REDEMPTO D. ANDA

On the Brink: Environmental struggles in the Philippines’ last ecological frontier

Since the 1950’s the Philippines tropical forests have endured rapid exploitation. Today, only about 3% of the country’s original forest cover has remained. Tragic, considering the country’s internationally regarded status as one of the worlds centers of biodiversity. The island province of Palawan where extensive forest landscapes can still be found is the centerpiece of Philippine biodiversity. It is however faced with increasing pressure from extractive industries and the demand for natural resources emanating from a burgeoning population.

Redempto D. Anda has been a professional journalist for over 20 years, now based in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan’s capital. He currently writes for The Philippine Daily Inquirer and several international publications on a wide range of local and international issues including civil society’s efforts to conserve Palawan’s environment. In his reporting, Redempto will take an exhaustive and critical look at the issues surrounding Palawan’s environmental conservation movement, a long and violent narrative of civil society struggle punctuated with violence and triumphs alike.

Redempto D. Anda is a correspondent of The Philippine Daily Inquirer and has been a journalist for over two decades, covering Philippine politics, business, environment and the arts. He currently writes extensively on the environment beat, being based in the island province of Palawan, considered as the Philippines’ last remaining environmental frontier. He is also a national director and chapter chair of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, a federation of professional journalists in the forefront of Philippine media’s own struggle to improve working conditions and fight against impunity and harassment of working journalists. To cope with work pressure, he finds time to play jazz and flamenco guitar music in bar gigs.