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p4 March 2010/p p style=text-align: center;fontfont color=#008000strongEnvironmentalists welcome SMC Laiban Dam project cancellation, challenge presidential bets to totally abandon the project/strong/font/font/p p style=text-align: center; /p p style=text-align: justify;Multisectoral alliance Network Opposed to Laiban Dam (NO to Laiban Dam) and environmental group Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment welcomed the decision of Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) to terminate its joint venture with Danding Cojuangco-owned San Miguel Corporation over the Laiban Dam Project./p p style=text-align: justify; /p p style=text-align: justify;This is a tactical victory for the indigenous peoples, local communities and the groups who campaigned against the project. The termination will offer a temporary respite from the threats and damages that the controversial large dam pose, said Clemente Bautista of Kalikasan PNE and convenor of NO to Laiban Dam./p p style=text-align: justify; /p p style=text-align: justify;The group maintained that it is but correct for the MWSS not to pursue the project as it is environmentally dangerous and socially unaccepted by the indigenous people and local governments in Rizal and Quezon provinces./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/323read more/a/p

p3 March 2010/p p /p p style=text-align: center;font color=#339966Green groups protest outside DENR, blame privatization of natural resources as real cause of water and energy crises/font/p p /p p style=text-align: justify;Indigenous peoples, scientists and environmental activists demand the cancellation of water permits of large-scale mining corporations and foreign energy operators in the country in a protest action in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The action was timed during the 15th anniversary of the passing of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the increasing tensions and impacts of the El Nino, environmental destruction, water and energy crises currently besetting the nation./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/322read more/a/p

p2 March 2010/p p /p p style=text-align: center;font color=#339966Government urged to review and cancel water permits of huge corporations to ease water crisis and El Nino/font/p p /p p style=text-align: justify;Environmental groups slammed the government's inadequacy in addressing the on-going drought and water shortage and urged the government to review then cancel the water rights and permits of big businesses who wastes and pollutes water, such as mining projects and golf-courses./p p style=text-align: justify; /p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/321read more/a/p

p26 February 2010/p p /p p style=text-align: center;font color=#339966Indigenous peoples and environmentalists to San Miguel Corporation:/font/p p style=text-align: center;font color=#339966Forgo the Laiban dam project/font/p p style=text-align: justify; /p p style=text-align: justify;Environmental activists and indigenous people under the Network Opposed to Laiban Dam (NO to Laiban Dam) held a protest action in front of the main office of Danding Cojuangco-owned San Miguel Corporation (SMC) denouncing the efforts of the company to push through with the controversial Laiban Dam project in Rizal province./p p style=text-align: justify; /p p style=text-align: justify;If integrity and social responsibility, San Miguel Corporation's supposedly company values, mean anything to SMC, then they should withdraw their proposal to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS) for the joint development of the Laiban Dam project, said Meggie Nolasco of Kalikasan PNE and convenor of NO to Laiban Dam alliance./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/320read more/a/p

p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: left;strongspan style=font-size: large;16 February 2010/span/strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: left;strong /strong/p pstrong/p p class=MsoNormalspan style=font-size: large;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: center;font color=#339966span style=font-size: large;Green groups challenge presidential bets to take a stand on critical environmental and social issues/span/font/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-weight: normal;Environmental groups under Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) noted the presidential candidates who expressed opposition against the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Plant (BNPP) in a forum held on Monday but challenged the presidential bets to express their stand on other environmental and social issues as well./span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-weight: normal;Opposing the revival of the BNPP is a popular position to take, especially since the news of the revival of the BNPP has caused a stir among the general public who for some time already believed that given its environmental and economic issues, the BNPP have long been laid to rest.  It would be good to also hear their position on such popular calls as to junk the Mining Act of 1995, stop the construction of new coal-fired power plants, cancel commercial logging permits, and the closure of the Laiban dam, said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the Kalikasan PNE./span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-weight: normal;br //span/p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/319read more/a/p

div class=im p class=MsoNormalstrongspan style=font-family: Cambria;span style=font-size: large;11 February 2010/span/span/strong/p p class=MsoNormalstrongspan style=font-family: Cambria; /span/strong/p p class=MsoNormalfont face=Cambriaspan style=font-size: large; font-weight: 800;br //span/font/p /div div class=im p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: center;font color=#339966strongspan style=font-family: Cambria;span style=font-size: large;Green groups alarmed over mining director’s appointment as DENR chief/span/span/strong/font/p p class=MsoNormalfont face=Cambriabr //font/p p class=MsoNormalfont face=Cambriaspan style=font-weight: normal;br //span/font/p /div div class=im p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Cambria;span style=font-weight: normal;President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's naming of Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Horacio Ramos as acting secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) alarmed environmental groups as a new offensive to the people and environment./span/span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;font face=Cambriaspan style=font-weight: normal;br //span/font/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Cambria;span style=font-weight: normal;Mr. Horacio Ramos' appointment spells trouble to communities and environmental advocates as he will be sure to intensely push for the implementation of the government's policies where environmental protection and conservation is only secondary to the sell-out of our natural resources to private and foreign corporations, said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kaliksan PNE)./span/span/p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/318read more/a/p

p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: left;strongspan style=font-size: large;5 February 2010/span/strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: center; align=centerstrongspan style=font-size: large;br //span/strong/p div style=text-align: center;font color=#339966span style=font-family: Calibri,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial; font-weight: 800;span style=font-size: large;Laiban dam project not the solution to water shortage -  Environmental groups/span/spanspan style=font-family: Calibri,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 800; /span/font/div pstrongfont face=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arialfont size=4span style=font-size: 11pt;br / /span/fontfont size=5span style=font-size: 12pt;br /span style=font-weight: normal; Sectoral and environmental groups under Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment  (Kalikasan PNE) slams the notion being pushed by Philippine government, its agencies and some private corporations that the privatization and building Laiban Dam is the answer to the looming water crisis.br / /span/span/font/font/strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: left;strongfont face=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arialfont size=5span style=font-size: 12pt;span style=font-weight: normal;br / The $1 billion Laiban dam project which was first proposed 30 years is claimed to supply the future water demand in Metro Manila and nearby provinces yet failed to take-off because of so many different issues. The project is too expensive and is likely to end up as white elephant,” said Clemente Bautista of Kalikasan PNE and convenor of Network Opposed to Laiban Dam (NO to Laiban Dam).br / /span /span/fontfont size=4span style=font-size: 11pt;span style=font-weight: normal;br //span/span/font/font/strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: left;strongfont face=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arialfont size=4span style=font-size: 11pt;span style=font-weight: normal;br / /span /span/fontfont size=5span style=font-size: 12pt;span style=font-weight: normal; /p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/317read more/a/p

pspan style=font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse;span style=font-size: xx-large;strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small;br / /span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small;2 February 2010/span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; /p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;font color=#339966span style=font-size: large;Climate activists hit Philippine government’s continued support to Copenhagen Accordspan style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal; /span/span/font/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; text-align: left; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; text-align: left; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; text-align: left; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial;span style=font-weight: normal;span style=font-size: small;The Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA), a national multisectoral alliance of individuals and organizations engaged in climate change advocacy, hit the Philippine governemnt for continuing support to the Copenhagen Accord despite criticisms and warnings from other developing nations and civil-society organizations. /span/span/span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;span style=font-size: small; font-weight: normal;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;The Copenhagen Accord was primarily lobbied by the US President Barrack Obama on the eve of the summit of the UN climate talks in Denmark last December which he discussed with only a handful of heads of states, including the BASIC nations (Brazil, South Africa, India and China). The Conference of the Parties (COP) which is tasked to come up with a new international climate agreement has only taken note of the said document while many developing nations rejected the accord and  criticised it for it's low targets and for being non-binding and undemocratic. /span/p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/316read more/a/p

p24 December 2009/p p style=text-align: justify;font size=4 color=#339966strongTree for Justice set up to commemorate 1st year death aniv of slain environmental activist /strong/font/p p style=text-align: justify; p Davao City ---  A Tree for Justice was set up yesterday (December 23) to commemorate the 1st death anniversary of anti-mining activist Fernando Sarmiento led by Panalipdan Southern Mindanao./p p style=text-align: justify; p Sarmiento, 39 years old, Secretary General of Panalipdan – New Bataan was killed by unidentified men last year at Purok 1 Brgy. Cabinuangan, New Bataan, Compostela Valley Province. He suffered from five gunshot wounds which led to his death./p p style=text-align: justify; p Sarmiento led the campaign against large scale foreign mining in New Bataan specifically that of PHILCO Mining. Prior to his death, Sarmiento was interrogated by the elements of 28th Infantry Batallion, Philippine Army (IBPA) under the command of Lt. Wendel Ariola for his involvement in environmental campaigns. He was accused as a rebel supporter and the military posted on its website his name tagging him as a rebel surrenderee./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/315read more/a/p

p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: center;font color=#339966strongspan style=font-family: Arial;Copenhagen/span/strongstrongspan style=font-family: Arial; Accord: A Bad Deal Waiting to Happen/span/strong/font/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial; /span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial;The climate negotiation in the Fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP 15) in /spanspan style=font-family: Arial;Copenhagen/spanspan style=font-family: Arial; has come to a sour end. The world’s high expectation for a meaningful and binding agreement is doused with icy cold water by a non-binding deal dubbed as “Copenhagen Accord” – a deal primarily brokered by the most powerful and leading polluter country in the world -- the /spanspan style=font-family: Arial;United States/spanspan style=font-family: Arial;./span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial;br //span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial;Having witnessed the drama and ‘actions’ of the climate negotiation for 12 straight days in Copenhagen, one thing became evident: the climate negotiation in the Conference of Parties is not a negotiation among equals; it can never be an international negotiation for the common good, the welfare of the people of the world and the environment. It is a political arena where the superpowers impose their interest at the expense of majority. /span/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify; /p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;strongspan style=font-family: Arial;No legally binding commitment to reduce emission/span/strong/p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify; /p p class=MsoNormal style=text-align: justify;span style=font-family: Arial;Instead of raising the legally binding commitment for emissions reduction under the Kyoto Protocol to levels advised by science and dictated by social equity, it proposesspan /spanspan /span“individually or jointly quantified economy wide emissions targets for 2020” – a “business as usual” formula denying historical climate debts of developed countries as well as their primary responsibility to mitigate climate change./span/p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/314read more/a/p

p style=text-align: justify;20 December 2009/p p style=text-align: center; align=centerfont color=#008000strongPhilippine climate activists outraged at outcome of Copenhagen climate talks/strong/font/p p style=text-align: justify;COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (19 DECEMBER 2009)- Climate activists from the Philippines express their dismay and opposition to  the non-binding Copenhagen Accord and the adoption made by the Philippine government for it in the recent concluded 15supth/sup Conference of Partice (COP 15) in Copenhagen./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/312read more/a/p

pNov. 23, 2009/p p align=centerfont size=3 color=#008000strongKalumbay denounces latest lumad killing/strong/font/p pGovernment strikes again!/p pKalumbay, the regional formation of indigenous peoples' organization, condemns today in the strongest term possible the killing of another lumad leader on Friday, Nov. 20, and demands government accountability for the unabated killings of progressive lumad leaders in the region with impunity and heedless occurrence./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/310read more/a/p

pNovember 23, 2009/p p style=text-align: center;strongfont color=#008000Green groups expresssed solidarity with protesters vs. large scale mining in Mindoro island/font/strong/p pEnvironmental groups have expressed solidarity to the ongoing struggle of the Mangyans and Mindorenos for the stoppage of Intex Mining and protection of environment in Mindoro Island./p pa href=http://www.kalikasan.org/cms/?q=node/309read more/a/p