological Waste Management Act
of 2000
• Also known as R.A. 9003
• Segregation and collection of solid waste shall be
conducted at the barangay level specifically for
biodegradable, compostable and reusable wastes:
– Provided that the collection of non-recyclable materials and
special wastes shall be the responsibility of the municipal or city
(Section 10)
 Chain Saw Act (2002)
• Also known as R.A. 9175
• An act regulating the ownership, possesion, sale,
importation and use of chain saws, penalizing violations
thereof and for other purposes
• Persons authorized to posses or use chain saw:
– has a subsisting timber license agreement, production sharing agreement, or
similar agreements, or a private land timber permit
– is an orchard and fruit tree farmer
– is an industrial tree farmer
– is a licensed wood processor and the chain saw shal be used for the cutting
of timber that has been legally sold to said applicant
– shall use the chain saw for a legal purpose
 Animal Welfare Act of 1998
• R.A. 8485
• Act to protect and promote the welfare of all animals in
the Philippines by supervising and regulating the
establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for
breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating or training of all
animals either as objects of trade or as household pets
– pet animal shall include bird

• Any form of cruelty shall be penalized

 Philippine Mining Act of 1995
• R.A. 7942
• All mineral resources in public and private lands within the
territory and exclusive economic zone of the Replublic of
the Philippines are owned by the State
• It shall be the responsibility of the State to promote their
rational exploration, development, utilization and
conservation through the combined efforts of government
and the private sector in order to enhance national growth
in a way that effectively safeguards the environment and
protect the rights of affected communties
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
AND PROTOCOLS
 Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes
and their Disposal (1992)
• The most comprehensive global environmental
agreement on hazardous and other wastes

• Aims to protect human health and the environment

against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes:
– generation and management
– transboundary movements
– disposal
 Convention on Biological Diversity

• Resulted from the recognition that damage to biodiversity

can only be effectively dealt within a comprehensive
manner (not dealing with specific species or habitats)

• Three main objectives:

– conservation of biodiversity
– sustainable use of its components; and
– fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from genetic
resources
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES)

• An international agreement between governments

• Aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of

wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival

• Widespread information dissemination about the

endangered status of many prominent species such as
tigers and elephants
 Convention on Migratory Species of Wild
Animals (Bonn Convention)

• Aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory

species throughout their range (global scale)
• Aims to conserve populations of:
– European bats, Cetaceans of the Mediterrannean Sea
– Black sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area
– Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North-East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas
– Seals in the Wadden Sea, African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds
– Albatrosses and Petrels
– Gorillas and their habitats
 Kyoto Protocol

• Broke new ground by defining three innovative “flexibility

mechanisms” to lower the overall costs of achieving its
emissions targets
• Mechanisms enable parties to access cost-effective
opportunities to reduce emissions or to remove carbon
from the atmosphere in other countries
– Emissions trading (carbon market)
– Clean development mechanism
– Joint implementation
 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Consider what can be done to reduce global warming and
to cope with whatever temperature increases are
inevitable
– COP15 and COP5 held last month in Copenhagen concluded
on Saturday, 19 December 2009
– Key points (Objectives)
• to keep the maximum temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius
• the commitment to list developed country emission reduction targets
and mitigation action by developing countries for 2020
• mechanisms to support technology transfer and forestry
IS IT TOO LATE TO SAVE
OUR ENVIRONMENT???
 OUTCOMES-BASED ASSESSMENT

• Make an essay on the topic “Are Philippine Environmental

Laws effective or not?”
• Follow this format: Paper Size: A4; Font style: Arial; Font
Size: 11; Spacing: 1.5; Alignment: Justify
• Submit your paper on or before June 15, 2021 with this
format A09_Surname, First Name (Ex. A09_Dela Cruz,
Juan) in this link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-
YfEpD08dvqaDL4LnlQnnaw75C3kNGAa?usp=sharing