Why the World Court's advisory opinion on climate is important for countries like the PH
Grounded in binding international law, the advisory opinion gives vulnerable nations like the Philippines legal grounds to demand accountability and reparation.
In a statement, Representative Renee Louise Co of the Kabataan party-list said the ICJ advisory opinion "gives Filipino coastal communities legal backing to demand action and accountability."
Pointing to "typhoon-vulnerable areas like Rizal and Eastern Samar," Co said "survivors and youth leaders now have firmer ground to demand support and reparations."
"Women and girls, who make up around 80% of those displaced during storms and face heightened risks in evacuation centers, can push for protections rooted in international law," she added.
Atty. Grizelda Mayo-Anda, an environmental lawyer and executive director of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center first acknowledged the advisory opinion is not legally binding but said it is still "very significant" to country like the Philippines, "which deals with typhoons, extreme weather events and ocean acidification."
Meanwhile, World's Youth for Climate Justice Global Advocacy Lead Nicole Ponce said "this moment shows how youth and Global South communities have the power to shape international law and seek reparation for damage done."
Charles Zander Deluna, campaigner for the Philippine front of the World's Youth for Climate Justice said the ruling "affirmed what we've long known from the frontlines: that climate inaction is not just negligence. It's a violation of international law. This opinion puts states on notice that protecting the climate is no longer optional. It is an obligation."
For YB Charles Santiago, co-chairperson at the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, the advisory opinion "lays down a firm legal marker" for countries across Southeast Asia. "Major emitters aren't just urged to cut greenhouse gases, they are bound under international law to do so, and to stop inflicting harm through state enforcement."
The ruling comes at a time when most of the Philippines is reeling from the effects of simultaneous storms while enduring non-stop Habagat-induced rains.
In an advisory Thursday morning, PAGASA said Tropical Cyclone Emong has already intensified into a typhoon with the northern portion of Pangasinan and the western portion of La Union under Signal No. 3.
Meanwhile Tropical Storm Dante is maintaining its strength as it moves toward Ryukyu Islands, as the LPA outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility that PAGASA has been monitoring all week has become a tropical depression.
Amid the weather extreme, 40 areas in the Philippines have been declared under the state of calamity.
A total of 2,733,646 people or 765,869 families have been affected by the bad weather in all regions except Eastern Visayas.
According to legal experts, ICJ's advisory opinion offers stronger grounds to push for enforcement of climate laws, align national targets with international obligations and ultimately, project communities.
The initiative to seek the ICJ's opinion on the climate crisis was launched by 27 students from the Pacific region who succeeded in convincing the government of Vanuatu to bring the case before the UN General Assembly.
In 2023, the UN General Assembly unanimously voted in favor of the resolution referring the issue to the International Court of Justice and a year later, countries and international organizations had the opportunity to explain to ICJ judges what they thought international law demands of nations to prevent harm to the climate system and what the consequences are for polluters who are causing harm. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
5 hours ago
- GMA Network
Inflation, economy, price of rice: Where PH stands since SONA 2024
A resident of San Andres in Malate, Manila, purchases P20 per kilo rice at a Kadiwa center in the Bureau of Animal Industry on May 15, 2025. DANNY PATA Around this time last year, President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. opened his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) not with his administration's feats, but with the daunting reality check that the fruits of economic progress were not felt by ordinary Filipinos faced with the rising prices of commodities—particularly rice. 'The hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia, means nothing to a Filipino, who is confronted by the price of rice at 45 to 65 pesos per kilo," Marcos said in his report to the nation on Monday, July 22, 2024. "Bagamat maganda ang mga istatistikang ito, wala itong kabuluhan sa ating kababayan na hinaharap ang realidad na mataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin, lalo na ang pagkain—lalo't higit, ng bigas," the President said. (Although the statistics are good, these mean nothing to our countrymen who face the reality of high prices of goods, especially food, and most especially, rice.) With this, Marcos declared 'hindi tayo titigil sa paglalaban sa kahirapan, at sa paghahanap ng lunas upang maibalik sa normal ang presyo ng bilihin—lalo na ang bigas [we will not stop in battling poverty and finding solutions to normalize the prices of goods—especially rice.]' IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa told GMA News Online that the President opened his 2024 SONA 'well, with the acknowledgement that the majority of Filipinos aren't feeling any benefits from hyped economic growth.' 'If sincere, this could've signaled a reorientation of economic policy to favor poor and middle-class Filipinos instead of the narrowest slice of rich families and large corporations at the very top,' Africa said. The President will once again face the nation to deliver his report on July 28, 2025—halfway through his term. GMA News Online looked at what the Marcos administration has so far accomplished in terms of fulfilling the chief executive's promise to lower inflation and rice prices. Inflation Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that inflation—which measures the rate of growth in consumer goods and services costs—slowed down to 3.2%, well within the government's ceiling of 2% to 4%, from 6% in 2023. The PSA attributed the full-year 2024 inflation decline to the downtrend in food and non-alcoholic beverages at 4.4% from 7.9% in 2023 as well as the lower print seen in electricity, gas and other fuels at 1.7% from 4.9% year-on-year. As of end-June 2025, inflation rate cooled down further to 1.8%. Also in June this year, food inflation—which tracks the price movements of food items in a "basket" commonly purchased by households—eased to 0.1% from 0.7% in May and from 6.5% in June of last year. This was on the back of a steeper deflation in rice at -14.3% from -12.8% in May. Rice prices Rice inflation has been contracting for six months in a row and is seen to end the year at a 'negative inflation' print, consistent with the PSA's expectation that it would begin easing towards the second half of 2024 due to base effects, particularly when it began its uptrend in August 2023, as well as the impact of lower rice import tariff which took effect early July last year. In the third year of his presidency, Marcos was able to fulfill his campaign promise of lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo in a bid to ease the burden of consumers on the increasing price of one of Filipinos' basic food commodities. Initially launched in the Visayas region last April, at least 162 locations across the country have been offering the cheaper subsidized rice, according to the Department of Agriculture. Members of the vulnerable sectors are on the priority list of who can avail the P20 per kilo of rice. The P20-per-kilo rice initiative operates primarily through KADIWA ng Pangulo outlets. The rice is being sourced from stocks of the National Food Authority, which are procured directly from local farmers. The subsidized rice program not only ensures affordable food staple for consumers but also helps decongest NFA warehouses. Moreover, this will make space to purchase more palay at prices higher than those offered by private traders. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the target is to serve 15 million households or about 60 million people by the end of 2026. The DA also vowed to intensify the implementation of industry recovery and expansion programs, such as the Swine Industry Recovery Project (SIRP) and Livestock Economic Enterprise Development, to strengthen food supply chains. IBON Foundation's Africa, however, said programs of the administration 'will all be tokenistic and exaggerated public relations efforts if the government does not commit budgets, resources and energy commensurate to the magnitude of the problems at hand.' 'The President spoke about supporting agriculture but, if anything, the smaller share of the sector in the 2025 budget to 3.9% of the total from 4.1% in 2024 indicates a deprioritization of interventions that were already inadequate to begin with,' he said. GDP target missed As far as economic targets are concerned, the Marcos administration still has a far way to go, missing its GDP growth target for the second straight year. In 2024, the economy only grew by 5.7%, revised from earlier reported 5.6% growth, below the 6.0% to 7.0% target for the year. Growth surpassed the target ceiling in 2022 at 7.6%. As of the first quarter of 2025, the country's GDP grew by 5.4%, faster than the upwardly revised growth rate of 5.3% in the last quarter of 2024. With missed targets, the Development Budget Coordination Committee has slashed again the growth goals for 2025 to 5.5% to 6.5% range from the previous target of 6.0% to 8.0%. The economic team cited heightened global uncertainties, such as the unforeseen escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the imposition of US tariffs as considerations for adjusting the growth targets. Nonetheless, the administration's aspiration to elevate the Philippines to upper-middle-income country (UMIC) seems to be getting closer, as it missed the minimum for entering the UMIC bracket under the World Bank's classification by $26. The country remained a lower-middle-income economy as its GNI per capita in 2024 stood at $4,470, while the required GNI per capita to enter the UMIC roster was at $4,496 to $13,935. — BM/NB, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
13 hours ago
- GMA Network
US trade deal will boost food PH supply, cut prices — DA
Locally-produced agricultural goods such as rice, corn, sugar, chicken, fish, and pork will be protected in the ongoing tariff negotiations with the United States, according to the Department of Agriculture on Sunday. 'Secretary Frederick Go and Trade Secretary Cristina Roque have assured us that the top priority for Philippine trade negotiators is protecting our local producers,' said Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. in a statement said. Earlier, President Donald Trump had announced that the Philippines has agreed to a 19 percent tariff on its exports to the US, while granting duty-free access to American goods entering the country. However, Malacañang clarified that a final trade agreement is still being finalized by trade negotiators. According to the DA, Go, Special Assistant to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for Investment and Economic Affairs, 'assured the Philippines has not made any concessions that would harm local producers. His remarks come amid growing concern over the potential impact of a tariff deal on key Philippine industries.' 'Secretary Go has maintained that any trade agreement must strike a balance between improving market access and safeguarding the livelihoods of Filipino workers and farmers,' the DA said. — RF, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
2 days ago
- GMA Network
WATCH: Marcos inspects Navotas navigational gate, visits evacuation center
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr on Saturday went to Navotas City to inspect the damaged navigational gate and visit an evacuation center after floods hit the city this week. Marcos was welcomed by Navotas City Mayor John Rey Tiangco as he inspected the navigational gate, according to a video posted on X by GMA Integrated News reporter Bernadette Reyes. He thereafter visited the Tanza National High School and greeted the residents who took shelter there amid floods in their communities, according to videos taken by GMA Integrated News reporter Katrina Son and Super Radyo dzBB reporter Christian Maño. PANOORIN: Pagdating ni Pangulong Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. sa Tanza National High School sa Navotas City na nagsilbing evacuation center ng ilang residente dahil sa masamang panahon. | via Katrina Son/GMA Integrated News — GMA Integrated News (@gmanews) July 26, 2025 WATCH: Pang. Bongbong Marcos, binisita ang mga evacuee sa Tanza National Highschool sa Navotas City na naapektuhan ng bagyo at habagat | @dzbb @gmanews — Christian Maño (@xtian_mano) July 26, 2025 Many areas in Navotas got flooded this week due to heavy rains from the Southwest Monsoon enhanced by tropical cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong, as well as the high tide. —KG, GMA Integrated News
