Philippines' 'last ecological frontier' battles demand for nickel

• Philippine province's biodiversity threatened by mining and deforestation
• Local ordinance bans new mining permits for 50 years
• Community resistance, environmental concerns challenge mining operations

MANILA - Home to several endemic species like the endangered Philippine pangolin, the province of Palawan has faced threats to its biodiversity for decades from illegal wildlife trafficking to deforestation.

Now the island's forests and communities are vulnerable to mining for its nickel, with the Philippines ramping up operations to meet global demand for metals and minerals to support the green energy transition.

"When you mine nickel, you have to remove the topsoil and forest vegetation, displacing wildlife and causing deforestation,” said Grizelda Mayo-Anda, director of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), a legal group promoting environmental rights.

In response, Palawan Gov. Dennis Socrates signed a 50-year moratorium in March on all applications for mining agreements and exploration permits in the province.

But Mayo-Anda said it remains to be seen if the ordinance will be implemented following a change in provincial leadership after elections in May.

The Philippines is the world’s second largest producer and biggest exporter of nickel, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles, and is critical in the transition to green technologies like wind turbines and solar panels.

The International Energy Agency has predicted a 65% increase in demand for nickel by the end of the decade.

Palawan has eleven active mines, three of which are large-scale nickel mines spanning four towns, but companies planning to open new mines now cannot get the necessary endorsement from the local government.

Considered by some to be the last ecological frontier of the Philippines, Palawan holds almost half of the country’s old-growth forest, 30% of its remaining mangroves and 40% of its coral reefs, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Nickel in the Philippines is primarily mined from laterite deposits commonly found near the surface and extracted through open-pit mining methods, and Mayo-Anda said thousands of trees have been cleared in Palawan for mining.

A study by Conservation International, a nonprofit environmental group, on Palawan's Mt. Mantalingahan protected landscape found in 2008 that the $5 billion value of its ecosystem goods and services - such as clean water, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation - far outweighed the value of minerals, then placed at 15 billion pesos ($262 million).

Church resistance

Mayo-Anda, an attorney who has conducted field-based legal advocacy in Palawan for decades, said some farmlands are no longer productive due to disruptions in water cycles and soil erosion she attributed to mining.

"Mining companies may have built schools, tribal halls and roads, but communities, including our politicians, do not have a good cost-benefit analysis of the economic value [of the destruction]," she said.

The local church has stood against new mining activities as well.

"As is often the case, mining companies exploit natural resources, take control and benefit from the natural wealth," Bishop Socrates Mesiona of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa told Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Bishops in Palawan oppose mining due to its environmental and social impacts that they say could displace communities and affect the poor.

"But the crucial question is whether they have empowered local economies and communities so that when they are gone, the latter can continue to survive decently," said the bishop.

The three bishops of Palawan, including Mesiona, have also called for a ban on new mining applicants, which number about 68.

"If they are all allowed to operate, then it will surely be the end of Palawan being called 'the last ecological frontier,'" Mesiona said.

While national law gives local governments the authority to assess mining projects and express concerns, it is unclear whether the national government will approve the new mining applications in Palawan after the moratorium.

A recently publicized ruling of the Supreme Court rejected a 25-year moratorium on large-scale mining imposed by another Philippine province, Occidental Mindoro, citing the limited powers of the local government in regulating mining projects.

Vigilance needed

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, an association representing the sector, called the ban "myopic" in a published statement.

"The moratorium limits the country's ability to plan and strategise about its mineral wealth at a time when the global demand for critical minerals is rising," the Chamber said.

The Philippine government must "develop its mineral resources responsibly for the good of the many," and Palawan "cannot and should not limit the national government's ability to do so," it said.

Jose Bayani Baylon, senior vice president of Nickel Asia Corp., said mining-related impacts are “designed to be temporary” and differ from permanent land conversion such as urban development and agriculture.

“Mining activities are typically subject to strict regulatory frameworks that mandate progressive rehabilitation and reforestation — such as the requirement to plant 100 trees for every one removed,” Baylon said.

Greenpeace Philippines Director Lea Guerrero said critical mineral mining must be controlled to ensure it respects human rights and that alternatives are developed such as above-ground and recycled minerals.

"There should be strict no-go zones..., stricter and more rigorous social and environmental due diligence assessments and respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities," Guerrero said.

Mesina added that careful vigilance is needed to ensure the lasting effect of the 50-year moratorium.

"We need to continue educating our people about the importance of protecting our environment," he said.

"This is our common home, and we have no other place to go if it is destroyed.”

($1 = 57.2470 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Mariejo Ramos. Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst.)