EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Nine, Number Two January/February 2000 A LANDMARK VICTORY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS In a 1998 landmark decision that may eventually change the way the world views environmental issues, the Supreme Court of the Philippines has ruled that the three children of E-LAW Philippines Board Member Antonio Oposa, along with 41 other children, have standing to sue on behalf of their generation and subsequent generations. Oposa, an attorney with the Philippines Ecological Network, is representing the children in trying to cancel all existing timber license agreements between timber interests and the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The July 30 decision held that minors have standing to represent their own and future generations under the doctrine of intergenerational equity. The Court stated that: "This case . . . has a special and novel element . . . We find no difficulty in ruling that they can, for themselves, for others of their generation and for the succeeding generations, file a class suit . . . . "Their personality to sue on behalf of the succeeding generations can only be based on the concept of intergenerational responsibility insofar as the right to a balanced and healthful ecology is concerned. Such a right considers the 'rhythm and harmony of nature,' meaning the created world in its entirety . . . . "While the right to a balanced and healthful ecology is not under the Bill of Rights, these basic rights need not even be written in the Constitution for they are assumed to exist from the inception of humankind. If they are now explicitly mentioned in the fundamental charter, it is because of the well-founded fear of its framers that unless the rights to a balanced and healthful ecology and to health are mandated as state policies by the Constitution itself, the day would not be too far when all else would be lost not only for the present generation, but also for those to come --— generations which stand to inherit nothing but parched earth incapable of sustaining life." From Lynn Cumiskey, American Lands Alliance, 1384 May Ave. SE, Atlanta, GA 30316; 404/525-9073; www.igc.apc.org/elaw/ (Forwarded by Sharon Delgado, <revsher@earth-justice.org>.) Home     Table of Contents