MANILA (UCAN): As the Philippines grapples with one deadly storm after another, environmentalists and rights activists have blamed unregulated mining, particularly nickel mining for the destruction of the environment and aggravating the climate crisis.
Activists also called on rich and industrialised nations to offer more funds to climate-vulnerable nations as the COP30 global climate conference kicked off in Brazil on November 10.
“People of the [Global] South, including the Philippines, have to demand reparations and payment for the Global North countries’ ecological debt they continue to owe,” Fara Gamalo, an ecological activist and leader from Freedom from Debt Coalition, said.
Countries such as the Philippines must demand trillions for these catastrophes brought by their massive extraction,” he said.
Gamalo accused rich countries of using the less developed countries of the Global South to extract raw materials and minerals to feed the demands of highly industrialised economies, who he said were responsible for environmental destruction and rampant rights abuses.
Activists also called on rich and industrialised nations to offer more funds to climate-vulnerable nations as the COP30 global climate conference kicked off in Brazil on November 10
Ricardo Custodio Jr. from the Association of Young Environmental Journalists in Leyte province in the central Philippines, said “our communities are being weakened by nickel mining.”
Thousands of people were displaced and many lost everything as two typhoons hit the Philippines in less than a week—a reminder of how vulnerable the country is.
“Let us not forget that human justice is environmental justice. We can’t wait for another storm because we shouldn’t have to suffer for something that should have been avoided in the first place,” he said.
The report, Broken Promises: Philippines Nickel Mining Causes Rights Abuses and Increases Climate Vulnerability, released on November 4, from Climate Rights International [CRI] said that nickel mining is making local communities “more vulnerable to climate impacts, including extreme weather events.” The Philippines is the world’s second-largest producer and leading exporter of raw nickel ore, according to the report.
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It said that nickel mining drives deforestation and the loss of plant species that provide climate resilience, such as terrestrial and mangrove forests.
Let us not forget that human justice is environmental justice. We can’t wait for another storm because we shouldn’t have to suffer for something that should have been avoided in the first place
Ricardo Custodio Jr.
“When deforestation occurs, carbon stored in both plant matter and soil may be released into the atmosphere, turning a carbon sink into a source of emissions,” it said.
In a press statement on November 4, CRI called on the Philippine government “to prioritise the rights and well-being of frontline mining communities—who bear no responsibility for the climate crisis—by holding companies accountable for abuses and environmental harm.”
Rights activist, Carlos Conde, said the report “highlights the real suffering of mostly poor who live near or around nickel mining communities.”
Conde said, “Compounding their suffering is the negligence and inaction by the national and local governments. It’s time to take the climate crisis seriously.”
John Lazaro, national coordinator of progressive Filipino youth group, SPARK, said the report demonstrates the danger of unabated mining and the need for the transition to clean energy “to be rooted in climate justice, and not the blind pursuit of profit.”
