NATRES a.

Free access problem- When people weigh private benefit against

private they will overexplicit common resources when given access
FUNDAMENTAL DIVISION b. Free riding problem-“ public goods problem” goods which are enjoyed in
1. RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE common. The provision of public goofs is a problem for the free market
due to the existence of two factor free riding and transaction cost.
-Stewardship- God gave man dominion to subdue . Bible has no place for tyrannical  Transaction cost- The cost of r( requiring a person to close the music at
anthropocentrism for other creature night)
 Free riding cost- If axel will undertake the effort, he will benefit not only
God sent human to have dominion and superiority \
himself but also others In effect other people will free- ride Axel- they
Stewardship- dominion over creation would benefit if axel filed a case

2. ANTHROPOCENTIC PERSPECTIVE Notes and Questions:

-well being of human is the primary purpose. Man is the center of the universe ,
policies favor him over all other being including nature
3. BIOCENTERED PERSPECTIVE- take one part of something you will
have a problem
- Genetically Modified eggplant- if it is pesticide resistant ( what will
happen to the predator prey relationship?)
4. NEED FOR ENVIORNMENTAL REGULATION
1. Polluter pays principle – markets limit resource use to activities valued
in the market more highly that its value when used in other ways. Fines
1. Clean water act
2. Clean air act
3. Resource conservation act
There are products which carry the green label to inform the buyers that the
manufacturing process is not harmful to the environment. These products are
usually sold at a relatively higher price to reflect the premium or the cost of
environmental conservation or environmentally-friendly product processing.

Since these green label products are more expensive, they usually attract higher
income consumers, namely, the urban professionals who may regard such products
I. THE ROLE OF PRICE AND MARKETS
as fashionable. For instance, insecticide-free vegetables are generally more
“ From the economist point of view, market systems generate
expensive and are sold at supermarkets instead of local fresh markets. Cheap clone
pollution because many natural inputs into the production of goods
computers usually come in ordinary cardboard boxes while the more expensive
and service such as “air and water” are underpriced.
Apple machines are packaged in brown recyclable containers. Higher-end luxurious
because no one owns these resources in the absence of government
automobiles are now equipped with CFCfree air conditioners. The examples are
regulation or legal protection for pollution victims business will use
endless.
them up freely, neglecting the external cost imposed on others.
I
Because all resources in the economy cannot be privately owned, market
systems will generate too much pollution by either of the standards ( SM PLASTIC) PAY MONEY
considered (EFFICIENCY OR SAFETY)
2. Beneficiary pays principle- polluter pays the beneficiary to stop polluting
Ratio , the polluter will constitute to pollute until she or he is paid to stop
The Polluter-Pays Principle requires that those who encroach the forests and hence
cause flooding, and soil sedimentation in irrigation and/or hydro-power dams be
responsible for the damages. If forest encroachment is conducted by the poor
landless farmers then, according to the Polluter-Pays Principle, they will be liable for
these damages. The Beneficiary-Pays Principle argues the opposite by stating that
as the wealthy Bangkok residents or factory owners will benefit from keeping the
forests intact, namely in terms of water supply or hydro-power electricity, or as a
recreation site, they should pay for the cost of forest conservation. For instance,
Bangkok residents should pay a higher price for water and electricity so that this
additional revenue can be used for forest conservation which includes enhancing
job opportunities for landless farmers, hence broadening their career choices so as
to reduce the pressures on forest encroachment.
The Polluter-Pays Principle requires the poor commuters on public buses to pay a
higher fee in order to finance cleaner and less smoky bus exhaust emission so that
everyone can enjoy cleaner air. The alternative Beneficiary-Pays Principle argues
that cleaner and less smoky buses should, instead, be financed by all Bangkok
residents and not just bus commuters since, after all, everyone will benefit from
clean air.
3. The coarse theorem – when market for environmental resource do not
exist, welfare economic suggest that the government can legitimately
intervene.
4. Cost benefit Analysis
“ comparision of social benefit” and opportunity cost- they are at the heart of
controversy surrounding EPA decision
TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS
1. For positive component is a function of the increment of one animal plus 1
2. The negative component is a function of the additional overgrazing
 Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his
heard without limit in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination
towards which all man rush, pursuing his own interest in a limited
world. Freedom of the commons.
 Epitomizing for the self in the short term is not effective in the long-term.
 Coal fire plant- HELPful in the short term , but the pollution sticks around
the atmosphere
 Deforestation
 Purchase of bottle water
 *SAVE our collective selves from our own impulses.
 “the important thing – whats good for all is good for each of us and not the
other way around.”
Approaches to regulations assessing the options
How are resources protected :
1. Formal controls- Privatizing them by creating enforceable property rights
owned by someone with an incentive to protect the resource.( buying the
environmentally significant properties to preserve them)
2. Informal community based – ( informal controls will benefit a small area_
A Small area thereis a strong community support for limiting exploration. If
entry to the commons is difficult, informal controls are unlikely to work.
 The truly unrestricted use of the commons will tend to deplete
common resources to appreciate the diversity of approaches both
the governmental ad non governmental
When formal controls fails the following can be used.
1. Market forces- discourage consumption of product that cause
environmental damage. This will most likely work if the parties are well
informed of the same,
 Inadequate incentives to generate and disclose accurate information to
consumers many risks not tradeable in market due tp absence of
transferable property rights
 “ dolphin safe”- will be placed in a competititve disadvantage if did not
know.
 Generic efforts pressure to stop environmental practice
2. Common law liability –can provide compensation to victims of
environmental damage more efficient than regulation when private parties
have better information that government
3. Government regulation- can efficiently prevent environmental harm by
internalizing external cost of risky activity can be usd to respond to equity
concerns by altering the distribution of risks and benefits
4. Liability- suing in court of law
 5. Social insurance- help ensure that compensation will be available to
the victim of environmental damage.
 There must be a proper mix of liabilities and regulation
Factors to be considered to access the efficiency of liability
1. Public concerning the benefits of risky activities and the cost of reducting
risk
2. Cause more damage than the actor is capable of repaying, fear if liability
will not provide sufficient incentive for private investment in an efficient
level of precautions.
3. Chance that some private parties will escape suit for the harm they cause
( such as those who produced harm in a widely dispersed area)
4. Relative administrative cost of the tort system and of direct
regulation- despite complaints about the administrative cost of the tort
system he notes the liability systems administrative cost usually are
incurred only if harm occurs while the administrative cost of regulation are
incurred regardless of the occurance of harm . Using the regulation to
prevent environmental harms where the government has a superior
capacilty to assess risk and private parties are likely to escape liabilities
for the harm of action caused
The regulatory options
1. Collective response
a. What conduct or activity should be trargeted for collective action
b. On what basus should judgmentas be made about how that conduct
should be altered
c. What form of collective ction should be employed nan aeffort to alter
the conduct
Regulatory Targets
1. Products- legislation aimed at products ranges from the very broad as
toxic substancecontrol act under which EPA can regulate virtually ay
aspect of life cycle,
2. Pollutants- ALL Damaging residuals from industrial commercial and some
domestic activities fall within thejurisdiction if some federal environmental
statute
3. Industrial facilities- FEDERAL REGULATION targeted at the
industrialfacuulires.
4. Governmental agencies
5. Individuals
6. Land uses
Bases for controls-
1. Health- set ambient air quality standards at a level requisite to protect
human health with an adequate margin of safety. At least the first part of
that instruction requisite to protect human health takes an EPA on a
search for a level ambient air quality based on medical assessment of the
effects of air pollution to human health
2. Technology- ultimate regulatory standatnds to the capabilities of
technology these might be viewed as the opposite of health based
because instead of asking what is needed to protect the health they ask
what is possible to do
3. Balancing- BALANCING the environmental health effects of chemical
against economic regulation. Adverse health effect of the pollution decline
as emission is reduced.
4. Design standards or technological specification- Hoe a certain plant ,
piece of machinery or pollution control apparatus should be designed.
5. Performance standards- THESE SET an objective performance level for
the regulatory target to meet without specifying how. Emission limits that
specify the rate, amount and kind of pollutants that nay be enter from a
given source over a specific period of time
6. Ambient or harm based standards- PLAY a significant role in decision
making to merit separate mention. Establish a level of environmental
quality to be achieve or maintained in some enviokmmment( a level of
quality in the lake which is not directed at a particular regulation target)
7. Product bans or use limitations- these Prohibit a product or activity
limits its used. They involve products such as chmeicals ,pesticides or
food additives.
8. Marketable allowances- PERMIT COMPANIES which permit companies
to buy and sell emission rights using forces to enusure that pollution is
decreased in a least costly manner
9. Challenge regulation or environmental contracting
10. Pollution taxes or emission charges
 11. Subsides
12. Deposit- refund schemes
13. Liability rules and insurance system
IV CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
Section 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.
OPOSA VS FACTORAN
FACTS:
1. A Class suit all the citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, use and
enjoyment of the natural resource treasure- a suit so numerous to
bring to the court
2. “ prevent the misappropriation or impairment of the Philippine
rainforest and to arrest the unbated hemorrhage of the country’s vital
life support and continued rape of mother nature”
3. Petititioners are minors duly represented by their parents,
4. Allegation: to cancel all existing timber license agreement in the
country
5. Cease and desist from receiving, acceptiong, processing, renewing
or approving new timber license agreements
6. Habitat of indigenous Philippine cultures which have existed,
endured and flourished since time immemorial
7. Scientific evidence reveals that in order to maintain a balance and
healthful ecology the country’s land are ( 54% forest cover, 46 for
agricultural, residenrial, industrial, commercial and other uses”
8. Tragedies : water shortaghes, drying up the water table , aquifer as
well as rivers, brooks and streams, salinization of the water table as
a result of the intrusion therein of salt water
9. Massive erosion and the consequential loss of soil
10. Endgangerig the flora and fauna
11. Increasing typhoons
12. Dry spells
agency responsible for the governing and supervising the exploration, utilization,
13. Greenhouse effects- perplexing and catastrophic climatic changes
such as the phenomenon of global warming other wise known as the
greenhouse effect
14. HELD :
15. A . fundamental legal right – the right to a balance and healthful
ecology, a correlative duty the right to a balance ecology plus the
right to refrain from environmental – carries with it a fundamanetal
duty to refrain from impairing the environment.
16. DENR- CLEAR EO 192 and the Administrative Code 1987- to
protect and advance the said right.
17. A denial or violation of that right by other who has the correlative duty
or obligation to respect or protect the same gives rise to a cause of
action.
18. Basic rights need not be written in the constitution presumed that
such right exist from the beginning.
19. “ No law impairing obligations and contracts shall be passed”
20. All license may thus be revoked and rescinded by executive action- a
timber license is not a contract within the purview of the due process
clause; it is only a license or a privilege which can be validly
withdrawn whenever dicated by the public interest or public welfare
as in this case
21. A license is merely a permit or privilege to do what otherwise would
be unlawful and is not a contract between the authority,federal state
or municipal granting it and the person to whom it is granted neither
is it property or property right nor does it create a vested right.
22. It would be difficult to imagine as the trial court0 how the prayer to
enjoin secretary from receiving, accepting, processing renewing or
approving new timber license for save in cases of renewal no
contract woulod have as of yet existed in other instances
23. “CRITICISM- what specific right is violated through intergeneraltional
responsibility.
24. Neither the petitioners or the respondent identified the provision of
the envi code that is violated
25. The phil envi code indetifies with notable care part government code,
DEC does no contemplate an action on private person
Section 4 of E.O. 192 expressly mandates the DENR to be the primary government
development and conservation of the country's natural resources. Such policy is
also substantially re-stated in the Administrative Code of 1987. Both E.O. 192 and
Administrative Code of 1987 have set the objectives which will serve as the bases
for policy formation, and have defined the powers and functions of the DENR. Thus,
right of the petitioners to a balanced and healthful ecology is as clear as DENR's
duty to protect and advance the said right.
The term intergenerational justice refers to the ethical problem of distributing scarce
resources between different age groups in a society. For example, intergenerational
justice is at stake when societies debate how much of their scarce resources should
be devoted to areas such as education that primarily benefit the young, versus
programs such as social security or Medicare that benefit older members of the
population. Similarly, the problem of justice between generations arises when
societies consider limiting health care resources to the elderly in order to increase
health care resources available to the young.
SECTION 4. Mandate. The Department shall be the primary government agency
responsible for the conservation, management, development and proper use of the
country’s environment and natural resources, specifically forest and grazing lands,
mineral resources, including those in reservation and watershed areas, and lands of
the public domain, as well as the licensing and regulation of all natural resources as
may be provided for by law in order to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits
derived therefrom for the welfare of the present and future generations of Filipinos.
To accomplish its mandate, the Department shall be guided by the following
objectives that will serve as basis for policy formulation:
(a) Assure the availability and sustainability of the country’s natural resources
through judicious use and systematic restoration or replacement, whenever
possible;
(b) Increase the productivity of natural resources in order to meet the demands for
forest, mineral, and land resources of a growing population;
(c) Enhance the contribution of natural resources for achieving national economic
and social development;
(d) Promote equitable access to natural resources by the different sectors of the
population;
(e) Conserve specific terrestrial and marine areas representative of the Philippine
natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations.
SECTION 5. Powers and Functions. To accomplish its mandate, the Department
shall have the following powers and functions:
(a) Advise the President on the enactment of laws relative to the development, use,
regulation, and conservation of the country’s natural resources and the control of
pollution;
(b) Formulate, implement, and supervise the government’s policies, plans and
programs pertaining to the management, conservation, development, use and
replenishment of the country’s natural resources;
(c) Promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with law governing the
exploration, development, conservation, extraction, disposition, use and such other
commercial activities tending to cause the depletion and degradation of our natural
resources;
(d) Exercise supervision and control over forest lands, alienable and disposable
lands, and mineral resources and in the process of exercising such control the
Department shall impose appropriate payments, fees, charges, rentals and any
such form of levy and collect such revenues for the exploration, development,
utilization or gathering of such resources;
(e) Undertake exploration, assessment, classification and inventory of the country’s
natural resources using ground surveys, remote sensing and complementary
technologies;
(f) Promote proper and mutual consultation with the private sector involving natural
resources development, use and conservation;
(g) Undertake geological surveys of the whole country including its territorial waters;
(h) Establish policies and implement programs for the:
(1) Accelerated inventory, surveys and classification of lands, forest, and mineral
resources using appropriate technology, to be able to come up with a more accurate
assessment of resource quality and quantity;
(2) Equitable distribution of natural resources through the judicious administration,
regulation, utilization, development and conservation of public lands, forest, and
mineral resources (including mineral reservation areas), that would benefit a greater
number of Filipinos;
(3) Promotion, development and expansion of natural resource-based industries;
(4) Preservation of cultural and natural heritage through wildlife conservation and
segregation of national parks and other protected areas;
(5) Maintenance of a wholesome natural environment by enforcing environmental
protection laws; and
(6) Encouragement of greater people participation and private initiative in natural
resource management.
(i) Promulgate rules and regulations necessary to:
(1) Accelerate cadastral and emancipation patent surveys, land use planning and
public land titling;
(2) Harness forest resources in a sustainable manner, to assist rural development,
support forest-based industries, and provide raw materials to meet increasing
demands, at the same time keeping adequate reserves for environmental stability;
and
(3) Expedite mineral resources surveys, promote the production of metallic and non-
metallic minerals and encourage mineral marketing.
(j) Regulate the development, disposition, extraction, exploration and use of the
country’s forest, land and mineral resources;
(k) Assume responsibility for the assessment, development, protection,
conservation, licensing and regulation as provided for by law, where applicable, of
all natural resources; the regulation and monitoring of service contractors, licensees,
lessees, and permittees for the extraction, exploration, development and utilization
of natural resource products; the implementation of programs and measures with
the end in view of promoting close collaboration between the government and the
private sector; the effective and efficient classification and sub-classification of lands
of the public domain; and the enforcement of natural resources laws, rules and
regulations;
(l) Promulgate rules, regulations and guidelines on the issuance of co-production,
joint venture or production sharing agreements, licenses, permits, concessions,
leases and such other privileges and arrangement concerning the development,
exploration and utilization of the country’s natural resources and shall continue to
oversee, supervise and police our natural resources; to cancel or cause to cancel
such privileges and arrangements upon failure, non-compliance or violations of any
regulations, orders, and for all other causes which are in furtherance of the
conservation of natural resources and supportive of the national interests;
(m) Exercise exclusive jurisdiction on the management and disposition of all lands of
the public domain and shall continue to be the sole agency responsible for
classification, sub-classification, surveying and titling of lands in consultation with
appropriate agencies.
(n) Implement measures for the regulation and supervision of the processing of
forest products, grading and inspection of lumber and other forest products and
monitoring of the movement of timber and other forest products;
(o) Promulgate rules and regulations for the control of water, air and land pollution;
(p) Promulgate ambient and effluent standards for water and air quality including the
allowable levels of other pollutants and radiations;
(q) Promulgate policies, rules and regulations for the conservation of the country’s
genetic resources and biological diversity, and endangered habitats;
(r) Formulate an integrated, multi-sectoral, and multi-disciplinary National
Conservation Strategy, which will be presented to the Cabinet for the President’s
approval;
(s) Exercise other powers and functions and perform such other acts as may be
necessary, proper or incidental to the attainment of its mandates and objectives.
SECTION 5. Powers and Functions. To accomplish its mandate, the Department
shall have the following powers and functions:
(a) Advise the President on the enactment of laws relative to the development, use,
regulation, and conservation of the country’s natural resources and the control of
pollution;
(b) Formulate, implement, and supervise the government’s policies, plans and
programs pertaining to the management, conservation, development, use and
replenishment of the country’s natural resources;
(c) Promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with law governing the
exploration, development, conservation, extraction, disposition, use and such other
commercial activities tending to cause the depletion and degradation of our natural
resources;
(d) Exercise supervision and control over forest lands, alienable and disposable
lands, and mineral resources and in the process of exercising such control the
Department shall impose appropriate payments, fees, charges, rentals and any
such form of levy and collect such revenues for the exploration, development,
utilization or gathering of such resources;
(e) Undertake exploration, assessment, classification and inventory of the country’s
natural resources using ground surveys, remote sensing and complementary
technologies;
(f) Promote proper and mutual consultation with the private sector involving natural
resources development, use and conservation;
(g) Undertake geological surveys of the whole country including its territorial waters;
(h) Establish policies and implement programs for the:
(1) Accelerated inventory, surveys and classification of lands, forest, and mineral
resources using appropriate technology, to be able to come up with a more accurate
assessment of resource quality and quantity;
(2) Equitable distribution of natural resources through the judicious administration,
regulation, utilization, development and conservation of public lands, forest, and
mineral resources (including mineral reservation areas), that would benefit a greater
number of Filipinos;
(3) Promotion, development and expansion of natural resource-based industries;
(4) Preservation of cultural and natural heritage through wildlife conservation and
segregation of national parks and other protected areas;
(5) Maintenance of a wholesome natural environment by enforcing environmental
protection laws; and
(6) Encouragement of greater people participation and private initiative in natural
resource management.
(i) Promulgate rules and regulations necessary to:
(1) Accelerate cadastral and emancipation patent surveys, land use planning and
public land titling;
(2) Harness forest resources in a sustainable manner, to assist rural development,
support forest-based industries, and provide raw materials to meet increasing
demands, at the same time keeping adequate reserves for environmental stability;
and
(3) Expedite mineral resources surveys, promote the production of metallic and non-
metallic minerals and encourage mineral marketing.
(j) Regulate the development, disposition, extraction, exploration and use of the
country’s forest, land and mineral resources;
(k) Assume responsibility for the assessment, development, protection,
conservation, licensing and regulation as provided for by law, where applicable, of
all natural resources; the regulation and monitoring of service contractors, licensees, (s) Exercise other powers and functions and perform such other acts as may be
lessees, and permittees for the extraction, exploration, development and utilization necessary, proper or incidental to the attainment of its mandates and objectives.
of natural resource products; the implementation of programs and measures with
the end in view of promoting close collaboration between the government and the SECTION 6. Structural Organization. The Department shall consist of the
private sector; the effective and efficient classification and sub-classification of lands Department Proper, the staff offices, the staff bureaus and the
of the public domain; and the enforcement of natural resources laws, rules and regional/provincial/community natural resources offices.
regulations;
The Department Proper shall consist of the following:
(l) Promulgate rules, regulations and guidelines on the issuance of co-production,
joint venture or production sharing agreements, licenses, permits, concessions,
(a) Office of the Secretary
leases and such other privileges and arrangement concerning the development,
exploration and utilization of the country’s natural resources and shall continue to
oversee, supervise and police our natural resources; to cancel or cause to cancel (b) Offices of Undersecretaries
such privileges and arrangements upon failure, non-compliance or violations of any
regulations, orders, and for all other causes which are in furtherance of the (c) Offices of Assistant Secretaries
conservation of natural resources and supportive of the national interests;
(d) Public Affairs Office
(m) Exercise exclusive jurisdiction on the management and disposition of all lands of
the public domain and shall continue to be the sole agency responsible for (e) Special Concerns Office
classification, sub-classification, surveying and titling of lands in consultation with
appropriate agencies. (f) Pollution Adjudication Board

(n) Implement measures for the regulation and supervision of the processing of The staff sectoral bureaus on the other hand, shall be composed of:
forest products, grading and inspection of lumber and other forest products and
monitoring of the movement of timber and other forest products;
(a) Forest Management Bureau
(o) Promulgate rules and regulations for the control of water, air and land pollution;
(b) Lands Management Bureau
(p) Promulgate ambient and effluent standards for water and air quality including the
(c) Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau
allowable levels of other pollutants and radiations;

(d) Environmental Management Bureau

(q) Promulgate policies, rules and regulations for the conservation of the country’s
genetic resources and biological diversity, and endangered habitats;
(e) Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau
(r) Formulate an integrated, multi-sectoral, and multi-disciplinary National
Conservation Strategy, which will be presented to the Cabinet for the President’s (f) Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
approval;
The field offices shall consist of all the department regional offices, the provincial
offices and the community offices.
Section 1. The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of
opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and
services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding
productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the
underprivileged.
The State shall promote industrialization and full employment based on sound
agricultural development and agrarian reform, through industries that make full and
efficient use of human and natural resources, and which are competitive in both
domestic and foreign markets. However, the State shall protect Filipino enterprises
against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.
In the pursuit of these goals, all sectors of the economy and all regions of the
country shall be given optimum opportunity to develop. Private enterprises, including
corporations, cooperatives, and similar collective organizations, shall be encouraged
to broaden the base of their ownership.
Snippet 1 :
1. More than three defenders were killed across the world every week in
2018, according to the annual toll by the independent watchdog Global
Witness, highlighting the continued dangers facing those who stand up to
miners, loggers, farmers, poachers and other extractive industries.
2. The latest global total of 164 deaths was down from 2017’s peak of 201, a
decrease that campaigners partly put down to growing focus on the
subject by indigenous groups, NGOs, the United Nations and the media.
But Global Witness said companies and governments were increasingly using non-
lethal tactics to quash dissent, including criminalisation and threats, while killings
remain at an alarmingly high level.
For the first time since the annual toll began in 2012, Brazil did not top the list. The
number of defenders murdered in South America’s biggest nation fell in 2018 by
almost two-thirds, from 57 to 20. This was partly due to an overall decline in
homicide rates across the country, but also came ahead of a transition of power and
rising international attention.
Last year the UN environment programme put more pressure on governments to
protect defenders and organised a conference in Rio de Janeiro to push for
international recognition of the human right to a healthy environment. There was
also more media attention on the problem, including from the Guardian, which ran a
series about land and environment defenders in conjunction with Global Witness.
Indigenous groups said they had contributed to the decline thanks to a better
reporting mechanism for alerting the outside world to murders that might otherwise
have gone unreported.
“We should be the ones recognised for this change because we are the ones who
are drawing attention to what is happening,” said Sônia Guajajara, an indigenous
activist.
It is also possible that land-grabbers now have more power to get what they want
without resorting to violence, because the agricultural lobby has an increasingly
dominant position in politics.
Campaigners fear last year’s decline in Brazil could be short-lived if a new phase of
conflict erupts as a result of President Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to weaken indigenous
territorial rights and protections for nature reserves. Underlining these concerns last
week, Emyra Waiãpi, an indigenous leader, was murdered in the Waiãpi indigenous
reserve in the state of Amapá ahead of an invasion by dozens of illegal miners.
In the Philippines, 30 defenders were killed last year, following 48 in 2017, which
was the highest ever recorded in an Asian country. A third of the deaths were on the
island of Mindanao, which is at the centre of the Duterte administration’s plans to
allocate 1.6m hectares of land to industrial plantations. Half of the deaths in the
Philippines were related to agribusiness.
Globally, mining was the sector responsible for the most killings – 43. But the
sharpest rise was in murders of people trying to protect water sources, which
increased from four to 17. This included conflicts over hydropower in Guatemala,
the country that witnessed the sharpest spike in killings, from three to 16, making it
the deadliest country per capita, according to Global Witness.
The London-based group cautioned that its tally of confirmed killings was likely to be
an underestimate of the global total because killings still go unreported in many
parts of the world. This year it also focused on the increasing use of courts to quash
opposition to lucrative projects.
“Overall, there is no sign that the underlying causes of violence are improving. In
fact, they look to be worsening. Governments in some of the worst-affected
countries, from Brazil to Mexico to India, are prioritising business opportunities for
extractives and agricultural companies over the protection of the environment and
human rights, setting the stage for more conflict over land.
“This is being matched with a global crackdown on protest and freedom of
expression, from recognised authoritarian regimes like China and Russia to
longstanding democracies like the US,” said Alice Harrison, a senior campaigner at
Global Witness.
“Likewise, the use of courts to criminalise defenders is another weapon of
oppression that’s being used in both the global south and north against people who
threaten the power and profits of government and big business.”
View
SNIPET 2 :
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United
States and accounts for half of the total increase in U.S. emissions since 1990. So
you would think that progressive cities and states, with leaders nominally committed
to reducing emissions and fighting climate change, would be doing their best to
reduce dependence on cars and trucks, which account for 80 percent of
transportation emissions.
Not exactly.
In Portland, Oregon, city and state officials are pushing a plan to spend a half-billion
dollars widening Interstate 5 as it passes north of the city’s downtown. The project
entered its period of public comment earlier this month. In a nod to the ugly history
of urban renewal, the widening would take a chunk out of the backyard of Harriet
Tubman Middle School. But it would also, the Oregon Department of Transportation
says, dramatically improve highway travel times in the year 2045. The agency even
says the newer, bigger highway would be better for the environment.
Not everyone is buying the argument. Aaron Brown, an organizer with the Portland
group No More Freeway Expansions, sees the I-5 dispute as a microcosm of the
larger, national struggle to slow the highway-industrial complex. “We’ve got 11 years
to stop climate change, and if we’re making investments in intergenerational
infrastructure, how can half-a-billion dollars be spent on freeway widening?” he
asked.
In an environmental assessment, the state claims a wider highway would actually
result in lower emissions by 2045, thanks to faster-moving cars.
Brown says the Oregon DOT—like other state transportation agencies whose
interest and budget is committed primarily to road projects—has put its fingers on
the scale to make the wider highway look like a no-brainer.
For example, the state says the corridor has some of the highest vehicle crash rates
in Oregon and that the expansion would make the road safer. But Kristin Eberhard
at the Sightline Institute notes that both recent fatal accidents on that stretch
involved collisions with men walking on the highway—not a problem that would be
solved by smoother traffic flows.
Most brazenly, in an environmental assessment, the state claims a wider highway
would actually result in lower emissions in the neighborhood by 2045, thanks to
faster-moving cars. (Angie Schmitt calls it the “greenwashing of a Portland highway
expansion.”) But it doesn’t address the possibility that the expanded road—like so
many highway expansions—might draw in more drivers, making more trips, and
creating more emissions.
In fact, researchers from Portland State University conclude that reduced
congestion leads to more driving, and that induced and suppressed demand “are
critical considerations when assessing the emissions effects of capacity-based
congestion mitigation strategies. Capacity expansions that reduce marginal
emissions rates by increasing travel speeds are likely to increase total emissions in
the long run through induced demand.” In other words, traffic is more like a gas than
a liquid, expanding to fill whatever space is created for it. Bigger highways invite
more trips.
“The estimates they’ve given us are entirely a black box,” says Joe Cortright, a
Portland consultant at Impresa (and the founder of City Observatory, where he has
written about the I-5 project). “There are no average daily traffic numbers, the most
fundamental number you’d use to describe the volume of traffic.” (It wouldn’t be the
first time the Oregon DOT miscalculated the environmental benefits of building new
roads.)
More fundamentally, the project—an enormous investment in expanding a highway
in one of the country’s most environmentally conscious regions—demonstrates the
difficulty of slowing the road-friendly bias that permeates state transportation
departments. Not only do new roads encourage environmentally destructive
transportation and land use; they’re also a bad deal that has led the country into a
road maintenance crisis. Existing road miles outnumber new ones 99 to 1, but
states spend more money making those incremental additions than taking care of
the rest.
As Alex Baca wrote in Slate a few weeks ago, any attempt to address America’s
carbon emissions has to reckon with emissions from transportation (and highway-
dependent land use). Building bigger highways through cities has been our
approach for nearly a century. Is it still?
SNIPPET 3
With 26 lanes at its widest point, the Katy Freeway in the Houston metro is the
Mississippi River of car infrastructure. Its current girth, which by some measures
makes it the widest freeway in North America, was the result of an expansion
project that took place between 2008 and 2011 at a cost of $2.8 billion. The primary
reason for this mega-project was to alleviate severe traffic congestioAnd yet, after
the freeway was widened, congestion got worse. An analysis by Joe Cortright
of City Observatory used data from Houston’s official traffic monitoring agency to
find that travel times increased by 30 percent during the morning commute and 55
percent during the evening commute between 2011 and 2014. A local TV station
found similar increases.
The Sisyphean saga of the Katy Freeway is a textbook example of a counterintuitive
urban transportation phenomenon that has vexed drivers, planners, and politicians
since the dawn of the automobile age: induced demand.
KEY POINTS
 In urbanism, “induced demand” refers to the idea that increasing roadway
capacity encourages more people to drive, thus failing to improve
congestion.
 Since the concept was introduced in the 1960s, numerous academic
studies have demonstrated the existence of ID.
 But some economists argue that the effects of ID are overstated, or
outweighed by the benefits of greater automobility.
 Few federal, state, and local departments of transportation are thought to
adequately account for ID in their long-term planning.
SUMMARY
Nearly all freeway expansions and new highways are sold to the public as a means
of reducing traffic congestion. It’s a logical enough proposition, one that certainly
makes plenty of sense to anyone who’s stuck in traffic: Small communities served
by small roads grow bigger, and their highways need to grow with them. More lanes
creates more capacity, meaning cars should be able to pass through faster. But
that’s not what always happens once these projects are completed.
Just as with the Katy Freeway expansion, adding new roadway capacity also
creates new demand for those lanes or roads, maintaining a similar rate of
congestion, if not worsening it. Economists call this phenomenon induced demand:
When you provide more of something, or provide it for a cheaper price, people are
more likely to use it. Rather than thinking of traffic as a liquid, which requires a
certain volume of space to pass through at a given rate, induced demand
demonstrates that traffic is more like a gas, expanding to fill up all the space it is
allowed. Transportation researchers have been observing induced demand since at
least the 1960s, when the economist Anthony Downs coined his Law of Peak Hour
Traffic Congestion, which states that “on urban commuter expressways, peak-hour
traffic congestion rises to meet maximum capacity.” Many academic studies have
since demonstrated a similar effect, although different methods have found widely
varying degrees of it. The complex sets of inputs required for quantifying induced
demand—including local economic and demographic conditions, the quality and
availability of alternative transportation options, and the decision-making processes
of thousands of individual actors—leave plenty of room for interpretation. Some
advocates for highway projects insist that induced demand is not as significant as
many economists say, or else that its existence is no reason not to increase road
capacity.
This has also been the de-facto stance of most public officials and departments of
transportation in the United States and much of the world, which have largely
avoided reckoning with induced demand in their long-term planning. But the public
and their elected representatives could be starting to see the writing on the sound
barriers. Many departments of transportation are instead touting the benefits of toll
lanes, a more au courant form of roadway capacity expansion.
Such pricing tools can help mitigate induced demand, but these, too, come with their
own negative externalities. Tolls, and ever-elusive congestion pricing schemes
have been criticized for being a regressive form of taxation that is spread among
high- and low-income drivers alike. The real solution to induced demand could be
freeway removal—call it reduced demand—which has been shown to reduce auto
traffic while also stimulating new development.
HOW IT WORKS
Induced demand is often used as a catch-all term for a variety of interconnected
effects that cause new roads to quickly fill up to capacity. In rapidly growing areas
where roads were not designed for the current population, there may be a great deal
of latent demand for new road capacity, which causes a flood of new drivers to
immediately take to the freeway once the new lanes are open, quickly clogging them
up again.
But these individuals were presumably already living nearby; how did they get
around before the expansion? They may have taken alternative modes of transport,
traveled at off hours, or not made those trips at all. That’s why latent demand can be
difficult to disentangle from generated demand—the new traffic that is a direct
result of the new capacity. (Some researchers try to isolate generated demand as
the sole effect of induced demand).
Initially, faster travel times (or the perception of faster travel times) encourage
behavioral changes among drivers. An individual may choose to take the new
highway to a more distant grocery store that has cheaper prices. Trips that may
have been accomplished by bike or public transportation might now be more
attractive by car. More distant leisure and business opportunities might suddenly
seem worth the trip. In aggregate, these choices put more cars than ever before on
the newly expanded road, increasing net vehicle miles traveled (VMT) (and
greenhouse gas emissions).
In the longer term, roadway expansions make an impact on the human and
economic geography of an urbanized area. Businesses that rely on trucking are
more likely to locate near these new roads. With those new jobs, and access to
countless more via the higher capacity road, housing developments and shopping
centers spring up nearby. Urban form responds to existing infrastructure: Roadway
capacity expansions spawn autocentric development patterns that utilize the new
roads.
These short- and long-term effects eventually bring the expanded road back to
its self-limiting equilibrium—in other words, back to capacity, fulfilling Downs’ Law
of Peak Hour Traffic Congestion.
How quickly does new road capacity get filled up?
Once again, it’s important to note that measuring induced demand is a somewhat
inexact science. Most studies provide ranges that estimate the amount of road
capacity that is filled by induced demand over a given period of time. One literature
review, conducted by Susan Handy of UC Davis for Caltrans, California’s
Department of Transportation, found that a 10 percent increase in road capacity
yields a 3 to 6 percent increase in vehicle miles travelled in the short term and 6 to
10 percent in the long term.
In this paper from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, author Todd Litman looks at
multiple studies showing a range of induced demand effects. Over the long term
(three years or more), induced traffic fills all or nearly all of the new capacity. Litman
also modeled the costs and benefits for a $25 million line-widening project on a
hypothetical 10-kilometer stretch of highway over time. The initial benefits from
congestion relief fade within a decade.
What do public officials say?
Freeway projects undertaken in the name of “traffic relief” have historically been
political winners, especially for local leaders with suburban constituents. But some
leaders are beginning to shift the discourse. In 2016, Houston Mayor Sylvester
Turner said the Katy Freeway expansion “clearly demonstrated that the traditional
strategy of adding capacity ... exacerbates urban congestion problems. These types
of projects are not creating the kind of vibrant, economically strong cities that we all
desire.”
In Los Angeles, where memories of the 405 widening and subsequent re-clogging
are still fresh, the city’s transportation agency, L.A. Metro, recently voted against
another major freeway expansion. “Widening freeways, we should be past that time
unless we are putting vehicles that don’t emit into those lanes,” Mayor Eric
Garcetti said of that decision.
“You can’t build your way out of congestion.” Tom Maziarz, chief of planning at the
Connecticut DOT, told reporters in 2015. These statements are corroborated by
econometric studies showing that freeway widenings often do not pencil out from a
financial perspective.
So why are highways still being expanded today?
Some states and cities are charging ahead with roadway expansions, induced
demand be damned. Despite the advice above, Connecticut is proceeding with an
expansion of the I-84 freeway in Danbury, where rates of traffic have remained
steady for the past 15 years. Other local leaders fundamentally resist the ID
principle. During a public meeting this year about a new tolled interstate expansion
in Florida that’s encroaching on the Everglades, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez
was asked about concerns that the new route would increase congestion.
“That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard,” the mayor replied.
Rudeness aside, the fact that Florida’s Dolphin Expressway expansion is a toll road
does complicate the induced demand equation. Due to budgetary concerns, a large
number of planned roadway expansions in the U.S. are slated to be toll roads.
Because they offer increased mobility for a greater price, toll roads should mitigate
the effects of induced demand. But it’s a tricky business: Price the road too low and
risk generating new traffic, or price it too high and create “Lexus Lanes” that only the
wealthy can afford.
Some researchers have expressed concern that the public-private partnerships that
build many of today’s toll roads will end being a bad deal for local governments. If
revenues are lower than expected for the private toll road operator, the government
is often expected to pay the difference.
But I’m stuck in traffic now. Who’s got a better idea?
In cities, many experts tout the benefits of adding congestion charges to existing
public rights of way as a means of discouraging non-essential driving. London’s
well-known congestion charging scheme reduced VMT in the charging zone by 10
percent between 2000 and 2015 (it’s since crept up again); Stockholm’s newer
scheme has reduced traffic in the congestion cordon by 20 percent since it was
initiated. But congestion charges are politically challenging to undertake and can
only impact limited areas. Critics also say that, without special exemptions,
they harm families, low-income people, and those with disabilities.
What about charging for parking? That can also help discourage driving: The next
big frontier for getting cars off the road and increasing funding for alternative modes
of transport could be large-scale parking charges like those being proposed
by Donald Shoup.
Perhaps the most effective strategy for solving the conundrum of induced demand:
Instead of adding road capacity, remove it. San Francisco’s Central Freeway
carried around 100,000 passengers per day before it was damaged by the 1989
Loma Prieta Earthquake. The surface-level boulevard that replaced it carries about
45,000 cars. Far from decreasing economic activity, the freeway removal turned the
surrounding blocks into one of the city’s most desirable (and unaffordable)
neighborhoods. Other freeway removals—typically undertaken in dense, central city
areas—have been shown to produce similar results. (Bonus: Re
The hard part—and the bigger expense—is coupling highway removals with
improved pedestrian and bike infrastructure and robust public transportation that
allow commuters and residents to get around without a car.
CASE STUDY: Los Angeles
The 405 is one of the most congested freeways in the country, providing virtually the
only north-south link between Los Angeles’s west side and the San Fernando
Valley. A project to add a northbound carpool lane and a few new on-ramps and off-
ramps to the road lasted from 2009 to 2014 and cost $1.6 billion—$600 million over
budget—and caused severe disruption to motorists along the route, including two
weekend-long total shutdowns, or “carmageddons,” in Angeleno parlance.
Once completed, the project’s effect on traffic congestion was mixed. A
2015 report from L.A. Metro revealed that travel times during the afternoon rush
hour increased slightly in the northbound direction with the new lane, although the
duration of peak hour traffic shrunk (it lasts from 3 to 8 p.m., rather than 2 to 9 p.m.),
and travel times have become more predictable. “There’s a lot of bad taste in my
mouth about this,” said former L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslovsky of the
project's cost overruns, and its net benefits.
Still, it would be unfair to say the project was all for naught: L.A. Metro’s report noted
15 percent fewer accidents reported in 2015 than in 2009. When transportation
officials need to disrupt traffic flow to make important safety improvements, it can be
easier to sell to the public if they throw in a capacity expansion as well.
VIEWPOINTS
Most transportation researchers believe induced demand is a real phenomenon,
based upon decades of literature on the subject. But there’s plenty of debate about
the extent of its effects, and where it is most severe. Highly populous areas, like
Houston and Los Angeles, tend to see more severe induced demand than sparsely
populated areas.
But many conservative and libertarian-leaning analysts have a different
interpretation. Cato Institute Fellow Randal O’Toole argues that the effects of
induced demand are complicated by the fact that historically, in the U.S., vehicle
miles traveled has tended to go up regardless of new roadway capacity. In metro
Boston, VMT increased by 35 percent between 1983 and 1993, while road capacity
increased by only 1 percent; meanwhile in metro Madison, Wisconsin, VMT
increased by 20 percent, while road capacity increased by 35 percent over the same
span. Even while acknowledging some induced demand effect, O’Toole and like-
minded observers say that increased automobility leads to greater economic
activity. “We know that every car on the road has someone in it who is going
somewhere that is important to them,” O'Toole writes. “[I]ncreasing highway
capacity leads to net economic benefits because it generates travel that wouldn’t
have taken place otherwise.”
Handy’s study for Caltrans contradicts this point, however, finding, “most studies of
the impact of capacity expansion on development in a metropolitan region find no
net increase in employment or other economic activity.”
RESTRICTIONS TO FREE TRADE
Article I
General Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment
1. With respect to customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in
connection with importation or exportation or imposed on the international transfer of
payments for imports or exports, and with respect to the method of levying such
duties and charges, and with respect to all rules and formalities in connection with
importation and exportation, and with respect to all matters referred to in paragraphs
2 and 4 of Article III,* any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by any
contracting party to any product originating in or destined for any other country shall
be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the like product originating in or
destined for the territories of all other contracting parties.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not require the elimination of
any preferences in respect of import duties or charges which do not exceed the
levels provided for in paragraph 4 of this Article and which fall within the following
descriptions:
(a) Preferences in force exclusively between two or more of the territories listed in
Annex A, subject to the conditions set forth therein;
(b) Preferences in force exclusively between two or more territories which on July 1,
1939, were connected by common sovereignty or relations of protection or
suzerainty and which are listed in Annexes B, C and D, subject to the conditions set
forth therein;
(c) Preferences in force exclusively between the United States of America and the
Republic of Cuba;
(d) Preferences in force exclusively between neighbouring countries listed in
Annexes E and F.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to preferences between the
countries formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire and detached from it on July 24,
l923, provided such preferences are approved under paragraph 5† of Article XXV,
which shall be applied in this respect in the light of paragraph 1 of Article XXIX.
_______________ †The authentic text erroneously reads "sub-paragraph 5 (a)".
2
ARTICLES I AND II 3
4. The margin of preference* on any product in respect of which a preference is
permitted under paragraph 2 of this Article but is not specifically set forth as a
maximum margin of preference in the appropriate Schedule annexed to this
Agreement shall not exceed:
(a) in respect of duties or charges on any product described in such Schedule, the
difference between the most-favoured-nation and preferential rates provided for
therein; if no preferential rate is provided for, the preferential rate shall for the
purposes of this paragraph be taken to be that in force on April 10, l947, and, if no
most-favoured-nation rate is provided for, the margin shall not exceed the difference
between the most-favoured-nation and preferential rates existing on April 10, 1947;
(b) in respect of duties or charges on any product not described in the appropriate
Schedule, the difference between the mostfavoured-nation and preferential rates
existing on April 10, 1947.
In the case of the contracting parties named in Annex G, the date of April 10, 1947,
referred to in sub-paragraph (a) and (b) of this paragraph shall be replaced by the
respective dates set forth in that Annex.
Article XII*
Restrictions to Safeguard the Balance of Payments
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article XI, any contracting party,
in order to safeguard its external financial position and its balance of payments, may
restrict the quantity or value of merchandise permitted to be imported, subject to the
provisions of the following paragraphs of this Article.
2. (a) Import restrictions instituted, maintained or intensified by a contracting party
under this Article shall not exceed those necessary:
(i) to forestall the imminent threat of, or to stop, a serious decline in its monetary
reserves, or
(ii) in the case of a contracting party with very low monetary reserves, to achieve a
reasonable rate of increase in its reserves.
Due regard shall be paid in either case to any special factors which may be affecting
the reserves of such contracting party or its need for reserves, including, where
special external credits or other resources are available to it, the need to provide for
the appropriate use of such credits or resources.
(b) Contracting parties applying restrictions under subparagraph (a) of this
paragraph shall progressively relax them as such conditions improve,
ARTICLE XII 19
maintaining them only to the extent that the conditions specified in that sub-
paragraph still justify their application. They shall eliminate the restrictions when
conditions would no longer justify their institution or maintenance under that sub-
paragraph.
3. (a) Contracting parties undertake, in carrying out their domestic policies, to pay
due regard to the need for maintaining or restoring equilibrium in their balance of
payments on a sound and lasting basis and to the desirability of avoiding an
uneconomic employment of productive resources. They recognize that, in order to
achieve these ends, it is desirable so far as possible to adopt measures which
expand rather than contract international trade.
(b) Contracting parties applying restrictions under this Article may determine the
incidence of the restrictions on imports of different products or classes of products in
such a way as to give priority to the importation of those products which are more
essential.
(c) Contracting parties applying restrictions under this Article undertake:
(i) to avoid unnecessary damage to the commercial or economic interests of any
other contracting party;*
(ii) not to apply restrictions so as to prevent unreasonably the importation of any
description of goods in minimum commercial quantities the exclusion of which would
impair regular channels of trade; and
(iii) not to apply restrictions which would prevent the importations of commercial
samples or prevent compliance with patent, trade mark, copyright, or similar
procedures.
(d) The contracting parties recognize that, as a result of domestic policies directed
towards the achievement and maintenance of full and productive employment or
towards the development of economic resources, a contracting party may
experience a high level of demand for imports involving a threat to its monetary
reserves of the sort referred to in paragraph 2 (a) of this Article. Accordingly, a
contracting party otherwise complying with the provisions of this Article shall not be
required to withdraw or modify restrictions on the ground that a change in those
policies would render unnecessary restrictions which it is applying under this Article.
4. (a) Any contracting party applying new restrictions or raising the general level of
its existing restrictions by a substantial intensification of the measures applied under
this Article shall immediately after instituting or intensifying such restrictions (or, in
circumstances in which prior consultation is practicable, before doing so) consult
with the CONTRACTING PARTIES as to
20 ARTICLE XII
the nature of its balance of payments difficulties, alternative corrective measures
which may be available, and the possible effect of the restrictions on the economies
of other contracting parties.
(b) On a date to be determined by them,* the CONTRACTING PARTIES shall
review all restrictions still applied under this Article on that date. Beginning one year
after that date, contracting parties applying import restrictions under this Article shall
enter into consultations of the type provided for in sub-paragraph (a) of this
paragraph with the CONTRACTING PARTIES annually.
(c) (i) If, in the course of consultations with a contracting party under sub-paragraph
(a) or (b) above, the CONTRACTING PARTIES find that the restrictions are not
consistent with provisions of this Article or with those of Article XIII (subject to the
provisions of Article XIV), they shall indicate the nature of the inconsistency and
may advise that the restrictions be suitably modified.
(ii) If, however, as a result of the consultations, the CONTRACTING PARTIES
determine that the restrictions are being applied in a manner involving an
inconsistency of a serious nature with the provisions of this Article or with those of
Article XIII (subject to the provisions of Article XIV) and that damage to the trade of
any contracting party is caused or threatened thereby, they shall so inform the
contracting party applying the restrictions and shall make appropriate
recommendations for securing conformity with such provisions within the specified
period of time. If such contracting party does not comply with these
recommendations within the specified period, the CONTRACTING PARTIES may
release any contracting party the trade of which is adversely affected by the
restrictions from such obligations under this Agreement towards the contracting
party applying the restrictions as they determine to be appropriate in the
circumstances.
(d) The CONTRACTING PARTIES shall invite any contracting party which is
applying restrictions under this Article to enter into consultations with them at the
request of any contracting party which can establish a prima facie case that the
restrictions are inconsistent with the provisions of this Article or with those of Article
XIII (subject to the provisions of Article XIV) and that its trade is adversely affected
thereby. However, no such invitation shall be issued unless the CONTRACTING
PARTIES have ascertained that direct discussions between the contracting parties
concerned have not been successful. If, as a result of the consultations with the
CONTRACTING PARTIES, no agreement is reached and they determine that the
restrictions are being applied inconsistently with such provisions, and that damage
to the trade of the contracting party initiating the procedure is caused or threatened
thereby, they shall recommend the withdrawal or modification of the restrictions. If
the restrictions are not withdrawn or
ARTICLES XII AND XIII 21
modified within such time as the CONTRACTING PARTIES may prescribe, they
may release the contracting party initiating the procedure from such obligations
under this Agreement towards the contracting party applying the restrictions as they
determine to be appropriate in the circumstances.
(e) In proceeding under this paragraph, the CONTRACTING PARTIES shall have
due regard to any special external factors adversely affecting the export trade of the
contracting party applying the restrictions.*
(f) Determinations under this paragraph shall be rendered expeditiously and, if
possible, within sixty days of the initiation of the consultations.
5. If there is a persistent and widespread application of import restrictions under this
Article, indicating the existence of a general disequilibrium which is restricting
international trade, the CONTRACTING PARTIES shall initiate discussions to
consider whether other measures might be taken, either by those contracting parties
the balance of payments of which are under pressure or by those the balance of
payments of which are tending to be exceptionally favourable, or by any appropriate
intergovernmental organization, to remove the underlying causes of the
disequilibrium. On the invitation of the CONTRACTING PARTIES, contracting
parties shall participate in such discussion
Article XX
General Exceptions
Subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which
would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between
countries where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on
international trade, nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent the
adoption or enforcement by any contracting party of measures:
(a) necessary to protect public morals;
(b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health;
(c) relating to the importations or exportations of gold or silver;
(d) necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations which are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement, including those
38 ARTICLES XX AND XXI
relating to customs enforcement, the enforcement of monopolies operated under
paragraph 4 of Article II and Article XVII, the protection of patents, trade marks and
copyrights, and the prevention of deceptive practices;
(e) relating to the products of prison labour;
(f) imposed for the protection of national treasures of artistic, historic or
archaeological value;
(g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources if such measures
are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production or
consumption;
(h) undertaken in pursuance of obligations under any intergovernmental commodity
agreement which conforms to criteria submitted to the CONTRACTING PARTIES
and not disapproved by them or which is itself so submitted and not so
disapproved;*
(i) involving restrictions on exports of domestic materials necessary to ensure
essential quantities of such materials to a domestic processing industry during
periods when the domestic price of such materials is held below the world price as
part of a governmental stabilization plan; Provided that such restrictions shall not
operate to increase the exports of or the protection afforded to such domestic
industry, and shall not depart from the provisions of this Agreement relating to non-
discrimination;
(j) essential to the acquisition or distribution of products in general or local short
supply; Provided that any such measures shall be consistent with the principle that
all contracting parties are entitled to an equitable share of the international supply of
such products, and that any such measures, which are inconsistent with the other
provisions of the Agreement shall be discontinued as soon as the conditions giving
rise to them have ceased to exist. The CONTRACTING PARTIES shall review the
need for this sub-paragraph not later than 30 June 1960.
OWNERSHIP OF NATRUAL RESOURCES
Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and
other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife,
flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the
exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated.
The exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the
full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such
activities, or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing
agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per
centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens. Such agreements may be for a
period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five
years, and under such terms and conditions as may be provided by law. In cases of
water rights for irrigation, water supply fisheries, or industrial uses other than the
development of water power, beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the
grant.
The State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters,
territorial sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment
exclusively to Filipino citizens.
The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by
Filipino citizens, as well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to subsistence
fishermen and fishworkers in rivers, lakes, bays, and lagoons.
The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving
either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and
utilization of minerals, petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general
terms and conditions provided by law, based on real contributions to the economic
growth and general welfare of the country. In such agreements, the State shall
promote the development and use of local scientific and technical resources.
The President shall notify the Congress of every contract entered into in accordance
with this provision, within thirty days from its execution.
Snippets
Of course, this is a day for remembering, not only the man for whom this holiday
was declared but also his assassination and what it triggered and ultimately led to.
When the former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. landed at the then Manila
International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983, and was shot in the head as he disembarked
from China Airlines Flight 811, his native land was in the doldrums, having been
vised in Ferdinand Marcos’ rule for nearly two decades. The shock waves from the
brutal murder inundated the nation and lashed other shores as well.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/123454/the-beginning-of-the-
deluge#ixzz5zUB22qUE
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on FacebookFilipinos of a
certain age will remember that the impact of Aquino’s assassination was palpably
felt in the long term, in both the political and economic spheres. It was generally
agreed, to the extent that it became a bromidic expression, that the bullet that
snuffed out his life marked the beginning of the end of the Marcos era — an era that
the dictator’s heirs and their operators have been continuously trying mightily to
resuscitate through a political-revisionist strategy primarily aimed at the young.
The martial law era as the Philippines’ “golden age” is the battle cry of the dictator’s
heirs and their operators. The millennials are moving on, and their elders should
follow suit, Imee Marcos claimed a couple of years ago, a senator’s post still a
gleam in her eye and the scandal of her academic dissembling yet to explode.
It is important, therefore, to remember the way it was in the years leading to the dog
days of August 1983 and how it was downhill from there: The Philippines was
gripped in the severest economic contractions since World War II in the period
shortly after Aquino’s murder and the debt moratorium declared two months later,
according to professors of the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics
(UPSE).
“There is no doubt that, viewed as a historical event, the Philippines’ economic crisis
was precipitated by the assassination” of Aquino, the UPSE professors wrote in
1984. They cited the “crisis of confidence” in the Marcos administration that “seized
the foreign banks,” leading the latter to refuse to renew short-term loans; the 90-day
moratorium on external debt payments declared in October 1983, which stopped all
official dollar trading, and which was extended four consecutive times; and the
budget cut for 1984 as well as the restrictions imposed on foreign exchange.
As a consequence, as the economists noted, inflation grew explosively from 26.1
percent at the end of 1983 to 64 percent at the end of 1984.
Meanwhile, the plunder of the national coffers by the dictator, his heirs and cronies
had been proceeding apace, as the Presidential Commission on Good Government
formed in 1986 would formally discover. Through all those years of violence and
oppression, the underground resistance was on a slow burn.
Thus, it was that Ninoy Aquino, on exile in the United States, made the fateful
decision to come home. He had been warned by Imelda Marcos not to even think of
it, as the then first lady herself told the New York Times in July 1984.
But his mind was made up: Although he was safely living with his wife and children
in Boston, doing what he loved best on the lecture circuit, he could not stay put.
“I cannot,” he told a reporter before flying back to the land of his birth, “allow myself
to be petrified by the fear of assassination and spend my life in a corner.”
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/123454/the-beginning-of-the-
deluge#ixzz5zUB4JNbu
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Of course, this is a day for remembering, not only the man for whom this holiday
was declared but also his assassination and what it triggered and ultimately led to.
When the former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. landed at the then Manila
International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983, and was shot in the head as he disembarked
from China Airlines Flight 811, his native land was in the doldrums, having been
vised in Ferdinand Marcos’ rule for nearly two decades. The shock waves from the
brutal murder inundated the nation and lashed other shores as well.
ADVERTISEMENT
Filipinos of a certain age will remember that the impact of Aquino’s assassination
was palpably felt in the long term, in both the political and economic spheres. It was
generally agreed, to the extent that it became a bromidic expression, that the bullet
that snuffed out his life marked the beginning of the end of the Marcos era — an era
that the dictator’s heirs and their operators have been continuously trying mightily to
resuscitate through a political-revisionist strategy primarily aimed at the young.
The martial law era as the Philippines’ “golden age” is the battle cry of the dictator’s
heirs and their operators. The millennials are moving on, and their elders should
follow suit, Imee Marcos claimed a couple of years ago, a senator’s post still a
gleam in her eye and the scandal of her academic dissembling yet to explode.
It is important, therefore, to remember the way it was in the years leading to the dog
days of August 1983 and how it was downhill from there: The Philippines was
gripped in the severest economic contractions since World War II in the period
shortly after Aquino’s murder and the debt moratorium declared two months later,
according to professors of the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics
(UPSE).
“There is no doubt that, viewed as a historical event, the Philippines’ economic crisis
was precipitated by the assassination” of Aquino, the UPSE professors wrote in
1984. They cited the “crisis of confidence” in the Marcos administration that “seized
the foreign banks,” leading the latter to refuse to renew short-term loans; the 90-day
moratorium on external debt payments declared in October 1983, which stopped all
official dollar trading, and which was extended four consecutive times; and the
budget cut for 1984 as well as the restrictions imposed on foreign exchange.
As a consequence, as the economists noted, inflation grew explosively from 26.1
percent at the end of 1983 to 64 percent at the end of 1984.
Meanwhile, the plunder of the national coffers by the dictator, his heirs and cronies
had been proceeding apace, as the Presidential Commission on Good Government
formed in 1986 would formally discover. Through all those years of violence and
oppression, the underground resistance was on a slow burn.
Thus, it was that Ninoy Aquino, on exile in the United States, made the fateful
decision to come home. He had been warned by Imelda Marcos not to even think of
it, as the then first lady herself told the New York Times in July 1984.
But his mind was made up: Although he was safely living with his wife and children
in Boston, doing what he loved best on the lecture circuit, he could not stay put.
“I cannot,” he told a reporter before flying back to the land of his birth, “allow myself
to be petrified by the fear of assassination and spend my life in a corner.”
ADVERTISEMENT
It is important to remember the brazenness of Aquino’s murder, the sheer brutality
of it, the infinity that ensued from the moment when he was led from his plane seat
down the steps toward the tarmac, and then, in a cacophony of shouts from his
military escorts, to the moment of his extinction.
Remembering, the historian and essayist Carmen Guerrero Nakpil wrote in her
memoirs that she had heard the awful news at a restaurant in the company of other
members of Imelda Marcos’ circle, as they were about to dig into the shark’s fin
soup.
As she recalled it, the news knocked the ground out from under their feet. Later she
would write: “Ninoy’s wake and burial were the beginning of the ‘deluge,’ which
Louis XIV predicted two centuries earlier would be the aftermath of tyranny.”
Early this month, on the anniversary of former president Cory Aquino’s passing,
President Duterte said Ninoy Aquino’s widow was “popular” today “for losing her
husband in the hands of Marcos.” There was stony silence from the dictator’s heirs.
And yet, Mr. Duterte said Filipinos should “reflect on his sacrifice as we honor the
courage and patriotism that Ninoy demonstrated during his struggle.”
“Sacrifice” it indeed was, to wrest back the democratic space that today we are so in
danger of again losing.
When David Petraeus issues a public warning about Afghanistan, it’s worth paying
attention. That’s what the retired general did earlier this month in the Wall Street
Journal, urging President Donald Trump not to be lulled into believing the Taliban’s
promises to cooperate against international terrorism and respect the country’s
elected government.
Petraeus knows whereof he speaks. In Iraq, he developed and executed the
counterinsurgency strategy that isolated and largely defeated al Qaeda. Then its
mutated offspring, now known as the Islamic State, reemerged three years after a
premature withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2011. The departure of U.S. troops then was
“inadvisable,” Petraeus writes, whereas a total withdrawal from Afghanistan today
would be “indefensible.”
Nonetheless, Trump and his allies are signaling a desire to end America’s longest
war — unilaterally. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters this weekend,
saying U.S. talks with the Taliban and the Afghan government were going well. For
the last six weeks, a stream of leaks have outlined a plan for withdrawing up to
6,000 of the 14,000 troops currently fighting in Afghanistan in exchange for the kinds
of promises Petraeus says no one should trust.
He is correct. The Taliban’s leadership is chock full of al Qaeda’s patrons and allies,
including its deputy commander, Siraj Haqqani. Thomas Joscelyn, a founder of the
Long War Journal, which has tracked the war on terror for more than a decade,
described him as “one of al Qaeda’s closest and oldest allies.” There is no evidence
that the Taliban will betray al Qaeda, Joscelyn said, even if they pledge to do so
now.
This has been the dilemma for U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan for a decade:
Despite the costs in blood and treasure, there is still no path to victory. As the
carnage over the weekend shows, nearly 18 years after U.S. troops first invaded al
Qaeda’s sanctuary in Afghanistan, neither the Afghan nor the American military can
bring peace.
At the same time, things can always get worse. As tempting as it might be to leave,
once that happens the Taliban will take over and Afghanistan will once again
become a “laboratory for terror,” to use Trump’s recent phrase. The question is
whether Trump (or for that matter most Democrats) really believes this or is simply
saying it as a negotiating tactic. It’s good to demand assurances that Afghanistan
won’t become a safe haven for terrorists. But even if the Taliban agreed to those
terms, without U.S. troops in the country, there would be no way to enforce them.
There is also the matter, hardly inconsequential, of Afghanistan’s elected
government. What will become of it when U.S. forces pull out of the country?
Again, there is no reason to believe the Taliban won’t just pick up where it left off in
2001, and topple the government in Kabul and impose Islamic law. To this day, the
Taliban refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It’s worth reading some
of its official documents. Earlier this month, its website warned Afghans before
upcoming elections to stay away from political rallies and gatherings “that could
become potential targets.”
This is one reason not to believe the Taliban’s promises to begin talks with the
elected government once negotiations with the U.S. are complete. The Taliban
intend to topple the admittedly imperfect government Afghans have freely chosen as
soon as the opportunity presents itself.
For Washington’s self-styled realists, the survival of the elected government in
Kabul is not worth the candle. As Trump said last month, U.S. troops shouldn’t be
building schools or gas stations in Afghanistan. If America remains in Afghanistan,
its goal should be a permanent defeat of the Taliban. If that’s not possible, it should
get out.
Trump has been president for nearly three years. He reluctantly sent more forces to
Afghanistan in 2017, but not enough to deliver the kind of victory he desires. So he
now faces the same unsatisfying choice as his predecessor: He does not want to
send the troops necessary for a complete victory. But he does not want to suffer the
political embarrassment of a complete withdrawal.
If Trump doesn’t want to see a generation of American sacrifices squandered, he
should resign himself to the least bad option: a residual U.S. presence in
Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. An unenforceable peace with the Taliban is
no peace at all.
Snipets
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, in stark terms, lambasts Barack Obama
and Joe Biden for faulty leadership in his new book, and suggests their naivete and
ignorance of reality contributed to the rise of ISIS in Iraq, according to excerpts the Joint Chiefs and the new defense secretary, Leon Panetta, who had replaced

reviewed by The Washington Examiner. Bob Gates, continued to recommend to the White House retaining a residual force,

The book, "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead," co-written with Bing West, does not as did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

delve into Mattis' discussions with President Trump. Mattis, speaking to "Fox &

Friends" on Tuesday, said only that he did not have a "tense" relationship with the All of them, Mattis asserted, were "talking to the wind," as Obama was singularly

president. focused on living up to his public promises to end the war in Iraq. In late 2011,

Obama said confidently in a speech to the nation that some 40,000 servicemen and

"I try not to talk, having parted ways with the administration over matters of policy," women still in Iraq "will definitely be home for the holidays."

Mattis said. "I don't want to talk from the cheap seats now and make their job more The administration's faith in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Mattis said, was

difficult." Mattis resigned from the Trump administration last December after also misplaced.

clashing with the president over the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and

after two years of deep disagreements over America's role in the world. “Prime Minister Maliki is highly untrustworthy, Mr. Vice President,” Mattis said he

But Mattis, in his book, did open up about his tenure as head of U.S. Central warned Biden. “He’s devious when he talks to us. ... He looks at our ambassadors

Command from 2010 to 2013, and zeroed in on the Obama administration's desire and military advisers as impediments to his anti-Sunni agenda. He wants to purge or

to wind down the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, no matter the cost. marginalize Sunnis and Kurds from the government."

Mattis wrote that Obama's tenure "was to be a time when I would witness duty and

deceit, courage and cowardice, and, ultimately, strategic frustration."

"He exuded the confidence of a man whose mind was made up."

— Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, on Joe Biden

ISIS USING BOOBY-TRAPPED BOVINES, DONKEY-BORNE EXPLOSIVES TO

TARGET ENEMIES IN IRAQ Mattis wrote that “Vice President Biden and his assistants listened politely. But as
“In Washington, the debate swirled throughout 2011 about how many, if any, U.S. we spoke, I sensed I was making no headway in convincing the administration
troops should remain in Iraq,” Mattis recounted. “Central Command, the chairman of officials not to support Maliki. It was like talking to people who lived in wooden
houses but saw no need for a fire department. ... I found him an admirable and Nevertheless, Biden -- who was nominally in charge of overseeing troop withdrawals

amiable man. But he was past the point where he was willing to entertain a ‘good from Iraq under the Obama administration -- has touted his efforts in that capacity

idea.’ He didn’t want to hear more; he wanted our forces out of Iraq. Whatever path as he runs for president. “I made sure the president turned to me and said, ‘Joe, get

led there fastest, he favored. our combat troops out of Iraq,'" Biden said in Miami in June. "I was responsible for

getting 150,000 combat troops out of Iraq, and my son was one of them.”

WATCH: MATTIS SAYS HE DIDN'T HAVE 'TENSE' RELATIONSHIP WITH

TRUMP In July, Biden claimed, “When I was vice president, the president gave me all the

"He exuded the confidence of a man whose mind was made up, perhaps even easy jobs, like ‘take care of getting all our troops out of Iraq,’ which we did.”

indifferent to considering the consequences were he judging the situation

incorrectly," Mattis concluded. TRUMP SLAMS OBAMA FOR NOT ENFORCING 'RED LINE' AFTER 'ANIMAL'

ASSAD APPARENTLY USES CHEMICAL WEAPONS

According to Mattis, Biden countered that “Maliki wants us to stick around, because The Washington Post's fact-checker has noted that Biden has preferred not to

he does not see a future in Iraq otherwise. I’ll bet you my vice presidency.” mention on the campaign trail the troops' eventual return to Iraq under his watch.

In his book, Mattis also faulted Obama's failure to enforce his own self-imposed "red

Afterward, Mattis said, "Iraq slipped back into escalating violence. It was like line" upon the use of chemical weapons in Syria had weakend the U.S. globally.

watching a car wreck in slow motion. ... All of this was predicted — and “Old friends in NATO and in the Pacific registered dismay and incredulity that

preventable.” America’s reputation had been seriously weakened as a credible security partner,”

Mattis wrote. “Within 36 hours, I received a phone call from a friendly Pacific-nation

In 2016, faced with the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Iraq power vacuum that diplomat. ‘Well, Jim,’ he said, ‘I guess we’re on our own with China.'”

he had once dismissed as a "junior varsity" effort, Obama sent 5,000 troops back to

Iraq. ISIS' major strongholds fell under the Trump administration, although experts He continued: “Over the next several years, Syria totally disintegrated into hell on

warn that the group remains dangerous. earth. The consequences included an accelerated refugee flow that changed the

political culture of Europe, punctuated by repeated terrorist attacks. And America
today lives with the consequences of emboldened adversaries and shaken allies.”
Mattis separately recounted his own ignominious firing by Obama, after months of
disagreement over military policy.
“In December 2012, I received an unauthorized phone call telling me that in an hour,
the Pentagon would be announcing my relief,” Mattis said. "I was leaving a region
aflame and in disarray. The lack of an integrated regional strategy had left us adrift,
and our friends confused. We were offering no leadership or direction. I left my post
deeply disturbed that we had shaken our friends’ confidence and created vacuums
that our adversaries would exploit.”
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Speaking to "Fox & Friends," Mattis emphasized that his book was not entirely
about disagreements over geopolitics and strategy.
"It's about leadership," Mattis said. "It's about allies, it's about how do you set the
vision as a leader so that all your young people, right down to the youngest 18-year-
olds, feel a sense of ownership?"
Are you eating plastic? 01:30
(CNN)Compostable alternatives to plastic could worsen marine pollution and have
other serious environmental impacts, a report from a committee of UK MPs
has warned.
The world has a plastic problem -- millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans every
year, polluting our seas, littering our beaches and endangering wildlife.
In an attempt to curb the devastation wreaked on the oceans and on the
environment, many businesses and consumers are turning to alternatives to plastic -
- like biodegradable or compostable packaging.
What you need to know about carbon footprints
But instead of alleviating the problem of pollution, replacing plastic with other
materials can still have a disastrous environmental impact, a report released by the
UK Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee warned.
In fact, such alternatives could even increase pollution by making people
complacent about their use and disposal, the report released on Thursday
suggested. It cited the environmental group Green Alliance, which had raised
concerns about evidence that "people are more likely to discard material described
as 'biodegradable' in the environment, which would make pollution on land and at
sea even worse."
The report found that consumers were confused about how to dispose of
compostable packaging, which could result in contamination of recycling, as well as
littering.
The committee said that materials were being used as substitutes for plastic
"without proper consideration of wider environmental consequences, such as higher
carbon emissions."
In evidence included in the report, Juliet Phillips, ocean campaigner at the
Environmental Investigation Agency stated that "if a biodegradable cup gets into the
sea, it could pose just as much of a problem to marine life as a conventional plastic
cup."
The committee recommended that the UK Government should conduct a review of
reusable and refillable packaging systems, and said that the UK government was
not putting enough emphasis on reducing plastic food and drink packaging in the
first place.
PD 1156 AND pd 1586
1. Basically enunciate the Philippine Environmental Policy and establish the
environment impact statement (EIS) System
2. PD 1151- Established the EIS requirement while PD 1586 Institutionalized
the EIS system
3. Aim of PD 1151- to fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of
present and future generations of Filipino as well as “ insure the
attaintment of an environment quality that is conducive to a life of dignity
and well being.”
4. Section 1 PD 1586-policy of the state to attain and maintain a rational and
orderly balance between socio-economic growth and environmental
protection
5. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE TWO DECREES are preservation of the
environment, substainable development and a decent quality of life
for all and the maintenance of ecological balance

STRICT GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY

Plastic straws are the subject of the latest 2020 culture war 1.
"We all know that plastic pollution of our rivers and seas is a huge problem. 2.
However, replacing plastic with other materials isn't always the best solution, as all
materials have an environmental impact," said MP Neil Parish, the committee chair. 3.
"My committee is also concerned that compostable plastics have been introduced
without the right infrastructure or consumer understanding about how to dispose of 4.
them. Fundamentally, substitution is not the answer, and we need to look at ways to
cut down on single use packaging," he added.
5.
"All food and drink packaging, whether plastic or another material, has an
environmental impact," the committee found.
6.
IT SHALL BE THE RESponsibilty of the government to assure that the
law’s goals are attained.
The government is mandated to use all practicable means to make sure
that the objectives of the law are complied with
The wording- ALL PRACTICABLE MEANS BE ADOPTED- A STRICT
IMPLEMENTATION
Compel all government agencies and private entities to use all resources
at their disposal to make sure that environmental values are factored into
every undertaking that impacts the environment
ALL – this would mean that lack of resources is not an excuse for failure
to comply with the mandate of the law.
Government officials can no longer sleep on their jobs- the government
must do everything within their power to attain the objectives of the law
 7. EIS- to be considered whether there are oppositors to a particular project.
It does not matter whether the said project is contested or uncontested.
8. Recognition of the right
1. Section 3 – recognition of the right to a healthy environment
2. Oposa vs factoran- concurring- improper because said right is too braod
and general to serve as a cause of action for the petitioners
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT SYSTEM
1. THE EIS is the heart and soul of PD 1151 AND PD 1586
2. All agencies of the national government as well as private corporations
are required to prepare and file an environmental impact statement in
every project which significantly affects the quality of the environment
3. “prepare, file and include” – denote more than the submission of papers
before the government agencies concerned
4. The submission a nd filing is not the only reason why
5. MORE THAN FILING AND PREPARATION- proper government agency
may study it and come up with an enlightended decision that considers
environmental factors as against economic and other considerations
affecting the viability of a project
6. Section 4. Environmental Impact Statements. Pursuant to the above
enunciated policies and goals, all agencies and instrumentalities of the
national government, including government-owned or controlled
corporations, as well as private corporations firms and entities shall
prepare, file and include in every action, project or undertaking which
significantly affects the quality of the environment a detail statement on
7. (a) the environmental impact of the proposed action, project or
undertaking
8. (b) any adverse environmental effect which cannot be avoided should
the proposal be implemented;
9. (c) alternative to the proposed action;
10. (d) a determination that the short-term uses of the resources of the
environment are consistent with the maintenance and enhancement of
the long-term productivity of the same; and
11. (e) whenever a proposal involve the use of depletable or non-
renewable resources, a finding must be made that such use and
commitment are warranted.
12. Before an environmental impact statement is issued by a lead agency,
all agencies having jurisdiction over, or special expertise on, the
subject matter involved shall comment on the draft environmental
impact statement made by the lead agency within thirty (30) days from
receipt of the same.
- All EIS must contain a discussion of these elements
- The important element of the EIS is the section on alternatives
- Alternatives to the proposed action including the alternative of no action
- An enumeration of all the available courses of action is made so that
the government agency concerned will be properly guided in making
the right decision
- The presentation of alternatives involves cost benefits analysis in light of
the impacts of the project on the environment
- The EIS is thus a decision making tool designed to enhance agency
procedures in making the right choices.
SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL LAWS.
1. Both substantive and procedural laws
2. Substantive- THEY ENUNCIATE the states policy of protecting the
environment and the nation against environmental degragation
3. Flexible and of a non mandatory nature allowing for the exercise of
discretion
4. They do not compel the government agency concerned to completely and
thoroughly considered the environmental impacts of a proposed project
5. It is enough for an agency to just claim that it considered the
environmental impacts without showing the steps it took in arriving at a
decision,
PROCEDURAL ASPECT-
1. THE REGULATORY requirements of environmental impact statements
and assessments have to be worked into their fujll regulatory and
procedural details in a manner consistent with the goals of the program
2. “ that the pursuit of ta comprehensive and integrated environmental
protection program necessitates that the establishment and
 institutionalization of a system whereby the exigencies of socio- economic
undertaking my be reconciled with the requirements of environmental
quality.
a. PD 1151- recognizes the introductory clauses the need to “
formulate an intensive, intergrated program of environmental
protection”
b. Institution of a system of factoring environmental values in
decision making process of governmental agencies
c. Section 4 PD 1151-requires mandatory consultation of the
government agency having jurisdiction or expertise over the
matter before a lead agency can issue and EIS
 A mandatory in character- requiring all government agencies and private
entities into folloing a set of procedures in the EIS process. Everyone
concerned must consider environmental factors before making a final
agency
 The five important elements of EIS government agencies as well as
private entities are now duty bound to follow the same- like a supervisor
making al lsit of things to do for his subordinates to follow: the steps must
be followed and n o shortcuts are allowed.
 Carefully consider environmental factors before approving or
venturing into projects.
CHAPTER 1 : the US MODEL NEPA
1. THE Philippine EIS system was patterned after the National
Environmental Policy Act of the United states
2. US enacted NEPA to promote efforts to eliminate damage to the
environment, to stimulate the health and welfare of man to enrich the
understanding of ecological systems and to establish a council on
environmental quality
3. NEPA’S GENERAL SUBSTANTIVE POLICY- a fliexible one leaving room
for the exercise if discretion
4. Procedural requiremet are not flexible- establish a strict standard of
compliance
 NEPA’S MANDATE- then is essentially procedural, one that seeks to
insure a fully informed and well considered decision
 The procedural requirements are to be complied with the fullest
extent possible- and considerations of administrative difficulties wll
not excuse compliance
 “ All agencies- a detailed statement covering the impact of a particular
actions on the environment the environmental cost which ought be
avoided and alternative measure which might alter the cost benefit
equation”
 Detailed statement serves as an action forcing device to insure that
the policies and goals defined in NEPA ARE INFUSED INTO THE
ONGOING PROGRAMS AND ACTINOS OF THE DFEDERAL
GOVENRMENT
 IT INFORMS THE PUBLIC OF reasonable alternatives which could avoid
or mitigate afverse impacts
 Must apply earliest possible time so that planning and decision
mking not delayed.
 THE PROCESS OF eis
 A. agency determination to determine whether the proposed action needs
an EIS
 FOR BORAD ACTIONS- AN AGENCY MAY PREPOARE AN eis BY
EVALUATING THE PROPOSal on a geographic generic and stage of
technological development basuis
 An agency may prepare an environmental assessment and on the
basis thereof determine whether to preoapre an EIS
 If determined whether an EIS is not necessary the agency then
prepares a finding of no significant impact ( FONSI)
 Next step- SCOPING WHERE THE AGENCY DETEMRINES THE
SCOPE OF SIGNIGFICANT issues to be addressed in the EIS
 After this is done, AGENCY Drafts an EIS and submits this to federal
state and local agencies
 After comments are obtained- the agency MAY RESPOND by
modifying the alternatives evaluating new alternatives improving the
analysis making factual correction or simply explaining why the comments
do not necessitate agency response
 Agency then prepares the final EIS- the final EIS incorporates the
agency response to the comments
 Format- cover sheet, and a continuing summary, table of contents
purpose of and need for action alternative including proposed action
affected fof agencies and persons to whom copies of the EIS are sent
 After EIS IS COMPLTED- circulated to the applicant any federal or state
agencies or org having jurisdiction
 ALTERNATIVES- agencies explore and evaluate all alternative action
, devote substantial treatment ot each alternative, and identify the
preferred alternative nad include appropriate mitigation measures
 NEPA VS EIS PH
 NEPA- THERE IS A COMMAND THAT EIS system be implemented in the
fullest extent possible there is an omission of the same in PD 1151 AND
PD 1586
 This does not affect the law’s mandatory character of the Philippine EIS
SYSTEM- no business that impact the environment can start or proceed
without EIS being processed and submitted
