Legarda calls for stronger environmental accountability on World Environment Day

In celebration of World Environment Day today, four-term Senator Loren Legarda urges the government and the private sector to go beyond rhetoric and fully implement the country’s environmental laws while integrating ecological sustainability into all development plans.

Observed every June 5, World Environment Day serves as the United Nations’ principal platform for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for environmental protection. This year’s theme underscores the urgent need for global cooperation to address climate and biodiversity crises.

“As we mark World Environment Day, we must move beyond motherhood statements and ensure that environmental protection is not an afterthought but at the core of all our development efforts,” Legarda emphasized.

“The true measure of progress is not just economic growth but the well-being of our people and our planet.”

A long-time environmental advocate and UN Global Champion for Resilience, Legarda has authored or co-authored landmark legislation including the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, the Climate Change Act of 2009, the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, the Environmental Planning Act of 2013, the Philippine Green Jobs Act of 2016, the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, and the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022.

“These laws are already in place. What we need is faithful implementation, genuine political will, and the active participation of all stakeholders,” Legarda said.

Legarda also cautioned against complacency, “Environmental justice is not only about cleaner air or more trees. It is about intergenerational justice—ensuring that our children, and theirs, inherit not only land, but life.”

She reaffirmed her commitment to advancing legislation and policy frameworks that safeguard the environment and promote resilience in the face of worsening climate impacts.

Beyond legislation, Legarda’s grassroots initiative, Luntiang Pilipinas, launched in 1998, has led to the planting of millions of trees nationwide. What began as a vision for green cities has grown into a movement of communities reclaiming lost green spaces, restoring urban biodiversity, and reintegrating tree planting into the fabric of civic duty. Legarda commits to continuing her legacy projects for national renewal.

As climate extremes escalate and biodiversity continues to decline, Legarda calls on every Filipino to be both witness and warrior: “We are called to restore what we have lost, protect what remains, and reimagine what a just, verdant future could be. The laws are here. The programs exist. What we need now is the will—shared, sustained, and unstoppable.” (30)