ABS – CBN News

Filipina scientist Jurgenne Primavera has landed on the pages of Time Magazine for her contribution to environmental protection.

In its October 6 issue, the international magazine named her one of 30 scientists, activists, celebrities, innovators and financiers all over the world for their noteworthy efforts in preserving the planet.

The magazine cited her campaign for sustainable fish farming, rooted in the protection of mangrove forests, and lauded her “groundbreaking studies” on the life cycle of tiger prawns in the country, which “helped galvanize an aquaculture revolution.”

Primavera, who has done aquaculture research on giant tiger prawns for 15 years, welcomed the citation for helping bring her mangrove and environmental concerns mainstream.

“In history, during Spanish times, the first ponds were built. We had a ratio of half a hectare of mangrove to half a hectare of pond. I’ve chanced upon an ecology paper that said no more than 20% of mangrove should be converted to ponds. As a precautionary principle, there should be four hectares of mangrove to a hectare of pond. As of 1994, there were only 20,000 hectares of mangrove remaining as against 200,000 hectares of pond. We’re in trouble,” she laments, citing how the ratio has dwindled over time.

But, she notes, there have been a number of success stories. She cites a mangrove plantation in Kalibo, Aklan that has generated income for locals since it was opened as an ecotourism destination, and the successful preservation of a natural mangrove plantation in Bais Bay.

Mangrove greenbelts

Today, she hopes to see mangrove greenbelts or buffer zones restored as they should be, as mandated by law.

“I hope to see the enforcement of greenbelt laws which mandate 100-200 meters from shorelines and along rivers. Republic Act 8550 requires fishponds to have a greenbelt, but there isn’t enough enforement. For policy makers, walang pesos and centavos. If you give those figures in black and white, maybe they will be better convinced.”

She adds, practices may be better if locals were made better aware of the function of mangrove ecosystems, not just as spawning grounds for fish and other aquatic life but as coastal protection.

Her advocacy for mangrove, she recalls, began as child’s play.

“I used to climb trees,” she recalls. “We’d eat fruits on trees. When we went into aquaculture, I realized ponds had been replaced by mangrove. I have seen meters of coastlines eroded, communities forced back by waves, because there are no greenbelts to protect them.”

Native tree species

Aside from mangrove, she has also picked up a love for native tree species as her latest advocacy.

She believes in using available native trees, specially the fast growing ones like the Molave, Yakal, Apitong and Dao to replace the exotic trees that line our highways.

Today, there is no stopping Primavera’s dream of having a better environment even in some small way. She recently bought 3 hectares of land in Iloilo City with her retirement pay for a mini-forest of native tree species.

GMA News

MANILA, Philippines – Marikina garnered three awards from the World Health Organization (WHO) at the Third Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) held recently in Ichikawa City, Japan.

The awards are for Outstanding Healthy City, Best Practice (Climate Change and Health) for its bicycle-friendly roads project, and Pioneers in Healthy Cities for Mayor Marides Fernando.

The awards rites were led by Dr. Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific.

The Regional Director’s Award, the highest honor that the WHO confers on a local government unit, recognized Marikina’s implementation of the Healthy Cities approach.

The Best Practice Award commends undertakings that address health concerns and enhance the quality of life of citizens while reducing the harmful effects on the environment.

The Award for Pioneers in Healthy Cities is the highest recognition that the AFHC gives to individuals or groups for their exemplary contribution to expanding healthy cities worldwide.

The conference was held from October 23 to 26.

In a statement, Fernando said the honors would spur her administration to keep coming up with projects that will further improve the well-being of Marikina residents and keep the environment health.

Marikina is a founding member AFHC, an international network of cities, healthy communities, and other allied organizations aimed at protecting and enhancing the health of city dwellers.

In 2006, Marikina was also cited by the WHO as one the eight Pacific cities for outstanding achievements.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—“It’s not for me. It’s for the mangroves.”

As always, Jurgenne Primavera thought about her advocacy first before her achievements.

The retired Iloilo-based scientist has been featured by Time magazine in its Oct. 6 special issue on “Heroes of the Environment.” She was among 30 activists, scientists, celebrities, innovators and financiers all over the world who were cited for their contribution to environmental protection.

What they have in common is the passion and resourcefulness to confront environmental threats, Time said.

“They cannot solve climate change alone or save endangered species single-handedly. But by their example, by their willingness to dedicate themselves to what too many still dismiss as a hopeless case, these heroes of the environment provide light in the darkness.”

Primavera, 61, was lauded for her “groundbreaking studies” on the life cycle of tiger prawns in the country which “helped galvanize an aquaculture revolution.”

The magazine cited her campaign for sustainable fish-farming in order to protect the mangrove forests that act as a fish nursery and a crucial buffer zone between land and sea which help block floods and tsunamis.

Recognition

Primavera, who has already received various awards, honors and citations from the academe and scientific community, including an honorary doctorate from the Stockholm University in 2004, said she was happy to be among Time’s choices because this would bring her campaign to a wider audience.

“It’s not I and my peers who will ultimately save the environment. It’s the laymen, the common folk, who will,” she said.

She also hopes that the fame will inspire young people to take up marine biology and focus on mangroves. She stressed the importance of educating children about environmental issues and preservation efforts.

“Start with the children because the values they learn will stay with them for a lifetime, the same way my experiences shaped my beliefs,” she said.

She remembered growing up surrounded by native trees in her hometown in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte. She would spend hours with her siblings climbing mango, avocado and other tropical trees in their backyard.

But she also recalled the yearly floods caused by rampant logging that denuded forests in her province and often made roads impassable.

And on the day she took a scholarship examination of the National Science Development Board in 1961, floodwaters damaged or destroyed many bridges in Agusan del Norte, forcing her and her father to cross rivers on coconut trunks or bamboo poles to get to the testing center.

Her fondness for nature and experiences helped develop her interest on sciences and the environment. She eventually took zoology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman under an NSDB scholarship and graduated cum laude in 1966.

Primavera said her college life was mostly field trips for her course. “I was surprised that I couldn’t find a photo of me in a party. They were all taken in the field,” she said, laughing.

After graduating, she decided to go back to Mindanao and teach biology at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City until 1975. She enjoyed her work and going back to her roots and a pristine environment, and bringing her students to field trips.

“Teaching was a high point in my life,” Primavera said.

She developed her awareness of the environmental impact of development projects, especially those in Lake Lanao.

Passion

Her passion was also greatly reinforced by her participation in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972.

But the intensifying armed conflict between government troops and Moro rebels in the 1970s prompted her and several other scientists in Mindanao to relocate to Iloilo and join the Southeast Asian Fisheries and Development Center (Seafdec).

She spent her early years in the center back in its field station in Leganes town, spending hours on fishponds to work on brood stocks and study mangroves.

A few years later, she obtained a master’s degree in zoology at the Indiana University.

In 1990, she was granted a scholarship for her doctorate studies by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. Her thesis at UP Diliman focused on the impact of aquaculture on mangroves which also shaped her lifetime commitment to the preservation of mangroves.

While working on her thesis, she spent two years researching on Guimaras Island, which has one the richest varieties of mangrove species in the country.

After her studies, Primavera returned to research work at Seafdec, focusing on environment aquaculture.

She spoke out on threats of the booming shrimp and prawn industry on mangroves, and pointed at the destruction of mangrove areas or their conversion to fishponds.

She also expressed concern over the adverse impact of fishponds on municipal fishing, the means of livelihood of the majority of fishermen.

At a time when aquaculture was booming, Primavera rang warning bells on the perils of unregulated shrimp farming.

She has pushed for the maintenance of a health balance between areas developed for aquaculture and those preserved for mangroves. For every unit area developed for ponds, there should be at least four unit areas for mangroves (1:4) to help protect the environment.

She admits being ostracized in aquaculture circles for her advocacy but she was later vindicated by the impact of the boom-and-bust nature of the shrimp industry that brought long-term damage to the environment.

Her work on mangroves was given a significant boost in 2004 with the publication of the “Handbook of Mangroves in the Philippines-Panay,” which she coauthored with other scientists and mangrove specialists. The manual was released to help students, nongovernment organizations and environmentalists better appreciate the country’s mangrove resources.

“We wanted people to look at mangroves through our eyes,” Primavera said.

Active in retirement

Now a grandmother of two, she remains one of the most active advocates of the protection of mangroves and the conservation of natural resources.

She cited the alarming state of mangroves, with only a fifth remaining from the 500,000 hectares at the turn of the 20th century. On the other hand, brackish water ponds have increased almost fourfold, from 61,000 ha in 1940 to 230,000 ha.

In between giving lectures and speeches, attending conferences here and abroad, and joining causes, Primavera tends to a nursery of native trees she has started to developed.

But she said bringing environmental issues to the common folk can be challenging. “People would always say at first that the issues we advocate are ‘indi makaon’ (not edible) and that economic and immediate needs should be prioritized.”

People would, however, easily make the connections between the environment and its impact on their lives when they attend workshops.

“The real challenge lies in changing the mind-set of policymakers and politicians,” Primavera said.

With the recent destruction brought by natural calamities, discussing the importance of taking care of the environment has become easier, she said. But she fears that the increase in awareness may not keep pace with the escalation of degradation.

“We need a few well-placed fearless fighters for our environment,” Primavera said.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—This gangly professor has an arsenal of frank, simple Filipino words he uses to create drama and poems aimed at inspiring people to save Mother Earth.

“My works cannot save the environment per se but they can help [in educating] the public more effectively, especially when you communicate to them in their native tongue,” Prof. Tomas Ongoco, president of the Quezon City Academy, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview on Friday.

For using his gift with words and poetry for environmental exploits, the octogenarian eco-hero was named one of the six recipients of the Fr. Neri Satur Award for Environmental Heroism by the EarthSavers Movement.

“Duly recognizing those following the path of public service of Father Satur will strengthen the movement of caring for Mother Earth and encourage the commitment of the youth to the stories of courage and commitment to be emulated in their own sphere of work,” said EarthSavers founder Heherson Alvarez in a letter to the Inquirer newspaper (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Alvarez, a former environment secretary and senator, instituted the award seven years ago in honor of the clergyman who was martyred in 1991 for protecting the forests of Bukidnon province.

Ongoco Sunday received his award in simple rites after an ecology Mass televised over government station NBN Channel 4 in time for Earth Day, which will be observed worldwide on Tuesday.

He was recognized for writing a book, “Ambon sa Tagtuyot” an anthology of drama and verses popularizing scientific data.

Running the gamut of environmental issues, the book also tackles the ills of smoking and even the use of plastic straws for drinking.

“Essays are no longer appealing to the youth of today. They seldom go to the library anymore,” Ongoco said, explaining why he has devoted himself to a more creative way of educating the public about the environment.

Gore documentary

Aside from writing a “Balagtasan on Climate Change,” he translated into Filipino former US Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Oscar-winning documentary on global warming.

“Tingnan mo nga iyang ilog na mabining dumadaloy. Mga dahong kumukunday sa kahalikan nitong hangin … (You look at the river, gently flowing by. You notice the wind rustling the leaves …)” reads Ongoco’s version of the first few lines of the film.

In this way, more Filipinos would be able to relate to the issues presented in the documentary, he said. He gave it a Filipino title, “Isang Hindi Matanggap na Katotohanan.”

The Filipino adaptation is composed of 20 pages, which he worked on fitfully for 12 days last month.

Blue skies

His memory shows episodes of lapses – which he prefers to call “intellectual rest” – but the environmental educator can still clearly remember how his caring for nature started.

He recalled that while his friends were busy wooing his beautiful cousin, he would lie in a small banca (boat) in the river in his Bataan hometown and gaze up at the blue skies and white puffy clouds.

Watching the clouds take various shapes and “producing meaning out of them” was like “reading Mother Nature’s novel,” he says.

Arbor Day

Since then, he resolved to become a writer while finding himself actively involved in environmental activities in school, such as gardening. Arbor Day was a special event for him as a young student, Ongoco said.

A language elementary and high school teacher from 1952 to 1964, he had an early tweaking of his vocabulary when he learned to read before he entered school. At age 5, he was already reading Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” – which somehow explained his penchant for Filipino literary classics.

He delivered his very first speech about planting trees when he was in Grade 1 on Arbor Day.

Aside from creating pieces on the environment, the professor translated into modern Filipino the two famous novels and other literary works, such as “Florante at Laura” and “Ibong Adarna,” for students’ use.

As for his book, “Ambon sa Tagtuyot,” it was so titled “because it came during my drought years,” Ongoco said with a chortle.

With the encouragement of Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, executive director of the National Commission on Culture and Arts, he started writing the bulk of the poems in 2004. Two years later, the book was published. But some of the ideas for his poems, which mostly contained scientific information, dated back to 1996, he said.

In his poem “Panipsip na Straw at Angat na Pamumuhay,” he presented the disadvantages of using plastic straws with humor. He wrote: “Iba na ang may class, o may sinasabi. Kelangan mo’y straw, di inom sa bote [It's different to have class. You need a straw so as not to drink from the bottle.]”

“Ngunit alam mo ba kung straw ay ano? Sa kaligira’y anong bisa nito? … Iya’y yaring plastic, hindi nabubulok, sa lupa’t tubigan, iya’y isang salot [But do you know what a straw is? And its effect on the surroundings? It's made of plastic, which doesn't degrade. It's a plague in land and in water.]”

Quit smoking

While elaborating the drawbacks of smoking to health and environment, Ongoco explained the benefits of quitting the vice in his poem “Paninigarilyo.”

He motivated his readers to join the crusade for environmental protection in his five-stanza piece “Iligtas ang Mundo [Save the Planet].”

“Iligtas ang mundo, sama-sama tayo. Pag mundo’y dumilim, laging takip-silim. Sisihi’y kayo sa dusa ng mundo,” a line from the poem went.

“I am no scientist but I expanded my knowledge in the subject through reading,” said Ongoco, who for a time served as acting director of the Science Foundation of the Philippines of the Department of Science and Technology. His stint at the DoST also sharpened his understanding of the problems facing the environment, he said.

Positive News Media

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, April 15 (PNA) — The Puerto Princesa Subterranian River National Park (PPSRNP), located in sitio Sabang, barangay Sabang, some 81 kilometers north from the city, is being nominated as one of the candidates in the ongoing worldwide search for “New Seven Wonders of Nature”.

Declared as World Heritage Site by the United Nations Declared as World Heritage Site by the United Nations Environment, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the national park is currently rank 270th in the live ranking among the nominees.

With the inclusion of city’s national park, the country has presently represented by four nature sites in the new seven wonders search which the voting runs until Dec. 31, 2008.

The other three nominees are, Chocolate Hills in Bohol, Tubbataha Reef also in Palawan and Mayon Volcano in Legaspi City.

Chocolate Hills and Tubbataha Reef are currently settled at 7th and 9th posts, respectively.

The PPSRNP, which houses the 8.2 kilometers “Underground River”, considered the world’s longest navigable underground river.

Its most outstanding natural feature is the ever flowing water beneath the spectacular karst of mountain before emptying into the South China Sea.

Cathedral-like chambers, wide hallways and other interesting geological formations welcome wide-eyed visitors to the grotto beneath the St. Paul Mountain or the under ground river. At the mouth of the cave, ancient trees growing right in the water’s edge frame a clear lagoon. Monkeys, large monitor lizards, and squirrels find home on the beach forest near the cave.

The city government, led by Mayor Edward Hagedorn, has embarked on a campaign to make the cut of 77 nominees by yearend via internet voting, and get into the second round of selection for the top 21 nature sites to be announced in January.

It was declared a premier ecotourism destination and has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage lists for its outstanding universal value and ecological significance as a natural site of intense beauty.

Record showed that tourist arrivals in the park has continued to rise, with 63,271 visitors recorded in 2007, increasing by 17,003 or 36.75 percent compared to 46,268 visitors in 2006.
For those Filipinos worldwide who want to support for the country’s four nature sites, may cast their vote by logging on to the website www.new7wonders.com. (PNA)

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — An 18-year-old Filipino student showed them how.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Hannah-Lyn Creencia, a mass communications junior at Silliman University, took part in last week’s high-level discussion on the challenges of global sustainable development held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) headquarters in Paris, France.

She joined some of the world’s top policymakers, business leaders and the international geoscientific community at the meet.

Creencia had won an international essay-writing contest in connection with Unesco’s launch of “International Year of Planet Earth.” She began the panel discussion on the theme “Earth Resources: Threat or Treat?” by reading an excerpt from her essay on the continuing deterioration of the planet’s water resources.

Creencia, who one day hopes to work in the United Nations system, argued for greater initiative in creating educational and sustainable resource-use programs among coastal communities.

She said Unesco had a leading role to play on issues of sustainable development, including climate change. Thus, it should raise its visibility to engender greater environmental awareness, especially among young people worldwide.

She expressed hope for the future, dreaming of the day “when our country’s surrounding bodies of water become clean enough to support life which can only be found here,” and “when every person will stand up for the protection of that which brings life to us.”

Joining Creencia on the panel were the chair of French petroleum giant Total, the director of the US Geological Survey and the Chinese vice minister for land and resources.

UN General Assembly Resolution 60/192 declared 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth, designating Unesco as the lead international agency in collaboration with the International Union of Geological Sciences, with the support of the UN Environment Program.

Unesco Director General Koïchiro Matsuura said the event provided a unique opportunity for the geoscientific community to contribute to the UN’s sustainable development goals by promoting the wise use of the planet’s resources and encouraging better planning and management to reduce risks, particularly by encouraging political leaders to use available knowledge to shape national policies.

The DFA said that about 1,000 select guests, including ministers, heads of geoscientific institutes and organizations, leaders of industry and renowned scientists attended the event.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–After sundown, tourists would travel by boat to Jandayan Island off Bohol and go diving to look at the luminous seahorses swimming among corals in the dark waters.

For over 10 years, the seahorses have thrived in the waters off Getafe town in Jandayan, along with fish, corals and other marine life.

The fisherfolk and officials of Barangay Handumon helped make this possible. They banded together to put up, manage and protect a marine sanctuary out in the sea since 1995 despite meager resources and little support from the national government.

The sanctuary has been adjudged the most outstanding marine protected area (MPA) in the country by the MPA Support Network (MSN), a multisectoral alliance of organizations seeking to protect the marine environment.

“To a large extent, they have shown that they were consistently managing their areas,” University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute Prof. Porfirio Aliño, MSN coordinator, said after the awards held at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City recently.

He added: “You need to show that it has been sustained for a long time. It’s quite a challenge if you think that it has been sustained for 20 years.”

According to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, the establishment of the MPAs has not been a priority because these are seen as constraints on the fisherfolk’s goal of maximizing fish yields.

“The finalists were able to shift this negative perception through practical and appropriate strategies,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

The MSN sees the MPAs, like the Handumon marine sanctuary, as crucial to protecting the country’s dwindling marine resources.

After decades of illegal fishing, only five percent of the country’s coral reefs are in excellent condition. On the other hand, only 30 percent of the original 450,000-hectare mangrove forests remain due to logging.

For the past 30 years, over 500 MPAs have been established in the country’s municipal waters, but success in managing them have been “uneven,” according to the network.

Most MPAs have been hobbled by weak governance, weak law enforcement and prosecution systems, lack of funds, insufficient logistical support, conflicting interests and lack of coordination.

But still, there are some that stand out for their sustainability and good practices.

The 50-hectare Handumon marine sanctuary is part of a large barrier reef in the waters of Bohol, teeming with fish, seashells and thick mangroves, according to the MSN.

It was delineated and established in 1995, an act made official by a municipal ordinance passed three years later.

Its establishment came naturally for mostly seaweed farmers and fishers who, years earlier, set up their Kapunungan sa Nagkahiusang Mananagat ug Lumulupyo sa Handumon (Kanagmaluhan) to protect the area from poachers and illegal fishers and reverse the dwindling trend in the fish population.

The Haribon Foundation also set up a Project Seahorse Foundation in Handumon to protect its population of seahorses.

“At first, there was resistance,” said Elvira Buhol, president of Kanagmaluhan and village secretary of Handumon, who traveled by ship and plane from Bohol to receive the trophy and the P100,000 cash prize.

“Little by little, we managed to convince them by telling them that eventually fish will come back, and we wouldn’t need to fish in the neighboring town’s waters.”

Posters on sanctuary rules were produced and fish wardens were trained on environmental protection.

Haribon trained the staff to make handicraft and eventually organize seahorse watching tours for locals and foreigners to finance the management of the marine sanctuary.

At least 2 percent of the earnings from Kanagmaluhan”s handicraft industry, supplemented by barangay (village) and municipal funds, went to the maintenance of the sanctuary, according to the MSN.

Over the years, the fisherfolk and the village officials strongly enforced fishery laws and regularly undertook mangrove planting and coastal cleanups. They eventually turned the sanctuary into a marine research station.

The result: Increased fish catch.

“After five years, the fish started coming back and there was no need to fish in other fishing grounds,” Buhol said.

The Sagay marine reserve in Sagay City, Negros Oriental, home to 60 genera of hard and soft corals, 107 fish species and giant clams, placed second.

The Twin Rocks fish sanctuary in Mabini, Batangas, which teems with a variety of reef fish and shellfish, placed third.

The MSN is composed of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, PAWB, Bureau of Local Governance Development, and the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Resources and Development.

Other members include Conservation International, UP-MSI, Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation, WWF, Haribon, Pamana Ka Sa Pilipinas, Silliman University’s Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management, Community-based Coastal Resource Management-Resource Center, Mindanao State University, Xavier University, Tanggol Kalikasan, Resources Environment and Economics Center for Studies Inc.

“All these show that if people are united and have a common vision and they see themselves as stewards of the areas, they can sustain these sanctuaries,” Aliño said

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – Two electricity-powered jeepneys or e-jeepneys began plying a set route in Makati City yesterday, part of a two-month pilot test run to fine tune their adaptability as a commercial public transport.

The e-jeepneys, presented to the public last July 4 by the Makati City government, Green Independent Power Producer (GRIPP) and Greenpeace, will be picking up passengers in Bel-Air Village and unloading them at Rockwell Center and vice versa.

This is the first public route to be used by the e-jeepneys which offer free rides to commuters.

Greenpeace-Southeast Asian and GRIPP officials, however, criticized the Land Transportation Office for the delay in the issuance of the vehicles’ registration papers.

In a statement, Greenpeace said the e-jeepneys’ route was limited to private roads as the LTO has not yet classified the vehicle.

The LTO said it must first get a certification from the Department of Science and Technology on the specifics of the e-jeepneys before it can formulate the rules on registering this type of vehicle.

GRIPP and Greenpeace called on concerned government agencies to fast track the classification and registration of the electric jeepneys and to create the right regulatory framework and environmental policy so that the vehicles could start plying commercial routes.

“The climate problem exacerbates urban environmental challenges for our cities. The national government should take this seriously and heed the international scientific community’s findings that governments should quickly find and implement climate solutions of which the e-jeepney is an example,” said Jasper Inventor, a climate and energy campaigner of Greenpeace.

Inventor said Makati had shown leadership by pioneering projects that address air pollution and climate change.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay said he was “very optimistic” about the e-jeepneys’ test phase and that the vehicles would soon become a common sight in the city.

“The e-jeepneys will offer a cheaper fuel alternative to jeepney drivers while creating a positive impact in the city’s air quality,” he added.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — In the eyes of fellow environmentalists, Von Hernandez is the kind who walks his talk, and gets the job done.

It’s no surprise then that Hernandez has been named by Time magazine as among this year’s “Heroes of the Environment,” along with Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles and other personalities.

The Greenpeace campaign director was cited for his relentless campaign against trading in waste and highly polluting waste incinerators that led the Philippines to ban waste incineration in 1999, the first country to do so.

“He deserves all the honor. He represents the authentic environmental activist. He walks his talk. He knows his direction. He knows the problems of the planet,” environmentalist Odette Alcantara said in an interview.

Hernandez “belongs to the pantheon of Filipino environmentalists that made their mark at the international level,” said Richard Gutierrez of Basel Action Network (BAN).

“He helped blaze the way and is an inspiration for Filipino environmentalists to be fully engaged on the international environmental issues,” Gutierrez said.

2nd international accolade

The Time citation was the second international accolade for the 40-year-old environmental activist, who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2003, the Nobel Prize equivalent for grass-roots environmentalists.

In the magazine’s special edition, Hernandez was lumped together with other activists who made a huge impact in their countries.

Gore, Gorbachev, Prince Charles and others were grouped as leaders and visionaries.

The rest of the heroes fell under the categories of scientists and innovators, and moguls and entrepreneurs.

Gratifying

Hernandez described the Time recognition as “gratifying,” but said the honor belonged to groups and communities who had been showing the way on efficient waste prevention.

“It’s a surprise to receive this recent accolade, but the real heroes here are the groups and communities whose work on waste prevention shows the way forward in our campaign for sustainability,” he said in a text message from Thailand.

“Our leaders should learn from them,” Hernandez said.

Validation of work

Hernandez was presiding over a meeting of the Greenpeace Southeast Asia in Bangkok to “decide the focus of our work in the coming years” when the Inquirer reached him for comment.

“Like the Goldman award, the Time recognition is an important validation not only of my work as an activist but also of the urgency of the planetary crisis now confronting us,” he said.

“The personal recognition is gratifying but as an activist I know that time is fast running out,” he added.

Hernandez began working with Greenpeace International in 1995 as coordinator for its antitoxic campaign in Asia. He then launched a campaign against plans to set up waste incinerators to deal with the waste problems in Metro Manila, according to Greenpeace.

Clean Air Act

The campaign led to the passage of the Philippine Clean Air Act in 1999, which banned waste incineration. Together with other allies in the environment, Hernandez next campaigned for the passage of the Ecological Waste Management Act, which mandates segregation of wastes, and development of materials recovery facilities, among others.

Alcantara, founder of the Mother Earth Network, said she agreed with the Time commendation given to Hernandez.

“He led the campaign in banning waste incinerators; we’re the first to do that. That’s a monumental achievement for a serious environmental activist,” she said.

Networker

“He’s credible because he knows his facts. And the reason he’s successful is because he values networking. He’s a networker,” Alcantara said.

Gutierrez agreed: “He introduced a distinct style of activism here in the Philippines. You can immediately see it’s a Greenpeace action, and one will immediately say ‘Ah, Von Hernandez.’”

As an environmentalist, Hernandez has initiated a host of campaigns for projects like the rehabilitation of Pasig River, and cleanup toxic contaminated sites in the former US military bases in Pampanga and Zambales.

Alliance, coalition

Hernandez either founded or convened other environmental coalitions such as the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA), Waste Not Asia, Lakbay Kalikasan, the Eco-Waste Coalition, and the Sagip Pasig Movement, among others.

Hernandez said a lot of work lay ahead of him, not only in the Philippines but also in the region.

“Right now, I am focused on helping pressure world governments to agree on a fresh and renewed mandate under the Kyoto protocol to bring down greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert climate chaos,” he said.

Waste and climate crisis

Greenpeace will organize activities for a forthcoming climate change convention in Bali, Indonesia, in December “to highlight the role of dirty fossil fuels and deforestation in increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Globally, we only have 100 months to reverse destructive trends and avoid a climate crisis of catastrophic proportions. Business as usual and overconsumption are giving rise both to the waste crisis and the climate crisis,” Hernandez said.

On top of all this, Hernandez is also overseeing Greenpeace work on water pollution in the Philippines and Thailand.

“The work never stops, but can we really afford to give up fighting for our future?” he said.