Like father like daughter: A lifelong dedication to marine conservation

MANILA, Philippines - Anna Rosario Oposa is no stranger to environmental activism. Being the daughter of 2009 Ramon Magsaysay awardee Antonio “Tony” Oposa, Anna has spent most of her life doing things related to environmental protection.

At the age of four, Anna became one of the complainants of a law suit filed by her father against a former government official, demanding the cancellation of all logging concessions.

In 1993, Tony Oposa filed a case on behalf of 43 minors against then environment secretary Fulgencio Factoran, asking the Philippine government to cancel timber licenses on the grounds that rampant logging violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment.

“I never, ever thought I‘ll be doing what I do now. I thought I would continue doing theater,” the 23-year-old Anna told STARweek. Anna’s passion for marine conservation began in 2009 when her father asked her to work for the Law of Nature Foundation (LNF), a non-stock, non-profit organization he founded in 2002 to promote environmental law education and enforcement.

Anna also worked for the School of the SEAs (Sea and Earth Advocates, or SOS), a project established by her father to lead conservation efforts to save the Visayan Sea, one of the most important and threatened marine areas in the Philippines.

A young Anna with her father, environmental lawyer Tony Oposa.

The SOS, based in Bantayan Island in Cebu, pushes for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in coastal municipalities, among other advocacies.

The school has trained thousands of fisherfolk, lawyers, civic-minded groups and youths. “As a diver, I know how beautiful the underwater world is and how it can sustain our country and economy if we just learn to protect it,” she says.

Anna also formed the Save Philippine Seas movement that aims to protect the country’s marine biodiversity. “The SPS movement began when we were informed about a US-based company allegedly extracting our marine species and trading them illegally,” Anna says.

The group is also actively lobbying for the passage of House Bill 174, which aims to protect sharks. The bill, filed by former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her son Diosdado, representative of Camarines Sur’s second district, seeks to conserve and protect sharks and stingrays by banning the selling of their by-products, including fins.

Anna also dreams of establishing the first shark sanctuary in the Philippines this year.

Isko Cleans UP

When she was studying at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, she and her best friend Kester organized “Isko Cleans UP,” a waste management program at the university.

“We were able to eliminate the use of styrofoam for food packaging in UP,” Anna says. The group held monthly recyclables fairs and waste management workshops in dormitories, communities, and for student organizations. Anna and Kester also wrote a textbook entitled “An Introduction to Climate Change for Filipinos.”

“So much of the available literature on climate change is anchored on the West, so we worked on one that didn’t involve polar bears and penguins. We wrote about ‘Ondoy’ and the rice terraces,” Anna points out.

Anna interacts with children of fishermen in Bantayan Island, Cebu and teaches them about marine conservation.

Anna is the only girl among the four children of Tony and Greely Oposa. Anna says she is very close to her three brothers, Tony, Uli and Kiano. Anna describes her childhood as “extraordinary.” She says traveling is one of her passions.

“It involved a lot of traveling and lessons and workshops, piano, violin, karate, taekwondo, ballet, voice lessons, tennis, archery, etc.,” Anna explains. Anna graduated with an English degree at UP-Diliman in 2011. She performed in several theater productions in the country.

She also held classes at Trumpets Playshop when she was 15 and did a couple of shows with Repertory Philippines and “High School Musical” with Stages Inc. in 2007.

To continue her passion for theater and her advocacy for marine conservation and environmental protection, Anna taught environmental education through musical theater during the Bantayan Arts Festival in 2010 and 2011.

Young Global Shaper

Recently, Anna received another recognition when she was chosen as one of the 2012 Young Global Shapers by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum along with eight other young Filipino achievers.

“The title ‘Young Global Shaper’ is an intimidating one, because it means we have the potential to change the world for the better,” according to Anna. The other Young Global Shapers are Mayor Maria Carmela Alvarez of San Vicente in Palawan, Ponce Ernest Samaniego, Jay Michael Jaboneta, Dr. Bryan Albert Lim, Eleanor Rosa Pinugu, Mildred Ople, television host Bianca Gonzalez, and Alexandra Amanda Eduque.

However, only Anna, Carmela and Eleanor have been invited to attend the Davos conference this month.

She testifies at a Senate hearing on the plunder of Philippine coral reefs.

The WEF launched last year the Global Shapers community aimed at providing the youth with a global platform to shape the future – integrating personal, community and global dimensions. This community will help youth develop their leadership potential to serve society.

The Global Shapers community includes extraordinary young individuals with great potential for future leadership roles in society. Aged between 20 and 30 years, they come from all walks of life and share a spirit of entrepreneurship in the global public interest, the WEF said.

“My greatest advocacy is to stop global whining. Everything else comes after that. When I say global whining, I mean people sitting around bitching and waiting on the world to change,” Anna stresses.

“Age is not an excuse to be complacent and lazy. Every excuse is a choice to fail. It’s not about being the smartest or most talented, but having the courage to do something. The greatest changemakers I know are also the biggest troublemakers I know,” she says. “I’m a non-believer of my own work, in a sense that I always question myself and ask, ‘What have I really done so far?’ I never have a good answer, which is good, because then I keep moving forward and aiming for bigger things,” Anna concludes.