We rely on the environment in order

to survive: the food we eat, the

water we drink, and the air we
breathe all come from nature and
the environment.
The sad reality that we face now is
that the capacity of our environment
and natural ecosystems is pushed to
the limit by the growing needs of the
global economy.
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 Deforestation, pollution, soil erosion, and

even the extinction of plant and animal
species have increased over the past few
decades, alongside the development,
advancement, and industrialization of the
world economy.
To address these environmental issues and
problems, various laws have been enacted
and rules and regulations have been
issued to protect the environment and
regulate the development and use of
natural resources.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW

What
Law?

is

Environmental

Body of rules and regulations,

and
orders
and
statutes,
concerned with the maintenance
and protection of the natural
environment.
It provides basis for measuring
and apportioning liability in
cases of environmental crime
and the failure to comply with its
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provisions.

Constitutional Provision
on Environmental Law
Our fundamental right to a healthy
environment is primarily embodied in
Section 16, Article II of the Constitution:
[t]he State shall protect and advance
the right of the people to a balanced
and healthful ecology in accord with
the rhythm and harmony of nature.

Sustainable development =
You only use what you need today
and save the rest for the future
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HOWEVER, the right to healthful

environment necessarily carries
with it the correlative duty of not
impairing
the
same
and,
therefore,
sanctions
may
be
provided for the impairment of
environmental balance.

Oposa vs. Factoran, G.R. No. 101083, July

30, 1993
Petitioners (minors,
represented and joined by
their parents)
Aiming to stop deforestation,
they asserted that the
permits granted by the
Secretary of Environment
and Natural Resources to
Timber License Agreement
(TLA) holders to cut trees in
the countrys remaining
forests was violative of their
constitutional right to a
balanced and healthful
ecology
asseverate that they
"represent their generation
as well as generations yet

Respondents (DENR Sec. And

RTC Judge)
aver that the petitioners
failed to allege in their
complaint a specific legal
right violated by the
respondent DENR Secretary
for which any relief is
provided by law
the minors, who invoked
the right to a balanced and
healthful ecology, had no
valid cause of action
(1)a right existing in favor of a party
(2)a duty /obligation on the part of the other
party to respect such right, and
(3)an act or omission of the other party in
violation of such right.

Issue of the case:

Whether or not the petitioners have a
cause of action to prevent the
misappropriation or impairment of
Philippine rainforests.

Ruling of the Supreme Court:

Yes.
The complaint focuses on one specific
fundamental legal right the right to a
balanced and healthful ecology which,
for the first time in our nation's constitutional
history, is solemnly incorporated in the
fundamental law. Section 16, Article II of the
1987 Constitution:
Sec. 16. The State shall protect and advance the right
of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in
accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.
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 The minors were entitled to sue on the basis of

INTERGENERATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
We find no difficulty in ruling that the petitioners
can, for themselves, for others of their
generation and for the succeeding generations,
file a class suit. Their personality to sue in behalf
of the succeeding generations can only be based
on the concept of intergenerational responsibility
insofar as the right to a balanced and healthful
ecology is concerned
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What does intergenerational

responsibility mean?
every generation has a responsibility to the
next to preserve that rhythm and harmony
for the full enjoyment of a balanced and
healthful ecology. Put a little differently, the
minors assertion of their right to a sound
environment constitutes, at the same time,
the performance of their obligation to ensure
the protection of that right for the
generations to come.
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The Supreme Court also held that the

right to a balanced and healthful
ecology carries with it the correlative
duty to refrain from impairing the
environment.

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Next meeting:
Major Legislations for Environmental Law

PD 1151 (PHILIPPINE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY)

PD 1152 (PHILIPPINE ENVIROMENTAL CODE)
PD 984 (POLLUTION CONTROL LAW)
PD 1586 (ESTABLISHING AN ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTSTATEMENT SYSTEM, INCLUDING OTHER
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT RELATED
MEASURES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.)
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Terrestrial Laws
Marine and Aquatic Resources Laws
Aerial Law
Other Laws

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