Anna Oposa

Thursday, December 27, 2012 10:20 AM

Early life and education Anna Oposa is the daughter of Antonio Oposa, a lawyer who pioneered the practice of environmental law in the Philippines and a Ramon Magsaysay awardee. She attended grade school and high school at De La Salle -Santiago Zobel School then took a pre-college summer program in creative writing at Pratt Institute. In 2011, she graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with an A.B. in English. At college, she co-organized the Isko Cleans UP waste management program which led to the ban of the use of Styrofoam containers in her school. Due to the nature of the work of her father, she and her brothers grew up having a lot of exposure to nature and being involved in projects aimed at rehabilitating or protecting the environment. Every year, her family travels the Philippines to go spelunking, island hopping, and trekking.

Save Philippine Seas

Born February 1988 (24) University of the Philippines-Diliman (A.B. English Cum Laude 2011)

Oposa learned through Twitter about a company alleged to be illegally exporting coral reefs and other marine life from the Philippines. She and other concerned individuals interacted online through social networking sites to discuss this problem. To raise more awareness on the issue and have a coordinated plan of action, they decided to form Save Philippine Seas (SPS), a group dedicated to protecting Philippine's marine ecosystem. The group launched on May 26, 2011 with their first project which is an awareness campaign on Twitter using the #reefwatchPH hashtag.
As part of her work for SPS, Oposa did extensive research on the different Philippine laws and treatise entered by the Philippines related to the marine environment. She also researched other companies allegedly smuggling marine life from the Philippines. Initially, she sought the help of three different government agencies including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources but was frustrated by their lack of sense of urgency. As a last resort, she approached former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, then Chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Their meeting led to her being invited to testify before the senate against the abuses being committed to the Philippine marine environment. Her work in SPS involves blogging about the different issues related to the Philippine seas, giving talks, lobbying, managing collaborations with other organizations, and heading and volunteering for SPS projects. One of her most recent projects is the establishment of a shark sanctuary in Malapascua, Cebu.

Alma Mater

Occupation

Freelance writer Director for Environmental Law Compliance and Enforcement of Law of Nature Foundation Co-founder and Chief Mermaid of Save Philippine Seas
2011- present

Other works
Years active

Awards
Website

Future for Nature Yahoo! Pitong Pinoy

http://annaoposa.ph/

Achievements and recognitions In 2008, Oposa was a Philippine youth ambassador to ASEAN and Japan. She part of the 2009 Denso youth for Earth action program. In 2010, she was chosen as a member of the Philippine delegation to the United Nations climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico. She was again part of the Philippine delagation to the British Council's Global Changemakers Asian youth summit. In 2012, she became part of the Global shapers community, a global network of exceptional social advocates, and attended the World Economic forum 2012 in Davos, Switzerland.
In recognition of her work in the field of environmental protection through SPS, she was named as one of the recipients of Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pitong Pinoy award. In the same year, Oposa became the youngest and first Filipino awardee of the Future for Nature Award for her efforts in Malapascua to establish the first shark sanctuary in the Philippines. The sanctuary is for the protection and conservation of the pelagic thresher sharks which are classed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.

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