FILIPINO lawyer and environmental activist Antonio Oposa Jr. has been named one of this year’s six recipients of the annual Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s premier prize.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said in a statement that Oposa is being recognized for “his pathbreaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children, and generations still to come.”
The other awardees are Thailand’s Krisana Kraisintu, India’s Deep Joshi, China’s Yu Xiaogang and Ma Jun, and Burma’s Ka Hsaw Wa.
The 54-year-old Oposa popularized the “Oposa Doctrine” when he led the filing of a class action suit in which 43 minors asked the government to cancel timber licenses on the ground that rampant logging was violating their constitutional right to a health environment. In 1993 the Supreme Court upheld Oposa’s argument that the court could protect the interests of future generations.
He also led a citizens group that got the High Court to order 11 government agencies to coordinate their efforts in rehabilitating Manila Bay.
Oposa also organized the Law of Nature Foundation to monitor coral reef sites and establish marine sanctuaries and the Schools of the SEAs (Sea and Earth Advocates) to train people in environmental awareness and sustainable living.