April 22 2013
Washington, D.C. – On Earth Day 2013, youth leaders and a team of climate lawyers are gathering on Bantayan Island in the Philippines to take legal action on behalf of youth and future generations. Frustrated by the failure of the present generation to take meaningful action to address the climate crisis, these youth are inspired – and are inspiring others – to use the power of the law to protect our right to a safe climate.
“Today, the youth of the Philippines, backed by their international team of lawyers, have launched a peaceful revolution. A revolution of the mind waged with only the sword of reason, the force of the law, and the urgency of taking collective action to mobilize change,” said Filipino lawyer Tony Oposa, co-convener of the event.
Today, in the Philippines, youth leaders helped launch the “Road Sharing Movement” by filing legal actions to compel the Philippines government to protect the climate. The Movement calls on the national government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by transforming its national road and transportation system by enacting local ordinances; these ordinances would require that one half of the roads be used for public transport, and the other half be used for pedestrian and bicycle lanes.
“Climate change is an issue of intergenerational justice and equity because it disproportionately affects those least responsible for causing it: our youth and future generations,” said Brook Meakins, a lawyer from Drowning Islands who is in the Philippines to support the youth in building a broader legal campaign.
“Today’s legal actions serve a dual purpose: to raise awareness that the impacts of climate change are already being experienced by communities around the world and to hold governments accountable to their citizens in taking ambitious action to address the crisis,” said Alyssa Johl, Staff Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington, DC.
Following ground-breaking atmospheric trust cases filed in the U.S., Ukraine, and Uganda, the Road Sharing Movement is one in a wave of legal actions to be brought by youth. In the coming months, youth will call on governments, corporations, and international institutions to urgently protect the climate in the name of present and future generations.
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