Philippine Environmentalists, Religious Leaders Horrified Arroyo Will Get Congressional Green Award

[hatrack]

Filipino environmentalists and religious leaders have expressed shock and anger that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the President of the Philippines, has been chosen to receive a conservation award from the US Congress in Washington, DC today according to the Philippine Daily Enquirer.

"Honoring President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a conservationist and protector of biodiversity is akin to giving a fox an award for chicken husbandry," read a letter signed by Filipino religious leaders. "President Arroyo has led a deeply corrupt regime that has promoted and profited from environmental despoilation by mining, logging, overfishing and the promotion of unsustainable plantation production."

The Teddy Roosevelt International Conservation Award, named after the US's legendary conservation president, is given to leaders for innovative conservation policies by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The award is seen by many as a response to Macapagal-Arroyo's work on the conservation of the Coral Triangle region. Covering six countries and 6 million square kilometers (half the size of the US), the Coral Triangle is home to 500 coral species, 5 of 7 of the world's marine turtle, and some 3,000 described fish. Last year the six Coral Triangle nations reached a non-binding agreement to protect the area.

President Macapagal-Arroyo is "pushing for a massive expansion of mining even in key protected areas like Mount Guiting-Guiting on Sibuyan Island (The Galapagos of Asia) where a former WWF-Philippines colleague of mine, and a Philippine Municipal Councilor, was murdered by a mine company guard in 2007," Wicks wrote according to the Philippine Daily Enquirer, adding that "the Protected Seascape in Pujada Bay and Mt. Hamiguitan Range, a declared protected area in Davao del Sur, Mindanao, is another case in point where mining tenements have been allowed." Wicks, who said that Teddy Roosevelt would "turn in his grave" over giving the award to President Macapagal-Arroyo, added that, "we are also concerned with other mining plans, including the important central Mt. Sugarloaf range in the Zamboanga Peninsula." From 1990-2005 the Philippines lost a third of its forest cover. Macapagal-Arroyo has been president since 2001, having served as Vice President since 1998. Forest loss has declined recently to around 2 percent a year, largely due to the fact that the Philippines has little forest left to lose.

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0412-hance_macapagal-arroyo.html

[Nihil]

1. Consistent with the *US* president getting the Nobel *Peace* Prize ... (n/t)

:shrug: